“A couple of weeks ago if you had said, ‘You’ll take one,’ I would have said, ‘You’re on. I will take one,” Meeks said.
The Braves beat London 30-22 at home last week and lost 56-34 at Jonathan Alder on Friday. In a matchup of the two highest scoring offenses in the Central Buckeye Conference, the Pioneers (9-0, 4-0) pulled ahead early, building a 35-19 halftime lead, and Shawnee (7-2, 3-1) was unable to mount a serious challenge in the second half as its seven-game losing streak ended.
The CBC’s leading rusher, Alder senior Garret Proxmire, who was averaging 141.5 yards per game, gained a season-high 236 yards and ran for five touchdowns.
“We’d been loading up on the run and selling our souls to the devil on the run,” Meeks said, “and we knew it was going to be a little more difficult in this game because of their quarterback being able to throw and the receivers. We were trying to half zone it and play man on one side and play half zone to get extra guys down in the box. That Proxmire kid’s a good player.”
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Shawnee quarterback Robie Glass had a big game as well, rushing for a season-high 223 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns. His 72-yard run in the first quarter tied the score at 7-7.
“The other side is our guys are all going both ways,” Meeks said, “and Robie’s playing corner and running his butt off all over the field. Their kid plays one side of the ball. He specializes. He never gets in on anything else other than tailback. That’s what he does. It’s a credit to them. It’s great. It’s definitely an advantage. He’s fresh all the time. Our guys just wore down, and we made too many mistakes special-teams wise.”
After the tying score by Glass, the Braves gave up a long kickoff return, and Alder turned that into the go-ahead touchdown, a 4-yard pass from JT Keith to Jacob Fenik. Then Shawnee fumbled a kickoff return. Alder capitalized with a 10-yard touchdown run by Proxmire to take a 21-7 lead.
A 45-yard touchown run by Matt Guyer, who gained 125 yards on 16 carries, cut Alder’s lead to 21-13, and after a 53-yard touchdown run by Proxmire, Glass scored on a 2-yard run. At that point, the Braves trailed 28-19. Alder blocked extra points after Shawnee’s second and third touchdowns.
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Shawnee didn’t score again until the final minute of the third quarter, by which point Alder had extended its lead to 42-19.
Shawnee (7-2, 3-1), which closes the regular season at home against Kenton Ridge, lost for the first time since the season opener when it fell 56-39 to Greenon. Alder clinched a share of the CBC Kenton Trail Division title and can win the championship outright by winning at London in the final week of the regular season.
“Now we need help,” Meeks said. “If we win next week, we need to have London beat Alder, and then we’d have a three-way tie. We’re rooting for London.”
Alder improved to 9-0 for the first time since 2011 when it finished the regular-season 10-0.
Alder entered the game ranked third in Division III, Region III. Shawnee was second in Division V, Region 20.
Shawnee won the previous matchup in the series 17-14 in Week 10 in 2018. Andi Meeks kicked a 25-yard field goal as time expired to win the game and clinch a playoff spot for the Braves.
Alder beat Shawnee 35-21 in 2017, its first season in the CBC. Shawnee beat Alder 21-10 in a Division III regional final in the 2011 playoffs at Hilliard Bradley.
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