St. Xavier knocks out Gahanna Lincoln

Behind a stingy second half defense and ball control running attack, St Xavier went on the road Saturday night and knocked off Gahanna Lincoln 28-14 in the first round of the Ohio Division I playoffs.

St. Xavier RB Sean Prophit / photo by Mike Noyes

The Lions (7-4) tied the score at 14-14 late in the second quarter on a 77-yard pass play from quarterback Mason Blancett to wide receiver Eli Whiteside. But, after the halftime break, it was all Bombers.

Junior Pete Rumpke capped the opening third quarter drive with with an eight yard run to put St Xavier (7-4) up for good with 8:26 left in the third quarter. Quarterback Sean Clifford iced the game with a one yard keeper with 3:36 left in the game.

Senior running back Sean Prophit led the Bombers rushing attack with 172 yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns, both in the first half. Clifford was 9/16 passing for 110 yards and an interception, along with 72 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown.St Xavier had 304 yards on the ground, and possessed the ball on offense for nearly 30 minutes.

Senior free safety JP Bitzenhofer picked off Lions’ backup quarterback David Miller in the closing minutes to end any Gahanna Lincoln threat, while senior linebacker Andrew Homer registered two tackles for loss and a sack. The 77-yard pass play from Blancett to Whiteside before halftime was the only touchdown allowed by the Bombers’ defense.

The Region II, 9th-seeded Bombers advance to take on top-seeded Colerain next Saturday at a site to be determined. Colerain edged the Bombers in the regular season meeting 13-10 on September 5th.

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