Circleville 56, Liberty Union 27
CIRCLEVILLE — Liberty Union struggled to hold onto the ball and Circleville made the Lions pay as the Tigers put together a 56-27 victory.
Circleville’s Kole Nungester made the most of his senior night as he scored five times in the game.
The Lions scored first, and Circleville answered with a scoring drive of its own that had Kole Nungester score from two yards out with 5:19 on the clock.
After a Lions fumble, Nungester scored from 20 yards with 4:45 on the clock.
Another fumble led to Hudson Phalin connecting with Jack Kline on a 31-yard TD pass with 3:51 showing.
Fumble three set up the Tigers for a 17-yard Nungester touchdown with 1:38 left.
The final play of the first quarter resulted in Liberty Union’s fourth lost fumble and Circleville headed to the second quarter with a 28-6 lead.
Three-and-a-half minutes into the new quarter, Phalin made it 35-6 on a 12-yard run.
The Lions managed a touchdown drive and had a two-point conversion to make it 35-14 with 6:37 left in the half.
Circleville responded with another scoring drive and another touchdown from Nungester – this one from 11 yards out. Circleville led 42-14 which is where the score stood at halftime.
Nungester scored his fifth touchdown of the night at the 6:32 mark of the third to make it 49-14 and start the running clock.
Ray Ezell added a Tiger TD on a one-yard run late in the third for a 56-14 lead.
The Lions score twice in the fourth.
Circleville ended the night with 368 yards of offense with Phalin running for 118 on 12 carries, Nungester 104 on 14 carries and Ezell 88 yards on 14 runs. Phalin was 6-7 passing for 58 yards.
The Lions had 257 yards of offense with Cooper Meacham running for 115 yards and Ethan Stapleton 101. Meacham was 2-5 passing for 18 yards.
Circleville (6-3, 2-3) sits tied for fourth in the MSL standings and has it biggest league challenge waiting in Week 10 with a trip to Bloom-Carroll. The Bulldogs (7-2, 5-0) have clinched at least a share of their eighth-straight MSL title and would like to keep it all to themselves. If the Tigers can go in and pull the upset, they’ll guarantee themselves a spot in the postseason.
Logan Elm 40, Alexander 7
ALBANY — Logan Elm stepped out of the Mid-State League for a night with a trip to Alexander and it worked out pretty well as the Braves posted a 40-7 win.
LE picked up the win primarily on the ground and Ayden Hartley was a big part of that.
The freshman ran for three touchdowns, with the shortest being 40 yards, and caught one for 26. He finished with 213 yards on the ground on 13 carries.
Junior quarterback Austin Holbrook ran for 111 yards was 2-5 passing for 38.
Holbrook started LE’s scoring with a 54-yard run in the first quarter.
Hartley had a 40-yard run in the second and caught his 26-yard TD pass in the second quarter as LE led 20-0 at the half.
Hartley added scoring runs of 65 and 67 yards in the third quarter sandwiched around Alexander’s only TD of the night.
Myquan Waugh capped the game’s scoring with a six-yard run in the fourth.
The Braves (2-7, 1-4) finished the night with 453 yards of offense (413 rushing) and will wrap up their season next week hosting Hamilton Township.
Pickerington Central 49, Teays Valley 17
PICKERINGTON — Turnovers put Teays Valley in an early hole as Pickerington Central stayed unbeaten in OCC play with a 49-17 win over the Vikings.
A TV fumble in the game’s opening drive set up a three-yard TD run from PC’s Rocco Williams.
A fumble on TV’s next possession was returned by RJ Holland for a 14-0 Central lead.
Spike Woods pulled his team to within a score when he took a handoff down the left side of the field for a 47-yard score to close to 14-7.
A long TD pass from Williams to Jayden Nelson had Central up 21-7 before the first quarter ended.
An interception by Pickerington’s Mason Johnson gave the Tigers a short field and Edmund McAllister made the Vikings pay for their mistake with a 27-yard rushing TD.
The score stayed 28-7 at the half.
TV struck first in the second half as Calvin Videkovich converted a 37-yard field goal.
The Tigers answered with a 67-yard drive that ended with Williams going the last seven yards for a score.
Keeping pace, TV quarterback Brady Farmer kept the ball on the second play of the ensuing possession and went 60 yards, putting the score at 35-17 in favor of the Tigers.
Pickerington struck again early in the fourth when Williams connected with Nelson again for another long score – this one covering 52 yards.
Teays Valley turned the ball over on downs at Pickerington’s 28 and the Tigers put together a clock-eating drive that had Kyseam Robinson scoring on a four-yard run in the final minute to wrap up the game’s scoring.
The Vikings (4-5, 2-4) return home to face Logan (0-9, 0-6) to wrap up the regular season. The Vikings need a win and a little help to clinch a playoff spot.
Fairfield Union 34, Amanda-Clearcreek 14
RUSHVILLE — After an early lead for Amanda-Clearcreek, host Fairfield Union scored the last 28 points of the game to beat the Aces 34-14 Friday.
The Aces wasted no time in making something happen Friday.
AC handed off to Karsin Amann who faked the reverse and then threw to Boston Fowler for a 63-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead just 16 seconds into the game.
The Falcons went three-and-out giving AC the ball back. But an errant pitch on first down gave the ball back to FU.The resulting possession ended with Lane Burkhardt scoring from five yards out. A missed PAT kick left AC up 7-6.
AC drove the ball down the field and Tommy Stai went 19 yards to push the Aces’ lead to 14-6 with 4:18 left in the first quarter.
Fairfield Union answered with a drive of its own and Burkhardt scored from a yard out. Dean Clark ran in the two-point conversion to tie game at 14-14 with 1:03 left in the first.
The score stayed tied until the final minute of the half when Clark ran in from the six and the Falcons led 21-14 heading to the second half.
Fairfield Union scored twice in the third quarter — a 44-yard run from Burkhardt and a TD pass from Clark to Boston McKoyes — top cap the game’s scoring.
Friday’s game was the last MSL matchup of the season for the Falcons (5-4) and they will finish no worse than third with a 4-2 league mark. A win over John Marshall next week would put the Falcons in the playoffs.
AC drops to 4-5, 2-3 in the league, and will finish the season at Liberty Union. The Aces need to win next week and get some help if they’re going to play in Week 11.