The Circleville Tigers overcame a 13-0 halftime deficit here Friday night to post a 27-13 win over the host Washington Blue Lions.

It was a tale of two halves as the Blue Lions had virtually everything go their way in the first half, only to see the Tigers come out and score 27 unanswered points in the second half.

“The big thing was, we gained confidence there in the second half,” Circleville head coach Keith Downing said. “Riley Kiser, a sophomore, made a big play for us; so did Clay Davis.

“Travis Dray made a nice catch,” Downing said. “Chris Starner made some plays. Josh Hatfield was our leader at quarterback.

“We made some mistakes, but then we made some things happen, too,” Downing said. “This team grew up a little bit tonight in the second half.

“In the first half, you’ve got to give Court House credit,” Downing said. “They hit us with that trap play for almost 70 yards.

“We got down 13-0 pretty quickly,” Downing said. “They won the first half, but we won the second half.”

The game was delayed 25 minutes at the start after a storm came through Fayette County, leaving lots of rain and humid conditions in its wake.

On the second play of the game, Washington senior Nick Wilson busted through the line on a trap play that went 69 yards for the touchdown. The kick was no good, leaving the Blue Lions with the early 6-0 lead.

The Tigers fumbled the ensuing kickoff, which was recovered by Washington’s Ben Parks at the 39-yard line of the Tigers.

Blue Lion junior quarterback Bryce Bryan soon ran for the touchdown from four yards out. Tyler Kimmett’s kick was true to make it 13-0 with 7:20 to play in the first quarter.

Unfortunately for Washington, this was all the offense they would come up with on this muggy night.

On Circleville’s next possession, they moved the ball down to Washington’s 20-yard line, but Bryan intercepted Josh Hatfield’s pass to end that series.

Circleville was later called for a roughing the kicker penalty on a Washington punt that kept a Blue Lion drive alive as the second half wound down.

The Blue Lions got the ball down to Circleville’s 15-yard line, but the drive stalled. It turned out to be Washington’s last best chance to add to their point total in the game.

Blue Lion senior Steven Dilley had an interception just before halftime that closed out play.

“We just didn’t come out ready to play in the second half,” Blue Lion head coach John Enochs said. “For some reason, we had a big letdown. We had all the momentum in the first half. We probably could have score one or even two more times and possibly put the game away.

“We had a couple of missed tackles that hurt,” Enochs said. “And we couldn’t get anything going on offense. It’s really disappointing, because we played well in the first half.”

On their second possession of the second half, the Tigers put together their first scoring drive of the season, capped by a 34-yard run by Clay Davis. Kort Wolfe’s kick was good at the 5:25 mark of the third to make it 13-7, Blue Lions.

The Tigers’ next score was a 42-yard pass play from Hatfield to Chris Starner. Wolfe’s kick gave the Tigers a 14-13 lead.

The Washington’s offense struggling to move the ball, Circleville soon scored on a 33-yard run by Hatfield. Wolfe’s kick gave the Tigers a 21-13 lead.

After an exchange of punts, Washington had a pass intercepted by the Tigers Eddie Strawser with eight minutes to play.

A 41-yard pass from Hatfield to Travis Dray helped set up a seven-yard touchdown run by Starner. The extra-point kick was blocked by Blue Lion senior Garret Kiger, leaving the tally 27-13 with 5:35 to play.

Collin Farmer moved to quarterback in the final five minutes of the game.

He connected with Ben Parks for a 34-yard pass play, but the Lions’ had to turn the ball over on downs to the Tigers at the Circleville 40-yard line.

Circleville has its 2008 home opener Friday night against Westfall.

“We’ll study this film and work to get better,” Enochs said. “We’ve got a tough challenge next week at Adena.”

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