The Miami Trace Panthers (at right) line up on offense against Columbus Bishop Watterson in a Division III second round playoff game at Watterson High School Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. Pictured for the Panthers: Evan Mollett (4), Malachi Jones (17), Brady Sheets (56), Conor Harrison (69), Cameron Morton (53), Gage Henry (16), Jayden Jones (57), Nick Farrens (58) and Janson Smith (80).
Courtesy photos
As the ball is being thrown to Bishop Watterson’s No. 19, several Miami Trace Panthers are pictured during the second round Division III playoff game Friday, Nov. 3, 2023 in Columbus. (l-r); Evan Mollett (4), Cooper Enochs (6), Tyler Stevens (63), and Brady Sheets (56).
Miami Trace’s Evan Mollett (4), Brady Sheets and Nick Farrens (58) are among the Panthers pictured in their playoff game against Bishop Watterson played Friday, Nov. 3, 2023 in Columbus.
Jayden Jones (57) makes the tackle for Miami Trace in a Division III playoff game against the Bishop Watterson Eagles Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. Other Panthers pictured are Brady Sheets (56), Walker Glispie (15), Bryson Wallace (7) and Cody Gibbs (35).
Miami Trace’s Trey Robinette (12) sets to make a throw as Asher LeBeau (1) gets ready to block during a Division III playoff game against Bishop Watterson Friday, Nov. 3, 2023.
COLUMBUS — The Miami Trace Panthers football season came to an end Friday, Nov. 3 in the quarterfinals of the Division III, Region 11 tournament.
Miami Trace played at Bishop Watterson High School.
The Eagles won the game, 44-7.
Miami Trace scored early in the third quarter on a short pass (about 10 yards) from Trey Robinette to Cody Gibbs. Ian Mavis tacked on the extra-point.
The Panthers end the season at 7-5 overall.
Miami Trace tied for second place in the Frontier Athletic Conference with Hillsboro, both at 3-2. (Jackson won the FAC going 5-0. Washington and McClain tied for fourth at 2-3 and Chillicothe went 0-5.)
Watterson improves to 11-1 and will play 10-2 Bloom-Carroll in the Region 11 semifinals Friday.
Miami Trace was coming off a 21-14 win over their rivals, the Washington Blue Lions, and a 55-34 playoff win over 9-1 Hamilton Township going into the Watterson game.
“It’s hard to say you’re pleased with the season when you lose five games,” Miami Trace head coach Jerry Williams said. “It was an up and down season.”
Miami Trace began the 2023 season with a 27-26 win at Waverly. The Tigers made the playoffs and finished 6-5 overall.
Next was a 24-21 loss to Wilmington. The Hurricane made the playoffs and finished with a record of 8-3.
The third week of the season was a game against Logan Elm. The Braves won that game, 41-20. Logan Elm made the playoffs, finishing with a record of 9-2.
The Panthers then evened their record at 2-2 with a 34-20 win at Bethel-Tate. The Tigers went 1-1 in the playoffs, finishing with a record of 7-5.
Miami Trace then thrashed Western Brown, 63-31 to improve to 3-2. The Broncos made the playoffs at 3-7, losing to Tippecanoe in their first-round game to finish the season.
Then began the FAC portion of the season.
Miami Trace defeated McClain, 29-20. The Tigers made the playoffs for the first time ever, not counting the COVID 2020 season in which every team was allowed a playoff game. McClain finished 6-5.
The Panthers fell to Jackson, 42-13, but quickly rebounded with a 47-7 win over Chillicothe to raise its record to 5-3.
Then came a tough 14-13 loss at Hillsboro. The Indians made the playoffs and finished the season at 5-6.
“It was difficult early on because we had so many new guys and we were really trying to find our identity,” Williams said. “You know, who we are. We settled in about mid-season.
“Our guys this season were extremely inexperienced guys, for the most part,” Williams said. “We only had seven seniors.” A couple of those players had minimal varsity experience, Williams noted.
“Our juniors who came in were guys that spot-played, for the most part last year,” Williams said. “It was a big development.”
By then, the Panthers were getting a feel for what they were capable of doing.
The Panthers found a solid mixture of tenacious running, led by Asher LeBeau and solid play on the line and Trey Robinette threw the ball with much success, his primary target being Garrett Guess.
“I think both offensively and defensively, we had pretty good game plans going into the games,” Williams said. “I just felt pretty good about it.
“The loss to Hillsboro was a tough loss,” Williams said. “Hillsboro was certainly a very good team. That was a disappointing loss. That was after we had really put our game plans together and really knew what we wanted to do and what we needed to do to compete each and every game. So, that one was frustrating.”
The Panthers’ win over the Blue Lions made it two out of the last three victories in that series for Miami Trace. The win in 2021 for the Panthers broke a five-game losing streak to the Blue Lions.
“That win against Court House was a big one for us, there’s no doubt,” Williams said.
It gave the Panthers a big lift, according to Williams and the Panthers rode that wave of momentum to a crescendo in the above-mentioned playoff win over Hamilton Township.
The Panthers played a team in Bishop Watterson that is operating at a level Miami Trace is striving toward.
“I think (our guys) went out there and saw that Bishop Watterson is a State champion contender, no doubt,” Williams said. “(The Panthers) felt their strength and their speed — it was difficult. But, I think that was a huge learning lesson for us, to know what we need to do to get to Week 13 (which would be the Regional semifinals) and beyond.”
Moving into more of an elite level will take more and more diligence, sacrifice and just plain more hard work.
“If we want to get to that point again next year and move on, there’s a lot we have to do in the off-season,” Williams said.
In other Division III, Region 11 playoff games Friday, Nov. 3, it was Bellefontaine defeating London, 35-28, Bloom-Carroll over Jackson, 14-10 and Granville beating Dresden Tri-Valley, 32-29.
That sets up the following match-ups for the Region 11 semifinals Friday at 7 p.m.:
1 Columbus Bishop Watterson (11-1) vs. 5 Carroll Bloom-Carroll (10-2) at Ashville Teays Valley High School Viking Stadium
7 Bellefontaine (10-2) vs. 3 Granville (12-0) at London High School Bowlus Field
By Chris Hoppes, [email protected]
