By Josh Lewis, Writer
The Salem football season came to an end on Friday night in the sectional semi-finals. The Lions made the long trip to Tell City to take on the Marksmen, and although the Lions battled, they just couldn’t come up with key plays when they needed them, and three turnovers made it an uphill climb as they fell 30-16.
Salem went three and out on their first possession, and Tell City began churning out runs. They converted a fourth and one down to the Salem eight yard line. On the next play they plunged in for an eight yard score.
The Lions responded with a good drive, ignited by some big runs from Logan Dent. The drive began to stall in Marksmen territory, but Adam Mull found Caris Moore in the endzone for a 33 yard score on a fourth and eight. Braxton Dean rushed in for the two point try to give the Lions an 8-7 lead with 1:56 to play in the first.
Tell City went back to their ground game, pounding out yardage in chunks. Early in the second quarter they punched in a one yard score as well as the two point try to make it a 15-8 Tell City lead with just under three minutes gone in the second quarter.
Salem responded once again with a quick scoring drive when Noah Deaton raced around the end for an 18 yard score. Dent punched in the two point try to give Salem the lead back 16-15 with just over six minutes to play in the half.
The Marksmen put another scoring drive together capped by an 11 yard scoring run to push the lead out 23-16 with just 2:45 left in the half. Salem went to work and got some good plays together but a false start at the Tell City 10 yard line backed them up and stalled the drive out when Salem turned the ball over on downs at the 13 yard line with just six seconds left in the half.
The Lions defense got a big play when they desperately needed it early in the third quarter. The Lions forced a fumble at their own 27 yard line to stop the opening possession for Tell City.
Salem started moving the ball well with some big runs from Dent, but the Lions turned it back over with an interception at the Tell City 23 yard line. Tell City marched down the field and put together another scoring drive in the fourth quarter to put the finishing touches on the win and end the Salem season 30-16. Salem finished with a 5-6 record.
Adam Mull slashes through a lane for a solid gain on the ground.
Logan Dent rumbles through a big hole in the second half. He had a team high 164 yards on the ground.
Photos by Josh Lewis.