Week 10

Teays Valley completed an unbeaten run through the Mid-State League Buckeye Division Friday night by battling second-place Amanda-Clearcreek to a 24-7 win.

“They’re tough kids,” TV coach Mark Weber said of his opponents. “That’s being selfish if you don’t enjoy a 24-7 win over Amanda with the type of kids they have. I knew their line would be physical and I knew they wouldn’t just disappear.”

It’s only the third time in school history the Vikings (8-2, 6-0 MSL) have been able to make an unbeaten run through the Buckeye Division.

“We’ve put in a lot of time in the weight room, the film room and we’ve just come together as a family,” senior lineman Tanner Bowling said. “It means a lot because we’re one big family and all love each other and would do anything for each other.”

The Vikings were able to get out in front right off the bat as they took the opening drive 61 yards and got a 30-yard Brandon Coleman to Adrjain Settler TD pass for a 7-0 lead.

A two-yard run by Anastacio Rodriguez with a minute to go in the first quarter put TV up 14-0 as the Vikings controlled the ball for nine-and-a-half minutes in the first quarter.

A 42-yard field goal from Brett Carson with 28 seconds left in the second quarter had the Vikings up 17-0 at halftime.

Held to 77 yards in the first half, the Aces got the second half off to a better start in driving down to the TV 22 before their drive was stopped.

AC’s defense got a couple of stops in the third quarter, including Dalton Covell coming down with an interception.

AC finally found the endzone four minutes into the fourth quarter when Brayden Neff connected with Schuyler Boyer on a seven-yard pass.

While the Aces had brought the difference back to 10 points, the Vikings weren’t going to let it stay that way for long as three plays later, TV’s offensive line opened up a hole that gave Coleman enough room to get through and race 52 yards for the game’s final score.

The efforts of the line allowed the Vikings to pick up 264 yards on the ground Friday night and the Aces were able to record only one tackle for a loss.

Eric Yates led the Vikings with 112 yards on 18 carries and Coleman had 108 on nine carries.

The Aces were limited to 87 yards rushing on the night with Peyton Madison running for 29 and Adam Sites for 28.

Neff threw for 148 yards with Jayse Miller grabbing three balls for 77 yards.

Defensively, Covell had two interceptions in the second half and Boyer brought one down for the Aces in the first half.

Around the area: Bloom-Carroll 41, Logan Elm 0; Circleville 30, Hamilton Township 28; Southeastern 48, Westfall 12.

Week 9

Teays Valley jumped out on top 21-0 at Circleville Friday night on the way to a 42-14 win that clinched the Vikings at least a share of the Mid-State League’s Buckeye Division championship.

One of the key players in Teays Valley’s fast start was junior Taylor Robinson who caught two touchdown passes and then returned an interception 80 yards as the Vikings (7-2, 5-0 MSL Buckeye) held a 21-0 lead early in the second period.

“Things were just clicking the first half,” Robinson said. “Brandon (Coleman) was throwing great balls and we were getting open. All cylinders, everything was clicking.”

Robinson’s touchdowns came on completions of 27 and 12 yards. He was in the right place on defense for his third score.

“Blaze Beane jumped up and tipped it and it just landed right in my arms and I took off with it,” he said.

The Tigers (3-6, 1-4) hit the scoreboard on their possession following the interception. They started at their own four-yard-line but only needed four plays (along with a Vikings penalty) to get across the field with Seth Risner catching a 26-yard scoring pass from Garret Gray. A conversion pass from Gray to Cory Cline put the score at 21-8, which stood until halftime.

The Vikings’ defense continued to keep Circleville in check allowing the Tigers only three first downs in the third quarter while grabbing another interception.

TV added a touchdown in the third quarter when Josh Feyh brought in a pass that had been tipped by a Tiger defender and took it 43 yards for a score.

Two plays into the fourth quarter, TV’s Adrjian Settler ran in from 25 yards out to put his Vikings up 35-8.

Special teams got into the scoring action two minutes later when Beane blocked a Circleville punt and Dylan Pennington fell on the loose ball in the endzone for a touchdown and a 42-7 advantage.

Circleville responded with a nine-play drive that featured a 42-yard pass from Gray to Ben Davis and was capped with a seven-yard scoring pass from Gray to Kaleb Spangler.

Settler was the game’s leading rusher with 79 yards on five carries had had 49 yards receiving on two catches.

Robinson had six catches for 61 yards and Feyh had 56 yards on two catches.

Spangler led the Tigers with 62 yards on 18 carries and added 22 yards receiving.

