By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

UNION CITY — Physical is the right word to describe the battle between Arcanum and Mississinawa Valley on Sept. 1. Both teams had players leave with injuries and many players had to play hurt.

In the end, the Trojans got the one touchdown they needed to get a 6-0 win at the Blackhawks home field.

Head coach Matt Macy said the team came into this game with three linemen out already. They had to go through the depth chart after losing their starting quarterback, junior Landon Wagner. But, they found a way to win the game.

Macy also said with already being a young team heading into this game, the injuries forced them to play a lot more of their younger players.

“We survived, that’s the best word for it. We had a rash of injuries tonight. We ended with our third quarterback on the night, so did they. It was like a freshmen game out here,” Macy said.

Mississinawa Valley also had quarterback injuries of their own. Senior Dylan Wehrkamp went down in the first quarter and sophomore Kyle Wehrkamp was battling injuries.

It was a 0-0 score at halftime. Both teams made plays to move the ball down the field, but couldn’t get into the endzone. Arcanum ran the ball effectively, but had a turnover and couldn’t get anything going after.

For Mississinawa Valley, penalties hurt their drives. Before halftime, Kyle Wehrkamp found junior Trenton Holdon for 31 yards to get down to the Trojan 2-yard line.

The Arcanum defense held strong and backed up the Blackhawks and got a turnover on downs to end the half.

The only score of the game came in the third quarter. Freshman Lucas Miller hit senior Micah Jarrett for a 40-yard touchdown pass on a slant. The PAT attempt was blocked.

Mississinawa Valley found success through the air. Holdon and junior Leland Kauffman both made plays to help their quarterback.

But after Holdon left with an injury in the third quarter, the turnovers started to happen. The Blackhawks would get near the redzone, but then turnover the ball.

Head coach Steven Trobridge said after the injuries, they also had to play a lot of their younger players. From that point, the inexperience led to their mistakes.

“When you have three or four freshmen out there on an empty set, it’s tough. Dylan, one of our best athletes, goes down in the first quarter, it’s a tough thing. Mental mistakes, we had a young team out there. We basically had our JV team out there,” Trobridge said.

Both the Trojans and the Blackhawks defenses made plays to keep their team in the game. With the injuries, both teams also had to stray away from their usual play styles after each defense took advantage of the youth on both offenses.

“They figured out we couldn’t throw it. They started to bring the house. Then they went empty and started throwing it. We had to spread out. We did the opposite things than what we thought we were going to do,” Macy said.

Mississinawa Valley did have one last shot at tying the game in the final minute, but couldn’t get the ball past the Arcanum defense as they forced another turnover.

For Arcanum, they are 2-1 with a 1-1 WOAC record. Macy said they should get some guys back, but they will need to make some adjustments and figure out their depth to get the best 11 guys on the field.

For Mississinawa Valley, they are 0-3 with a 0-2 WOAC record. Trobridge said he is proud of his team’s efforts despite all the adversity they faced. They just have to pick themselves up and move onto next week.

“Every week, we’ve been making improvements. Improvements, improvements and then tonight you go down with some injuries. We have to move on,” Trobridge said.

Arcanum will host Ansonia on Sept. 8 while Mississinawa Valley will travel to Tri-Village on Sept. 8. Both games are set for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]