Granville football staves off Tri-Valley rally with fourth-down stand

DRESDEN — It wasn’t a flashy play, but it all but epitomized what the Granville defense accomplished in another topsy-turvy tussle with Tri-Valley.

With the host Scotties facing a fourth-and-short at the Blue Aces' 21-yard line, trying to overcome a three-point deficit with 1:10 left, the Blue Aces knew what was coming.

Leevi Wade, the Scotties' All-Ohio running back, was going to get yet another carry — he had 36 to that point. The challenge was to gang tackle him one more time. Only this time, the chips were officially on the table.

Indeed, a Wade run into the teeth of the Blue Aces' front came up one yard short with a minute to play. It preserved a thrilling 24-21 win at Jack Anderson Stadium.

Granville could finally take a breath after watching a 24-7 third-quarter lead come painfully close to dissipating, due largely to a pair of costly turnovers that gave Tri-Valley life.

But rather than staring at 0-2 and yielding the Scotties key points in Division III, Region 11, the Blue Aces escaped with their 2026 mojo still well intact.

Now comes a home tilt with 2-0 Johnstown, coming off a 50-0 win against Centerburg, in Week 3.

"We talked about resilience at halftime, before the game.," said Granville coach Heath Hinton, a former star running back at Amanda-Clearcreek in the early 1990s. "Our superintendent (Jeff Brown) talked about it on our convocation day. We watched some videos about being resilient. It's one of our core principles at our school. The more we can talk about that stuff, the bigger it is. Coming from Week 1 to Week 2 is a big-time adjustment and I thought we improved."

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Turnovers help youthful Scotties claw back

Three-score halftime deficits have been a rarity for Tri-Valley, but even more of an anomaly at home. A 21-0 hole? Many in the stands probably couldn't remember the last time it happened at Jack Anderson Stadium.

That is precisely what transpired after Granville quarterback Jackson McMillan fired touchdowns of 43 yards to Luke Bosse and 72 on a post to Carter Rhyan, then hit Bosse for 32 yards on a run-pass option. The latter allowed Evan Seifert to plunge in from a yard out.

Granville got it back with a chance to add on, but Spiker intercepted a deflected pass in Granville territory. Wade scored on a tough inside run a few plays later to cut the lead to 21-7.

After scuffling against the Aces' aerial attack for much of the first three quarters, and allowing McMillan to engineer a last-minute drive to get a 45-yard field goal from Cameron Rhodes just before the horn, one play flipped the switch.

That was freshman A.J. Pusz's 25-yard interception return for a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, just one play after Bosse made a key fourth-down tackle on on Spiker to thwart a Tri-Valley scoring chance.

After a Granville punt from the Scotties' 44-yard line, Stone Spiker hit a streaking Lucca Gargasz in stride for an 80-yard scoring strike down the middle that cut the deficit to 24-21 with 8:15 still showing.

Momentum was officially wearing black. When a bad snap led to a three-and-out on Granville's next possession, it was wearing a full-fledged dog costume.

Tri-Valley chewed five minutes off the clock, riding Wade for six carries to the Granville 24. Despite a loaded box, Tri-Valley remained steadfast in its ground focus.

It came up on yard short, as Granville never let Wade get to the second level of defense he has made routine against most opponents. It was a rare game in which Wade, who ran 37 times for 179 yards, didn't average at least five yards per carry.

"He has kind of been our guy to go to in those short-yardage (plays) and stuff like that," Tri-Valley coach Austin Jones said. "And to be honest, we were confident with it. Granville made a good play (at the end), but that's football. That's life. It doesn't always go the way you want."

Hinton agreed it was the correct approach.

"He is their best player," Hinton said. "They're going to give it to their best dude on the field. That is what I would want to do do, too."

Scotties' youth still learning the ropes

Jones said that his team, with youth and inexperience at several positions after another year of heavy grad losses, must develop better practice habits to avoid first halves like the one it endured against the Blue Aces.

"It's Monday through Thursday for us," Jones said. "We have a bunch of young guys on the team that just haven't quite grasped that. Hopefully, they use this game as a perfect example of how important practice can be and how important it is in general."

Gargasz, the outside speedster who will be relied upon to provide a vertical threat to the offense and a cover man on defense, offered the same assessment.

He felt it made an impact on defense when it came to defending the pass, going as far to say the unit was "just kind of lazy" in the first half and "weren't ready to play."

"We didn't have the best practices throughout the week," Gargasz said. "We were just kind of going through the motions and it translated to the game. And then we just didn't bring it. Second half we were ready to go and showed what we can do. I think we'll be better out there."

Jones said he was proud of his team's resolve, despite the outcome. Spiker shook off two first-half interceptions in Granville territory to hit 7 of 17 passes for 133 yards. Gargasz had 97 of those on three catches.

"But the first half it was a pure example of all week," Jones said. "It took being down 24-7 for them to realize, 'you've gotta go,' and for an offense like us that's not a good position to be in."

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