Risner led the Tigers with 48 yards on five catches.

Around the area: Westfall 35, Paint Valley 28; Grandview Heights 28, Logan Elm 0; Hamilton Township 29, Amanda-Clearcreek 23.

Week 8

Amanda-Clearcreek took the lead midway through the fourth quarter and twice held off host Circleville after that to come away with a 21-16 win Friday night.

“That was all guts,” AC coach Nate Saum said. “The resolve, the way we fight through adversity, the way we finish – it doesn’t look pretty but the result’s good. I’m proud as hell of them. The toughness, the grit and the guts were all there tonight.”

The Tigers (3-5, 1-3 MSL Buckeye) hurt themselves with three turnovers and a couple untimely penalties.

“You can’t turn the ball over, even against a team that’s 5-2 and we’re whipping their tail up front,” Circleville coach Heath Hinton said. “The first half we turned the ball over and it was killing our drives. We’ve got to go make some more plays.”

The Tigers lost two fumbles in the first half and lost another in the second half.

Circleville held a 10-7 halftime lead thanks to a 27-yard field goal from Grant Hill and a six-yard TD run from Kaleb Spangler. The Aces got their points right before the half when a 45-yard gain on a reverse by Trent Holbrook moved the Aces into scoring territory and the drive was capped with a six-yard TD pass from Brayden Neff to Dalton Covell.

Circleville lost its third fumble of the night on the second play of the second half. The Aces (6-2, 4-0) were able to use a short field off the turnover to take their first lead when Adam Sites scored from a yard out on the drive’s sixth play.

Circleville was forced to punt on its next possession but then took advantage of an AC mistake as Brad Henry brought in a tipped pass and returned it 25 yards for a score that put the Tigers up 16-10 midway through the third quarter.

The Tigers held the Aces to a three-and-out and put together a drive that found the endzone on a fourth-down play, only to have a holding call negate the score. The penalty yardage moved the Tigers out of scoring range, forcing a punt early in the fourth quarter.

The Aces took over on their own 10-yard line and put together an 11-play drive that was capped with Brayden Neff going the final 13 yards to put the Aces up 21-16 with 6:11 left.

Circleville wasn’t done and picked up a couple first downs, including one on fourth down, to move to the AC 36. But another fourth down conversion wasn’t in the cards and the Aces took over with 2:35 on the clock.

With two timeouts and a stingy defense, Circleville was able to force an AC punt and got the ball back with 1:35 on the clock.

This time the Tigers got as close as the AC 20, but were unable to get any closer and turned the ball over on downs with 49 seconds left, allowing Neff to take a knee twice to run out the clock.

Around the area: Teays Valley 31, Hamilton Township 12; Fairfield Union 21, Logan Elm 6; Unioto 34, Westfall 7.

Week 7

Circleville got off to a quick start and kept Logan Elm in check most of the night on the way to a 32-0 win Friday.

The Tigers (3-4, 1-2 MSL Buckeye) opened the game with the ball and grabbed 40 yards on two pass plays from Garret Gray to Seth Risner. Then Kaleb Spangler broke through on a 40-yard run to put CHS up 6-0 59 seconds into the game.

CHS held the Braves (1-6, 0-4) to a three-and-out and were threatening again but Oakley Lowery intercepted a Tiger pass inside the Braves’ 20.

LE picked up a first down but lost possession on a fumble, giving the ball back to the Tigers at the LE 34. Five plays later, Grant Hill connected on a 31-yard field goal for a 9-0 Circleville lead.

Gray added two more TD passes for the Tigers in the second quarter. He hit Cory Cline on an eight-yard score with 10:10 left in the half and then Risner on a four-yard score with 5:58 left. Hill’s PAT kicks had the Tigers up 23-0 and that’s where the score stood at halftime.

The Braves got the ball to start the second half and put together a nice drive.

LE used 16 plays and ate up seven-and-a-half minutes off the clock as they got as close as a first-and-goal at Circleville’s 9-yard line. But the Tigers’ defense tightened up to push LE back on first down and LE’s pass attempt on second down fell incomplete. Circleville brought the pressure on third down, forcing LE’s Skylar Drum to scramble and his attempt to reach a receiver in the endzone was intercepted by Risner.

The Braves were able to stop Circleville on that possession, but the Braves’ next possession ended with another interception by Risner near midfield.

The Tigers moved all the way to the one-yard line before losing control of a fumble and the Braves recovered.

