Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CIRCLEVILLE — If Logan Elm has a lead in the later stages of the game and the football is in Michael Bock’s hands, head to your car. It’s a wrap.
The Braves’ senior tail back, alongside his offensive linemen who created pathways all night long, were the driving force behind a 35-17 victory over Circleville on Friday in the latest edition of the Backyard Brawl — the Braves’ fifth straight win over their rival.
Of the team’s 51 snaps, 30 called on the ground game to go to work. That was the main ingredient to a recipe that cooked up an imperative bounce-back victory.
“For a myriad of reasons, this is a really big win for us,” Holbert said. “First and foremost, this is a huge rivalry game for us. It’s always tough. [Circleville] is a good football team. I have a lot of respect for coach [Steve] Evans and his staff. That’s a 3-0 football team. But for a lot of implications for us, league and postseason wise, it’s a really important win for us. And I think it really showed the character of our kids. Coming off a loss, our guys responded really well.”
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
Bock has been an absolute spark plug all year. But Friday may have been his best outing yet.
He carried the football 30 times and racked up 166 yards alongside four touchdowns while doing so. Put simply, Circleville didn’t have an answer and was consistently unable to bring down the slippery back behind the line of scrimmage.
“When you’re in the later stages of the third and fourth quarters, there’s no surprise what we’re trying to do,” Holbert said. “We always tell our guys up front that if they can get a body on a body, and the ball is in Michael’s hands, good things can happen. That’s exactly what they did. So a lot of credit goes to our young men up front. They battled their tails off. Michael is a special player. We already know that. He’s special.”
Tale of the tape
After Logan Elm’s defense forced a three-and-out to kick things off, Circleville made its first costly mistake with 10:03 left in the first quarter.
A botched snap on the punt attempt gave LE’s Justin Marcum the time to bust through the Tigers’ line and block the kick. He was then aware enough to scoop up the loose ball and make a house call, putting the Braves ahead 7-0.
That play set the tone and Logan Elm (3-1, 1-0 MSL) never relinquished its lead.
“It’s so fun and rewarding as a coach to watch a young man like Justin,” Holbert said. “He has absolutely dedicated himself from December to now. He’s a leader in the weight room and he’s physically changed his body. I wish we could get a before and after picture. So to see his work pay off for him, it’s awesome and it’s rewarding. It really is.”
However, to Circleville’s credit, the Tigers (3-1, 0-1 MSL) absorbed the early punch, regained their footing and fought back from every deficit they faced.
After the offense produced a lengthy drive into the red zone, Kaden Paxton’s 27-yard field goal cut LE’s lead to 7-3 with 3:24 to go in the first.
The Braves provided an answer with Bock’s first touchdown of the night — a 13-yard scamper — to go ahead 14-3 with 15 seconds remaining.
But the Tigers threw a counter-punch when Hudson Phalin found an open Kole Nungester in the back of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown toss, making it a 14-10 tally at the 9:31 mark in the second.
PHOTOS: Images from LE’s win over Circleville
That score held until the closing moments of the first half, which was when Bock really started to make his mark.
After Logan Elm’s Aaron Walters led his offense into scoring position, Bock took a handoff with 14 seconds left and plunged to pay dirt from three yards out, producing a 21-10 halftime count.
“Michael Bock, obviously, played his heart out,” Walters said of his backfield mate. “Four touchdowns, I don’t know how many yards he had, but he balled out. We punted the ball a couple of times, which I don’t like. But our offensive line played a lot better this week. They stepped up.”
Bock picked up where he left off in the second half.
With 3:43 left in the third, he polished off a nine-play, 59-yard scoring drive with another three-yard touchdown run, pushing the lead to 28-10.
The Tigers, again, answered with a 74-yard scoring drive of their own — one that ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Phalin to Jack Kline to produce a 28-17 count.
But after Marcum recovered a fumble with 7:21 left in the final quarter, Bock cashed in and provided the dagger with a 12-yard touchdown to produce the night’s final.
“There’s a lot of room for improvement,” Marcum said. “We come out every night and play our hearts out every single game, whether we’re down or we’re up. We have a great program and we did well tonight. But there’s always room for improvement.
Stat book
Following Bock’s stat line was Walters, who finished 14-of-27 passing for 177 yards. Nemiah Waugh hauled in three catches for 45 yards, Keegan Diehl caught two passes for 43 yards and Gavin Hoover had four receptions for 41 yards.
Marcum ended the night with a blocked punt, a defensive touchdown, a fumble recovery, five tackles and a sack. Bryce Perkins also chipped in defensively with a team-high 10 tackles.
Phalin led Circleville’s offense, finishing 17-of-28 through the air for 234 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Nungester had seven catches for 98 yards and a score, and Kline caught six passes for 80 yards and a touchdown. Drew Thornsley paced the ground game with 19 carries for 84 yards alongside three catches for 42 yards.
What’s on tap
Looking to Week 5, Circleville will attempt to bounce back with a trip to Amanda-Clearcreek while Logan Elm welcomes in Fairfield Union.
“I was really pleased with our overall effort and how we bounced back after last week,” Holbert said. “But we’ve got to score more in the red zone. We’ve left too many points off the board in the past couple of weeks. Our approach was to be aggressive and we were. But we’ve got to do a much better job of coming away with points when we’re in the red zone.”
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