ASHVILLE — Pickerington Central made the right halftime adjustments and shut down the Teays Valley offense in the second half to grab a 49-23 win.
After scoring three touchdowns and accumulating 224 yards in the first half, Teays Valley was limited to 69 yards and a field goal in the second.
The win gives the Tigers (7-2, 6-0) the outright OCC Buckeye Division title and secured them a home game for the playoffs.
To start Friday’s contest, Central gave itself a short field after blocking a Teays Valley punt just a few plays into the game. Central used five plays to cover the 24 yards with Gerald Banks scoring from a yard out.
TV tied the game late in the first quarter on a 29-yard pass from Brady Farmer to Markus Mealy.
Central followed with an 80-yard drive that had Banks scoring from 14 yards out a minute into the second quarter.
After forcing another TV punt, the Tigers covered 19 yards on three plays and then Justin McCoy broke free for a 51-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead.
Teays Valley answered with an 80-yard drive that was keyed by a 53-yard run from Carson Payne. He was tackled at the one on that big run but went the final yard on the next play.
Pickerington Central wasted no time in extending the lead again as Sherone White, Jr., took the handoff on the first play of the ensuing drive and went 65 yards for the score and a 28-14 lead with 3:30 left.
The Vikings kept battling and came back with a 73-yard drive which Payne capped with a 19-yard TD run with 32 seconds left in the half. The PAT kick was partially blocked, hit the upright and bounced back into the endzone leaving the score at 28-20.
The kicking team made up for the problems on the PAT when Maxwell Spencer had a successful 37-yard field goal to start the second-half scoring and close the gap to 28-23.
The Tigers quickly widened the gap when White took the kickoff 98 yards for a 35-23 lead.
Kaejuan Alexander added a three-yard rushing TD later in the quarter and Banks added an eight-yard score in the fourth.
After running and throwing for 224 yards in the first half, TV was held to 69 yards in the second.
Payne finished the first half with 123 yards on 20 carries. In the second half, though, he was held to 13 yards on 12 carries.
Farmer was 5-12 passing in the first half for 82 yards but was limited to 2-10 passing for 46 yards in the second half.
Pickerington Central finished the night rushing 27 times for 234 yards.
Despite the loss, JoeEitel.com shows the Vikings (5-4, 3-3) clinching a home playoff game in Week 11.