NEW LEXINGTON - With the goal of being undefeated in sight, there was no stopping the Coshocton Redskins.
Coshocton
(6-0), led by three touchdowns, dominated on both sides of the ball to beat New Lexington,
42-14, Friday night.
The
first half clearly belonged to Coshocton, but the first two drives weren't pretty. An early three-and-out and a first
quarter fumble gave New Lexington the early
momentum in the game.
But Coshocton got it together and took the
momentum right back thanks to a short punt that gave them excellent
field position.
It was a first-half struggle for the New Lex offense. The
Panthers' didn't get a first down until the six minute mark of the
second quarter. The offense also was held to just 30 total yards. They
also gave up 125 yards on the ground on defense.
"You can't give a
four-score lead to a Coshocton team before halftime," New Lex Coach
Dave Rupe said. "We just couldn't get anything going offensively and
defensively we were out matched that entire half."
But the Panthers came out fighting in the
second half and new team showed up out of the locker room. New Lexington
scored its first touchdown of the game when Clapper connected with a
wide open Kamron Bowen streaking down the sidelines for a 45-yard
touchdown pass.
After a Coshocton fumble, the Panthers found a
little bit of life. Clapper hit John Mautz on a crossing route and Mautz
took it 46 yards to the house, cutting the Redskins' lead to 35-14.
Outside of two big passing plays from
Clapper, Coshocton held the Panthers' offense to just 40 yards on the
ground. Clapper ended the game 7-of-14 for 123 yards.
New Lex's
season has been a disappointment thus far, but it's hard to win games
giving up close to 300 yards rushing to the opposing team.
"We as a
team have a very long road ahead of us. We just didn't do a very good
job of stopping their backs," Rupe said. "We can't win games giving up
run after run. Coshocton does a great job of running physical. We just
we weren't physical enough."
Woodrum knew throughout the week that
this was a potential trap game for his undefeated squad, but his team
didn't let it become one.
"After the Cambridge win, we knew that
this could be a trap game and we talked about it all week," Woodrum
said. "We needed to come out and match their (New Lexington) intensity
right away because Lexington always plays us so tough, and we came out
with a lot of energy and focus."