By Brad Morris
SportingPumpkin.com
To view additional photos from Amanda-Clearcreek’s season-opener, please visit scottilesphotography.com.
Waiting is something that high school football teams have become accustomed to across the Buckeye State.
Like their peers, the Amanda-Clearcreek Aces had to wait until Ohio Governor Mike DeWine gave the green light for the season to proceed 12 days ago.
So it wasn’t a problem for the Aces to return to Fairfield Union for a second straight day and resume their suspended season-opener on Saturday against the Falcons.
The Aces simply picked up where they left off on their way to a 35-7 Mid-State League Buckeye Division win.
Amanda-Clearcreek amassed 110 yards rushing, led by Hunter Matheny consuming 88 of those yards and scoring a pair of touchdowns. He also added a touchdown reception.
Nate Hunter completed 9 of 13 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown in his first start under center.
“We have a lot of seniors and juniors playing our skill positions and offensive line, so we feel that’s where our strengths are as a team,” A-C coach Steve Daulton said. “It was nice to establish the run with Hunter and also move the football some through the air.”
Five different Aces caught a pass, led by Connor Lafferty with two grabs for 40 yards. Peyton Cassley had two catches for 29 yards, and Cade Young and Tayvon Miller each made a 26-yard reception.
The Aces reached the scoreboard in the opening stanza on a six-yard pass in the flat from Hunter to Matheny. The first of five extra points by Jonathan Weaver put the Aces ahead 7-0.
Amanda-Clearcreek doubled its lead in the second quarter on a 10-yard run by Matheny.
The Aces were on the march again with 3:03 remaining in the quarter when a delay for inclement weather forced the game to be suspended until Saturday.
Amanda-Clearcreek resumed the game with first-and-goal from the six-yard line and scored two plays later on a three-yard tote by Matheny.
The Aces went on to add two more scores in the second half on a two-yard keeper from Hunter and a three-yard run by Miller.
Fairfield Union was limited to 146 yards of total offense, 134 of which came on the ground.
“I felt like our guys played lights out on Friday,” Daulton said. “We were flying around, hitting and wrapping up pretty well. When we came back over to Fairfield Union today, I felt like our tackling wasn’t quite as crisp, so that’s something we can work on this week in practice.”
Hayden Collins scored the lone touchdown of the outing for the Falcons on a 35-yard run in the third quarter.
With just one scrimmage to prepare for the season-opener, Daulton left Fairfield Union primarily pleased with what he saw from the Aces.
“Our guys played with a great attitude, they competed and we did a number of things right on both sides of the ball,” he said. “We controlled the line of scrimmage for most of the game.
“We obviously saw some things we need to work on, which isn’t a surprise with one scrimmage coming into today. We’ll address that in practice and continue to work to get a little bit better every day.”
The Aces (1-0) host Logan (0-1) next week in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The Falcons (0-1) continue league play at Teays Valley (1-0).
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