LANCASTER – As they have all season, the Lancaster football team played well enough to win, but as they have done many times this year, the Golden Gales failed to seize the moment.
Even though Lancaster fumbled on its first play from scrimmage and Canal Winchester returned it for an early touchdown, the Gales weren't fazed. They kept fighting and had several chances to take control of the game but couldn’t get over the hump. In the end, Canal Winchester was able to make a few more plays to pull away for a 22-8 Ohio Capital Conference-Buckeye Division win on Friday, Oct. 16, at Fulton Field.
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After the disastrous runover to start the game, the Gales had back-to-back impressive offensive drives that saw them come away empty-handed from Canal Winchester’s 1-yard line. On the Gales’ second offensive possession, they drove to the 1-yard line, only to be turned away after committing a false start and a holding penalty. On its next drive, Lancaster turned the ball over on downs after failing to score on a fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line.
The Gales defense stepped up and forced a safety by tackling the runner in the end zone to make the score 7-2 early in the second quarter. The Gales received another huge break when they recovered a Canal Winchester fumbled punt. Lancaster was able to capitalize this time as Collin Thomas scored on a 2-yard touchdown run with 6:27 left in the first half to give the Gales an 8-7 lead. That score would stand at halftime.
Lancaster got another huge break when it opened the second half with an onside kick and recovered it. However, the Gales’ offense went three-and-out, and that would be the case the rest of the second half. Lancaster could not muster up much offense for the rest of the game.
Canal Winchester took the lead when they scored on a 52-yard pass play with 19 seconds left in the third quarter. CW sealed the deal with 3:02 remaining when they scored on a 3-yard touchdown run.
“If we get a couple of touchdowns there, things probably change a little bit,” Lancaster coach Jeremy McKinney said. “That has kind of been the story of the year: one step forward and two steps back, and hopefully as we go into this last one (against Newark), we can continue to step forward as opposed to shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Lancaster’s defense was solid throughout, holding Canal Winchester to 205 total yards, including 77 on the ground in 24 attempts. Lancaster had more first downs (12-11), outgained CW 214-205, and the Gales finished with 199 yards rushing on 52 attempts. The Gales also dominated the time of possession (31:52 to 16:08 for CW). Lancaster finished with nine penalties for 79 yards compared to just three for 35 yards for Canal Winchester.
Senior running back Jahmeir Gordon led the Gales with 151 yards rushing on 29 attempts. Thomas added 37 yards on 12 carries.
Lancaster (2-7) will close out the season when it travels to rival Newark (3-6) on Oct. 23.
Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @twil2323.
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Lancaster football misses chances in loss to Canal Winchester