It was old-school Blanchester football last week as the Wildcats gave first-year varsity head coach Jon Mulvihill his first win.
BHS rushed for 389 and five touchdowns in a 34-7 win over Taylor last week at Barbour Memorial Field.
The Wildcats attempted just four passes.
“Spread or unbalanced, throwing or running, these boys on this team are tough kids,” Mulvihill said. “We’ve worked in the weight room and on the field to begin a new culture of hard-nosed, disciplined football. That’s what we want to look like. Knock the other team down, help them up, line up and do it again.”
This week, Waynesville visits the BHS campus.
The Spartans, 1-1 this season with a 42-7 win over Bexley, have won five of the last seven meetings against the Wildcats.
“They’re fast with some road grater offensive linemen,” Mulvihill said of WHS. “Option, screens, power running out of multiple formations.
“(On defense) strong linemen that come off the line with purpose, fast and athletic linebackers that love to run and tackle.”
Mulvihill said the Spartans are dangerous on special teams but lost a very good kicker from last season.
The BHS coach was not happy with the two offensive turnovers in last week’s win but said his defense played well as Taylor’s only points came on a fumble recovery. The Wildcats also approached 400 yards on the ground.
“Our line has dealt with injuries throughout the year,” Mulvihill said. “Friday night we had Chasen Allison (freshman), Kaden Berwanger (senior), Jacob Lanham (sophomore), Kaleb Goodin (senior), Nate Coyle (sophomore) and Christian Stubbs (senior) leading the way up front.”
Backs James Peters and Gage Huston also had blocking duties throughout the night. Stubbs had four pancake blocks.
All that led to Colt Conover gaining 165 yards and scoring three times with Tanner Creager gaining 151 rushing yards with one touchdown.
On defense, Brady Phillips registered three sacks. Berwanger had a fumble recovery and Carter Abbott, Creager and Adam Frump had interceptions.
Waynesville ran for 206 yards in last week’s 21-20 loss to Greeneview. In the opener, Jake Amburgy ran for three touchdowns wile Jaymes Bowman had 136 yards rushing and two scores. In all, the Spartans gained 463 yards on the ground in 67 attempts.
On Friday night, Mulvihill said the winning formula is simple.
“The team that runs the ball the best this week with the least amount of mistakes, wins the game,” he said.
