Circleville Dampens Huntington’s 50 Year Football Celebration

Article Presented By Rathkamp Financial

Dozens of former players, cheerleaders, coaches and band-members showed up Friday for a celebration of the Huntington Huntsmen Football Program, which began 50 years ago in 1972. Many good memories were relived during the anniversary reunion, but on the field, the news was not as good for the Huntsmen as they suffered a 47-0 defeat to the visiting Circleville Tigers.

The Tigers physical size and depth took a toll on the Huntsmen, as Circleville got their scoring started early. After Huntington was forced to punt their first offensive possession, the Tigers struck quickly. They concluded their opening drive with a 29 year TD run from Jude Blair, one of his three touchdowns in the game. The 7-0 lead went on the scoreboard with 8:34 left in the opening quarter.

Joe Streintenberger picked up Circleville’s next score at 10:22 of the second quarter when he took a 25 yard TD reception from quarterback Scott Moats to the end-zone for a 14-0 lead.

A Huntington fumble gave the Tigers the ball in the second quarter, later allowing Jude Blair’s 18 yard TD run up the middle, his second of the half, to give Circleville a 21-0 lead with 9:26 left in first half.

Circleville extended their lead to 28-0 when Drew Thornsley took the ball 15 yards for a TD scamper with 4:23 in the second quarter. On the Huntsmen’s next possession, they drove the ball deep into Circleville territory, only to see Drew Thornsley pick-off a pass and return it to the Huntington 9 yard line. Angelo Travis then scored on a 14 yard run for a 34-0 advantage. The missed PAT with 2:46 left in the first half would be the score at halftime.

With the non-stop clock in play the entire second half, the rest of the game moved quickly.

The Tigers’ Jude Blair scored his third TD of the game on a 25 yard run with 5:36 in the third quarter, giving Circleville a 41-0 lead over Huntington.

The final points of the game were added by Drew Thornsley, when he grabbed an attempted Huntington lateral out of the air and returned it 70 yards for a TD. The PAT was blocked and Circleville’s 47-0 score with 1:29 left third quarter, would hold up as the final tally for the game.

Circleville’s offense racked-up 228 rushing yards, with Jude Blair accounting for 153 yards and 3 touchdowns on 13 carries. Quarterback Scott Moats completed 6 of 7 passes for 99 yards and one TD.