Sidney players celebrate around coach Dave Taynor as Taynor hoists the Little Brown Jug on Friday at Harmon Field. The Yellow Jackets beat Greenville 43-6 to win the trophy for the fifth consecutive year.
Bryant Billing | Sidney Daily News
GREENVILLE — As the rain strengthened in a Miami Valley League game at Harmon Field, Sidney’s physical play strengthened.
The Yellow Jackets dominated Greenville as the rain poured in the second half on Friday and ran away to a 43-6 victory. It was the third straight win for the squad, which improved to 4-2 overall and 4-1 in MVL Valley Division play.
“I don’t know if this is football weather or not for sure, but it was wet, it was windy. It was a hurricane in Ohio. It was going to have to be a physical game,” Sidney coach Dave Taynor said of the weather caused by Hurricane Helene.
“… We didn’t start out well defensively in that first series, and then got ourselves playing bad field position. The rest of the game, we played really physical. The second half, super physical defense.”
Sidney scored two plays into the game and led the rest of the way, but the Green Wave had a couple long drives in the first half and stayed in it.
The Yellow Jackets led 14-6 at halftime and dominated the second half.
The rain gained steam and poured soon after the half started; it continued to the rest of the way. After recovering a fumble to start the half, Sidney quickly drove and scored on a 20-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Ethan New, who followed with a two-point conversion run to give the squad a 22-6 lead.
Greenville turned it over on downs at midfield, and New scored on an about 40-yard TD run with 2:46 left in the third to boost the lead to 28-6 after a failed two-point conversion try.
After Greenville turned it over on downs again, Sidney drove and scored when senior running back Isaiah Foster took a short pass from New and dove in along the home sideline early in the fourth to boost the lead to 34-6 after another failed two-point try.
Joelon Lyons scored on a short TD pass late in the fourth to boost the lead to 41-6 after an extra-point attempt by Grady Mitchell. The Yellow Jackets tackled a Greenville player in the end zone after a bad snap to push the final gap to 37 points.
Taynor and the squad celebrated with the Little Brown Jug in the huddle afterward; it’s the fifth consecutive year the team has defeated Greenville.
Aside from forcing several turnovers on downs, the Yellow Jackets recovered three fumbles.
“You win the turnover battle, you win the line of scrimmage, and things start to sort themselves out,” Taynor said. “And obviously we’d love to have been able to throw the ball down the field a little bit more than what we did. I think we got a few touchdown passes on like little tap passes and shovels and stuff like that.”
Lyons had two TD receptions; he took a short pass and ran in from 17 yards out on the second play of the night to give the squad an 8-0 lead after New ran in on a two-point conversion try.
Gabe Rammel scored on a 5-yard TD run in the final minute of the first quarter to cut the gap to 8-6 after a failed two-point conversion try.
The Yellow Jackets extended their lead early in the second when Julius Spradling ran in from over 40 yards out to push the lead to 14-6 after a failed two-point conversion try.
Sidney is scheduled to host undefeated Tippecanoe next Friday for its Homecoming game. The Red Devils and Xenia, which are scheduled to play Week 10, are the last two remaining undefeated MVL teams.
Sidney’s three-game winning streak has the squad two games over. 500 after a 1-2 start. The squad is hopeful it will carry that momentum into the last four weeks of the season, starting with the Red Devils.
“We’re 1-0 today, we go back to 0-0 and try to prepare for another one next week,” Taynor said. “We’ve got to get into the film room. Tipp is a really, really good opponent. They’ve been on a hot streak. We’ve got to defend our house, play physical football on both sides of the ball. And we’re going to have to play with pace and tempo.
“It’s going to be who’s going to win the war of attrition and physicality.”
Reach Sidney Daily News editor Bryant Billing at 937-538-4822, or follow @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook or @TopBillingSport on X (Twitter).
