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Aviators drop bomb on
Wave in season opener
By George
Starks
Other weekend scores:
Versailles 31, Celina 28; Ansonia 24, Lima Perry 13; Bradford 28, Troy
Christian 0; Ft. Recovery 44, Mississinawa Valley 20; Preble Shawnee
40, Arcanum 22.
GREENVIILLE- Coming off a dismal 3-7 campaign a year ago, Wave senior
Alec Watkins had visions of a 10-0 season this year.
Then reality set in Friday night at Harmon Field. It didn’t take long.
Vandalia-Butler senior Tyler Jones racked up 307 yards with four
touchdowns (three in the first half) as the Aviators flew to a 39-13
victory in the season opening football game.
The only thing the Wave won on this night was the coin toss. Electing
to receive the opening kick, Greenville went three and out on the
possession, punting the ball away.
That would prove to be the beginning of the end for Greenville.
Taking the ball at its own 40, Butler would run just three plays,
culminating with a 55 yard run down the left side and a 7-0 lead with
8:02 left in the opening frame.
Again, the Wave would go three and out on the next set of plays, giving
the ball back to Butler at their own 48 yard line.
On the first play from scrimmage, Jones would do it again. Going
straight down the left side, Jones would run the ball 52 yards for the
score.
By the end of the opening 12 minutes of play, Butler had gained a 19-0
advantage.
At the end of the half, Butler held a commanding 26-7 advantage. What
was more impressive was Jones had tacked on another 60 yard score and
had rolled up 190 yards of rushing.
“We gave up too many big plays,” said Wave coach T. J. Powers. “You
don’t have to be a football guru or an expert to see that. We played
one and a half to two quarters of good football. Unfortunately the game
is four quarters and you’ve got to play four solid quarters of
football.”
Powers said it all boiled down to too many mistakes.
“In the first quarter, we weren’t lining up correctly, we left a
wide-out uncovered and we are screaming and hollering over here and
that’s inexcusable,” Powers stated. “We had too many dropped balls and
too many mistakes on offense. We shot ourselves in the foot not being
able to line up and missing too many tackles. We played a very good
football team. There’s no doubt about it and I truly felt we could play
with them and we did, but not for four quarters.”
Trailing 19-0 after one, Butler scored at the 8:30 mark to go up 26-0.
Greenville got on the board at the 4:24 mark of the frame on a
seven-yard run by senior quarterback Jacob Burk.
The Wave would get on the board again in the fourth quarter with 10:15
left to play on a 19 yard scamper from junior William Swisher, to get
to within a 32-13 count.
The leading rusher for Greenville was Burk who tallied 59 yards on 20
carries. Burke also had 102 yards of offense in the air on 12 of 29
passing.
Greenville (0-1) will travel to Tipp City next week for a date with the
Red Devils.
In other action, Versailles hit a field goal as time expired to top
Celina 31-28. Ansonia tripped Lima Perry 24-13 while Bradford shutout
Troy Christian 28-0. Mississinawa Valley fell to Ft. recovery 44-20 and
Arcanum blew a 16-0 lead, losing to Preble Shawnee 40-22.
Score By Quarters
V-Butler 19 07
06 07 - 39
Greenville 0 07
0 06 - 13
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