Falcons Foil Tigers in 6-3 MSL Victory
Article presented by Herlihy Moving & Storage …
Fairfield Union hosted Circleville Friday night, but the Falcons were less than hospitable.
The Falcon defense never allowed Circleville to get into a rhythm while the offense played keep away in a 6-3 Mid State League Buckeye Division win.
Fairfield Union’s double-wing attack ran 72 plays on the night compared to the Tigers’ 38 and the Falcons owned the clock, holding the ball for nearly 32 of the 48 allotted minutes on the scoreboard.
Simply put – keep the ball out of the opposition’s hands.
Circleville drove deep into Falcons territory on their first possession, but Hudson Phalin’s pass sailed over the reach of Ray Azell and into the hands of the Fairfield Union defender who returned the ball to the Falcons’ 44. The Tigers got the ball back forcing a Falcons punt.
Ezell had a 20 yard carry to the 32 and Phalin tacked on a 42-yard run. The drive stalled inside the Falcons 10-yard line. Kaden Paxton gave Circleville a 3-0 lead on a 28-yard field goal at 5:10 remaining in the first period.
Fairfield Union got on the board when Dean Clark found Keaton Webb in the corner of the endzone for the game’s only touchdown. It capped a 15-play 84-yard drive possession chewing 9:33 off the clock. The point after try failed, hence the 6-3 score.
Ezell set Circleville up with great field position returning the ensuing kick to the Fairfield Union 40-yard line. The Tigers coughed up the ball on the next play and Brady Andrews covered it up for the Falcons.
The Tigers were turned away inside the Fairfield Union 5-yard line just before the half. The Falcons jumped offside when Circleville had planned a second field goal attempt. The result wasn’t enough for a first down and the Tigers opted to pull the kicking unit and try for the yardage, but the Falcons held their ground and got the ball back.
While the Falcons scored just the one touchdown, they chewed up a lot of real estate and more importantly, time off the clock. Fairfield Union’s Lane Burkhardt had 91 of his team’s 256 yards on the ground. Quarterback Dean Clark added 70 yards on 14 lugs. The duo were the Litter Media McDonald’s Players of the Game.
Circleville’s Phalin was 12-of-18 passing for 147-yards and led the Tigers with 63-yards rushing.
The win improved Fairfield Union’s mark to 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the MSL Buckeye. Circleville slips to 1-3 in the league and 5-3 on the season, having lost three of their last four games.
Next week, Circleville closes out the home schedule with Liberty Union (0-4/3-5) while Fairfield Union finishes their MSL schedule at home with Amanda Clearcreek (2-2/4-4). Also Friday, Hamilton Township (4-0/7-1) blanked Liberty Union 40-0, Amanda Clearcreek defeated Logan Elm (1-4/1-7) 31-6 and Bloom-Carroll (4-0/5-2) defeated St. Clairsville in a non-league battle.
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