DAYTON — Cedarville held the lead multiple times throughout Friday’s game.

Check out more photos from Friday’s game.

They made big catches to keep drives alive and tried to match the power used by Southeastern throughout the contest.

Ultimately when it appeared the Indians were nearly seizing the upper hand late, one final mistake ended any hopes for a win.

Cedarville lost in Ohio Heritage Conference South Division play for the first time this season in a 21-13 defeat.

With the Indians trailing in the final minutes but producing a final scoring attempt by taking the ball most of the way down the field, a fumble near the redzone with two minutes remaining was recovered by the Trojans.

Head coach Brian Bogenschutz said he had turned his back to the play in preparation for the next one, not seeing the ball come loose and the team’s chances dashed.

“Hats off to Southeastern as they played really well,” he said. “They prepared well and came to play tonight.”

Up by five, Southeastern had a 13-play drive spanning the third and fourth quarters, aided by a fourth-and-short offside penalty by Cedarville, that could have put the game away. The Indians defense appeared to catch their breath as the Trojans tried to run extra clock between plays, leading to a stop in the red zone. Southeastern elected to try a field goal, just the team’s third attempt all season, from 28 yards out which went down the middle to put them up eight.

Cedarville (6-2) took over with 7:24 remaining needing to score a touchdown to keep their chances alive, but faced a fourth-and-3 situation immediately. A long pass to Josh Flora kept the drive alive and from there the Indians offense began steadily moving the ball while using most of the remaining clock.

As they advanced to the Trojans’ 24, a handoff exchange got away and bounced its way across the field eluding several players from both teams. The Trojans eventually corralled the ball with 1:58 left and picked up two first downs on the ensuing possession to put the game away.

“We faced some similar adversity against Mechanicsburg and I thought we handled it well,” Bogenschutz said. “Sometimes that’s just what happens.”

Cedarville got on the scoreboard first on its second possession when Colt Coffey scored at the goal line. It was a rough night for the Indians’ ground attack overall, being held to a season-low 79 yards.

That turned out to not be a fortuitous sign of the how the game played out as the Trojans front line controlled the game’s action on both sides of the ball. Southeastern (5-3) was only stopped in its own backfield one time while quarterback Zack Mckee had plenty of time to throw and was rarely pressured. Jackson Pyles for Cedarville on the other hand was sacked three times and had to hurry several balls which were overthrown to streaking receivers.

The Trojans went up 12-7 into the break, but Cedarville had a strong start to the second half by producing its first three-and-out stop of the Trojans’ offense before putting together its own 13-play drive of 65 yards to retake the lead on Coffey’s two-yard touchdown run.

As the Indians put themselves in position to get the ball back quickly on the next drive, a long third down pass was hauled in by the larger Southeastern receiver and they quickly got to the line again to catch Cedarville off balance and ran in a 16-yard touchdown to go back ahead.

Hayden Davis of Southeastern entered the game as the OHC’s second leading scorer and got to the endzone twice more against Cedarville.

Cedarville had Pyles complete 13-of-22 passing attempts for 131 yards but he threw two interceptions for the second straight game. Flora caught seven passes for 105 yards, the first of which came on a 33-yard halfback pass from Coffey on the game’s first play from scrimmage.

Cedarville falls out of the first place in the OHC South after the loss, but is not out of the race yet two games left facing teams around them at the top of the standings.

“It’s like I told the guys in [the locker room] that they still have everything to play for in front of them,” Bogenschutz said. “We just have to go out and get prepared to play Greenon and Greeneview and know we still have things to accomplish.”

See all of the Greene County football results from week eight.

Check out more photos from Friday’s game.

Cedarville will receive to start tonight’s game at Hickman Field. pic.twitter.com/nxbjjXiTVs

— Steven Wright (@Steven_Wright_) October 6, 2023

Cedarville converts two 4th and 1 plays and Colt Coffey scores from the 1yd line. 7-0 Cedarville leads Southeastern, 3:51 1st qtr. pic.twitter.com/1L8sWrS0kr

— Steven Wright (@Steven_Wright_) October 6, 2023

Cedarville takes its first drive of the second half all the way down the field. Colt Coffey gets his second rushing TD. They go for 2 and it’s incomplete. The Indians lead Southeastern 13-12 with 5:56 left in the third quarter. pic.twitter.com/PEIQms0sO2

— Steven Wright (@Steven_Wright_) October 7, 2023

Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.