Bellefontaine’s high-powered offense operated as expected Friday night in a season-opening blowout victory over visiting Sidney.
Ohio State commitment Tavien St. Clair was 28-of-36 passing for 314 yards and five touchdowns, and four different Chieftains scored touchdowns as Bellefontaine rolled past the Yellow Jackets 46-19.
“It was a good performance for us, but there is room for improvement,” said St. Clair, who was mobbed by a throng of Columbus-area media members for interviews after the game. “My job is to get the ball to our playmakers in space. When we do that, good things happen. I am always proud of those guys.”
The Yellow Jackets, under new head coach Dave Taynor, moved the ball well at times and finished with 361 yards of offense. But the Chiefs were able to get key stops when needed.
“I felt like we played pretty good complimentary football tonight,” said BHS head coach Jason Brown. “I thought we attacked the field offensively both horizontally and vertically. I was happy with our special teams, we made some big plays there tonight.
Defensively, we missed some tackles, but I liked our aggression.”
Tigers maul Falcons in season opener
The West Liberty-Salem Tigers and Graham Falcons combined for three touchdowns in the first three minutes of Friday’s season opener at West Liberty-Salem High School.
But only one team kept on scoring.
The Tigers reeled off 35 unanswered points after trailing briefly in the first quarter at home against Graham, cruising to a 48-15 victory over the Falcons in a non-league contest.
WL-S moves to 1-0 on the young season. Graham drops to 0-1.
Explosive rushing attack fuels Rockets past Lakers
Indian Lake fell behind early Friday on the road at Anna, and could not overcome that early deficit, falling 49-12 in a non-league football game.
The Lakers are 0-1. Anna is 1-0.
The Rockets led by two touchdowns after one quarter Friday, and a 21-point scoring barrage in the second quarter saw Anna take a 35-6 lead into halftime.
Penalties plague Riverside in loss to Ansonia
Riverside was penalized 10 times for 85 yards Friday as the Pirates fell 30-14 to host Ansonia in the season opener.
“We got into a couple of bad positions at times, and we just couldn’t get much going,” said Riverside head coach Bryce Hodge. “We struggled to get our running game going and we made too many penalties.
“There were a lot of bright spots and I thought the effort was good, but we just weren’t consistent enough against a very good football team.”
Cardinals’ offense grounded in loss to Mount Gilead
Triad and visiting Mount Gilead slugged it out defensively Friday for four quarters, combining for just three touchdowns between them all night.
In the end, however, it was visiting Mount Gilead coming away with the TKO, earning a 15-8 victory over the Cardinals in a non-league season opening game.
Triad is 0-1. Mount Gilead is 1-0.
Raiders tumble to Bluffton in opener
Benjamin Logan fell behind early Friday night at Bluffton in a non-league contest and was never able to recover, losing to the Pirates 42-7.
Ben Logan is 0-1. Bluffton goes to 1-0.
For complete Friday night football coverage, see Saturday’s edition of the Examiner.