Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
MINFORD — New faces, new coaches and a new system. Minford has endured a lot of growing pains throughout the 2024 calendar year.
However, those tough lessons and months of frustration all paid off on Friday night.
Riding a rock-strong running game and a perfect second half defensively, the Falcons (1-3) had enough gas in the tank to squeak out a 22-21 victory over Oak Hill to earn their first win of the season.
CREDIT: Erica Fike/SOSA
“Honestly, we couldn’t have had a worse first half. We shot ourselves in the foot so many times with penalties and a couple of turnovers,” Minford coach Jordan Michael said. “But we made second half adjustments and executed them to perfection. I couldn’t be more proud of this group of guys. They’ve dealt with a lot of adversity, but this moment makes it all worth it.”
The win also marked the official start of a new era. It was the first career win for Michael at Minford.
“It won’t sink in until sometime this weekend that we finally got that win. But I couldn’t be happier for the guys,” Michael said. “This feeling right now is pretty surreal, though.”
When it came time for the rubber to meet the road in the closing moments, the Falcons kept the ball in the hands of Curtis Glenn and he delivered.
He stayed patient while his offensive line created holes for him to run through, ending the night with 17 carries — 10 in the final two drives — for 112 yards and a touchdown.
PHOTOS: Images from Minford’s win over Oak Hill
“I couldn’t be more proud of that son of a gun, he’s such a gamer,” Michael said. “He’s a special player with a lot of heart and he’s an ever better young man.”
Following a Minford punt to open the game, Oak Hill (1-3) came out and set the tone early. The Oaks put together an 11-play, 87-yard drive that ended with a 10-yard rushing touchdown from Eddie Abele to go ahead 7-0.
The lead stayed that way until the first play of the second quarter when Mason Bradley found the end zone on a four-yard run, tying the game at 7-7.
Oak Hill committed its first blunder of the night when a high snap botched a punt attempt, allowing the ball to roll out of the back of the end zone for a safety and a 9-7 Falcon lead — the eventual difference in the game.
However, the Oaks made up for the mistake on the next drive when Abele broke outside for a 13-yard score to put them back ahead 15-9.
Minford countered with another four-yard score from Bradley, only for Abele to match him on the other end, giving Oak Hill a 21-16 lead at halftime.
Both teams were starting to wear down physically, evidenced by no one scoring in the third as the offenses were hitting the wall.
However, Minford had a little more left in its tank.
After Bradley busted a 50-yard run to end the third, Glenn called his own number to open the fourth with a 10-yard rushing score to put the Falcons ahead 22-21.
The Oaks had one final chance, though. Following a turnover on downs, Oak Hill attempted to go deep on the first play, but the pass was intercepted by Glenn to seal the envelope and the Falcon victory.
“We had to widen out of defense since their quarterback was breaking contain and getting to the outside in space too much,” Michael said. “The other part was we couldn’t give up the deep ball. We made some personnel switches, put Curtis on their best receiver to take him out of the game and that interception showed us that the adjustments worked.”
Alongside Glenn’s final numbers, Bradley finished with 14 carries for 88 yards and two scores. Abele carried the ball 24 times for Oak Hill, racking up 123 yards and three touchdowns.
Minford returns to action on Friday at home against Northwest while Oak Hill opens SOC II play at South Gallia that same evening.
POWERED BY GLO FIBER
