Amanda-Clearcreek cashed in four first half takeaways in for four touchdowns on Friday on its way to a 48-14 non-league win over host Adena.
“It was basically a reversal of last week when we had trouble holding into the football (in a 29-10 loss to Unioto),” Amanda-Clearcreek coach Chet Saum said. “Our offensive numbers aren’t overly impressive, because our defense and special teams did a great job of giving us short fields to work with.
“We worked hard this week in practice with ball security and we could see our guys putting an emphasis on ball security with how they carried the football. It was nice to take advantage of Adena’s mistakes and hold onto the football ourselves.”
The Aces scored twice in the first quarter on touchdown runs by of 31 and 10 yards by Tommy Stai to take a 14-0 lead.
Amanda-Clearcreek then put away the game and initiated its second running clock of the season with a 27-point outburst in the second quarter.
Logan Stevens connected with Tanner Affolter on a 24-yard touchdown pass and Landon Mills scored on the next A-C possession with a 22-yard touchdown run.
A hard hit to Adena quarterback Lucas King by Stai forced the ball loose. Gary Kemmerling picked up the football and scored from 37 yards out.
Kemmerling blocked an Adena punt late in the second quarter with Bodie Martin capping first half scoring on a two-yard touchdown run.
The Aces scored their final touchdown on a five-yard run by Nick Holland during the fourth quarter.
Amanda-Clearcreek finished the game with 172 yards rushing. Stai covered 56 yards on seven totes and scored twice and Mills had seven carries for 50 yards and scored.
“We just chewed up yards with our running game and mixed in an occasional pass. It was pretty vanilla, honestly, but we were fortunate to be in that position due to the work of our special teams and defense,” Saum said. “We were able to get several guys involved carrying the football and we got some nice production from both Tommy and Landon.”
Stevens completed 6 of 7 passes for 78 yards and a touchdown.
Adena (0-3) was held to 81 yards of total offense and didn’t cross midfield during the first half.
“Our defense played pretty well and controlled the line of scrimmage,” Saum said. “We sacked Adena’s quarterback a few times and had a nice strip sack that we scored one of our touchdowns on.”
The Aces (2-1) host defending Division III state runner-up Bloom-Carroll (2-1), a 42-0 winner over Jonathan Alder, next week to open Mid-State League Buckeye Division play.
