Circleville 26, Bloom-Carroll 7
CARROLL — Circleville took control in the second half to beat Bloom-Carroll 26-7 and secure a home game to start the playoffs next week.
Leading 13-7 to start the second half, Circleville ate up nearly six minutes in moving 70 yards down the field with Hudson Phalin scoring from a yard out on fourth-and-goal.
The Tigers’ defense turned the Bulldogs over on downs at their 39 after barely a minute had gone off the game clock.
CHS then ran 15 more plays and ate up more than seven minutes before Phalin scored from four yards out to go up 26-7.
BC put together a couple of first down before Jack Kline intercepted a pass with seven minutes left in the game.
Eleven running plays were just what the Tigers needed to get four first downs and run the clock down to zeroes to secure their first win over the Bulldogs since 2014.
When the game ended, Circleville had possessed the ball for 20 minutes and 11 seconds out of the 24 minutes in the second half.
Circleville started with a 55-yard pass from Phalin to Jack Kline on the Tigers’ first play of the game and followed it with an 11-yard scoring run from Kole Nungester.
BC’s Klyson Cline scored on a 16-yard run a few seconds into the second to tie the game.
A 45-yard scoring pass from Phalin to Uriah Woodworth in the second quarter put Circleville back on top.
The Tigers had 450 yards of offense in the game led by Nungester who ran for 142 yards on 17 carries.
Phalin ran for 125 yards on 26 carries and threw for 130 yards going 7-9.
Kline had 85 yards on four catches and Ray Ezell ran for 53 yards.
After picking up 91 yards in the first half, Circleville held Cline to 23 in the second as BC finished the night netting 96 yards on the ground and 75 in the air.
Circleville (7-3) finishes the regular season with its first winning record since 2015 and has secured a home playoff game next week against Duncan Falls as the seventh seed in its region.
Amanda-Clearcreek 60, Liberty Union 46
BALTIMORE — Amanda-Clearcreek survived a high-scoring affair at Liberty Union and earned a spot in the playoffs with a 60-46 win.
The teams traded the lead in the first quarter as AC opened the scoring with a touchdown pass but didn’t convert the PAT. LU ran the kickoff back for a score, did convert the PAT and took the lead at 7-6.
AC went up 13-7 on a run, LU ran one in for a 14-13 lead and AC had another rushing TD before the first quarter ended to lead 19-14.
The Aces extended the lead with another rushing TD and then returned a fumble to go up 33-14. A late passing TD for the Lions put the score at 33-20 in favor of the Aces as the game went to the half.
Each team added a rushing score in the third and the Aces scored on a run five minutes into the fourth.
Liberty Union followed that with its second kickoff return for a touchdown.
AC came back with another scoring run and capped its side of the scoring with a pick six.
The Lions added two more scores in the final minutes to wrap up the regular season.
The win secures the Aces a road game next week to open the playoffs. As to what seed and who the opponent will be is still to be determined as the Aces are in the same region with Ironton.
An announcement is expected from the OHSAA Saturday about the status of the Ironton football program this season. It is likely the Tigers will have some, if not all, of their wins vacated which would shake up the positioning in the region.