LE picked up a first down, but then a holding call put the Braves in a hole and brought out the punting team. A high snap went out of the endzone giving the Tigers a safety and a 25-0 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

When the Tigers got the ball back after the free kick, Gray connected with Cory Taylor on first down on a play that covered 77 yards and put the Tigers up 32-0.

The Tigers enjoyed their biggest offensive performance of the season Friday with 273 rushing yards and another 231 through the air.

Circleville amassed those 504 yards due in part to 17 plays that picked up 10 more yards and despite Logan Elm having a 33:43 to 14:17 advantage in time of possession.

Spangler led the Tigers were 110 yards on six carries while Damian Swain had 85 yards on 10 totes and Gray had 68 on eight carries. Taylor was Circleville’s leading receiver with his 77-yard TD catch while Risner had four catches for 73 yards.

Hunter Hopkins led the Braves with 83 yards on 28 carries. He handled most of the rushing duties after Griffin Cheadle left the game with an injury after carrying the ball nine times in the first period. Logan Watson was LE’s leading receiver with 46 yards on three catches while Hunter Johnson had 32 yards on four catches.

Around the area: Teays Valley 56, Bexley 0; Amanda-Clearcreek 24, Bloom-Carroll 19; Piketon 29, Westfall 14.

Week 6

Teays Valley scored all of its points in the second half as the Vikings posted their second straight shutout with a 27-0 win at Fairfield Union Friday night.

“Coming out of halftime our guys were so focused,” TV coach Mark Weber said. “They were – ‘we’re going to get this win, no one is going to hold us back, we’re winning this football game.’ It came down to mental toughness.”

TV got the ball to start the second half and covered 58 yards in 12 plays, eating nearly seven minutes off the clock. Aided by two Fairfield Union penalties, the Vikings moved the ball down to the Falcons’ 3 with the rushing game before quarterback Brandon Coleman scrambled around and found tight end Sawyer Kohl for the touchdown.

A few plays following an interception by Anastacio Rodriguez, TV’s Brett Carson connected on a 42-yard field goal.

After forcing the Falcons to punt, TV’s next possession also concluded with a 42-yard Carson field goal for a 13-0 lead two minutes into the fourth quarter.

The Vikings got the ball back a minute later when Riely Weiss intercepted a Falcons’ pass. It was the fourth TV interception of the game to go with Taylor Robinson and Dylan Pennington making picks in the first half.

TV needed only three plays to cover 36 yards — a 13-yard run by Eric Yates, a 12-yard run from Adjrian Settler and then an 11-yard touchdown pass from Coleman to Robinson.

The Vikings added one more score when Settler raced 52 yards for a touchdown with 3:31 left in the game.

That run put an exclamation point on a second half where the Vikings ran for 183 yards. They had 248 for the game.

By the end of the game, the Falcons had accounted for a mere 23 rushing yards on 22 attempts and had only 115 yards of total offense.

Week 5

London controlled much of the action on the line Friday night and the Red Raiders took advantage of a couple of Circleville mistakes in picking up a 42-0 win at Circleville Friday night.

Led by their standout junior running back KJ Price, the Red Raiders ran for 290 yards Friday.

“We knew they’d be good off the ball. Their kids come off the ball low, hard and flat,” Circleville coach Heath Hinton said. “We’re missing some kids and that hurts a bit but we’ve got to be ready to keep fighting.”

Price ran for 204 yards on the night and scored the final two touchdowns for the unbeaten Red Raiders.

London’s first touchdown came from quarterback Josh Handley. He ended a 10-play drive by running in from a yard out.

The Tigers (2-3) looked to have the Raiders stopped on that drive as London lined up for a field goal attempt, but an offside call yielded a first down allowing Handley to score four plays later.

London gave the ball to Price for four straight carries on their next possession and then threw the team’s only pass of the night.

Circleville’s Aiden Lowe got a hand on the pass but not enough to bring it in and the tipped ball was caught by Jimmy Dulin who took it in for a 36-yard touchdown.

Circleville was lined up to punt a few plays later, but struggles with handling the punt snap led to London getting the ball at the Circleville 16.

Two plays later, Handley went in from two yards out to put London up 21-0 as the first quarter was only a few seconds from being over.

“That’s 14 points right there that was a swing in the game early on,” Hinton said of the penalty that kept the first drive alive and the bad punt snap. “We can’t do that to ourselves.”

The Raiders scored on an eight-play, 70-yard drive midway through the second quarter that had Dallas Kimbler scoring from eight yards out.

