Loveland Footbal vs Winton Woods

Last Friday, the Loveland Tigers faced off against the Winton Woods Warriors in a thrilling Friday night football game. Coming into this game, the Loveland Tigers were 2-4, looking to upset the Warriors, who were 5-1 heading into this anticipated matchup. Due to the competitiveness of the Eastern Cincinnati Conference, paired with a loaded region of southwest Ohio, this showdown was very important for the Tigers' playoff hopes, while Winton Woods looked to further their rankings in hopes of helping them have an easier matchup for their early postseason games.

The Tigers heavily anticipated this matchup while knowing it would be a tough environment to play an away game against such a consistently successful program as Winton Woods. Many believed this game would be a very defensive matchup due to the extremely loaded talent of the Tigers’ defense, but also the extreme talent of Winton Woods' defense. While both teams have lots of talent on offense, this game was packed with defensive Division l recruits. Therefore making the defensive side of the ball for both teams where the spotlight was pointed all game. 

The Tigers’ defense, led by star captain and Division- l Northwestern commit Calvin Lorek (12), has been great all year, holding teams to an average of under 20 points in conference games. Another great player on the defensive side of the ball for the Tigers is Danny Waters (11), who causes a great one-two punch on the D-line with Calvin Lorek, while both of them are top 5 in the ECC with 4.5 sacks each. 

The game started with the Warriors on offense. A quick, fun statistic is that the Tigers have not started a single game out of all seven matchups this season with the ball on offense. The Warriors came out of the gate moving the ball decently well, but eventually got stopped on a fourth and long conversion attempt, bringing the Tigers’ offense out on the field. The Tigers’ offense had a quick three-and-out, leading to the first score of the game for the Warriors, putting them up 6-0 early in the game. At the half, the Warriors led 9-3.

Coming out of the half, the Tigers got the ball and put together an amazing drive that concluded in a Chase Martin (12) score. By the middle of the third quarter, the Tigers led 10-9. After back-and-forth punts from both teams, the Warriors scored a touchdown and then converted for two points. Late into the fourth quarter, the Warriors led, 17-10. After a stalled drive by both teams, the Tigers had the ball and were sacked for a safety: final score, Winton Woods 19, Loveland Tigers 10. The Warriors are now 6-1, looking forward to working their way up in the playoff rankings, while the Tigers are 2-5 and looking to have a strong finish to the season.