Sidney senior running back Isaiah Foster shakes off West Carrollton’s Cayden Grier during a Miami Valley League game on Friday at Sidney Memorial Stadium. Foster ran for 90 yards and two TDs in a 58-14 victory.
Bryant Billing | Sidney Daily News
SIDNEY — Sidney put together its most complete performance of the season and dominated West Carrollton in a Miami Valley League game on Friday.
The Yellow Jackets scored 30 points in the first quarter and beat the Pirates 58-14 at Sidney Memorial Stadium on Elementary Night.
Sidney amassed 428 yards of offense with nearly an even split between rushing and passing. The squad held West Carrollton to 253 yards and didn’t give up a touchdown until the final seconds of the first half.
“We have been executing well offensively, and they ran through several different fronts against us,” Sidney coach Dave Taynor said. “They ran a four-man front. They ran a five-man front. We adjusted plans during the game, which shows some maturity with our offensive line up front, and their ability to adjust to a different front that we didn’t prepare for.
“… I was happy with how we adjusted and played a complete game outside of the series right before half, where we lost a little bit of focus. Outside of that, I felt like defensively, we played our best game so far, as far as communication and being in the right spots.”
Landon Woodard tackled West Carrollton quarterback Brycen Bauer-Jones in the end zone in the first quarter for a safety to help the squad take control quickly.
Senior defensive back Novi Jones intercepted a pass, and junior defensive back Marc Fleming led the squad with 5.5 tackles, three of which were for loss.
“He is an animal on defense,” Taynor said of Fleming. “He’s a good offensive player for us too, we just haven’t been using him a whole lot there, because we’re trying to keep him fresh to make plays on defense, and he makes a ton of plays on defense.
“He was a big loss for us the week of the Xenia game (a 48-7 loss in Week 3), when he had a medical incident earlier that day. He’s been a stalwart for us and a leader.”
Senior quarterback Ethan New surpassed 1,000 passing yards on the season and completed 10-of-12 passes for 201 yards with three touchdowns. He also ran for 59 yards and three TDs on six carries.
New suffered a head injury early in the first half against Xenia and missed the rest of the game. He returned last week in a victory over Fairborn but didn’t run much.
He was effective on his feet on Friday, including on a 39-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the first quarter.
“He’s sneaky fast,” Taynor said. “He’s not blazing, like Julius (Spradling) and Tank (Fleming) are, but he’s sneaky fast. On a big run down the sideline, I kind of expected with the look they were in for him to pop off a 15- or 20-yard run. I didn’t expect him to take it to the house. So he’s a good athlete. He kept us on process.”
New said he told Taynor before the game he was ready to run and was happy to be mobile again. He also credited the squad’s receivers for making plays, and for the offensive line for playing well.
“My head feels good, and I feel like we’re on a roll, and we’ve got to keep it going,” New said. “… After (the Xenia loss), we were really down. But two weeks of having great team wins, where we win by a lot, it picks everybody’s confidence back up.”
Spradling, a senior, caught five passes for 91 yards and one TD; he also had two long TD runs get called back due to penalty. Tanner Snider caught two passes for 88 yards and had one TD.
Isaiah Foster ran for 90 yards and two TDs on 12 carries.
Foster opened the game’s scoring with a 6-yard TD run with 7:51 left in the first, then Lyons scored on a 6-yard reception from New after a quick three-and-out by the Pirates.
After the safety pushed the lead to 16-0, Spradling caught a 34-yard TD pass from New. New’s long TD run capped the first quarter and pushed the lead to 30-0.
New threw an 80-yard TD pass to Snider with 6:40 left in the second and Foster scored on a 16-yard TD run to increase the lead to 44-0. The Pirates scored with two seconds left to cut the gap to 37 points, but the entire second half was played with a running clock.
New scored on TD runs of 2 and 5 yards in the second quarter.
Sidney is scheduled to travel to Greenville (0-5, 0-4) for an MVL game this coming Friday.
Reach Sidney Daily News editor Bryant Billing at 937-538-4822, or follow @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook or @TopBillingSport on X (Twitter).
