LUCASVILLE — Bend it like Bender.

Or, better yet, just kick it straight through.

That’s exactly what Valley junior Jaylen Bender did on Friday night, nailing near perfect the game-winning field goal as time expired on a rainsoaked Reservation.

Bender broke his own school record with his walkoff three points, as he hit a 46-yard field goal at the gun —giving the host Indians a thrilling 38-35 Southern Ohio Conference Division II football victory over visiting Northwest.

Besides beating his own Valley best 44-yarder from earlier this season, Bender —who also critically made all five of his extra-point attempts against the Mohawks —lifted the Indians to their first win of the season.

Valley is now 1-5 and Northwest now 3-3 —as both teams are 1-2 in the SOC II.

As for their Ohio Route 348 rivalry, the Indians’ only loss to the Mohawks since 2000 remains two years ago —a 37-22 triumph by Northwest to snap a 17-game losing streak against Valley.

The two teams did not play for five years from 2014 thru 2018 —as Northwest was a member of the SOC I, while Valley remained a member of the SOC II.

They played twice in 2021, as last season’s defensive struggle in Roy Rogers Country resulted in a 7-6 Valley victory.

This season, the Indians already had seven points only 55 seconds in —on a 55-yard touchdown strike from senior quarterback Aidan Waughtel to sophomore wideout Braxten Conaway.

However, Valley needed the final three points from Bender —in the final two tics on the clock —for Friday night’s hard-fought win.

Until then, the Indians only led 7-0, as they actually never led for the final 32 minutes and 54 seconds —given Northwest leads of 14-7, 21-14, 28-21 and 35-28.

There were also five ties —at 7-7, 14-14, 21-21, 28-28 and 35-35.

But Bender broke the final tie, and actually exacted a measure of revenge — with another final 46-yard attempt on The Reservation.

In the season opener against Portsmouth, Bender tried a game-tying field goal at that same precise distance, but that kick went wide and hooked left —leaving the Indians on the losing end of a 15-12 count.

But this time, his kick was true —as the Indians snapped the ball with only two seconds remaining.

Bender made the winner, sending Valley into a wild celebration near midfield.

“If you saw him (Bender) kick his extra points, he was kicking them over the fieldhouse, over the net down there. He has been consistent in practice, even with the rush, good from 55 to 57 yards. I am good with him all the way back there,” said Valley coach Nolan Crabtree. “He had plenty of room to spare on that one. It was a great pace on the snap with a freshman longsnapper Colton Stuart right to Aidan Waughtel who did a great job with the hold.”

For the Indians, it was also a sigh of relief to finally get a win.

Their first four losses had all been by two touchdowns or less, and largely as a result of self-inflicted mistakes such as costly penalties.

The Indians are also playing without arguably their top two-way player in linebacker and running back Gabe McNeil, who was lost for the season due to injury against Coal Grove a month ago.

“This is the third time in our three home games we’ve had the ball in the final minute with a chance to win the game. The first two we came up short, once on a missed field goal (Portsmouth 15-12 loss) and the other on a ball knocked down at the goal line (Waverly 27-21 loss). Today, we get down there again and we take a sack, and it sets up a long field goal. I know people had to be like ‘oh my God, here we go again’ or whatever else. But I’ve got the best kicker around, and he proved it again,” said Crabtree. “Just what a tremendous kick by Jaylen.”

The field goal capped off an eight-play drive in the game’s final minute and 41 seconds, in which Valley took over at its own 38-yard line —after stopping Northwest on downs, and following an almost six-minute Mohawk drive which began at the Northwest 20.

In the final Indian march, Anthony Aaron began it with four runs that picked up 18 yards to the Mohawk 44.

Waughtel was stopped for a one-yard loss to set up 3rd-down-and 7 —as what initially appeared to be a clean pass breakup by the Mohawks resulted in a late flag being thrown for pass interference.

No doubt, it was a tough call against Northwest, but a major break for the Indians.

“I don’t know what to say I’m sorry,” said a dejected Northwest coach Bill Crabtree. “We felt like we controlled the line of scrimmage again, Carter (Runyon) did his thing running the ball and Colton (Campbell) had a nice night (running the ball). Unfortunately, we came up a little short…thanks to a rough call like that. It’s hard to lose a game like that. It just makes you sick. The kids played so hard, and when it gets taken away from them on a call like that, it’s hard to sleep at night. That’s for sure.”

The Mohawks did sack Waughtel on 2nd-and-2 from the 22, which resulted in a seven-yard loss —and forced Waughtel to spike the ball to stop the clock on third down and with no timeouts remaining.

But Bender needed just one kick with two seconds left, as that was Valley’s only other lead.

A complete report, and additional game photographs, will appear online at www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com.

* * *

Northwest 0 14 21 0 — 35

Valley 7 7 14 10 —38

V — Braxten Conaway, 55-yard pass from Aidan Waughtel (Jaylen Bender kick), 11:05, 1st (7-0 V)

N — Carter Runyon, 6-yard run (Maddix Spriggs kick), 8:54, 2nd (7-7 tie)

N — Carter Runyon, 5-yard run (Maddix Spriggs kick), :49, 2nd (14-7 N)

V — Aidan Waughtel, 2-yard run (Jaylen Bender kick), :00, 2nd (14-14 tie)

N — Carter Runyon, 39-yard run (Maddix Spriggs kick), 11:06, 3rd (21-14 N)

V — Braxten Conaway, 8-yard pass from Aidan Waughtel (Jaylen Bender kick), 9:46, 3rd (21-21 tie)

N — Jake Brown, 9-yard run (Maddix Spriggs kick), 5:36, 3rd (28-21 N)

V — Anthony Aaron, 3-yard run (Maddix Spriggs kick), 3:08, 3rd (28-28 tie)

N — Carter Runyon, 71-yard run (Maddix Spriggs kick), :56, 3rd (35-28 N)

V — Aidan Waughtel, 2-yard run (Jaylen Bender kick), 7:28, 4th (35-35 tie)

V — Jaylen Bender, 46-yard field goal, :00, 4th (38-35 V)

Team Statistics

N V

First Downs 19 24

Scrimmage plays 65 56

Rushes-yards 64-399 35-149

Passing yards 0 180

Total yards 399 329

Cmp-Att-Int. 0-1-0 12-21-0

Fumbles-lost 4-1 4-2

Penalties-yards 6-50 1-10

Punts-Ave. 1-38 1-41

Individual Leaders

RUSHING — Northwest: Carter Runyon 27-273 4TD, Colton Campbell 24-74, Orion Ellis 6-24, Domenick Stone 4-9, Jake Brown 2-22 TD, Peyton Bell 1-(-3); Valley: Anthony Aaron 22-139 TD, Aidan Waughtel 12-13 2TD, Team 1-(-3)

PASSING — Northwest: Jake Brown 0-1-0-0; Valley: Aidan Waughtel 12-21-0-180 2TD

RECEIVING —Northwest: none; Valley: Braxten Conaway 5-105 2TD, Zach Whit 2-25, Lex Logan 2-18, Blake Lundy 1-18, Isaiah Clark 1-12, Anthony Aaron 1-2

Reach Paul Boggs by email at [email protected], or on X @paulboggssports © 2024 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved