BY BRIAN HARMON
For The Examiner
Bellefontaine’s football team treated Friday’s homecoming crowd to a down-to-the-wire thriller.
The Chiefs beat visiting Tecumseh 19-16 after sophomore kicker Alex Crabill booted a 26-yard field goal with 13 seconds to go in the game for the winning score.
Bellefontaine improves to 5-1 overall and starts Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail division play with a 1-0 mark. The Arrows drop to 3-3, 0-1.
It was a “tale of two halves” in this contest as the Chiefs took a 16-0 lead into halftime before losing the lead in the second half and needing Crabill’s kick to pull out the victory.
Bellefontaine held the Arrows to 10 yards of offense in the first half.
“I think our kids showed a lot of grit and determination tonight at the end of the game,” said Bellefontaine head coach Jason Brown. “We were our own worst enemy at times, and didn’t always play complementary football, but we got big plays from all three phases when we needed it.”
The Chiefs drove the ball down to the Arrows’ 5-yard line on the opening possession of the game, but had to settle for a Crabill 26-yard field goal to take the early 3-0 lead.
Bellefontaine would light the scoreboard again at the start of the second quarter, this time on a one-play drive that saw quarterback Tavien St. Clair find running back Riley Neer streaking down the right sideline uncovered, connecting for a 64-yard touchdown strike to give Bellefontaine a 10-0 lead.
The next Tecumseh possession ended with another punt, but this time the Chiefs’ Haiden Manns broke through the line and blocked the punt, giving Bellefontaine a 1st-and-10 from the Arrows’ 12-yard line.
The Chiefs only needed one play again, as Kaden Reames took the handoff on a reverse and raced the 12 yards to the end zone. After the PAT was blocked, the Chiefs held a 16-0 lead that they would take into halftime.
The second half would see Tecumseh flip the script, however, as they finally got their running game going and kept the Bellefontaine’s offense on the sideline for most of the half.
The Arrows pulled within a score at 3:04 in the 3rd quarter on a 7-play, 46-yard drive of all run plays to make the score 16-8.
Tecumseh got the ball back again with 0:48 left in the 3rd quarter, and pounded out a 16-play, 10-minute drive, all on the ground, to tie the game at 16-16.
The Chiefs’ offense would get the ball back, in a tie game, with only 3:53 left in the game.
St. Clair went to work, completing five consecutive passes to three different receivers to move the Chiefs to the Tecumseh 32-yard line.
From there, Bellefontaine chipped away for a few more yards as time ticked down to 14 seconds left.
Facing a 4th and 4 from the Arrows’ 9-yard line, Brown called on his kicker to break the tie. Crabill calmly split the uprights for the winning kick.
St. Clair finished the night 19-of-30 passing for 193 yards. Riley Neer chipped in 23 yards rushing and 75 yards receiving and C.J. Wilson had seven catches for 56 yards.
The Arrows finished with 180 yards of offense, 138 of that coming on the ground.
The Chiefs will travel to take on Springfield Shawnee next Friday for a key Kenton Trail division game.
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