By Brad Morris
SportingPumpkin.com
With two weeks left until the playoffs, Amanda-Clearcreek entered a Mid-State League Buckeye Division game on Friday night looking to work on its running game.
That work translated into a quick start with two long first-quarter touchdown runs and a season-high 235 yards rushing in a 32-7 win over host Logan Elm.
“We’ve moved the football mostly with our passing game so far this season, so we wanted to look forward coming into this game and work on our running game so teams have to defend the run and the pass,” A-C senior Grant Guiler said. “With the rain to start the game, that also made it important to run the football and then we mixed in our passing game more after it stopped raining.”
Hunter Matheny used 10 carries to cover 88 yards and scored a touchdown and Guiler had 49 yards rushing on just three touches with a score.
Amanda-Clearcreek was coming off a tough 28-14 loss last week to Teays Valley and had been out of school all week for the Fairfield County Fair, but coach Steve Daulton didn’t have to worry about the Aces getting too caught up in the fair.
“Our seniors did a nice job of keeping everyone focused and putting together good practices this week to prepare for Logan Elm,” Daulton said. “The fair can definitely be a distraction, but our seniors didn’t allow it to be.”
The Aces scored on their second and third snaps of the night on touchdown runs of 51 yards from Matheny and 42 yards courtesy of Guiler. Jonny Weaver followed with two of his four extra points.
“With the elements and everything, it was nice to get off to a quick start, to be able and run the football and get momentum going our way early,” Daulton said.
Amanda-Clearcreek had to work a little harder to convert its third possession of the game into points, using five plays to cover 78 yards.
A 20-yard pass from Hunter to Cade Young on third-and-four kept the drive going and Hunter connected with Guiler two plays later on a 48-yard touchdown toss to give the Aces a 21-0 lead.
Amanda-Clearcreek recorded two safeties in the second quarter on tackles from Young and Brady Sharp and added a two-yard touchdown screen pass from Hunter to Peyton Cassley.
“Logan Elm has some tough, physical kids on the line and a nice back in (Blayton Reid) that we knew we had to watch out for,” Daulton said. “We did a nice job for most of the game with field position and not allowing them to get much going offensively.”
“It was nice for our defense to get a couple of safeties and to get the ball back for our offense.”
The Aces took a 32-0 lead into halftime and had a running clock until Garret Summers opened the fourth quarter with a 24-yard touchdown run for the Braves. Jude Braun added the extra point.
Logan Elm was held to just 36 yards rushing and 68 yards of total offense.
“We feel like we have a good defense, and we did a nice job of getting to the football and tackling,” Guiler said.
Hunter was an efficient 9 of 12 passing for 116 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Aces.
Amanda-Clearcreek (6-3, 4-2) hosts Fairfield Union (3-6, 2-4) next week, while Logan Elm (3-6, 1-5) travels to Teays Valley (8-1, 5-1).
“After being on the road for the last two weeks, it’ll be nice for our kids to be back in The Pit for our last regular-season game,” Daulton said. “Fairfield Union is an improved team, they’re physical and they run the football well.
“We’ll need to have another good week of preparation and practice to get ready for them.”
Amanda-Clearcreek 32,
Logan Elm 7
Score By Quarters 1 2 3 4 F
Amanda-Clearcreek 21 11 0 0 32
Logan Elm 0 0 0 7 7
First Quarter
AC — Hunter Matheny 51 run (Jonny Weaver kick), 11:25.
AC — Grant Guiler 42 run (Jonny Weaver kick), 7:28.
AC — Grant Guiler 48 pass from Nate Hunter (Jonny Weaver kick), 3:00.
Second Quarter
AC — Safety, 11:56.
AC — Peyton Cassley 2 pass from Nate Hunter (Jonny Weaver kick), 5:55.
AC — Safety, 5:39.
Fourth Quarter
LE — Garret Summers 24 run (Jude Braun kick), 11:48.
TEAM STATISTICS
AC LE
First downs 13 8
Rushing yards 34-235 32-36
Passing yards 115 32
Comp.-Att.-Int 13-18-0 10-17-0
Total yards 350 68
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-0
Penalties-Yards 2-15 2-5
Punts-Average 2-42.5 6-33
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Amanda-Clearcreek — Hunter Matheny 10-88, Grant Guiler 3-49, Landon Mills 1-45, Nate Hunter 10-31, Trent Hedges 2-10, Tayvon Miller 2-7, Drew Dossman 3-5, Team 3-0. Logan Elm — Garret Summers 14-22, Blayton Reid 11-5, Landon Bowers 2-4, Cameron Redd 1-4, Nerniah Waugh 1-0, Carson Summers 1-(-2).
PASSING – Amanda-Clearcreek — Nate Hunter 9-12-0-116, Trent Hedges 1-2-0-1, Logan Stevens 0-1-0-0, Drew Dossman 3-3-0-(-2). Logan Elm — Garret Summers 8-13-0-23, Aaron Walters 2-4-0-9.
RECEIVING – Amanda-Clearcreek — Cade Young 2-27, Brady Sharp 2-21, Tayvon Miller 2-18, Peyton Cassley 1-2, Kansas Rhymer 1-2, Hunter Matheny 1-1, Grant Guiler 2-48, Miguel Lobo 1-0, Landon Mills 1-(-4). Logan Elm — Tanner Holbert 2-15, Blayton Reid 3-5, Nerniah Waugh 1-4, Carson Summers 3-3.
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