Three hours and seven minutes separates LeRoy High School from the well-known Riverview Stadium at Mt. Carmel High School.
The long bus ride did not pay off for the Panthers of LeRoy, as the battle of the unbeatens went the way of the Golden Aces. LeRoy falls to 2-1 on the year.
The Golden Aces defeated the Panthers 40-0, moving to 3-0. They showed spectacular play on both sides of the ball.
Mt. Carmel jumped on LeRoy in the first quarter with a 7-0 lead. They never let off the gas.
“This game was a huge challenge for us,” said WR/DB Mason Buckles. “Even though we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, we still gave it our all. This game will make us better.”
With multiple Golden Aces players receiving D1 interest (such as junior RB Zeke Hadra) they showed on Saturday why they are undefeated.
LeRoy players are not disappointed with the loss; they went up against a ranked 3A team when they are only a 1A team.
“They were a really good team and they had more size than us,” said Mason Buckles.
In a season like this, it is important to schedule games like these. The players will learn a lot and become better because of it.
“We had some good drives on offense and some good stops on defense and we just couldn’t capitalize on scoring,” said twin Brother and QB Max Buckles. “I think we did some good things today and we will see that on film.”
LeRoy was held to 189 yards of offense in the contest.
“We need to work on moving the ball better on offense and getting first downs,” said Mason Buckles. “We also need to work on our passing game.”
“We need to work on finishing offensive drives,” said Max Buckles. “We’ve had a lot of good drives that we just couldn’t finish this season.”
LeRoy will face Heyworth next week on the road with a chance to finish the shortened season with a 3-1 record.
“The loss made me feel like we have some improvements to make, and we only have one more week to get better,” said Mason Buckles.
“Nobody likes to lose, but we still have one game left,” said Max Buckles. “All this game is going to do is make us want to win the next one even more.”