Harden could only think about what he wanted to say to his team.
“I think I want them to understand how proud I am,” Harden said. “I want them to know that we did everything we could. We laid it all out there. We played (48) minutes worth of football and that’s what was required. Things didn’t go our way but I’m still proud of them.”
The game was tough sledding throughout. While the Buccs tried to attack the middle of the Lancer defense repeatedly with little success overall, the Lancers were able to collect first downs throughout the night.
In fact, Xenia’s only score came on a Cristian Corbett interception return to start the second half. Corbett stepped in front of an out route and tore up the sideline about 40 yards for the score with some great blocking along the way.
That came after a Xenia 3-and-out to start the second half as the fog started to build on the field.
Corbett’s interception was one of two turnovers in the second half and four in the game. Kyran Rackley recovered a fumble to start the fourth quarter which set up Xenia’s best shot at the end zone, but on fourth-and-1 at the 8, a run up the middle was stopped at the line.
The Buccs had one more opportunity and a near perfect ball from quarterback Gage Stephan to Jaxon Austin was broken up when two LaSalle defenders collided with Austin on the sideline on fourth-and-18 with three minutes to play.
“I thought it was targeting but the officials didn’t see it that way,” Harden said.
Early in the game, LaSalle quarterback Avier Carter left with was appeared to be a leg injury and never reentered the game. Garrett Frayley, though, was equal to the task, throwing for a pair of scores to Drew Dipzinski.
Frayley hit Dipzinski in the flat for the first score as he broke up the field for the short run and he found him again in the second quarter over the middle on a 12-yard slant.
“(The defense) played their butt off and did everything that they could to give us a shot,” Harden said. “Kudos to the staff and kudos to them for their hard work.”
In the end, the Xenia running game just never got traction — either from LaSalle’s defense stepping up filling the gaps, penalties or simply blown up plays.
“We were trying to run running the football with the six-man box they were giving us,” Harden said. “Sometimes we were successful and sometimes we got stifled. You have to finish drives. We had too many opportunities down in the red zone for us to finish and unfortunately, we didn’t get it done tonight.”
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