CIRCLEVILLE — Amanda-Clearcreek ran the ball, ran it again and then ran it some more in taking down Circleville 31-14 Friday night.
The Aces ran the ball on 61 of their 67 plays and amassed 407 yards on the ground in the process.
“We practiced all week staying low because we know they’re a big, strong, physical team, and I’ll be honest, they are bigger than us. We go over that technique always wins, stay low, and that’s what that’s what our big boys did — I love them,” AC running back Tommy Stai said.
Stai led the way for the Aces with 233 yards on 29 carries and scored twice.
“I’ve had this game circled on my calendar all year — something about Circleville,” he said. “And so, I was just mentally prepared. I was quiet all day, just thinking about, I was putting myself in situations and knowing what I was going to do, and I came out here and I executed that.
“But it all starts with the blockers.”
“We finally just started really focusing on one play at a time,” AC coach Chet Saum said. “We weren’t trying to set too many things up. We had been too complex in the last few weeks.
“We played with incredible pad level. That’s something we stressed the last few weeks.
I think maybe the worst part about our game last week was we just stood up. So, we knew how big and strong Circleville was. We just had to keep our pad level, keep our feet moving. When we do that, it goes.”
The Aces ran the ball their first 28 plays. The first series ended with a 17-yard TD run from Bodie Martin and the second with a 38-yard scoring run from Stai. AC’s third series made it all the way to the Tigers’ three-yard line before Circleville stopped the Aces on fourth down.
With only one first down for either team on the next three possessions, the Aces got the ball back with 55 seconds left on Circleville’s 44.
Carter Madison connected with Martin for four yards, ran it himself for nine and then threw a nine-yard pass to Nick Holland. After a timeout to stop the clock, Hayden Dunn came out and sent a 39-yard kick through the uprights to give the Aces a 17-0 lead at the half.
The second half started with a three-and-out for the Tigers which the Aces followed up with a five-play drive that had Stai pop a 38-yard run followed by an 18-yard scoring run for Martin.
After another three-and-out for Circleville, the Aces had a couple of runs before a fumble was recovered by Circleville’s Chase Foster near midfield.
That sparked the Tigers who covered 47 yards in five plays with Hudson Phalin going the last four to make it 24-7.
After an AC punt, the Tigers had their best drive of the night as they covered 90 yards in nine plays. The final play was a 37-yard touchdown pass from Phalin to Jack Kline, closing the gap to 24-14 with 10:53 on the clock.
The Aces got back in their groove as they proceeded to eat up more than six minutes off the clock, running the ball 13 times to cover 88 yards with Stai getting the last three for the 31-14 lead.
Circleville came into the game averaging 32 points but was held to the 14 with 217 yards of offense — 59 in the first half.
“A lot of the same guys played offensive and defensive line. So, we just had to stay sound, which we had a really good game playing coming in,” Saum said. “Coach Johnson, our defensive coordinator, did a heck of a job, but we were sound, which is numero uno.
“And then the kids played. We were fired up. We really don’t like Circleville that much and they were ready to go.”
Along with Stai’s rushing numbers, the Aces got 102 yards from Martin on 13 carries and 58 from Holland on 11 totes. Both, though, were helped off the field late in the game after injuries.
Phalin threw for 125 yards for the Tigers and was the team’s leading rusher with 51 yards. Kline caught two balls for 49 yards.
It was the first setback of the season for the Tigers (4-1, 1-1). They’ll look to bounce back next week when Marietta comes to town. Marietta dropped to 0-5 on the season after a 21-0 loss to Whitehall-Yearling Friday.
The Aces (2-3, 1-1) host Hamilton Township – which fell 42-14 to Buckeye Valley for its first loss.
Afte a loss last week to Bloom-Carroll, the Aces hope to ride Friday’s win to a big game against the Rangers.
“We needed this win bad,” Stai said. “Coming off a tough week of practice and then executing like this on Friday, I feel like we’re going to have a great week of practice and we’re going to take it to Hamilton.”
If needed against the Rangers, Saum thinks his team can be a pretty good passing team.
“When it’s working, I’m not going to stop,” he said of running the ball. “We want to be disciplined, we want to be sound, we want to be really physical and then we want to be disciplined on the offensive line and run. So, if we can get those things rolling, it’s tough to stop.”
Amanda-Clearcreek 31, Circleville 14
By Quarters 1 2 3 4 F
Amanda-Clearcreek 14 3 7 7 31
Circleville 0 0 7 7 14
First Quarter
AC — Bodie Martin 17 run (Hayden Dunn kick), 8:14.
AC — Tommy Stai 38 run (Hayden Dunn kick), 1:32.
Second Quarter
AC — Hayden Dunn 39 field goal, 0:00.
Third Quarter
AC — Bodie Martin 18 run (Hayden Dunn kick), 8:11.
CV — Hudson Phalin 4 run (Kaden Paxton kick), 3:29.
Fourth Quarter
CV — Jack Kline 37 pass from Hudson Phalin (Kaden Paxton kick), 10:53.
AC — Tommy Stai 3 run (Hayden Dunn kick), 4:20.
TEAM STATISTICS
AC CV
First downs 23 9
Rushing yards 61-407 22-92
Passing yards 13 125
Comp.-Att.-Int 2-4-0 12-22-0
Total yards 420 217
Fumbles-Lost 4-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards 11-100 5-40
Punts-Ave 2-27 5-34
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Amanda-Clearcreek — Tommy Stai 29-233, Bodie Martin 13-102, Carter Madison 3-(-1), Nick Holland 11-58, Collin Thomas 5-15. Circleville — Hudson Phalin 12-57, Kole Nungester 6-15, Ray Ezell 5-26.
PASSING – Amanda-Clearcreek — Carter Madison 2-4-0-13. Circleville — Hudson Phalin 11-20-0-119, Drake Klinger 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING – Amanda-Clearcreek — Bodie Martin 1-4, Nick Holland 1-9. Circleville — Kole Nungester 2-11, Ray Ezell 1-10, Jack Kline 2-49, Jace Captain 2-14, Uriah Woodworth 1-4, Owen Miller 2-25, Chase Foster 2-12.