Rams shut down Cougars

Ross ends its 12-year streak of futility against Edgewood with scoring burst in the third quarter.

By John Boyle, Staff Writer 1:08 AM Saturday, October 10, 2009

ROSS TWP. — With his team tied against Butler County rival Edgewood at halftime Friday night, Oct. 9, Ross High School football coach Brian Butts went back to the basics for motivation.

Butts grabbed a hammer and a bucket of nails, took off his maroon pullover in favor of a white T-shirt and challenged his team “to go to work.”

The Rams obliged their fourth-year coach in a big way.

Ross scored nine third-quarter points to break the deadlock and get an emotional 16-7 Fort Ancient Valley Conference Scarlet Division triumph in the rain at Robinson Field.

The victory was Ross’ first over Edgewood since 1997 — 12 meetings in all. It was the Cougars’ first loss to a Scarlet foe since division play began four years ago. Edgewood came into the game 16-0 against Scarlet competition.

“It’s about time,” said Butts, whose team improved to 4-3 overall and took over first place in the Scarlet at 2-0. “Our kids have tried and tried. (Edgewood coach Steve Channell) has a helluva program. They’ve had a rough year, but they came to play tonight. Our kids just wanted it so very bad.”

Things started out well enough for the Cougars (2-5, 1-1).

Edgewood marched down the field on its first possession of the game, traversing 72 yards on seven plays for a touchdown. Justin Elder capped the drive with a 16-yard run.

But the Cougars gained just over 100 yards the rest of the way. Ross limited them to 146 yards rushing on 43 carries. Not bad for a defense that came in allowing an FAVC-worst 280 yards per game on the ground.

Ben Smith had 1½ sacks for Ross. Logan Hannon had a sack and Casey Vatter recovered a fumble.

“We just kept our heads up the whole game,” Rams strong safety Joey Conrad said. “We bend, but we don’t break. That’s what we’ve been doing all year. We fight together as brothers.”

Ross carried the fight to Edgewood in the second half.

Kicker Richie Burns booted his first career field goal — a 39-yarder — with 3:35 left in the third quarter to give the Rams a 10-7 lead. Burns, the starting goalkeeper for the state-ranked Ross soccer team, joined the football squad two weeks ago.

After holding the Cougars on their ensuing possession, the Rams took over on the EHS 1-yard line after a muffed Edgewood punt. Cody Lotton scored on the next play to push the Rams’ lead to 16-7 with 50 seconds left in the third.

Ross answered Edgewood’s first-quarter score on Erik Geiser’s 10-yard TD pass to Danny Lane on a slant pattern.

“I congratulate their coaching staff and their players,” Channell said. “We’ve got three games left. We have to finish with a great deal of program pride. That’s our task.”

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