Price finished off the first-half scoring on a 16-yard run with 1:55 left in the half that had the Raiders leading 35-0 at halftime.

London added one more score in the third quarter on a six-play drive that had Price go the final 28 yards for the score.

Around the area: Westfall 34, Adena 27; Teays Valley 42, Logan Elm 0; Amanda-Clearcreek 24, Fairfield Union 14.

Week 4

Teays Valley trailed midway through the second quarter, but a balanced offensive attack along with some help from the defense and special teams helped the Vikings roll to a 55-20 win in its Mid-State League Buckeye Division opener at Bloom-Carroll.

The Vikings were focused on making improvements after finishing the preseason with a pair of losses, including last week’s 33-7 loss at Canal Winchester.

“We made strides in one week,” TV coach Mark Weber said as he talked about how strong a competitor Bloom-Carroll was. “We could barely score against Canal, and now we’re scoring 55.

“That’s because we’ve upped our competition (in the preseason), played a harder schedule and it’s going to pay off in the long run. But we really haven’t won anything. We’re 1-0 in the league – big deal.”

It was a big deal in terms of the way all three phases of the game contributed.

On offense, the Vikings found success early in the passing game as their first touchdown was the result of a 45-yard and then 25-yard completion from Brandon Coleman to Taylor Robinson.

The Viking’s second TD (a two-yard run from Eric Yates) came a few plays after Tanner Bowling stripped the ball away from a BC ball carrier.

The Bulldogs were holding their own in the first half and followed TV’s second touchdown with their second of the game that, along with an earlier field goal, had them up 17-14.

TV answered with a nine-play scoring drive where Yates scored again, also from two yards out. Then on the next play for the Bulldogs, Anastacio Rodriquez stepped in front of a BC pass and ran it back 30 yards to put the Vikings up 27-17, which is where the score stood at halftime.

The second half started on a sour note for TV as its first play ended with an interception and BC with the ball at the TV 32.

The TV defense held BC to a field goal on that possession and then special teams struck. Dylan Pennington took the ensuing kickoff back 95 yards for a touchdown.

It was the fourth kick return for a touchdown the Vikings have had this year, the second by Pennington.

After Pennington’s return TD, the Vikings added another score on a 13-yard run from Coleman that was set up by a BC fumble. That pushed the TV advantage to 41-20 with 5:05 left in the third.

Tristan McDanel had a two-yard score early in the fourth to put TV up 48-20.

A 44-yard punt return by Reily Weiss set up John Walkowicz’s two-yard score on the next play to cap the game’s scoring.

Coleman threw for 98 yards — all in the first half — to four receivers. The Vikings attempted only two passes in the second half.

Yates was the Vikings’ leading rusher with 79 yards on 14 carries.

Around the area: Fairfield Union 35, Circleville 0; Amanda-Clearcreek 28, Logan Elm 11; Zane Trace 30, Westfall 0.

Week 3

Amanda-Clearcreek took advantage of Liberty Union mistakes to get out to an early lead before the Lions got their offense moving in the right direction to come back and knock off the Aces 35-31.

Fumbles on Liberty’s first two possessions (recovered by Will Riffle and Hunter Teegardner) gave AC (2-1) good field position and set up a 27-yard TD run from Riffle on a two-play, 30-yard drive and a three-yard TD run from quarterback Brayden Neff on a four-play, 49-yard drive.

After forcing the Lions (2-1) to punt on their next possession, AC responded with a six-play drive that ended with Neff connecting with Riffle on a 30-yard touchdown.

Zach Meadows connected on all three PAT kicks to put the Aces up 21-0 with 11:03 left in the second quarter.

Liberty Union started to get its offense going on the next drive as it used nine plays to cover 70 yards. The final play saw Chaise Wohrer carry the ball in from three yards out and Jason Trapp’s kick made it 21-7.

The Aces were unphased as they put together a 10-play drive that covered 69 yards and ended when Neff ran it in from nine yards out with 1:55 remaining. Meadows’ kick made it 28-7.

Cole Peardon was the focus of Liberty Union’s ensuing drive. He caught a 12-yard pass from Caleb Shook on the first play. After Shook was sacked for a three-yard loss on the next play, Peardon caught another pass and took it 55 yards to the one-yard line. He went over the top on the next snap and Trapp’s kick made it 28-14 with 48 seconds left in the half and that’s where the score stood at halftime.

That last Lion drive of the first half was a preview of their first drive coming out of halftime.

