JAMESTOWN — For a shot at a piece of the Ohio Heritage Conference lead, Greeneview had to top the undefeated Indians Friday night at Don Nock Field. But Mechanicsburg (9-0) came to play, beating the Rams (6-3) on senior night, 38-7.
The majority of the Indian’s offense came from quarterback Kaleb Romero and tailback Phillip Cook running the ball. Romero had 163 yards rushing including a 60-yard touchdown run. Cook finished with 84 yards.
Romero also had 83 yards passing with a touchdown pass to Wade Smiddy.
“The fact that we’re here in week nine playing with the adversity we’ve dealt with through the season, the fact that we’re playing in week nine for the league title is a real testament to our young men and the assistant coaches and all the work and time they’ve put in,” said Greeneview coach Neal Kasner. “But at the same time, that’s not something to be satisfied about. We want to bring the trophy home. That’s why we do the things that we do.”
The Indians opened the game up with a kickoff return to Greeneview’s 28-yard line. Although the Rams stopped Mechanicsburg from scoring, they still had good field position on their next drive and took advantage.
The Rams had trouble stopping the run in the first half. The Indians unofficially had 262 yards in the first half, leading 24-7 at the break.
Greeneview also struggled with penalties in the game. On their opening drive of the second half, the Rams started out on their own 29-yard line. After a three-yard run, they had a false start and two holding penalties, dropping them back to their own nine-yard line.
On the fourth-and-29 punt, Logan Test’s kick hit an official. The short punt gave Mechanicsburg the ball on the Greeneview 17-yard line and they scored three plays later.
“That’s another situation where we were hurting ourselves,” said Kasner. “You can’t have those things in these ball games, or at least too many of them. It was one of those nights.”
Test finished with 61 yards on 15 rushing attempts for Greeneview. Quarterback Collin Matt had 67 yards passing along with a passing touchdown and an interception.
Greeneview finishes up its season next week against their rival Cedarville, 7 p.m. Friday at Cedarville High School.
“We’ve still got to get ready to play next week. We’ve got a big rivalry game next week and we’ve got to stick together. I wanted to thank the seniors on their senior night here,” said Kasner.
Score by Quarters
Mechanicsburg 7 17 14 0 — 38
Greeneview 0 7 0 0 — 7
Scoring Plays
M — Kaleb Romero 1 run. Alex Rhine kick.
M — Phillip Cook 2 run. Rhine kick.
M — Romero 60 run. Rhine kick. M — Rhine 27 field goal.
G — Brad Davis 7 pass from Collin Matt. Bryce Wilson kick.
M — Cook 3 run. Rhine kick.
M — Wade Smiddy 15 pass from Romero. Rhine kick.
