Braves fall to 2-6 at the Hands of the Arrows

  As the Shawnee Braves had just come off a bitter loss to the Kenton Ridge Cougars and hoped to keep their playoff hopes alive and the Tecumseh Arrows hoped to snap their 2 game conference losing streak, this was a must-win for both teams. 

  The 1st quarter held only 2 drives, one for each team. Matt Crain ran 4 yards for a Tecumseh TD, and Michael Guyer caught a 30 yard TD pass to make the score after 1 quarter 7-7, as both kickers nailed the PAT. The 2nd quarter held two more TD's for Tecumseh, as Crain ran in yet another TD. Then 5'6 Tecumseh Sophomore Clay Mastin picked off Alec Bennett and caught a pass after that he ran 26 yards for a TD to make the 1st half score 21-7 in favor of Tecumseh.

The 3rd quarter was the Jaden Jenkins show as he capped off a 75 yard drive with the lone score of the quarter and Garberich sank the PAT. The 4th quarter was not a good one for the Braves. Two fumbles from the Braves cost them the game, as both yeilded touchdowns for the Arrows. Then the Arrows put the final stamp of victory upon this game, with Brandon Morgan running in a 2 yard Touchdown and Garrett McCormick nailed the PAT, making the final score Tecumseh 42, Shawnee 14.

  The Braves fall to 1-2 in CBC and next take on the Bellefontaine Chieftains (1-2) at home. The Arrows move to 1-2 in the CBC and next take on the Tippecanoe Red Devils (2-1), also at home.

Braves Upset Red Devils

  As the Shawnee Braves, standing at 1-4, took the field at Tipp City Park, almost everyone had counted them out against the 5-0 Tippecanoe Red Devils. The Braves came out of the locker room (or the trailer rather) with the intensity they needed. They were eager to prove that they were not the Braves team that lost 56-28 to Vandalia-Butler, or the first Braves team in 24 years to lose to Northwestern, and that they're 65-0 victory the week prior against Greenon was not a fluke.

  Under the guide of returning quarterback Alec Bennett, who broke his collarbone prior to the regular season, the Braves put themselves on the board halfway through the 1st quarter with a drive capped off by a 1 yard Josh Nelson run-in, and Alyssa Garberich nailed the point after. Making the score 7-0 after the 1st quarter.

  Almost immediately after the 2nd quarter began, QB Alec Bennett ran 42 yards for a touchdown and Garberich again sank the extra point. Tippecanoe answered right back as Jacob Prall caught a pass and ran 58 yards to the house and the extra point was missed. Late in the 2nd quarter, a 55 yard drive was capped off by another 1 yard run-in by Josh Nelson and Garberich sank her 3rd extra point of the night. To cap off the 1st half, Jacob Prall ran a 67 yard touchdown to make the score 12-21 Braves, and Dylan Shomper nailed the point after. 

  The 3rd quarter was filled with several well put-together drives, but almost all of them ultimately resulted in punts. The lone score of the quarter came with 5:31 remaining as Trevor Staggs caught a 16 yard touchdown pass and Bobby Hopkins caught the pass for the 2-point conversion to make the score 21-21 going into the 4th quarter.

The Braves came out hot in the 4th quarter with Michael Guyer running in a 4 yard touchdown and Alyssa Garberich missed the extra point, putting the Braves up 27-21. The Braves punted halfway through the quarter, and Aaron Hughes returned it 57 yards for a touchdown and Shomper again nailed the PAT and the Red Devils took their first lead of the game. 

  After an intentional grounding call with under 3 minutes remaining in the game, it was 3rd down and 21 yards to go for the Braves. Almost everyone counted them out at this point, but the boys from Shawnee hadn't given up yet. Alec Bennett found David Barnett for a 12 yard pass, bringing it to 4th and 9. Bennett rolled out of the pocket, under pressure, and found Michael Guyer wide open at the 1 yard line. TJ King then ran it in for a touchdown, and after a flag on Tipp on the original 2-point conversion, Michael Guyer ran it in to give the Braves a 35-28 lead. After the Shawnee kick, Sophomore Jack McCrory was the initiater of a sack and a tackle that forced a T.O.D. and allowed the Braves to run the clock out. 

