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Ansonia
senior Jordon Newman runs for one of his four touchdowns
against National Trail Friday. Newman's efforts
weren't enough as the
Tigers fell to the Blazers, 60-36. CNO Photo by Danny Stockton,
stocktonstudios.com
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Ansonia remains
winless
Tigers now 0-5
By George Starks
ANSONIA- National Trail senior quarterback, Garrett Griffin, may have
had a career night Friday against Ansonia.
Garrett went 13 of 18 passing for 351 yards and tossed five scoring
passes as the Blazers took a 60-36 Cross County Conference victory over
the Tigers.
If that wasn’t enough, the signal caller ran the ball 11 times for 42
yards and a score.
On the other side of the ball, Ansonia senior Jordon Newman was putting
up some impressive numbers of his own.
Newman rushed for 218 yards on 26 carries, punching the ball in four
times for the Tigers.
With 96 points being put up on the board and the Tigers on the frowning
side of the scoreboard, longtime Ansonia coach Eugene Hoening was very
quick to give high praise to the Trail team.
“First of all I want to congratulate the National Trail team,” said
Hoening. “Their quarterback throws a real nice ball and he was able to
connect on some big pass plays. They big played us so congratulation to
them. They put their athletes in a position to make big plays.”
After trading punts on their initial possessions, Trail took its second
possession at the Ansonia 26 yard line.
It didn’t take Garrett long to find senior Kyle Johnson on a 26 yard
strike and with 6:54 left in the opening quarter, the Blazers were up
7-0.
Ansonia answered on it next possession when Newman scampered in from
three yards out at the 3:09 mark.
With the two point conversion failing, it was 7-6 in favor of the
Blazers.
Starting at its own 47, it was Ansonia that was its own worst enemy.
After an illegal procedure by the Blazers, Ansonia gave it right back
with an off side penalty, then added insult to injury with a 15 yard
facemask penalty on the ensuing play, setting up a 1st and 10 at the
Tigers 23.
An 18 yard run by Zach Sullivan put the ball at the five, allowing
Griffin to take it in for the score and a 14-6 lead with one quarter in
the books.
Ansonia took the second quarter kick and went 70 yards, capped off by a
54 yard romp from Newman and a 14-14 score.
That would be as close as the Tigers would get the rest of the night.
Using the big play offense, Trail opened up a 28-14 lead at the break
and was well in control after three quarters, 54-30.
Never relying on the short gains to move the ball, the Blazers ate up
yardage in big chunks.
“They have athletes,” said Hoening.
While the Tigers coach was quick to comment on the opposition, he also
talked about his team and the offense.
“Jordon had a real nice game tonight,” said Hoening. “Our offensive
line was blocking and doing its job. I know he had a couple of big runs
for us on the trap and that’s been a big play for us. The lineman
executed well. We have to eliminate the mistakes and the penalties. I
told the guys we are our own worst enemy. We need to learn to tackle
better. We need to learn to tackle lower. We still want to tackle high.
When guys are bigger and stronger than you are, they give you the stiff
arm and stiff arm you right to the ground. We have to tackle lower. Not
diving at the guy but running through their hips.”
Now 0-5 on the season, Ansonia will hold its homecoming Friday as
Linden McKinley will provide the opposition in place of Bradford.
McKinley is located in Columbus and is currently 1-4 on the season and
0-2 in the Columbus City North Division Conference.
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