By: Josh Lewis, Reporter

It’s always nice to start the season off with a win. It makes it even sweeter when you are breaking in a brand new turf field. On August 23, for the first time since 2021, the Lions football team opened the season with a win, topping North Harrison in a thriller 22-12. 

Lions Head Coach Brian Glesing said it was great to start the season off with a win.

“That’s a tough football team there. They are big, strong, and they come right at you. Sometimes you don’t have answers for that," said Glesing. "We made a couple of big plays to get them off schedule and in some second and long, and third and long. That makes it difficult for them. Our offense did great, we just had some penalties and turnovers where we stopped ourselves. We made the plays when we needed to make them.”

Salem opened the game with a promising drive. Adam Mull found Seth Ponsford in the flats for an early first down. A 35 yard run from Logan Dent got the Lions deep into North Harrison territory. However some penalties stalled the drive, and then a fumble gave the ball to the Cougars at the 29 yard line. 

After taking over North Harrison wasted little time getting down the field thanks to several gashing runs up the middle. They punched in the games first score with a 25 yard run up the gut with 2:05 left in the first, but the Lions blocked the PAT to keep it a 6-0 game. 

On their next possession the Lions once again had a promising drive stalled out by penalties when a first down run was called back for a hold. But the defense stepped up after their ensuing punt, forcing a Cougar turnover on a fumble that was recovered by Dent at the 14 yard line. 

Braxton Dean ignited the Lions offense with a catch for 60 yards before he was dragged down at the 20 yard line. Caris Moore set the Lions up on the goal line where Mull plunged into the endzone on the QB sneak to get Salem on the board on fourth and goal. Mull also ran around the end for the two point conversion to give Salem the lead 8-6 with 8:10 to go in the half. 

It was the Cougars turn to have some penalties stop a promising drive. After a few first downs they got behind the sticks and Payton Schocke broke up a pass on fourth down to give Salem the ball back at the 18 with a few minutes left in the half. 

Salem executed their two minute offense to perfection. Mull found Dean over the middle to get them into the redzone with 12.8 ticks left. On the next play, Dent got around the end for an easy score to make it a 14-6 game going into the locker room. 

The second half started out promising for Salem once again when they got an early stop that gave them the ball in North Harrison territory. But a fumble on the five yard line ended their chance at points. Again though the Lions defense got a stop with a turnover on downs with an incomplete pass at midfield. But the script repeated as the Lions fumbled at the 45 to give the ball right back to start the fourth quarter. 

This time the Cougars didn’t waste the opportunity to put more points on the board. A QB sneak got them back on the board, but the Lions defense bowed their necks and stuffed the two point try to keep their lead 14-12 with 9:12 left to play. 

Another turnover looked like it might prove costly for Salem, fumbling on the 26 yard line after a couple first down runs, and the Cougars took over with 7:01 to play. However, the Lions' defense stiffened yet again. After a few North Harrison first downs, they forced an incomplete pass on fourth and 8 at the 47 yard line to take over with three minutes and change. After a few quarterback runs, Mull found a sliver of space and broke free for a 42 yard score. He found Dean in the endzone for the two point conversion to put the finishing touches on the victory and give the Lions a season opening win. 

Glesing said it’s been a big transformation from his team last season to get to this point.

“We understand the game better. We are stronger, we are in better shape. It’s a lot of those things. A lot of those same guys were playing in this game last year," Glesing stated. "We are just a better football team and have a lot more experience.”

He also commented on how the leadership the team got from the quarter back was big when they needed it.

“Adam Mull’s leadership from the end of last season to this point now and through tonight was tremendous. He has been awesome and the team has really rallied around him. And he had some big scores for us," said Glesing.

He then went on to add that opening up the season on the new turf was of course fantastic as well. “It’s cool. I’m ready to get going on it. It’s not new anymore. Now it’s our home field, and it’s ours. So now all our teams can use it and hopefully be successful. The next time we are on it will be Brownstown. That will be a war in three weeks.”

The Lions will travel to Silver Creek on Friday for their second game of the season.