Lexington, Coach Owens Pick Up First Win in Thriller
It was a beautiful night to kick off Homecoming weekend for a Lexington football team desperate for win. The Minutemen felt good heading into the yearly matchup with Wooster and why wouldn't they? Lexington had won four in a row against the Generals and just a year ago the Minutemen had a 42-0 lead at Follis Field. Yes, Lex had a much different team led by two kids that are now playing high level division one football and several more that would go on to play various sports from D-1 to D-3 at the next level. But sometimes when you have a teams number, losing 22 seniors just doesn't matter. And Lexington just seems to have Wooster's number. With first year head coach Jacob Owens looking for his first career victory and Lexington looking for it's fifth straight win over the Generals the night would start off with some fireworks.
On the opening kickoff, freshman kicker Grayson Dillon onside kicked the ball to himself and recovered just across the 50 yardline to set up a short field for Lexington. The Minutemen had actually tried the same exact play against Clear Fork just two weeks ago. He recovered it then as well but the ball was touched just a yard too early so it unfortunately didn't count. But, they knew they had something there and used it to their advantage to catch Wooster off guard. With the short field set up and a Minutemen offense that has shown the capability to move the ball this season the only question remaining was, could they take advantage of the free possession to start the game and put some points on the board.
Heading into Friday night the Minutemen had only scored exactly one touchdown in all four games. That would change quickly as the offensive explosion was waiting to ignite. After the onside kick recovery Lexington drove right down and scored to open up the game and make it 7-0. The drive was capped off by Jayden Perkins who scored his first career touchdown on a two yard rush. He would end the night with 17 carries for 56 yards and that touchdown.
After each team took turns punting the ball on consecutive possessions, Wooster dialed in as sophomore quarterback Griffin Siegenthaler led the Generals right down the field and capped off a quick drive with a 36 yard touchdown pass to Javon Mosely. The extra point however was missed off of the left upright and it felt like that was a foreshadowing of Wooster's night.
With a 7-6 lead Lexington would take the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown as Cam Glennon officially ran 79 yards but in reality probably somewhere closer to 120 as he made one of the more miraculous kickoff return touchdowns Lexington has ever seen. Glennon took the bouncing kickoff over by the visitors sideline, tightroped the sideline without stepping out of bounds all while breaking multiple tackles. He then angled and ran from one sideline to the other and turned on the jets. Nobody was catching him. Somehow, this wasn't even the most exciting play of the night for Cam Glennon. Lexington's extra point was blocked, making the score 13-6. Little did the crowd in attendance know, this game was just getting started.
After forcing another Wooster punt, the Minutemen offense was back on the field. With the kick return touchdown fresh in their minds, the Lexington coaching staff did what a lot of coaches would do and immediately got the ball back into Cam Glennon's hands. At their own 44 yardline the Minutemen ran a simple handoff up the middle and the seas parted for Glennon. The second the ball hit his hands he was gone and nobody from Wooster even came close to getting near him. Untouched for 56 yards right up the middle. Glennon was in the scorebook again, this time with a rushing touchdown and Lexington's lead grew to 20-6.
Later in the first half, the busy freshman kicker was back at it again. Grayson Dillon made his first career field goal from 26 yards out and pushed Lexington's lead out to three possessions, 23-6. That would be the last scoring play of the first half and the Minutemen were feeling good with a 17 point lead and getting the ball to start the second half.
But then, the momentum would start to turn. The Generals began the second half with an onside kick of their own and you could just feel a little shift in the air. Fortunately for Lexington, Wooster wasn't able to come up with points but their intentions of getting back into this game quickly were clear. Each team would share punts and eventually the ball ended back in the hands of Siegenthaler and the Wooster offense. Still 23-6, Wooster was looking for that score to get back into the game and they would get it on the second touchdown pass of the night, this time to the big tight end Jameson Engman. The two point conversion was successful and the score was now 23-14.
