LANCASTER — In a game where every possession was going to be crucial, an early Circleville turnover led to Fairfield Union scoring first and the Falcons had a big second quarter on the way to a 42-0 win over the Tigers.
“We ran 40 plays to their 39 plays. We talked all week going into it that it was going to be a game of possessions,” Circleville coach Steve Evans said. “Both teams like to run the football and both teams like to control the clock. We talked that it’s highly likely we might only get six or seven possessions. Unfortunately, we haven’t been slowing too many people down defensively, but we’ve also been playing some really good competition.
“Our goal was to keep their offense on the sideline. We hurt ourselves a little bit. We’d get a drive going and get a holding penalty, or get a false start. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”
The Falcons had a scoring pass with 6:40 left in the first and the score stood at 7-0 until about six minutes left in the second when FU ran one in.
With 1:23 left in the half, the Falcons took the score to 21-0 on a six-yard run.
Another Circleville miscue — losing a fumble on the ensuing kickoff — set up another rushing TD and the Falcons led 28-0 at the break.
The Falcons had possession of the ball to start the second half and broke a 57-yard run on their first play to make it 35-0.
Fairfield Union added one last score in the final minute of the third.
A tough game like Friday’s for a team struggling to find success can be bring different challenges and Evans said the Tigers will be focusing on being a team as they prepare to host Liberty Union next week.
“Unfortunately, we had some bickering amongst ourselves, so our focus is going to be us. It doesn’t matter what kind of game plan we put together if we don’t play together, believe in one another and trust one another,” Evans said. “We’ve really got to do a little heart check, tune things in and focus on ourselves.
“I’m a firm believer that football is the ultimate team sport. All eleven guys have to do their job every single play. You can’t worry about what everybody else is doing or not doing, you have to focus on doing your job to the best of your ability.”
Circleville ran 40 plays Friday while gaining 110 yards. The Tigers were 28-67 rushing with Jude Blair gaining 45 yards on 16 carries. Circleville had 43 yards on 6-12 passing.
The Falcons had 354 yards of offense on their 39 plays with 270 coming on the ground on 31 carries and 84 yards on 5-8 passing.
And there’s something about making the trip to the other side of Lancaster that seems to get a team down.
“This is the first time that I can remember in a long time that I’ve gone over there and haven’t been playing the rain. Even when I was AD at Amanda, it felt like it stormed over there every time,” Evans said. “We had a really nice night, but that long drive – Coach Spradlin and I were talking on the ride home and that’s what he said was ‘I don’t ever remember going to Fairfield Union and playing good.’
“I don’t know what it is. We’ve made long trips before, but I don’t get it.”
Friday marks five straight trips to FU where the Tigers have suffered a loss, having last grabbed a win there in 2014.
Fairfield Union 42, Circleville 0
By Quarters 1 2 3 4 F
Circleville 0 0 0 0 0
Fairfield Union 7 21 14 0 42
