BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DAYTON - Nick Singleton was not going to be stopped. He would run backwards, sideways, up the middle, around the end, over or through any defender in a black jersey - whatever he had to do to get the yards. It sounded harder than it looked.
Singleton, the third-leading rusher in the Warriors' triple-threat backfield, romped for 210 yards on just 15 carries and scored three touchdowns as Lebanon blew out Washington Court House Miami Trace 38-7 in a Division II regional final.
It sends the Warriors (11-1) to next week's state final four, where their season ended last fall. They'll face either Sylvania or Celina.
"Bigger, stronger, faster, whatever you want to say," said Miami Trace coach Jeff Conroy. "That's a great football team. I'm really rooting for them to win the state championship. They just took us out of our game."
Singleton wasn't the only Lebanon standout Friday in a game that was tight for just a quarter. The Warriors racked up 502 yards of total offense and dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage, while quarterback Brady Merchant threw for 210 yards and ran for 65, and beefy tight end Alonzo Jones - all 6-feet-4-inches and 270 pounds - caught two huge passes that set up first-half touchdowns.
But Singleton was the star of that vaunted Lebanon backfield on a night where the team's leading ground gainer, Ohio State-bound Kelton Lindsay, was impressively smothered for three quarters by the Miami Trace defense. The Panthers keyed on Lindsay all night, and he ended with just 50 yards - but did have two interceptions on defense.
That left the holes huge for the 5-foot-10 Singleton, who didn't need much room but had plenty nonetheless.
"Kelton didn't have that many yards, but he took two or three people every time," said Singleton, who switched between elusive, Barry Sanders-type moves and straight-ahead, turn-on-the-speed bursts of energy. "He was my best blocker all night. It opened up a lot, and all I had to do was make one hard cut and run."
Singleton's first TD was a turning point in the game, answering Miami Trace's first score with an 18-yard scamper just before halftime to extend the Lebanon lead to 21-7. He made it 28-7 in the third, running up the middle for 32 yards, then added a pure-speed 67-yard explosion for a TD in the fourth when it was out of hand.
"Nick's a little tougher to tackle (than Lindsay)," Lebanon coach Dave Brausch said. "He's tough to get a handle on. That's his biggest asset. He's a big-game player, and he always comes up huge in big games. We're just lucky to have kids who will take what the other team gives us and not worry about who has more yards."
Overall, it was just a dominating night for the Lebanon offensive line, which produced 382 yards on the ground.
"Their interior were just bigger and stronger," Conroy said. Conroy said he believes Singleton is "the key to that team. He's just so elusive and tough to tackle, and he's so quick it's tough to bring him down. He broke our backs tonight."
L-Justin Runyan 22 pass from Brady Merchant (Josh Eldridge kick), 1:30 1st, 7-0
L-Runyan 16 run (Eldridge kick), 4:32 2nd Q, 14-0
MT-Mark Hammond 2 run (Matt Steward kick), 2:20 2nd 14-7
L-Nick Singleton 18 run (Eldridge kick), 0:57 2nd, 21-7
L-Singleton 32 run (Eldridge kick), 7:45 3rd, 28-7
L-Eldridge 33 FG, 11:49 4th, 31-7
L-Singleton 67 run (Eldridge kick), 6:00 4th, 38-7