This may have been the point where this young Lexington football team turned the page on the season and showed their ability to overcome adversity. After another punt the Wooster offense fresh off of a touchdown got the ball back. Queue Cam Glennon. The junior playmaker undercut and outroute and intercepted a pass from Seigenthaler and the field was as open as if nobody else was out there. Glennon took it 56 yards to the house giving him a touchdown returning, rushing, and now a pick six on defense. Somehow, his night wasn't over yet. The Minutemen extended the lead back out to 30-14.
On the next offensive possession Lexington put together a nice drive capped off by a five yard Bobo White touchdown. White has now scored in consecutive weeks and finished Friday night with 15 carries for 57 yards. The junior has been a bit banged up this season but seems to be hitting his stride at the right time for Lexington. The lead was now 37-14 and Lexington seemed to be cruising to it's first victory of the season.
Wooster had other plans. The Generals scored on two straight possessions and were able to add a couple of two point conversions as well and now we had a ballgame. Midway through the fourth quarter the Lexington lead had somehow dwindled to seven. 37-30. Wooster was able to get the ball back with around five minutes left in the game and it just seemed like there was an eerie feeling in the air.
Rewind four years, back to September 16, 2022 on this very field. Lexington was a major underdog and came into week five 1-3 and had a five game losing streak to Wooster. Led by senior quarterback AJ Young and freshman Brayden Fogle the Minutemen found themselves down 21-20 with no time left after a spectacular jump ball touchdown catch in the corner of the endzone that marked the arrival of Fogle's memorable four year run. The Minutemen decided to go for two points and the win. Of course, after throwing and catching a jumpball in the endzone to put themselves in that position, why not go right back to Fogle for the two point conversion? They did, and they won 22-21.
Now back to Friday night, Wooster has the ball trailing by seven. You could just feel that moment from for years ago coming back to haunt Lexington. If Wooster was able to score on the final drive and make the score 37-36, a betting man would have put his entire life on Wooster to try to go for two and win the game. The Generals began the drive with a series of QB scrambles and pop passes out of the backfield to running back Kaj Meier. This would get Wooster across midfield. It was inevitable. Wooster looked unstoppable and was running the clock down to try to score with as little time left as possible. But then, Jake Barrett happened. The 5'10, 240 pound defensive lineman made a play he'll remember forever. Another pop pass out of the backfield to Meier was good enough for a first down but as Meier was being tackled, Barrett stuck his hand in and ripped the ball free.
Hollywood would shake it's head and mock me for giving them a script like this and if I didn't see it with my own eyes I probably wouldn't have believed it either. But, Cam Glennon picked the ball up and had nothing but green grass in front of him. A 62 yard scoop and score with a minute left would give Glennon his fourth touchdown on the night and Lexington would ultimately prevail, 44-30. The game was sealed with Jackson Eichorn's first career interception and all the Minutemen had left to do was get into Coach Jacob Owens favorite formation, victory formation. Perkins took a knee and the night was over!
Coach Owens couldn't have asked for a more memorable first win as head coach. He wasn't even supposed to be in this position. After the tragic passing of head coach Andrew Saris over the summer, coach Owens was thrown into the fire. Sure, he has been the OC for the past three seasons but taking over at the head of an entire program is entirely different. Even through the trials of a four game losing streak to start the season, Owens was positive week in and week out. During our weekly podcasts the message was clear. Do your job, play fast, physical, and disciplined football, and play for each other. Through the first four weeks it was clear that there is a lot of talent all over this Lexington roster. But the team is young and lacked experience at the varsity level heading into this season. The Minutemen had to learn what it meant to play four quarters of winning football and on Friday night that's what they did.
As of the time this article was written individual defensive stats had not been calculated but Lexington managed to take the ball away from Wooster four times and had one punt block. The offense compiled over 400 total yards. Everything just clicked for the Minutemen and now they have all of the momentum in the world heading into Arlin Field next week to take on a Mansfield Senior Tygers team that is also looking for it's first win of the year and had a first year coach with a young roster. It should be a great game in week six at the historic stadium just down the road.
