CIRCLEVILLE — It was a big night for Circleville football as the Tigers hosted a playoff game for the first time in school history and have moved on to the second round with a 31-14 win over Philo.
The win is also the Tigers’ first playoff win since the 2007 season.
Circleville coach Jay Sharrett said it’s been a long process to get the Tigers (8-3 this year after going 4-6 last season) to this point from when he was initially hired in February.
“When we started way back in March in the first weight room and I wasn’t really sure how many guys we were going to have, and they kept coming in and kept coming in. And from that moment to this moment, we’ve learned a lot along the way,” Sharrett said. “Not just during the season, but during our camp in July, and during mandatory practice in August, in our scrimmages and each week, we’ve learned a little bit more — whether we’ve won the game or lost the game.
“I think this team has done a great job because when you drop a ball game, like when Amanda came in and they just did some things blocking wise we hadn’t even coached yet. But our guys didn’t get bitter, they got better, and kept working it and kept working it and kept working it.”
That hard work paid off with a dominant win over Bloom-Carroll last week to get to the spot where the Tigers could host and carried over to Friday where they forced a couple of turnovers and controlled the ball in taking control of the game.
Circleville had a 14-7 lead at the half on a 24-yard run from quarterback Hudson Phalin and a five-yard run from Ray Ezell.
CHS got the ball to start the second half, converted on fourth down early in the possession and ate up seven minutes off the clock before Kaden Paxton hit a 27-yard field goal to make it 17-7.
“(Philo) stalled us out on a fourth-and-two, probably about our 40-yard line, and I knew they wanted to go for it,” Sharrett said. “That’s when you just line the ball up — they knew the play we were going to run — we stuck our cleats in the ground, drove them off the ball and got that fourth.
“And then we … kind of marched it down, and then they stiffened up right there inside the five. I tipped my hat to them. But we converted the field goal.”
Philo caught a break when a fourth down penalty kept its next drive alive but the Electrics kept shooting themselves in the foot with three holding calls and that drive stalled on downs on the first play of the fourth quarter.
With the ball near mid-field, Circleville put together a seven-play drive that saw Ezell score from 18 yards out.
“To take that (opening) drive and then to have our defense come out and play the way they did, and then to take that next drive and kind of get that two-and-a-half score lead, then you kind of relax a little bit and know that there’s a pretty good chance we’re going to win the game,” Sharrett said. “Everybody knows football’s a long, long season. It’s a long season when you go 10 weeks. And now we’re going into week 12.”
He said there was a practice recently where he thought his players might have reached a point where they were just worn out from the grind.
“But then we had another the next day they came out to practice, when you thought it was the first day of two-a-days. I mean, they were light on their feet, ready to go. And that’s what we’re going to have to have this next week when we go up there to Indian Valley,” Sharrett said.
Philo threatened again in the fourth but a Kole Nungester interception in the endzone gave the ball back to the Tigers.
Ezell broke off a 52-yard run on first down and Nungester scored from nine yards out a few plays later to make it a 31-7 game.
Philo added its second score with 1:12 left in the game.
Ezell had 101 yards in the second half to lead Circleville with 114 overall on nine carries and he had one catch for six yards. Phalin ran for 90 yards on 18 carries and Nungester had 87 yards on 15 totes.
Phalin was called on to throw the ball only five times in Friday’s win — completing two. Lamont Holloway had a catch for 35 yards in the first half.
“At my old school, you, I was always very close with the quarterbacks, and I’m very fortunate to be close with him,” Sharrett said. “And his decision making, what’s neat about it is he doesn’t care who gets the yards, he doesn’t care who catches the pass, he doesn’t care who gets the first down, he doesn’t care who gets the touchdown. He sees the blocking the scheme, calls it, makes it, and we needed that tonight.
“He made a couple of real nice checks where we kind of gashed them for like maybe a 25, 30-yard run. And that was him changing the blocking scheme right before we snapped the ball. And that really enabled us to move the ball and keep the ball out their hands.”
Philo was held to 99 yards in the first half and had 267 for the game.
Jack Lincicome was 6-12 passing for 107 yards. He threw two touchdowns to Aiden Mahon of 31 and 29 yards.
Slade Sprangle led the Electrics with 85 yards rushing on 18 carries and Lincicome had 19 carries for 75 yards.
The Tigers – seeded seventh in Division IV, Region 15 — will be loading up the buses for next week’s game as they travel to Indian Valley (9-0), which had the week off as the No. 2 seed in the region.
The Braves are the defending Division IV state champions and have averaged 44 points a game this season while allowing only 10 a game.
“I think this is a great first round win for us. I’m glad the community got it. I’m glad these seniors and our football team got to enjoy it,” Sharrett said. “And, you know, we’ll enjoy this for about another hour or so, and then start getting ready for those guys.”
Circleville 31, Philo 14
By Quarters 1 2 3 4 F
Philo 0 7 0 7 14
Circleville 7 7 3 14 31
First Quarter
CV — Hudson Phalin 24 run (Kaden Paxton kick), 4:46.
Second Quarter
PH — Aiden Mahon 31 pass from Jack Lincicome (Cohen Davis kick), 9:59.
CV — Ray Ezell 5 run (Kaden Paxton kick), 1:21.
Third Quarter
CV — Kaden Paxton 27 field goal, 5:03.
Fourth Quarter
CV — Ray Ezell 18 run (Kaden Paxton kick), 8:56.
CV — Kole Nungester 9 run (Kaden Paxton kick), 4:54.
PH — Aiden Mahon 29 pass from Jack Lincicome (Cohen Davis kick), 1:12.
TEAM STATISTICS
PH CV
First downs 13 16
Rushing yards 37-160 42-291
Passing yards 107 41
Comp.-Att.-Int 6-12-1 2-5-0
Total yards 267 332
Fumbles-Lost 4-2 1-0
Penalties-Yards 8-45 9-60
Punts-Ave 1-33 1-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING –Philo — Slade Sprankle 18-85, Jack Lincicome 19-75. Circleville — Hudson Phalin 18-90, Kole Nungester 15-87, Ray Ezell 9-114.
PASSING – Philo — Jack Lincicome 6-12-1-107. Circleville — Hudson Phalin 2-5-0-41.
RECEIVING – Philo — Slade Sprankle 1-18, Aiden Mahon 3-68, Jacob Savage 2-21. Circleville — Raymond Ezell 1-6, Lamont Holloway 1-35.