  Shawnee moves to 2-4 (1-0 CBC) and next takes on Kenton Ridge at home. Tippecanoe falls to 5-1 (0-1 CNC) and next faces Bellfontaine (@ Bellfontaine.)

Braves Rout Knights 65-0

   As the Braves took the field for Week 5 of Friday night football, all the Shawnee Braves fans predicted a huge win over the under-manned  Greenon Knights team. With Will Finch coming back in as quarterback, and  Michael Guyer coming back out as a wide reciever, the Braves looked to get their first win of the season. But nobody could predict the blowout they had in store.

   The game started off with an almost instant touchdown by the Braves, on a Finch-Barnett 10 yard touchdown reception. The Braves never looked back. At the end of the first quarter the score was Braves 30, Knights 0. WR #8 Michael Guyer scored 3 of the Braves 1st quarter touchdowns, David Barnett scoring the other, and Will Finch running in three 2-point conversions, as Kicker Alyssa Garberich was injured in a Soccer match earlier in the week.

    The 2nd quarter was an even worse score, as the Braves tallied on 35 more points. Michael Guyer scored two more touchdowns (Will Finch scored another 2-point conversion) and sophomore standout TJ King scored on an 80 yard rushing TD, splitting multiple defenders in the process. The Braves attempted an extra point with senior Jared Shoemaker, and he buried it. The Braves again scored on a 24 yard rush by Sophomore Jaden Jenkins and Shoemaker missed his second attempt. Then to cap off the 1st half, David Barentt ran in a recovered fumble on defense and Shoemaker put in his 3rd PAT of the night. 

In the 2nd half, coach Rick Meeks decided to get some of his junior-varsity players experience playing under the lights. The offense wasn't very productive, fumbling or dropping almost every snap. The defense did an above-average job for playing a varsity team, holding them to the shutout. Final score; your Shawnee Braves 65, Grennon Knights 0.

    The Braves move to 1-4 on the season, next facing the Tippacanoe Red Devils (@ Tipp) , and the Grennon Knights fall to 0-5, next taking on the Urbana Hillclimbers (@ Urbana.)

Northwestern upsets Shawnee

Two decades. 24 years. 288 months. 8,766 days. No matter how you say it, the last time the Northwestern Warriors beat the Shawnee Braves was in 1991. To put that into perspective, George H.W. Bush was president of the United States, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won their first NBA championship, and Ted Turner (founder of CNN) was TIME's man of the year.

The game started off very slow, the first quarter being scoreless, with 2 interceptions thrown (one from each team's quarterback) and 3 punts being kicked, including a very nice one by Shawnee's #15 David Barnett.

The 2nd quarter brought the action we'd been waiting for. The quarter started off with another interception thrown by Shawnee 5th string quarterback #8 Michael Guyer. The Warriors moved down the field and Cole Baldwin scored on a 26 yard rushing touchdown. Shawnee returned the punt and moved well down the field, but were ultimately forced to punt. Northwestern scored again on a 1 yard run in by quarterback #10, Trevor Gebby, making the score after the 1st half 14-0 in favor of Northwestern.

The 2nd half started with many low yardage plays, but on a smart play by the Braves, #14 T.J. King broke free for 70 yards, but the play was called back  due to blocking in the back, and Shawnee was yet again forced to punt. Then, the Warriors repeated their previous smart plays, pushing it down the field, with Trevor Gebby running it in again for the touchdown. 

The rest of the game remained scoreless, consisting of punts and T.O.D's. The Northwestern Warriors had finally beat the Shawnee Braves for the first time in 24 very long years. The Braves fall to 0-4 (0-1 in CBC) and the Warriors move to 3-1 (1-0) CBC. The Braves next take on Greenon at home on Friday, September 25th. 

                                         -Mikey Zeigler

Braves Concede Defeat versus D-1 Wildcats 24-7

Week 2 of friday night football. Shawnee @ Springfield (played at Evans Stadium.) The cross-town rivalry. Lets go.

The first quarter of friday night action was mostly filled empty 30-40 yard drives, and although several were pushed close to the redzone, no touchdowns or field goals were put in.

