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Ansonia
senior Taylor Young goes up for a pass as Tri-County North
senior
Micheal Olinger defends. The Panthers eliminated Ansonia from
the post season,
dropping a 28-18 loss on the Tigers. Ansonia finished
the season with a 6-4
mark. CNO Photo by Danny Stockton,
stocktonstudios.com.
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Ansonia comes up
short in play-off bid
By George Starks
ANSONIA - It was a last gasp of air for Ansonia Friday as the Tigers
(6-3) faced-off against Tri-county North (7-2) in the final showdown of
the season as the Tigers needed a win to make the post season.
Trailing 28-6 going into the fourth quarter, the Tigers were forced to
get away from what is known as Hoening ball and pull out all the stops
but it wasn’t enough as the Panthers posted a 28-18 win over Ansonia.
With 9:54 remaining in the game, senior Dusty Holcomb plunged in from
five yards out getting the Tigers their second score of the night. With
no kicking game, Ansonia was forced to go to the two point conversion
but fell short, keeping the score 28-12.
That’s when Hoening went to the bag of tricks. On the ensuing kick-off,
the Tigers recovered an onsides kick and the offense was back in
business.
Looking at a first and 10 from their own 39, Ansonia went 61 yards in
just over two minutes, capping off the 61 yard drive on a three yard
run by Holcomb, making the score 28-18 in favor of the North Panthers.
With 7:22 remaining in the game, Ansonia went to the onsides kick once
again and once again it worked. Late game heroics has been seen by
Tiger fans this season, most notably the Twin Valley South game but
this time the results weren’t the same.
“We put a little excitement into the game and it almost worked,” said
Ansonia offensive coach Dennis Kiser. “Two onsides kicks in one game,
one right after the other. Something you don’t get every game but we
knew our backs were against the wall tonight.”
With a first and 10 from their own 47, the Tiger offense was back on
the field, looking at wearing the Panther defense down even more and
put six more points on the board. The first play of the drive would
prove to be fatal as the pitch went to senior Seth Keller, only to see
Keller fumble the ball and North recover.
Finishing with a 6-4 record, Ansonia will look forward to next season,
looking to improve on one big aspect.
“We’ve had our ups and downs this season,” Kiser said. “We would play a
real good game and then we would struggle tackling and that’s how it’s
been with this team. We have a great group of kids and they have worked
hard and they have battled every week.”
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