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St. Henry's Curtis Puthoff tries to bring in a pass against Ansonia in the Division VII regional semifinals at Piqua's Alexander Stadium on Friday. Ansonia's Alliyah Hall (9) broke it up.
PIQUA - St. Henry delivered four quarters of fight, but it was Ansonia's night.
Western Ohio Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year Keegen Weiss rushed for 150 yards on 41 attempts to carry unbeaten Ansonia to a 20-13 victory in a slobberknocker at Alexander Stadium. It is the first win for the Tigers over the Redskins since 1975 and first over a Midwest Athletic Conference program in the playoffs this century.
"It's a team win," Ansonia coach Adam Hall said. "We have a great group of guys. We have 12 seniors on our team. We've lost some guys. We've had guys step up. I really think that we have put ourselves in position because of the way we work in the offseason. We're reaping the rewards of the work we put in."
The reward for Ansonia is a date with the MAC's top team, Marion Local, next Friday in the Division VII, Region 28 Final. The location will be announced Sunday by the OHSAA.
Second-seeded Ansonia got all it could handle from 14th-seeded St. Henry (5-8), which rallied but couldn't overcome a 12-0 first-half deficit. St. Henry made it a one-score contest late in the third quarter, but Ansonia's ground game cooked the majority of the fourth-quarter clock before finding the end zone. The Redskins scored again but couldn't secure the onside kick.
"I'm always going to remember my seniors playing in their last game. That's what I'll remember, first and foremost," St. Henry coach Brad Luthman said. "But Ansonia earned this one. That was a tough-nosed, old-school brand of football and they went out and got it."
It was a slugfest from start to finish.
Ansonia crossed midfield once through its first two drives, but both ended in punts. St. Henry's offense sputtered with back-to-back three-and-outs. The Tigers had 31 total yards in the first quarter. St. Henry had minus-7.
St. Henry gave Ansonia great starting field position after a short punt, which was the result of St. Henry's second straight three-and-out. Starting at the 42, the Tigers continued to feed Weiss, who rushed for a pair of fourth-and-short conversions. After giving the ball to Weiss on 17 of their first 20 plays, Tiger quarterback Nick Burns found a wide-open Zane Henderson running through the middle for a 19-yard touchdown and a 6-0 lead.
St. Henry's next drive went into Tiger territory thanks to a 20-yard pass from Jack Huelsman to Carter Laguire. However, Huelsman narrowly missed a target on a fourth-and-3 from the 22, which gave Ansonia enough time to do some damage before halftime.
St. Henry's Logan Dehan (32) and Danny Stammen (24) tackle Ansonia's Keegen Weiss on Friday.
The Tigers rushed for nearly 80 yards in the final three minutes of the half. Weiss finished off the drive with a 13-yard run. The score was 12-0 at the intermission because Ansonia was stopped short on a pair of two-point conversion attempts.
The Redskins came up short on their drive to open the second half. Opening at their own 44-yard line, Huelsman pushed the offense down the field with long pass plays to Laguire and Jared Nietfeld. That series, however, was derailed inside the red zone when Huelsman was sacked for a big loss on first down. St. Henry failed to complete its next three pass attempts.
St. Henry flipped the momentum a little later in the quarter when Huelsman completed a 50-yard flea flicker to Hayden Boeckman. Michael Gonzalez's extra point made it a 12-7 contest with 31 seconds left in the frame.
That momentum didn't last long, however.
Ansonia's Ethan Reichert scored what proved to be the game-icing, three-yard touchdown with 3:45 left in the contest. The Tigers possessed the ball for 8:46, converting a pair of back-breaking fourth downs in the process.
Huelsman orchestrated a scoring drive late in the game, tossing a one-yard touchdown to Griffin Ontrop with 45 seconds to play. The end was anticlimactic, however, as St. Henry's onside kick bounced right into Ansonia's hands.
"The biggest thing I'm proud of is they just kept battling," Luthman said. "There were a lot of bumps in the road on this one, and you see the tears in the locker room. They were still in it until the end. They were fighting and clawing to the end."
The Tigers won the yardage battle 257-206.
Huelsman completed 14-of-30 passes for 211 yards. Boeckman had a five-catch, 96-yard performance for the Redskins, who saw a three-game winning streak snapped.
Ansonia lives to fight another day with an upcoming clash against a program that Hall holds in high regard. The Flyers and Tigers were the top-ranked teams in the final Region 28 standings and Associated Press state poll.
"Marion Local is a great team," Hall said. "We understand that. They are certainly the best small-school football team in the state, if not the country. We know that it's a tough challenge, but our guys are looking forward to it and we'll give it our best shot."