As the 2nd quarter began, the first 6 minutes were again scoreless and mostly filled with punts and TOD's. With approxamitely 5:30remaining, there was a connection on a Muhammed-Davis pass which was ran in for a TD. Springfield went for the 2 pt. conversion and were stopped by multiple braves tacklers. With 3:37 left in the first half, a 30 minute lightning delay was called and eventually the game was postponed and rescheduled for the next day at 10 o'clock in the morning. 

As I made the ride to Evans Stadium saturday I wondered if the Braves would again be plauged with injury. As Springfield scored in the remaining minutes in the second half, and Shawnee scored off a David Barnett recieving TD, my question was answered shortly into the 3rd quarter. 3rd string QB Zach Avery was attempting a rush up the middle and he was tackled to the ground, apparently injuring himself severly. This was bad news for Braves fans as they had already lost multiple players to injury. Now Michael Guyer took the reins. The game never changed pace, with Shawnee running literally the same offensive play every remaining possesion and Springfield was able to pile on 2 more TD's, making the final score Springfield Wildcats (1-1) 24, your Shawnee Braves (0-2) 7. 

KEEP YOUR EYES LOOKING FORWARD:

Shawnee Sophomores T.J. King, Cameron Hoelscher, and Jack McCrory, numbers 14,33, and 66 respectively seem to be talented young individuals and hopefully will be able to step up and take some of the burden off of this young and injruy-plauged Braves roster.

Next friday's game will be played at Shawnee against Carrol.

                           -Mikey Zeigler

Braves Falter in 2nd Half in Season Opener

  Although the Shawnee vs. Vandalia-Butler (which I will simply refer to as 'Butler' for the remainder of this article) football game may not have started until 7:00 Friday night, as soon as the 2:35 dismissal bell at Shawnee High School rang, football season had begun.

   The game started off with a couple uneventful drives up and down the field before Butler finally scored on a passing touchdown. The Braves answered right back with a 1 yard run in by RB #24 Zach Avery (SR.) Late in the 1st quarter it was backup QB Will Finch's time to step up to the occasion. Finch faked a pass and ran to the right side of the field, completing a 23 yard QB rushing touchdown. 

    Alyssa Garberich completed both of her extra point attempts in the first quarter. 

    As the second quarter began, Butler scored on a blocked punt return making the score 14-12 Braves. Butler then scored again on a two yard run in from #38 Nic Martin. To close out the first half the Braves scored a TD on another 1 yard run in, this time by Junior RB #8 Michael Guyer. The Braves fans were not surprised when the kicker they know and love, Alyssa Garberich sunk her 3rd extra point attempt of the night. 

    As the second half began, Butler took control of the game. Scoring 3 Touchdowns and one 2 point conversion. The Braves were able to close out the remaining seconds of the 3rd quarter of play with yet another 1 yard run in by Zach Avery, and Garberich buried her final extra point attempt of the night. 

The 4th quarter brought more suffering for Braves fans. Butler scored on a passing play and then a 4 yard run in and sunk both extra points making the score 56-28 Butler. The Braves and Aviators exchanged several adequate drives down the field but no more points were scored that night. The final score being your Shawnee Braves 28, Vandalia-Butler Aviators 56

    Be sure to check out mixlr.com/bravessportsnetwork for the play by play broadcast of next weeks game, Shawnee @ Springfield and check out this blog for more Braves sports updates. 

                       -Mikey Zeigler

   

Boys Golf Update

The Boys Golf team is off to a strong start this season. The Braves secured there second straight Clark County Championship by winning the tournament at the Elks by 12 strokes. The Braves are looking to win back-to-back conference titles. The Braves currently trail Bellefontaine by three points in the conference standings. The Braves finished second to Bellefontaine at the CBC preseason tournament. The Braves are 3-1 in conference play. The Braves have defeated Tecumseh, Kenton Ridge, and Tipp City. The Braves lost amid controversy to Bellefontaine on Monday, August 24th. The controversy dealt with Bellefontaine team members allegedly helping each other read putts, which carries a two stroke penalty. However the penalty was not assessed and propelled Bellefontaine to a 1 stroke victory on the 5th man tiebreaker. The Braves have a re-match against the Chieftains on Thursday, September 3. The Braves a led by standout sophomore Grant Engle, junior Caleb Deerwester, and seniors Brody Hannan, Baylee Combs, and Wes Doyle. 

                                       -Brody Hannan