Football: Lima Senior loses heartbreaker to Troy

LIMA — Lima Senior’s 27-26 loss to Troy on Friday night followed the script of what an instant classic playoff game looks like, with all the momentum swings, the drama and the highlight plays a spectator would want. It just didn’t have the storybook ending the Spartans envisioned as a final drive fell just short of a last-second victory. With 1:51 to go and Lima Senior down one, Eli Kerber made a freshman-to-freshman connection with Amarri Cheatom for 41 yards, setting up the Spartans at Troy’s 39. Two plays later, on 3rd and 12, Kerber found Jeff Williams streaking across the middle of the field for what appeared to be a first down but when Williams extended the ball toward the marker at the 28-yard line, it popped free and Troy’s Jesse Valdez landed on it to preserve the win. “How do you fault a kid who’s giving everything he’s got to get that extra yard,” Lima Senior coach Bill Lawrence said. “They punched the ball out and we didn’t get on it.” Valdez’s recovery capped a 16-point c