‘We Wore Them Down’: Muskingum Valley’s Dominant Performance Seals Licking County’s Fate in All-Star Victory
PATASKALA — It was fourth-and-8 from the Licking County 45-yard line on the game’s opening drive and Muskingum Valley coach Cameron West was already facing one of those precarious positions.
He knew a stout defense would likely have given his team a chance to get the ball back with a punt. Or, he could roll the dice with record-setting quarterback quarterback Max Lyall, his former Tri-Valley understudy.
West chose the latter, which proved to be a shrewd decision. It also proved to be a sign of things to come.
Lyall fired a strike to New Lexington’s Bentley Hanson for a 43-yard completion down the seam that led to a Jayden Wallace 1-yard touchdown run.
It was the first big play in a Most Valuable Player performance for Hanson, who led the Muskingum charge in a 34-15 win on June 20 at Licking Heights High School.
West got a win in his final game — he is Tri-Valley’s new head principal and resigned as head coach in May. Counting his 2008 win as a quarterback and two other stints in a coaching capacity, West finished 4-0 in Muskingum-Licking games.
This one was dominant.
“Four in row for us,” West said. “We didn’t want to end the streak. Being my last game ever as a head coach and going out a winner, I can’t ask for much more than that.”
Hanson shows out
New Lexington fans — and many of his opponents — saw what the 5-10, 170-pound Hanson could do as a wideout, cornerback and standout guard in basketball during a heralded career with the Panthers.
It was Licking County’s turn this time.
Hanson’s first catch, albeit the longest, was also one of his easiest. Lyall timed the throw perfectly over the dropping linebackers and hit Hanson in stride. Wallace scored two plays later.
After a Licking punt, with former teammate Isaiah Stephens taking snaps, Hanson got behind the defense for a 25-yard score on a wheel route. It capped a 15-play drive and ran the score to 13-0 with 11:09 still left before the half.
They paled in comparison to his third catch.
Faced with a third-and-16 from the Licking 25, a scrambling Stephens whipped a deep ball to the left corner — the same spot from which Hanson scored earlier. It was a prayer needing an answer.
Hanson provided it, leaping high above and over Granville’s Joe Day to snag the ball. It was an excerpt straight from the book of Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss — except Hanson is six inches shorter.
He finished with 93 yards on just four catches. For good measure, he played every down at cornerback on a defense that didn’t yield an offensive touchdown until the 4:21 mark of the third quarter.
“He tore up our defense (during the season),” Sheridan’s Evan Anderson said of Hanson. “When he ‘Mossed’ that dude, that was probably the craziest catch I’ve ever seen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one better. It was insane.”
Philo coach Dirk Lincicome, who served as defensive coordinator, called Hanson “a very complete player” and said he was deserving of the MVP. West said the same.
“You saw him do it on defense, saw him do it on offense,” Lincicome said. “Very coachable, too. Very kind hearted. He’s a fun kid to be around and what an athlete.”
Muskingum lived up to physical hype
Licking entered the game with just seven offensive linemen and nine total, and only 6-2, 315-pouind Ben Rader, of Johnstown, was taller than 6-0.
It paled in contrast to Muskingum’s brawny offensive front led by 6-5, 280-pound signee Gavin Spiker, of Tri-Valley, and Sheridan’s 6-4, 310-pound All-Ohioan Jack Robinette. For good measure, blocking backs Wes Houston, from West M, and Ashton Winner, of Tri-Valley, were 6-2, 245 and 6-3, 250, respectively.
How good was Muskingum in the trenches? Tri-Valley’s Chris Gargasz, another Walsh signee, and Zanesville’s Canon Mercer, easily the Blue Devils’ best two-way player, focused solely on defense.
The result was four forced punts in Licking’s first six possessions. The others ended in interceptions from Anderson and John Glenn’s Nick Glaub.
Licking had only 47 first-half yards. Glaub’s snag erased a Licking scoring chance in the final minute of the half.
Licking had two plays of more than 20 yards — a 46-yard catch from Heath’s Kevin Dunlap and a 23-yard catch-and-run from classmate Connor Corbett that got Licking on the board with 4:21 left in the third.
When Licking tried to seize momentum following Day’s 25-yard interception return for a score one play later, which cut Muskingum’s lead to 27-15, it was the offense that took physical control.
Wallace carried four times and John Glenn’s Lincoln Gilcher twice in a seven-play, 64-yard scoring drive that put the game away at 34-15 with :08 left in the third.
Every run was between the tackles.
“Just from the guys that we had, I knew we could be really physical,” West said. “And I think we showed that physicality from the opening kickoff and throughout the entire game. We wore them down.”
Big hits aplenty
It began when Wallace bowled over a defender on a screen pass that raised the intensity level in the first quarter. It continued with a big block on a punt return that pleased the crowd minutes later.
But none were bigger than that laid on Licking Valley running back Trent Marcus by Philo’s Talon Preston on a fourth-quarter screen pass. In a 1-on-1 situation, the one-sided collision could be heard throughout the stadium and drew perhaps the game’s loudest applause.
It was fitting of the day. West called it “one of the better hits I have seen in years.”
Lincicome, the former linebacker, could only smile.
“When you’re coaching players of a high level like this, they really make our jobs easy,” Lincicome said.
sblackbu@gannett.com; X: @SamBlackburnTR
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder:
‘We wore them down’: How Muskingum Valley dominated Licking County in All-Star win
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