UNION CITY – Mississinawa Valley celebrated senior night before the start of its football game with Arcanum, but the Trojans played the spoiler with a 49-12 win over the Blackhawks.
Emotions were high and the Hawks soared to start the game, starting out on the very first play with a big strike from Trent Collins over the middle to Trent Perkins, who raced 70 yards before being brought down on the 10-yard line.
The Hawks almost squandered their good start with negative yards facing a fourth and 2, and then Collins tossed the football to the 5-yard line where Dilyn Rammel hauled in the pass and stretched out for the goal line with an Arcanum defender pulling him down … but it was enough for the touchdown to give Mississinawa a quick 6-0 lead.
Arcanum didn’t take long to answer, driving down the field and capping it off with a Pierce Lindemuth pass to Wade Meeks, who then juked a defender and raced in for the 15-yard touchdown. The extra point was good by Evan Atchley, and the Trojans led 7-6.
It was a lead the Trojans wouldn’t relinquish as they scored three more times in the first quarter to go up 28-6, quieting the home crowd after a good start.
Arcanum’s Atchley intercepted a Mississinawa pass on the next Blackhawks possession and returned it 59 yards for a TD to go up 14-6.
MV then botched a punt on the next possession that led to another quick score as Lindemuth hooked up with Meeks for another aerial score from 19 yards out, making the score 21-6.
The fourth touchdown in the quarter was set-up by a fumble on the kickoff return, and moments later Brandon Kinney ran one in from 8 yards out, expanding their lead to 28-6.
The Trojans scored 21 more points in the second quarter to take a halftime lead of 49-6.
It was all Kinney in the second quarter as he scored on TD runs of 22, 12 and 11 yards for a total of four TDs in the first half. Atchley was a perfect 7-for-7 on extra points on the night.
Mississinawa scored one more time in the third quarter on a Nathan Rammel run, but it wasn’t enough for the Blackhawks as the Trojans improved to 4-5 on the year with a 49-12 victory.
Arcanum will host Bethel on Friday in a Cross County Conference showdown, looking to even its record.
Mississinawa seniors playing their last home game were Brandon Beanblossom, Wade Gilbert, Andrew Johns, JJ Howard, Trent Perkins and Noah Hopkins and cheerleaders were Shaiann Livingston, Shelby Manning and Makayla Connor.
The Blackhawks will travel to Troy Christian on Friday to close out their season.
