“I think our kids did a great job of making sure they were not thinking a week ahead,” Castner said. “They come out every day wanting to get better and that is a good thing to see.”
Mason out-gained Withrow 412-127. Withrow had seven first downs.
“We’re young on defense and we have a lot of guys who are playing for the first time,” Castner said. “We thought we might be a little exposed in the back, but we are getting good experience and are continuing to progress.”
Preston Hutchinson threw for 171 yards and two scores and Matt Sora rushed for 122 yards while Michael Kopaygorodsky rushed for three scores as Mason scored in every quarter in opening a 48-0 lead.
Lebanon 45, Loveland 34: The Warriors used a 23-7 run to break a 28-28 tie with Loveland to improve to 1-1.
Lebanon led 28-14 in the second quarter, but the Tigers tied it 28-28 early in the third quarter.
“I think that was the most important point of the game for us,” Lebanon coach Shawn Lamb said of answering the score with a score. “We easily could’ve let the momentum be on their side and we didn’t do that.”
Dakota Allen threw for 248 yards and two scores while Dawson Wolf added 120 yards on the ground on 24 carries.
“We are going to take what the defense gives us,” Lamb said. “We want to be more balanced and this game was a good example of why being balanced is so helpful.”
Kings 41, Xenia 7: The Knights blew open a scoreless game with 35 points in the second and third quarters in improving to 2-0.
“I’m beginning to realize that it’s a four-quarter game and it’s not who gets out of the gate the quickest,” Kings coach Andy Olds said. “And this team is set up to play four quarters.”
Quarterback Tyler Knecht threw for 280 yards and three scores and Jake Styiski added two rushing TDs as Kings out-gained Xenia 436-179.
“I think this is one of the best tackling teams we’ve had,” Olds said. “We are getting more experience and more depth and that is helping us get better.”
Little Miami 28, Western Brown 26: The Panthers blocked one extra-point attempt and stopped a game-tying two-point conversion in picking up the first win in the Nate Mahon era.
“We converted three fourth downs, recovered an onside kick and blocked an extra point,” Mahon said. “It was a team win and it doesn’t get any better. We did a lot of good things.”
Cody Bailey had to move to quarterback after an injury to the starter in Week 1 and leading rusher Lucas Patton went down in the second quarter and was relieved by Brian Wells.
Wells went for 70 yards in the second half.
“We had to put in a whole new game plan on Monday and it was a gutsy performance by Cody,” Mahon said. “It was just a never-quit mentality we had. I’m proud of the guys.”
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