by JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
CARROLL — Bloom-Carroll broke out its power running game to turn a 13-13 halftime tie into a 41-20 win over Logan Elm Friday night.
After opening the second half with an incompletion, the Bulldogs ran the ball 21 straight times over three possessions to get out in front 34-20.
On their fourth possession, the Bulldogs mixed one incompletion in the middle of seven runs on the way to another touchdown.
After only running for only 47 yards in the first half, Bloom-Carroll racked up 275 on the ground in the second half.
The first half was a fairly even matchup.
Logan Elm took the opening possession and ate up more than seven minutes before Aaron Walters connected with Landon Thompson for a 31-yard score.
Bloom-Carroll came back with an eight-play drive that covered 70 yards and ended with Ethan Thanthanavong connecting with Brodyn Bishop for a 24-yard score to tie the game at 7-7 late in the first.
The teams traded a couple possessions before Logan Elm mounted a 12-play drive. Walters and Braylen Baker connected for a 13-yard touchdown with 1:07 left. The PAT kick was blocked leaving Logan Elm up 13-7.
Bloom-Carroll wasted little time in answering.
Thanthanavong connected with Dylan Armentrout for a 40-yard gain on the first play of the ensuing drive and then threw to him on the second play to get the last 25 yards. Bloom-Carroll’s PAT kick bounced off the upright to leave the game tied at halftime.
“It was a physical war. I’m proud of the effort of our kids. I don’t think for a second we backed down physically,” LE coach Terry Holbert said. “For the first half we matched them. That late scoring drive in the first half kind of hurt some momentum.
“Our kids played hard and responded well, they just overtook us in the second half.”
Before the two pass plays late in the half, Logan Elm had held Bloom-Carroll to 95 yards of offense.
“I thought our defense played really well in the first half. There were just a couple big plays, other than that I thought our defense responded and played really well in the first half,” Holbert said. “In the second half, they kind of wore us down.”
The Braves have been wearing down opponents much of the season with their running game, but Bloom-Carroll wasn’t going to let that happen.
Blayton Reid came into Friday’s matchup averaging more than 150 yards a game, but the Bulldogs held him to just 17 on 12 carries. Logan Elm netted only 23 yards on the ground Friday.
“We struggled to get a running game going, and we knew it would be a challenge coming in,” Holbert said. “We knew we would have to throw it to find consistent success.
“When you have to throw the ball as much as we had to throw it tonight, you can’t go three-and-out. When we did that a couple times, it allowed them to gain some momentum and they went to that power package and it was difficult to consistently stop.”
The Braves threw the ball 33 times with Walters completing 18 of those for 176 yards and three touchdowns.
“Aaron has just continued to improve. I couldn’t be prouder of him tonight. He’s wise beyond his years and made great reads,” Holbert said. “I know we threw it a lot and for a sophomore to hang in there and run and lead an offense like that when you have to throw to try to win, he did a great job.”
Baker led the Braves with six catches for 79 yards and two scores.
With 140 yards in the second half, Armentrout led Bloom-Carroll with 170 rushing yards and he scored on a 25-yard run in the second half.
Andrew Marshall had 92 of his 120 yards in the second half and scored the game’s final TD on a 27-yard run.
Chase Plantz scored on runs of two and three yards in the third quarter in accounting for 31 yards on seven carries (all in the second half).
Up next
Logan Elm (6-2, 4-1) will look to get back on track next week when the Braves travel to Amanda-Clearcreek. The Aces (0-8, 0-5) fell to Teays Valley 35-7 Friday.
Despite the loss and two games remaining, joeeitel.com has calculated that the Braves have clinched a spot in the Division IV playoffs.
Bloom-Carroll (7-1, 5-0) takes its 20-game Mid-State League Buckeye Division winning streak into Ashville next week to play Teays Valley (5-3, 4-1).
After winning regional championships the last two seasons, joeeitel.com has the Bulldogs locking up a spot in this season’s playoffs as well.
Bloom-Carroll 41, Logan Elm 20
By Quarters 1 2 3 4 F
Logan Elm 7 5 7 0 20
Bloom-Carroll 7 6 14 14 41
First Quarter
LE — Landon Thompson 31 pass from Aaron Walters (Owen Elswick kick), 4:36.
BC — Brodyn Bishop 24 pass from Ethan Thanthanavong (Treyton McKee kick), 0:30.
Second Quarter
LE — Braylen Baker 13 pass from Aaron Walters (kick failed), 1:07.
BC – Dylan Armentrout 25 pass from Ethan Thanthanavong (kick failed), 0:46.
Third Quarter
BC — Chase Plantz 3 run (Treyton McKee kick), 8:20.
BC — Chase Plantz 2 run (Treyton McKee kick), 3:54.
LE — Braylen Baker 5 pass from Aaron Walters (Owen Elswick kick), 1:12.
Fourth Quarter
BC — Dylan Armentrout 25 run (Treyton McKee kick), 11:23.
BC — Andrew Marshall 27 run (Treyton McKee kick), 4:14.
TEAM STATISTICS
LE BC
First downs 14 24
Rushing yards 19-23 49-322
Passing yards 176 113
Comp.-Att.-Int 18-33-1 5-7-0
Total yards 199 435
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 7-60 2-20
Punts-Ave 4-35 1-41
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Logan Elm — Blayton Reid 12-17, Landon Thompson 1-4, Aaron Walters 6-2. Bloom-Carroll — Dylan Armentrout 22-170, Ethan Thanthanavong 2-(-16), Brodyn Bishop 2-12, Andrew Marshall 15-120, Chase Plantz 7-31, Collin Willet 1-5.
PASSING – Logan Elm — Aaron Walters 18-33-1-176. Bloom-Carroll— Ethan Thanthanavong 5-7-0-113.
RECEIVING – Logan Elm — Landon Thompson 5-44, Blayton Reid 2-8, Carson Summers 3-15, Braylen Baker 6-79, Tanner Holbert 3-30. Bloom-Carroll — Dylan Armentrout 2-65, Brodyn Bishop 1-24, Jayse Rockwood 1-12, Jett Jones 1-12.
