With a share of the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference National Division title in its pocket, the Blanchester football team will go for the outright championship Friday night against Bethel-Tate.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Barbour Memorial Field.
“We have a routine and we definitely follow our normal weekly set of preparations,” said BHS coach Brandon Sammons. “We’re definitely talking about the implications of winning this game. It’s a league title game. We are not shying away from that.”
The Wildcats last won a National Division title in 2007.
“This group of seniors can set a tone for our program moving forward of how things will be,” said Sammons.
Blanchester is 3-0 in the league and Bethel-Tate is 2-0. This will be the final National Division game for the Wildcats while the Tigers will meet Clermont Northeastern next week.
“Bethel-Tate can play,” Sammons said. “Explosive on offense and their defense can stress you with how they play. We’ve got our hands full in this one and I wouldn’t want it any other way for what is pretty much the league title game. We get it at home, so it’s a great opportunity year one to play for it in front of a home crowd.”
Since a 35-7 whipping at the hands of the one-loss New Richmond Lions, the Wildcats have won three in a row by a combined 102-13.
“Our guys have started to gel and figure things out, so we feel good going into this one,” the first-year BHS coach said.
Last week, Blanchester blasted Williamsburg 41-6, ending a brief skid to their Clermont County Wildcat league rivals.
“You could definitely say last week was our best performance as a whole,” said Sammons.
Blanchester did not turn the ball over on offense, while coming up with five interceptions on defense, two of which were returned for touchdowns.
“We imposed our will offensively with our offensive line grounding and pounding Williamsburg,” Sammons said. “The guys played lights out and really stepped up to the task in the face of tough circumstances and things getting pretty chippy. They handled themselves well given what was happening on the field and in the piles. We were a very proud staff after the game with how they played and brought it all night.”
