The Zane Trace Pioneers scored four unanswered touchdowns, then held-on for a 35-27 win at Piketon, Friday night.
The Redstreaks grabbed the early 7-0 lead at 6:48 to play in the second quarter, driving 81 yards in 14 plays when Isaac Little plunged into the end-zone from 1 yard out. Corey Swain's PAT kick made it 7-0.
The Pioneers then scored the next four TD's for a 28-7 lead. The first came on a Will Palmer 48-yard run, capping a 75 yard/5 play drive with 5:16 left in the second quarter.
Zane Trace took a 14-7 lead with :16 left in the half, when Ty Shanton connected with Elliott Lynn on a 5-yard pass, capping a 42 yard/4 play drive. That's how it was at halftime.
The Pioneers open the second half scoring with a 55 yard/5 play drive when Ty Shanton hit Jordan Waller on a 29 yard TD pass for a 21-7 lead at 8:07 left in the third. Zane Trace opened their biggest lead at 28-7 when Shanton ran for a 5 yard TD at 5:15 in the third, capping a 54 yard drive in 3 plays.
Piketon bounced back with the next two TD's, scoring on 17 yard TD pass from Conner Galloway to Chance Grooms, making it 28-14. That drive was 67 yards in 10 plays. The Redstreaks cut it to 28-21 at 6:58 left in the game, when they traveled 87 yards in 9 plays, finishing with Galloway's 3 yard pass to Luke Nichols.
The Redstreaks got the ball back with a chance to tie, but turned the ball over when Galloway threw his 4th pick of the night, with Ellliott Lynn of Zane Trace returning it 45 yards for a TD. That seemingly put the game away at 35-21 with 2:22 left.
Piketon wouldn't say die, marching 65 yards in 3 plays, when Galloway hit Tanner Veach on two big pass plays, including a 27 yard TD strike, but missed the extra point, making it 35-27 Zane Trace.
That's the way the score stayed, giving the Pioneers the victory.
Zane Trace had 366 total yards, with 283 on the ground. Piketon racked-up 423 total yards, with Conner Galloway throwing 19/32 for 280 yards and 2 TD passes. The Streaks also had 143 rushing yards.
Zane Trace improves to (4-2/6-3) as Piketon falls to (4-2/4-5).
Elsewhere in the SVC, Southeastern defeated Adena 28-21, to clinch at least a share of the SVC title. The first for the Panthers since 2001, when they shared the crown that year with Zane Trace. Southeastern plays for the Gold Football and the school's first (10-0) season when they travel to Westfall next Friday in our Herrnstein Hyundai SVC Game of the Week on WKKJ.
If you missed listening to the Zane Trace win over Piketon, relive the play-by-play call on our podcast of the game seen below...