Sports

Athens Pulls Away From Nelsonville-York Late, Finishes Season 10-0 [VIDEO]

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The TVC-Ohio crown will remain in The Plains for another year as the Athens Bulldogs (10-0, 6-0) were able to go into Boston Field and come away with a conference-clinching win over the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes (7-3, 5-1) 48-22.

Athens high-powered offense wasted no time out of the gates. The Bulldogs marched 62 yards down the field on four plays, concluding with an eight-yard touchdown pass from senior Joe Burrow to Zacciah Saltzman to give Athens an early 7-0 advantage.

With the crowd behind them, Nelsonville-York responded promptly with an impressive drive of its own, led by sophomore running back Alex Mount. The Buckeye’s first offensive series was capped off when Mount pushed his way into the end zone for a one-yard score, leveling the rivals at seven. Mount finished the evening over the century mark, with 103 yards on 27 carries.

The Bulldogs were able to lean on their veteran running back Trae Williams all night for their offensive production. He scored twice in the first half, including a 10 yard toss to the outside that stretched the Athens lead to 21-7 midway through the second quarter.

To their credit, the Buckeyes were a resilient bunch in the first half. Facing a difficult task of stopping Burrow and his arsenal of weapons, N-Y held Athens to a season-low 21 first half points.

After a back and forth first quarter of play, the tables turned in favor of the Bulldogs late in the first half as Nelsonville-York looked to cut its deficit. On a third and seven, senior quarterback Hunter Edwards was picked off in the end zone by senior defensive back Sean West. Edwards struggled to find his receivers, completing only four of his ten passes in the game.

Athens came out of the halftime break on a mission, piling up 28 second-half points and putting the game out of reach.

The Buckeye loss ends its four-game winning streak, but does not automatically push them out of the playoff race. Ranked 5th in Division 6 prior to the loss, N-Y will now need a little bit of help to make it to the postseason.

However, Athens head coach Ryan Adams and the undefeated Bulldogs are primed to make a deep postseason push in hopes of a state championship.