Locked in: Amanda-Clearcreek continues winning ways by overwhelming rival Logan Elm

AMANDA — Amanda-Clearcreek football coach Chet Saum loves Fairfield County Fair Week, but not for the activities at the fairgrounds in Lancaster.

The second-year coach enjoys it because it brought perhaps the best week of practice for his Aces team this season. With the Aces students out of school for the fair break, the team came to the practice field more locked in and focused on Friday’s matchup with rival Logan Elm.

That preparation showed on the field under the lights Friday, as the Aces played fast and physical and thumped the Braves by a 42-12 score, snapping a two-game win streak for the Braves in the rivalry matchup.

“I told some people Wednesday it was by far the best practice I’d been a coach of, so we were just locked in,” Saum said after the game. “And we can have a little bit of fun when we’re that locked in and doing things right. So this was a culmination of a lot of hard work, finally getting focused, putting up four quarters together, and being consistent.”

Amanda-Clearcreek’s running back tandem of Tommy Stai and Bodie Martin accounted for all five of the offense’s touchdowns, with four of the scores being on runs of at least 30 yards. Stai scored twice in the first half and finished with 54 yards on seven carries, while Martin totaled 138 yards and three touchdowns in the second half.

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“All week our coaches harped on ‘Beat the Braves,' ” Martin said. “All of our coaches see them as our biggest rival and all week they preached beating the Braves so we came out with that mindset and we weren’t letting up.”

The Aces (5-3, 2-2 Mid-State League) made a statement early in the first quarter as they forced the Braves (5-3, 2-2) into a quick punt and then put together a five-minute drive that ended with a nine-yard touchdown run by Stai for an early 7-0 Aces lead.

Logan Elm answered with a long drive down the field and ended with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Walters to Ne’Miah Waugh, though the Aces retained the lead, 7-6 after the Braves missed the extra point. After the teams traded punts with their next respective possessions, the Aces had a quick two-play drive highlighted by a 42-yard score by Stai on a pitch to the right side to put the home team on top 14-6.

On Logan Elm’s next possession, a three-and-out sent out the punt team, and chaos commenced. The snap flew over the punter’s head, and Amanda-Clearcreek’s Mason Williams fell on the loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown to send the Aces into halftime holding a 21-6 lead.

Martin made his presence known on the first play of the third quarter, after he took the inside handoff from his fullback position, saw a giant hole open in the line in front of him, and ran through it, sprinting 65 yards to the house for a stunning score.

“During halftime a coach talked about the whole time, on offense, if we put it in the end zone then it’s over,” Martin said. “I saw that hole open up and I wasn’t getting caught again.”

However, it wasn’t quite over. Logan Elm started picking up the tempo on offense and used a combination of outside runs by talented running back Michael Bock, and quick throws in the passing game to move the ball efficiently down the field. Bock scored from one yard out with 8:52 remaining in the third quarter to cut the Aces' lead to 28-12.

After a three-and-out from the Aces, the Braves offense quickly moved down the field and as they approached the red zone, one could feel the momentum beginning to shift. However, the Aces' defense was able to find a way to force a turnover on downs to keep the Braves out of the end zone, and that proved to be a clincher for the Aces.

“In every huddle on the sideline we were talking about 'Don’t let them back in it,' ” Martin said. “Because there’s been a lot of games, we’ve come back in a lot of games like that, down 15 or multiple possessions. So we were just harping on staying on them, don’t let up, and finishing the game out, all four quarters.”

Two possessions later, Martin scored on a 30-yard run — again on the first play of a drive — that put the game away with a 35-12 score. Martin added his last score on a 34-yard run with a little more than seven minutes left to play in the game.

The Aces defense did its part as well, holding Bock and the Braves run game to under 100 yards rushing, and holding Walters to just 17 of 32 passing with an interception. The unit was constantly putting pressure on Walters when he dropped back to pass, forcing six sacks and holding Bock to eight carries of either zero or negative yardage.

“We were able to tackle well,” Saum said. “This kind of reminded me of old-school Amanda (defense) when it’s not just one guy out in space to make a tackle, there’s a lot of times (Bock) would break a tackle and there were three more guys on him. We pursued the ball really, really well and I’m proud of the defense.”

The Aces will now focus on a road game at Fairfield Union in Week 9 before wrapping up the season with a home game against Liberty Union in their quest to secure a winning record in the regular season.

“We finally put four quarters together,” Saum said. “We’ve shown excellent (singular) quarters, but we were finally put four together. We were ultra-focused, it’s no secret we think Logan Elm is probably our biggest rival and we were definitely where we needed to be this week.”

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Locked in: Amanda-Clearcreek continues winning ways by overwhelming rival Logan Elm