Griffin rushed for 137 yards and a touchdown and completed 9-of-10 passes for 101 yards as the Braves improved to 5-1 and 1-0 in the Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division. However, Shawnee’s performance wasn’t up to its standards, said Braves coach Rick Meeks.
“We’re not very good,” he said. “Our kids believed all the hype. … We believed that we were maybe a little better than we are, and a little bit of arrogance maybe bit us in the rear end. Give KR credit, they had a great gameplan, trying to hold on to the ball and keep it out of our hands. Their kids played hard.”
Kenton Ridge senior Gavin Higgins rushed for 91 yards and a touchdown as the Cougars fell to 2-4 and 0-1 in the CBC Kenton Trail.
“We’ve been through some ups-and-downs, injury-wise, all kinds of stuff,” said Kenton Ridge coach Jon Daniels. “Our guys continue to fight, grow, battle. That’s the message we give them. Right now it’s about fixing the process in everything we do and making sure you’re raising the level up to our standards that we want to have in everything we do and they keep buying into that. They’re growing day-by-day. The guys played as hard as you could’ve asked them to tonight.”
Shawnee took an early 7-0 lead when T.J. Meeks returned a punt 75 yards for a TD. Braves junior kicker Mitchell Humphreys hit a 23-yard field goal midway through the second quarter to give Shawnee a 10-0 lead at the half.
The Braves extended the lead to 17-0 midway through the third quarter when Griffin scored on a 55-yard run.
The Cougars cut the lead to 10 points on a 9-yard run by Higgins with 9:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t get any closer. Kenton Ridge drove to Shawnee’s 25-yard line with about four minutes remaining but turned the ball over on downs.
Kenton Ridge held the ball for nearly 29 minutes in the game but were hampered multiple times by penalties in key situations, Daniels said.
“That was kind of the story of the night,” he said. “We kept driving the ball and had penalties that hampered us along the way.”
Shawnee is seeking its first CBC Kenton Trail title since 2011 in its last season in the division before moving to the CBC Mad River Division next fall.
The Braves have to improve if they hope to be a contender in the division race, Meeks said. Shawnee hosts Bellefontaine (5-1) next Friday night. The Chieftains beat Tecumseh 19-16 in its division opener.
“If we play like we did tonight, we’re not winning,” Meeks said. “That’s what I told them. We’re going to have to get some things fixed here. Some of it comes with a little bit of attitude; we want to be confident, but not arrogant.”
The Cougars are starting to believe they can compete in the tough CBC Kenton Trail, Daniels said. Kenton Ridge travels to Jonathan Alder (3-3, 0-1) next week.
“Our kids played really hard,” he said. “We talk all the time about building something special, something bigger than ourselves. It’s a lot better to pursue something special than it is pursuing something mediocre. Our kids are buying into that right now.”
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