The Miami Trace Panthers (4-2) welcomed Jackson (5-1) to Fayette County for the second week in a row on Friday as the Ironmen traveled for a Frontier Athletic Conference football contest. Jackson traveled to take on the Washington Blue Lions last week and won that game 49-21.
Miami Trace would fumble the opening kickoff but recovered it to avoid a major disaster. A 15-yard run by quarterback Trey Robinette had the Panthers in business but ultimately they would have to punt the ball away.
The Ironmen took over at their own 43-yard line and it took four plays for them to score, with Nolan Johnson scampering 43-yards into the end zone. The PAT was good to make it 7-0.
The Panthers would fumble the ball away on their next drive, setting the Ironmen up at the Miami Trace 31. Jackson would convert two third downs on the drive and cap it off with a four-yard touchdown run from Cade Wolford. The extra point made it 14-0 late in the opening quarter.
The second quarter began with the Panthers possessing the football. A fumbled pitch on third down made it fourth-and-17 from their own 13 and they had to punt.
A big pass from Jackson quarterback Bodhi Wolford to Ryan Seimetz went for 41 yards to get the ball into the red zone. Two plays later, Wolford hit older brother Cade for a 15-yard touchdown to extend the lead. The PAT made it 21-0 early in the second quarter.
A personal foul on the Ironmen on the ensuing kickoff set the Panthers up near midfield. They would convert two first downs to get the ball to the Jackson 32. On the next play, Robinette pitched the ball to Cooper Enochs who threw the ball deep to Cody Gibbs for a 32-yard touchdown. The extra point was good from Ian Mavis to make it 21-7.
A chop block on the Ironmen had them at first-and-25 and a big sack from Enochs on the next play appeared to really put the Ironmen in trouble, but a defensive holding penalty negated the sack. On the next play, Wolford broke through the line of scrimmage and raced 64 yards into the end zone for a touchdown. The PAT was good to make it 28-7 with 6:04 left in the half.
After converting a fourth-and-two, and a big catch and run from Malachi Jones to get the ball to midfield, the next Panther drive would stall and they would elect to punt.
The Miami Trace defense stopped Jackson on third down on the next drive to force a punt. On the punt, the Ironmen punter received no pressure from the Panther defense after holding the ball for several seconds, so he elected to keep the ball and rushed 19 yards for a first down.
A big run from Wolford on the next play got the ball inside the Miami Trace 10, and Wolford would score from nine yards out on the following play. The PAT was successful, giving Jackson a 35-7 lead with under a minute remaining in the half.
Miami Trace was unable to get anything going as the clock ran out in the second quarter.
The Panthers would force a punt on the opening drive of the third quarter. A big completion on third down from Robinette to Evan Mollett got the ball near the 50. A sack on third and four knocked the Panthers back on the other side of midfield and they were forced to punt.
Wolford would add a 49-yard touchdown run on the next drive to extend the lead. The extra point made it 42-7 with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter.
The Panthers put a nice drive together and were in Jackson territory as the third quarter came to a close. Early in the quarter, Robinette scrambled and took the ball 29-yards into the end zone for a touchdown. The PAT was no good, making the score 42-13 with 11:01 left in the game.
Miami Trace would force a punt on the next drive and later found themselves inside the red zone, but the Ironmen intercepted a pass in the end zone to end the drive.
Jackson was able to run out the rest of the clock to secure the victory.
Unofficially for Miami Trace, Asher LeBeau led the ground attack with 115 yards on 17 carries.
Robinette was 5-of-7 through the air for 56 yards.
Enochs was 1-of-1 for 32 yards and a touchdown.
Gibbs led the Panthers in receiving with two receptions for 45 yards and a touchdown.
Jackson unofficially ran for 327 yards on the night.
Miami Trace head coach Jerry Williams shared some comments following the loss.
”Jackson took us right out of our game plan early on, and they did a nice job. They are certainly the class team of this conference right now, and we just didn’t have anything for them. We got out of our game plan with turnovers and giving them short fields, and they were scoring early. We didn’t want to play catch up, and they put us in that situation.
Miami Trace (4-3, 1-1) is back in action at home next week as they host Chillicothe (1-6, 0-2) for their Homecoming football game.
Jackson (6-1, 2-0) will play at Hillsboro (4-3, 2-0) next week.