The varsity football team hosted Northmont on Friday night in the 1st round of the OHSAA Playoffs and came away with a 34-21 victory. The Elks got off to a great start as they scored on their opening drive when Braylon Newcomb hit Nic Bruder for 41 yard touchdown pass with 11:02 left in the 1st quarter and the Elks led 6-0 as the PAT was blocked. The defense was able to get a stop on Northmont's first drive and force a punt and the Elks once again drove right down the field and scored on a 38 yard Braylon Newcomb run and the Elks now led 13-0 with 6:43 left in the 1st quarter and it appeared that the route was on.

To Northmont's credit the Thuunderbolts fought back and turned this contest into a battle over the next 2 quarters of football. With 9:37 remaining in the 2nd quarter Northmont hit a 35 yard TD pass to cut the lead to 13-7 and that was the score at halftime.

In the 3rd quarter the Thunderbolts blocked an Elk Punt and took over at the Elks 18 yard line and with 5:13 left in the 3rd quarter Northmont scored on a designed QB run to take a 14-13 lead over the Elks.

On the next Elk possession the Elks were forced to punt and Northmont fumbled the punt back to Centerville at their own 18 yard line and the Elks were in business. With 1:10 left in the 3rd quarter Newcomb scored from 3 yards out to give the Elks a 20-14 lead.

The Elks opened up the 4th quarter and ran the ball down the field and took all kinds of time off the clock and Newcomb ran it in from 2 yards out and the Elks were up 27-14 with 6:15 to go in the game. The defense then did their damage and stopped Northmont on 4th down and the Elks took over at the Northmont 25 yard line. Newcomb runs 25 yards on the 1st play from scrimmage after the defensive stop for a TD and the Elks led 34-14 with 4:19 to play. Northmont hit a 32 yard TD pass with just over a minute to play to make it 34-21 Elks and Centerville recovered the onside kick to close out the game.

Braylon Newcomb ran for 125 yards and 4 touchdowns and tossed a TD pass to Bruder to lead the Elks offense.

The Elks are now 9-2 on the year and will host Marysville in round 2 of the playoffs on Friday November 4th at 7:00 pm at Centerville Stadium. Tickets for this game will only be available online at www.ohsaa.org/tickets