The Miami Trace Panthers had their first road trip of the season Friday night, taking on the Indians of Carlisle High School.
The Panthers defeated the Indians, 30-27 to improve to 2-0 on the season.
“It was kind of a tale of two halves,” Miami Trace assistant coach Brent Noes said. “In the first half, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. We gave up a few big plays and Carlisle capitalized on them.
“In the second half, the roles were reversed,” Noes said. “We came out in the second half and were able to have some success running the football. We hit a few timely passes when we needed to.
“Tyrae Pettiford scored on a sweep,” Noes said. “That tied the ball game (27-27). That was on a fourth-down, actually. We were looking at a fourth down and three at about the 10-yard line.
Carlisle got the ball back, but the Panthers’ defense rose to the occasion and stopped the Indians, forcing a punt.
Miami Trace took over near midfield.
With just three seconds to play in the game, Blake Pittser connected for a 38-yard field goal to give the Panthers the win.
At halftime, the Panthers were down, 20-14.
Skyler McDonald had a touchdown pass to Lance Mick for the Panthers.
Drake Litteral had a rushing touchdown and another score came on a kickoff return by Tyrae Pettiford.
“The kids were great,” Noes said. “They came back after halftime, they were fired up and ready to go. They were kind of upset that we kind of dug ourselves a bit of a hole in the first half. We knew we had to come out in the second half and right the ship and the kids did a really nice job.
The Panthers are at Logan Elm for a 7 p.m. game next Friday.
Elsewhere around the South Central Ohio League Friday, Unioto edged McClain, 42-21, Chillicothe defeated Jackson, 24-21, it was Goshen over Hillsboro, 49-26, Clinton-Massie was beaten by Cincinnati Turpin, 28-21, Blanchester defeated East Clinton, 47-33 and Wilmington beat Greenville, 26-7.
