By RICK SPRUNGER
ALEXANDRIA — Bluffton proved to be the stronger team at Alexandria Friday night.
The eighth-ranked Tigers won the high-profile first-round sectional matchup over No. 6 Alexandria by a 26-14 score, and did it by owning the lines of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
“We muscled it,” smiled Bluffton coach Brent Kunkel afterward of his now 8-2 Tigers. “Our offensive and defensive lines dominated the game.”
Bluffton ruled the stat sheet, running up 424 total yards and 23 first downs to Alexandria’s 193 yards and seven first downs.
But the game was anybody’s until the Tigers rammed the ball right down Alexandria’s throat with a 15-play, 79-yard fourth-quarter drive that chewed up nearly nine minutes of clock.
Tucker Jenkins’ third touchdown of the game on a fourth down play from three yards out left the home-standing Tigers down two scores with just 2:34 remaining and pretty much-sewed things up. It was Bluffton’s third long march down the field.
The first two came in a first quarter that looked like the game was going to pit Bluffton thunder against Alexandria lightning.
Bluffton started the game with an 11-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 5:24 of clock and finished with Jenkins runs of 14 and five yards that gave the Tigers first blood.
Then, after Alexandria raced down the field on four plays to match the Bluffton touchdown, Bluffton again resorted to good old-fashioned smashmouth football, driving 92 yards in 11 plays, converting one fourth down along the way, and taking the lead for good on a 23-yard pass from Braxton Betancourt to A.J. Streveler.
Streveler made a spectacular grab at the goal line on the play when he actually reached around his defender with both arms and caught the slightly underthrown pass against the defender’s back.
Both teams tacked on one score in the second quarter, Bluffton’s coming on Jenkins’ second score of the game from three yards out one play after a pass from Betancourt to Hunter Wenger went for 41 yards on a fourth-and-3 play.
When Alexandria narrowed the Bluffton margin to 20-14 by punching one in with just 0:19 left in the first half, the game appeared headed for a wide-open offensive shootout.
It didn’t happen.
Both teams made adjustments at halftime and engaged in a defensive slugfest. But, with Bluffton holding that 20-14 lead, the Tigers were content to engage in a defensive stalemate until keeping the Alexandria offense off the field in the fourth quarter and closing it out with that late drive.
Defensively, Bluffton was magnificent.
Of Alexandria’s 193 total yards, 61 came on those first four plays in the first quarter. Then, the rain-soaked field conditions may have had something to do with even that.
“Our defensive backs had trouble with their footing (on the wet field) in the first half,” explained Kunkel of that first drive.
Of Alexandria’s remaining 132 yards, 36 came on one play in the second quarter. Otherwise, the Tigers, averaging 39 points per game for the season, went nowhere.
Bluffton turned vaunted Alexandria running back Carson Cuneo into a non-factor.
Cuneo came into the game with well over 1,000 yards rushing but managed just 10 yards on seven carries.
“Stopping (Cuneo) was a focal point in our game plan,” said Kunkel. “We’ve been solid against the run all year.”
That showed in that the Tigers held Alexandria to minus-seven yards rushing for the game.
Bluffton, on the other hand, ran the ball virtually at will.
Khamel Moore for 124 yards on 26 carries, and Jenkins checked in with 109 yards and those three touchdowns on 20 carries.
Bluffton will return home for second-round sectional play next week against Eastbrook, a 28-3 winner over Frankton.
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BLUFFTON 26, ALEXANDRIA 14
Bluffton 12 8 0 6 — 26
Alexandria 7 7 0 0 — 14
First Quarter
BL — Tucker Jenkins 5 run (kick failed), 6:36.
AL — Will Rowland 10 pass from Brady Gast (Corey Layton kick), 5:30.
BL — A.J. Streveler 23 pass from Braxton Betancourt (run failed), 0:29.
Second Quarter
BL — Jenkins 3 run (Andrew Hunt pass from Betancourt), 7:18.
AL — Carson Cuneo 5 pass from Gast (Layton kick), 0:19.
Third Quarter
No scoring.
Fourth Quarter
BL — Jenkins 3 run (pass failed), 2:34.
Team Statistics
BLU ALX
First Downs 23 7
Rushes-Yards 57-294 15-(-7)
Passing Yards 130 200
Passing (C-A-I) 7-10-0 18-31-2
Penalties 4-32 3-30
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-0
Punts-Average 2-40.0 3-42.0
Time of Possession 33:35 14:25
Individual Statistics
Rushing-Bluffton: Khamel Moore 26-124, Tucker Jenkins 20-109, Braxton Betancourt 5-39, Andrew Hunt 3-21, Cooper Craig 2-2; Alexandria: Carson Cuneo 7-10, Gabe McGuire 4-6, Brady Gast 3-(-19), Will Rowland 1-(-4).
Passing-Bluffton: Braxton Betancourt 7-10-0 130; Alexandria: Brady Gast 18-31-2 200.
Receiving-Bluffton: A.J. Streveler 2-48, Trey Bustos 2-22, Hunter Wenger 1-41, Andrew Hunt 1-24, Ben Ramseyer 1-(-5); Alexandria: Kaed Abshire 5-60, Collin Johns 4-32, Gabe McGuire 3-54, Carson Cuneo 3-38, Will Rowland 3-16.
