Sports
Blue Lions Look To Build On Strong Week 1 Performance
By: Taylor Jedrzejek
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Last Friday night, Washington Court House found themselves in the unenviable position of being down 14 points on the road less than five minutes into the new season.
The Blue Lions responded by scoring 45 of the next 52 points over two and a half quarters to take a 45-21 lead. Washington C.H. went on to defeat the Blanchester 58-42.
“It was a rough start,” Blue Lions head coach Chuck Williamson said. “We had a pick bounce off our hands and go for a 70-yard touchdown on the third play of the game and our offense sputtered, but we eventually got comfortable and found our rhythm.”
A key part of that offensive explosion was new starting quarterback Gio Thomas. The sophomore transfer from Pickerington Central lit up Blanchester for 413 yards and 6 touchdowns.
“(Gio) is the real deal,” Williamson said. “To go out in your first game and, not only throw six touchdown, but throw no picks is great. He’s also just getting back to 100% after an ankle injury in preseason and will get to run the ball more.”
Going into this week’s matchup with Circleville, Coach Williamson knows that things will need to tighten up if they want to avoid a similar deficit this week against the Tigers.
“We’re going to focus on coming out stronger on offense,” Williamson said. “We need to be better on 1st down and on the first series of the game.”
Senior Dillon Steward transitioned to running back this year to make way for Thomas and turned in a stellar performance. Steward racked up 135 yards on offense and four touchdowns while also scoring on the defensive side.
Despite coming to Washington Court House at 0-1 after losing last week to Miami Trace, Williamson will not let the Blue Lions overlook the Tigers.
“They’re a well coached team,” Williamson said. “They could have easily won last week and they have some great players.”
Tune in to WOUB at 11:30 PM on Friday night to catch the recap of this game on Gridiron Glory and follow @gridironglory on Twitter to stay up to date on this game.