By SHAWN ROBINSON

Sports Writer

BLANCHESTER — Blanchester (2-5, 1-0) head coach John Lovin said he would enjoy his team’s 32-0 victory over Williamsburg (0-7, 0-2) Friday at Barbour Memorial Field for about two hours. Then, he’d turn his attention to next week’s showdown with county rival East Clinton.

There was a lot for him to enjoy on Homecoming. Blanchester has won two straight and is perfect in the second half of the season. Lovin’s squad now is tied for the Southern Buckeye Conference National Division lead with East Clinton. Blanchester also forced five turnovers and blocked a punt.

Lovin said part of the Wildcats’ success comes from increased confidence.

“Yes. Absolutely,” Lovin said when asked if the Wildcats are playing with more confidence. His inexperienced team is “coming around to feeling more comfortable.” Even during Blanchester’s five-game losing streak to start the season, the Wildcats “always came out playing like they could win.

“After we lost the first three, we said we still have three games to play for. We’ll target our division — East Clinton, Williamsburg and Batavia. Our goal is to win the division.”

Williamsburg got a good dose of Blanchester’s confidence early. Blanchester led 12-0 after three minutes.

Blake Bella ripped off a 73-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game. He led Blan’s 351-yard ground attack with 11 carries for 134 yards.

Four plays later, a litter of Wildcats blasted through the line to block a Williamsburg punt, which Jarrett Long scooped up and took 30 yards to the end zone.

“We went for it,” Lovin said about the blocked punt. “They always come out playing hard early, so we wanted to jump on them.”

Blanchester took a 20-0 lead into halftime courtesy of Coy Burrough’s 3-yard plunge at the 7:29 mark of the second quarter. That score was set up by a Matt Younker interception.

The Wildcats tallied a pair of 6-yard touchdown runs in the second half. Rylan St. John turned his interception into a 6-yard touchdown run early in the third period. Tim Smithson had the other one late in the fourth quarter.

For as well as Blanchester played Friday, there were some things Lovin doesn’t want to take into next week — four turnovers and eight penalties. “We’re still not consistent enough,” Lovin said. “We lost a little focus and got sloppy.

“Next week is going to be huge. It’s going to be a challenge,” Lovin added. “We had way, way too many mistakes tonight. Those things can’t happen against a team like East Clinton.”

SUMMARY

WHS — 0 0 0 0 — 0

BLAN — 12 8 6 6 — 32

First Quarter

BLAN — Bella 73 run (Kick failed), 11:04.

BLAN — Long 20 punt return (Kick failed), 9:28.

Second Quarter

BLAN — Burroughs 2 run (Conversion run), 7:29.

Third Quarter

BLAN — St. John 6 run (Kick failed), 9:31.

Fourth Quarter

BLAN — Smithson 6 run (Kick failed), 3:03.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Williamsburg None Available. Blanchester Bella 11-134, St. John 8-58, Burroughs 10-56, K. Runyon 11-42, Smithson 5-32, J. Runyon 6-29, TOTAL 51-351.

PASSING — Williamsburg None Available. Blanchester J. Runyon 0-4-2 0.

RECEIVING — Williamsburg None Available. Blanchester None.

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