NEW MADISON – School Fair weekend has always been a big event at Tri-Village along with Downing’s Fruit farm festival going on as well. The weekend has gotten even busier with Tri-Village adding football with Homecoming going on as well. For the first time since adding football the Patriots were victorious on the gridiron with a 42-6 win over Bradford.
Prior to the game Tri-Village Superintendent Josh Sagester presented a plaque to Chas & Paula Godsey who were the Grand Marshals for the 86th annual School Fair.
Sagester also presented a plaque to Dale Barger with his wife Rita Barger as Grand Patriot for the fourth Tri-Village Homecoming.
School Fair representatives this year were freshman class Morgan Hunt and Austin Rismiller, sophomore class Reece Arnett and Chase Scantland and junior class Chloe Sullenbarger and Dylan Holsapple. Reece Arnett was crowned Queen and Chase Scantland King for School Fair.
Homecoming queen candidates were Andi Bietry, Lissa Siler, Trisa Porter, Maddie Downing and Tara Tankersley. The king candidates were Cody Eyer, Mason Lay, Zac Dowler, Carson Munchel and Javier Ramirez. The 2019 Homecoming King & Queen were Cody Eyer and Lissa Siler.
The Patriots offense was in full gear in the game with the passing game excelling on the first two drives in the game.
Layne Sarver would throw for 204 yards on the night on 10/12 passing and 3 TD’s.
The Patriots struck quickly on the first series with Josh Scantland making two straight catches including with the second one resulting in a touchdown.
A few minutes later Sarver found Scantland again in the corner of the endzone with the sophomore making a great over the shoulder grab to give TV a quick 16-0 lead.
Scantland would end the game with 6 catches and 142 yards receiving.
Tri-Village Football coach was excited to get back his sophomore receiver Josh Scantland who turned in nice performances over the last two games.
“We were so happy to get Josh Scantland back after being out for a while, we missed him in the Mississinawa Valley game. He had a great game last week against Bethel with over a 100-yards receiving and another big night tonight,” Burk praised.
Devin Swick made 3 catches for 50 yards including a TD as the Patriots opened up a 28-0 halftime lead.
The Patriots primarily used the ground game in the second half and for the game rushed for 225 yards with Sarver leading the way with 100 yards on 8 carries and 2 touchdowns.
Coach Burk was complimentary on the performance by his sophomore QB. “Sarver had a big night passing and running the football. We told him last week he needs to quit dancing and run hard and tonight he showed what kind of runner he can be when he does that rather than always trying to make the perfect play,” Burke stated.
Swick had 71 yards on 3 carries and Cody Eyer had carries for 24 yards including a touchdown.
“Defensively we are playing at a level we’ve not played at since I’ve been here, it’s like someone has flipped the switch,” Burk commented.
Dylan Finkbine had a big game with 9 total tackles, 5 solo including 3 for losses including 2 sacks. Eyer had 8 total, 6 solo and 2 sacks.
Bradford would avoid a shutout as the Railroaders finally got on the board in the 4th quarter when senior quarterback Fischer Spencer aired one out to junior Tavin Leach who was able to get behind the Patriots defensive back for a 21-yard touchdown catch to make the final score 42-6.
“We went to Bethel last week and got a shutout there against a team who has really put it to us, so for us to make a step up in our program and beat a team who beat us by 127 points over the last two years was a huge confidence boost. Our kids believe and we’re getting better every week. They are starting to see we can play with these teams for an extended period of time if we eliminate mistakes and I felt like we did that tonight,” Burk beamed.
Tri-Village improves to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference and will play Fort Loramie next week who is undefeated in the conference.
Bradford falls to 0-6 and 0-3 and will host Twin Valley South next week.
