The Buckeye Valley Barons made the trip from Delaware County to Washington Court House to take on the Blue Lions Friday night, Sept. 8 in week four of the high school football season.

The Blue Lions extended their win streak to three in a row with a 48-18 rout of Buckeye Valley (1-3).

Washington wasted virtually no time in putting points on the board.

Mason Coffman had a long kick off return that gave the Blue Lions the ball at the Buckeye Valley 3-yard line.

On the first play from scrimmage, Rocky Jones scored on a 3-yard run. Gavin Coffman made the extra-point kick. Coffman was 6 of 6 on point-after kicks this night. The score came just 17 seconds into the game.

Mason Coffman had two kick returns in the game for 116 yards.

The teams traded interceptions, as Hayden Mays grabbed a pass out of the air for Buckeye Valley and two plays later Mason Coffman had the first of his three interceptions on the night.

The teams then exchanged punts with the Blue Lions beginning a series at its own 16-yard line.

Washington had to punt again and Mason Coffman had his second interception at the Washington 2-yard line just before the end of the first quarter.

A few plays later, Gavin Coffman passed to Jones for a 63-yard touchdown at the 10:14 mark to give Washington a 14-0 lead.

On the Barons’ first play following the kickoff, quarterback Nathan Huss found a wide-open Garrett Slater for a 67-yard touchdown play.

Gradin Gentner made the point-after kick for Buckeye Valley, the score coming with 9:56 to play until the half.

Mason Coffman returned the next kick to the 43 of Buckeye Valley.

Before long, Gavin Coffman located Isaiah Haithcock in the end zone for a touchdown of 18 yards.

The Blue Lions attempted a conversion pass, which was no good.

It was 20-7 Washington with 7:48 to play in the half.

At the 6:06 mark, Mason Coffman had his third interception, this one at the 47 of Buckeye Valley.

A few plays later, Jones score on a 13-yard run and it was 27-7 with 2:41 to play until halftime.

On their next possession, Buckeye Valley ended up with a 28-yard field goal from Gentner.

The teams headed to their respective locker rooms with the Blue Lions holding a 27-10 lead.

Just prior to the end of the first half, Slater had an interception for the Barons, but time ran out sending the teams off to the break.

Buckeye Valley’s first possession of the second half ended with a fumble, recovered by Washington’s Kaden Craft.

After the Blue Lions were forced to punt, Jones had an interception for Washington at the Barons’ 30-yard line.

Coffman again passed to Isaiah Haithcock, this time for a 27-yard touchdown with 4:53 to play in the third quarter.

The point-after kick by Coffman gave Washington a 34-10 lead.

Washington continued to pressure the Barons’ quarterback. The Blue Lions often chased the quarterback and sent him scrambling.

With a few penalties on the Blue Lions helping Buckeye Valley move deeper into Washington territory, Huss was finally able to run in for the 3-yard touchdown as time expired in the third quarter.

He then passed to Matt Hall for the conversion to put the score at 34-18.

Washington had the ball at its own 42-yard line to begin the fourth quarter.

With a pass to Jones, then a run by Jones and a pass to Gabe Tayese, the Blue Lions moved smartly into position.

This time it was Ian Rogers-Wright with a 15-yard touchdown run.

It was 41-18 with 8:51 to play in the game.

Buckeye Valley suffered another turnover, a fumble recovered by Washington’s Aden Osborne.

A fine catch by a well-defended Mason Coffman set the stage for another touchdown run by Rogers-Wright, this time from three yards out.

The score of 48-18 with 7:59 to go would prove to be the final result.

The Blue Lions had the ball one final time and kept it on the ground to run out the clock, sealing the victory.

“To get to 3-1, I’m happy for our kids and for our program,” Washington head coach David Everson said. “Moving forward, we’ve got some things to clean up. We had way, way too many penalties, but, we’ll get there, for sure.”

Washington was flagged 12 times for 115 yards. Buckeye Valley had eight penalties that cost them 65 yards.

Everson then spoke about Rocky Jones and Mason Coffman.

“They’re both dynamic athletes,” Everson said. “They can really go anything; they can run, they can catch. Defensively, they tackle extremely well. They cover well. Their ball skills are as good as anyone’s.

“They do a lot for us,” Everson said. “There’s no doubt they’re two of our leaders.”

Jones had 19 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns and four receptions for 119 yards and one touchdown.

Mason Coffman had three interceptions, two catches for 35 yards and the aforementioned two kick returns for 116 yards.

Everson said the Blue Lions are looking for others to become play makers and he then mentioned two.

“Isaiah Haithcock had a great game tonight,” Everson said. Haithcock had five catches for 68 yards and two touchdowns.

“That was a breakout game for him,” Everson said. “And Ian Rogers-Wright had his first two touchdowns, I think, of his career tonight in a varsity game.

“We keep trying to add pieces,” Everson said. “If you have one or two guys, you get match-ups where people can start to take things away. But, if you can spread it around, and be real team-oriented and have the athletes that we have, we have a chance to be really good.”

The Blue Lions had a total of 434 yards of offense to 146 for Buckeye Valley.

Gavin Coffman was 15 of 26 for 241 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Nathan Huss completed 13 of 24 passes for 153 yards and one touchdown. He threw four interceptions.

Andrew Young had six carries for 42 yards for the Blue Lions and Rogers-Wright had four for 36 yards and two touchdowns.

Buckeye Valley had 27 carries in the game for a net loss of seven yards.

Slater had two catches for 50 yards and one touchdown for Buckeye Valley.

Marcus Hemphill caught two for 50 yards and Drew Suchland had five receptions for 40 yards.

Hemphill also returned eight kicks for 84 yards for the Barons.

Also for Washington, Ian Rogers-Wright had two catches for two yards; Noah Haithcock had one for three and Gabe Tayese had one for 14 yards.

Gavin Coffman punted twice for a 34.5-yard average.

Gabe Perez led the Blue Lions with six tackles.

Charlie Eplin had four, Isaac Hood had 3.5, Logan Presley had three and Rogers-Wright had three.

Washington’s defense came up with six turnovers.

“Our defense is fast and it’s aggressive,” Everson said. “Coach (Alan) Preston does a great job with those kids.

“I’m excited and I can’t wait for next week so we can get better,” Everson said.

Washington hosts the Monroe Hornets from Butler County for Homecoming next week.

Monroe is 1-3 after a 21-7 loss to Cincinnati Hughes Friday night.