by JACOB MERIDETH / sportingpumpkin.com
OBETZ — The night began with the crowning of a homecoming king and queen, and the king just so happened to be the star of the game as Nadir Langston led Hamilton Township to a 55-19 win against Circleville.
The Tigers would squib opening kickoff to avoid Langston but ultimately he made them pay for the short field when he busted off a 30-yard run for a touchdown. A two-point conversion from Josh Woods to McBride would take the Ranger lead to 8-0.
The Tigers tried to slow down the pace with a big 10-play drive featuring a slew of runs from Jude Blair but the drive came to an end with a CHS punt. And the Tigers’ punt was blocked.
The Rangers weren’t able to take advantage of a short field as Circleville’s Jack Kline intercepted a Woods pass.
After the teams exchanged punts, a bright night for Blair (27 carries for 139 yards) kept going as the junior running back/do everything guy would carry the ball on three of the seven plays in the Tigers third drive.
The Tigers began the drive with a 36-yard pass from Hudson Phalin to Kline and finished it with a 12-yard rumble from Blair. It was 8-7 after a Payton Ford PAT kick was successful.
“We really ran the ball hard tonight and ran the ball physical and tried to shorten the game and did quite a bit,” CHS coach Steve Evans said.
Circleville ran the ball 44 times for 228 yards.
The Rangers would respond with a mix of passes and runs and a 14-yard run from Langston took the lead to 14-7 after the PAT was blocked.
“There’s a reason their record is what it is, they are physical, and can beat you in space with a run and load the box and throw, then burn you with a pass” Evans said.
Circleville’s next possession ended in a punt and Woods and the Rangers used the duo of Jovon McBride and Brady Holt to set up another blast by Langston to take the Ranger lead to 21-7.
The Tigers used decent field position and a mixture of runs from Blair and Johnson to set up a scoring pass from Phalin to Drew Thornsley to cut the deficit to 21-13 after the PAT kick was blocked.
Another short kick to avoid Langston again proved costly as the Rangers connected with Brady Holt on a screen pass from Woods and he took it to the house to bring the score 28-13 at half half.
A pick-six to start the second half would lead to the end for Tigers as it was one of five turnovers the Rangers got on the night.
“Obviously turnovers are always bad against any team, but a team like Hamilton turned out to be worse because they can beat you in many ways,” Evans said.
The Tigers came back with a drive for their final score of the night that featured a crisp pass from Phalin to Brisker for 36 yards and a 20-yarder to Thornsley to set up the Tigers last score of the night. Even with three Rangers trying to bring him down, Johnson found his way to the endzone to bring the score to 35-19.
The Rangers took advantage of another short field to hand the ball to Langston who covered half the field to make it 41-19.
A Tigers fumble set up an HT scoring pass and the Rangers closed out the scoring with 11 minutes in the fourth on a 13-yard run.
Along with Blair’s 139 yards, Johnson ran eight times for 60 yards and Thornsley had 21 on four carries.
Thornsley had three catches for 38 yards, Kline had two for 45, Johnson had 1 for 55.
Phalin was 11-22 for 153 yards.The Rangers ran the ball 18 times for 154 yard
