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10. Piqua finishing with a 6-4 record, the first winning season since 2001, against one of the most brutal schedules in recent memory. Four of the Indians opponents reached the state playoffs and 7 of the 10 opponents finished the season with a record of .500 or better.
9. The Indians big play offense. Nine times the Piqua offense scored from 50+ yards. Piqua racked up 521 yards of offense against Sidney and averaged 26 points per game.
8. Brandon Saine scores 10 touchdowns in the final two games to bring his total on the season to 21. Saine also became the first Piqua running back to go over 1,000 yards rushing since Scott Foster accomplished the feat in 2000. Saine passed the mark on a 95-yard touchdown run at Sidney.
7. Doing battle with the third ranked team in the state before falling 37-20 to the Springboro Panthers. The Indians jumped out to an 8-0 lead just 1:06 into the game. Dominic Allen recorded a safety before Kyle Blair weaved his way through the defense for a 44 yard score on a lateral from Justin Hemm. Indians head coach Bill Nees summed it up after the game. "You have to give credit to them. They kept coming back and I thought we kept coming back. Our kids continued to battle. I don't think there was ever a situation where we felt like we weren't in the game. We continued to try to get that one score. We got one score down and tried to get back into it."
6. A 28-0 shutout of a Trotwood-Madison team who beat up on the Indians (42-8) the previous year. The Indians defense controlled the game after settling down and forcing a turnover inside the five-yard line on the Rams‚ first possession. The remainder of the game saw the Indians give up just one first down, which came as result of an encroachment penalty on 4th and 4, the rest of the way. Trotwood-Madison punted the ball 9 times in the game, a credit to how stingy the Piqua defense was on that night.
5. The 600th win in Piqua football history. It came against Trotwood-Madison by a score of 28-0, as Piqua became just the sixth high school football program in Ohio to reach the 600 win milestone. The others include Sandusky, Fostoria, Steubenville, Canton McKinley and Massillon Washington.
4. The Indians 27-14 victory over Grove City in Week 1. The hype that surrounded the Indians was answered as the Tribe jumped out to a 20-0 lead on the Dawgs and never looked back. Saine had an 83-yard touchdown run and Kyle Blair raced 72 yards for one of his own.
3. Brandon Saine going „inSaine‰ during a performance at Sidney. The junior running back took center stage during the Indians 45-6 victory over their northern rival. Saine finished the night with 181 rushing yards on 15 carries and also caught two passes for 99 yards, both of which were touchdowns. He also recorded three rushing touchdowns, one of which being a 95 yard score. The win allowed the Indians to retain the "Battered Helmet" from the Jackets for the 23rd time in the last 26 meetings.
2. The second half comeback attempt against Northmont. The Indians seemed all but finished as Northmont jumped out to a 21-3 halftime lead. Piqua wouldn‚t go away and in the second half the Indians exploded back to get within 27-25 before falling to the T-Bolts. During the game, the Piqua offense put together not one, but two 98 yard scoring drives. Saine finished the game with 214 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
1. The 121st meeting between Piqua and Troy in front of 10,000 fans at Troy Memorial Stadium. With 8:56 to go in the game Justin Hemm found a wide open Nate Roddy in the end zone to even the score at 12. Sam Wion‚s extra point just cleared the cross bar to give the Indians a 13-12 lead. A Troy punt was fumbled and the Trojans were in business deep in Piqua territory. Bryant Fox intercepted a pass in the end zone before another Piqua fumble gave the Trojans new life. After working their way down to the Piqua 6-yard line, Troy brought on the field goal unit for the potential game winner. Jafe Pitcock blocked the field goal attempt with 2:48 to go. The win gave the Indians the lead over the Trojans in the all-time series, 58-57-6. "That's a textbook example of how you deal with adversity," Piqua head coach Bill Nees said following the game. "Adversity doesn't build character, it reveals character."
Jesse Swafford
PiquaFootball.com
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