In high school sports winning streaks come and go. A lot of it depends on whether or not you have that special class or multiple classes in a row coming through the ranks at the same time. Some of it depends on a team's strength of schedule or how good their conference is. Sometimes a winning streak or losing streak is just luck, if there is such a thing. For Lexington, it's a mixture of all of the above. You can pick any team on the Lexington football schedule and there is a very good chance the Minutemen are either on a long winning streak against that particular team, or they are on an overdue losing streak to that team. In some cases the Minutmen have been able to break a few long losing streaks in the last two seasons under third year head coach Andrew Saris. He seems to have figured out the code to breaking losing streaks.
Under Coach Saris' leadership the Minutemen have broken three significant losing streaks. In his first year as the coach at Lex, Coach Saris was able to lead the Minutmen to a victory over Wooster for the first time in 5 years. It was one of the most exciting games Lexington has seen in a decade. The Minutemen roared back to win with under a minute left when then Freshman Brayden Fogle caught a touchdown from AJ Young to pull within one point. Instead of kicking the extra point and tying the game, Saris elected to go for two and sure enough just as the Minutemen had scored the touchdown, they ran almost an identical play to score the two and take the lead by one point. AJ Young to Brayden Fogle broke the losing streak.
In 2023, his second year as the coach at Lex, Saris and his Minutemen were able to break a four year losing streak to Clear Fork that actually went back to 2016 (CF left the conference briefly and came back, the teams didn't play for two years). That game was another nail biter. The Minutemen won by a single point. The highlight of that game was a 93 yard halfback pass from Markale Martin to newcomber Seven Allen on the very first play of the second half. Again, another gutsy call helped the Minutemen break another losing streak.
Maybe there's a theme here. When you see a chance to win a game and break a losing streak, make the gutsy call and let the playmakers do their thing.
Another four game losing streak the Minutemen have broken under Saris' tenure was last season against Ashland. In Coach Saris' first season the Minutemen had a 28-7 halftime lead at Ashland in a win and get in game at Community Stadium. The Minutemen went into that game knowing if they won they'd have a playoff spot sealed up. Ultimately the Arrows had an enormous second half and won the game 42-28. 2023 was revenge time. At home last season the situation was the same. Beat the Arrows and get into the playoffs. In a rainy late October slugfest the Minutemen were able to secure a 24-14 victory and secure their spot in the playoffs, one spot ahead of Ashland, and breaking yet another losing streak.
On the flip side of the streaks, Coach Saris came in with a long winning streak over Madison and has continued that with two wins of his own. The Minutemen haven't dropped one against the Rams since 2015, and most of those wins have been dominant.
Why is all of this information relevant right now? The Minutemen are currently riding an eight game losing streak to the Shelby Whippets, their week two opening this Friday night in the home opener at Lexington. The last time the Minutemen were able to ring the victory bell against Shelby was back in 2015 when they won 34-20. The eight game streak to Shelby is the longest active losing streak for the Minutemen. As we've seen the last two years, Coach Saris led teams have had a knack for pulling off upsets and breaking streaks. It will be a tough test on Friday night against yet another great quarterback on this Lexington schedule but in front of their home crowd for the first time this season and the Purple Haze in full force, the Minutemen have a chance to check a major box off of their list of goals this season, beat Shelby.