The football kept slipping out of the hands of Athens players.
Multiple failed handoffs led to fumbles. Add in a few more drops and errant throws.
All of that led to an Athens loss, 27-12 to Canal Winchester on Friday night at R. Basil Rutter Field.
Early in the game, the Bulldogs found success with jet sweeps and handed the ball to Treyce Albin often, who scored one of his two touchdowns of the night on a 5-yard run..
As the game went on, however, the rain continued to fall. The Bulldogs lost two fumbles on the jet sweep handoff, and botched others that lost them yards.
“We knew it was going to be a sloppy night, but it was sloppy for both teams,” coach Ryan Adams said. “In these situations the ball can fall in a lot of different funny ways.”
The rain also affected the Bulldogs passing game. Quarterback Clay Davis threw four touchdowns last week, but made a few errant throws this week, yet stayed in. Davis later made some throws once the Bulldogs got down.
“(Davis) took a lot of shots,” Adams said. “That rattles most kids but I think he stood in there and tried to deliver the ball the best he could.”
On the other side of the field, the Bulldogs were surprised with how well the Indians passed, given the conditions and what they had seen on tape.
When the Bulldog defense stood tough against running back Jacob Robertson, quarterback Jack Beeler made some key passes on third downs and kept his team moving down the field.
“They must have seen something or liked something we presented to them,” Adams said. “Tip your hat to the quarterback, he did a nice job delivering the ball.”
Eventually, the duo of Beeler and Robertson wore down a defense that stood stout for most of the night. While the Athens defense couldn’t force turnovers like the Canal Winchester defense did, Athens kept the game close.
“I know our defense got put in a lot of bad situations but they fought really hard tonight,” Adams said. “(The defense) gave up three points a couple times that could have easily been scores.”
With about four minutes to go in the game, the Bulldogs were on a drive to try and make it a one-score game. A pass slipped through the hands of a Bulldog receiver and out of the endzone.
It was fourth down.
The play encapsulated the entirety of the game for Athens — the football slipping just out of reach.
