A pair of quick strikes and an outstanding night by a sophomore running back gave the Talawanda High School football team its first win in two years with a 27-6 victory last Friday at Little Miami.

It set off a celebration for Braves players, coaches and fans that lasted all the way back to Oxford when the players gathered around the Victory Bell and rang it for the first time ever at the new Talawanda turf football field.

“After the game, it was pretty crazy. You’d thought we won the state championship,” sophomore running back Maurice Thomas said. “It was loud on the bus. We were excited to get home and ring the bell. It was pretty awesome.”

“Awesome” also was the word first-year coach J.D. Vonderheide used to describe his week.

Not only did he get his first head coaching win, but his wife, Andrea, gave birth on Tuesday of last week to their first child, a daughter named Harper Elizabeth. The baby, born 15 days early, was in great health but her father was forced into long-distance coaching after turning over practice to his staff. He was on the sidelines Friday and got an ice-water bath after the win.

The focus this week has been on Edgewood, another Southwest Ohio Conference foe and a long-time rival for the Braves, going back to a long history in the Mid-Miami League years.

Edgewood comes into tonight’s game with a 2-2 SWOC record — 5-2 overall — after a disastrous season a year ago. The Cougars dropped a 35-28 decision at undefeated Northwest last Friday, much of it played in a driving rain.

Talawanda and Little Miami were scoreless at halftime last Friday, but Talawanda put an end to that with 7:46 left in the third quarter when quarterback Connor Scott scored on a 4-yard run. Talawanda’s defense held for a quick three-and-out and when the home team tried to punt, the ball went over the kicker’s head. Talawanda quickly got its second score at the 7:07 mark on a run from Thomas.

The sophomore got two quick scores in the fourth quarter as well, both on 5-yard runs just 1:05 apart early in the quarter. One extra point was missed on the evening and Talawanda led 27-0. Little Miami added its lone score on a run by Dustin Vice with 6:02 left in the game.

“Our defense hung in there,” Vonderheide said. “They forced two turnovers in the first half, one of them inside the 10-yard line. We made a few adjustments at halftime. Thomas carried the ball 37 times (for 231 yards). For a sophomore to carry a load like that is outstanding.”

Thomas said he was not keeping track of his yardage total for the evening and did not even realize it was more than 200 yards when the game ended.

“I just go in and focus on the play I’m on and do my job on that play,” he said. “I do not track the yards when I’m in a game, but I knew I had a decent night. I did not know how many yards I had. I just had to keep focusing on the game until that game was locked up.”

The win came almost two years to the day since the last one — Oct. 8, 2010.

“It was a good win for us for all the reasons that wins are good, but to go 19 straight without a win is hard,” Vonderheide said. “I was coaching to the end, even when we had a 27-6 lead, for the enormity of what it meant to the kids and program. Now we can talk, not about the losses, but about a win.”

Thomas agreed with his coach.

“Everyone wanted this one. It could not come at a better time,” he said, and then reflected on starting the league season against three teams who are at the top of the league standings as well as getting recognition in the area with two of them undefeated overall. “It was kinds hard getting through those three weeks, but we are able to get through it.”

Talawanda made some mistakes in those three games and players were reminding each of that in Friday’s game against Little Miami.

“On the sidelines, everybody was (saying), ‘Just don’t let up.’ We’ve been in the situation before where we were winning and let up,” Thomas said.

Tonight’s game will a difficult one for Talawanda. Edgewood always has been a tough opponent and is on the road back after an off-year in 2011.

“Coach (Scott) Clemmons has done a good job,” Vonderheide said. “They came back strong.”

To get ready for tonight, however, the Braves have had a little more spring in their step in practice thanks to their first win.

“A win makes it easier to go to practice,” the coach said. “It’s something only a win can give you.”