Shook connected with Noah Graf for 31 yards, Brent McClure for 21 and then Peardon for the final 16. Trapp’s kick made it 28-21 less than a minute into the second half.

The teams traded punts before the Aces started a drive.

They moved the ball 50 yards down to the LU six and it looked like they were going to be celebrating another TD when Neff found Schuyler Boyer in the endzone but Neff was flagged for making the throw in front of the line of scrimmage. So instead of setting up for an extra point, the Aces faced third down from the 10. That play ended with an incompletion in the endzone and Meadows came out for a field goal attempt.

Meadows converted from 27 yards and improved the AC lead to 31-21 with 5:23 remaining in the third period.

LU’s next possession came to an end when Dalton Covell intercepted a Shook pass on the AC 28-yard-line.

This time the Aces weren’t able to take advantage of the turnover and had to punt.

LU covered 75 yards in nine plays with Peardon picking up 37 yards on four carries, including the final yard where he leaped over top his linemen again for the score. Another kick by Trapp closed the gap to 31-28.

AC wasn’t able to muster a first down on its next possession and had to punt the ball back to the Lions.

The Lions were 65 yards away from the endzone with 8:36 left, but they had to get quite a few more than those 65 to reach the endzone as they were whistled four times for 45 yards. The third penalty, an ineligible man downfield, negated a pass that had moved the ball down close to the goal line.

LU overcame that to get another first down, only to get another 15-yard penalty (the 11^th of the night for the Lions).

Despite all those problems, Shook was able to connect with Peardon and he raced 56 yards downfield for third touchdown of the second half and fourth for the game to give his team the lead. Trapp’s kick made it 35-31 with 5:46 remaining.

Liberty Union outgained the Aces 528-353 with about a 3-1 advantage in the second half. Peardon led the Lions with nine catches for 180 yards and rushed for another 77. Wohrer picked up 135 on the ground. Riffle was the leading gainer for the Aces with 94 yards on the ground and another 87 in the air. Boyer had 113 yards on eight catches.

Around the area: Circleville 26, Westfall 6; Logan Elm 17, Miami Trace 12; Canal Winchester 33, Teays Valley 7.

Week 2

The remnants of Hurricane Harvey messed with both teams Friday night but it was Washington Court House that figured out a way to beat the weather and Circleville 33-12.

The rain started shortly after kickoff and fell for the remainder of the night, contributing to seven fumbles between the two teams. Circleville had three of those fumbles (losing all three) and also threw an interception.

While the Blue Lions (2-0) had a fairly balanced attack in the first half in building an 18-9 lead, they primarily kept it on the ground in the second half and in the hands of Jacob Rice. The senior ran the ball 17 times for 180 yards in the second half and had 228 yards for the game.

With another 91 yards coming from quarterback Dillon Steward, the Blue Lions ran for 347 yards Friday.

On the other side of the ball, Circleville was fairly limited in what it was able to get done. The Tigers’ (1-1) first drive of the night resulted in a touchdown as Garrett Gray connected with Seth Risner on a 27-yard score but the Tigers were only able to muster 18 more yards in the first half.

Things didn’t go much better in the second half for the hosts as they netted only another 157 yards.

Around the area: Westfall 21, Logan Elm 14; Teays Valley 35, Logan 7; Amanda-Clearcreek 17, East 6.

Week 1

Circleville held visiting Miami Trace scoreless in the second half Friday night to get the 2017 season started on a high note with a 41-14 win over the Panthers.

“We have a mentality that we want to go out and win, not just for this town but for Nick,” senior Seth Risner said, referring to teammate Nick Grady who was lost for the season with a sever ankle injury in the final scrimmage. “After that happened we just had a whole new desire to win.”

That desire showed as the Tigers jumped out on top early.

On Circleville’s second offensive play, junior QB Garret Gray connected with Risner on a short pass that Risner was able to take upfield and turn into a 59-yard touchdown.

A blocked punt set up a quick three-play drive where Damian Swain carried the ball all three times, covering 20 yards and finding the endzone for a 14-0 Circleville lead less than six minutes into the game.

The Tigers led 21-14 at halftime and added three more touchdowns in the second half.

Garret Gray was 6-10 for 115 yards with an interception as a passer and added 39 yards rushing. Swain carried 21 times for 114 yards while Kaleb Spangler had 15 carries for 75 yards.

Around the area: Zane Trace 33, Logan Elm 0; Chillicothe 31, Teays Valley 27; Amanda-Clearcreek 10, Lakewood 7; Madison Plains 30, Westfall 25.