Wells rushes for four TDs as Xenia rolls past Beavercreek

BEAVERCREEK — After Xenia’s 41-14 road win against Beavercreek on Friday night, one of the Buccaneers coaches reminded Sincere Wells to credit his offensive line during a postgame interview. The senior happily obliged. Wells, behind the line of Sam Lockwood, Peyton Bartley, EJ Wilson, Cade Kadel and Gavin Gerhardt, rushed for 185 yards on 18 carries and four touchdowns to snap a three-year losing streak in the “Backyard Battle.”

“We haven’t beat Beavercreek all my high school (career), and we finally did it,” Wells said. “(The offensive linemen) were blocking everything. They did all their jobs, every play.”

Xenia began its scoring barrage midway through the first quarter when Wells scored his first touchdown from 3 yards out.

On Xenia’s next drive, Wells contributed runs of 23 and 17 yards, while junior Mickey Penewit add a 21-yard scamper to set up a 5-yard touchdown run by quarterback Christian Severt.

Up 15-0, Buccaneers coach Trace Smitherman called for an onside kick after his team had incurred an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the point after attempt.

“We needed some momentum. We had just gotten a penalty, and I figured that if we were ever going to try it, now would be a good time.”

The decision couldn’t have worked out any better for the second-year Xenia coach.

On the first play of the drive, Wells took off for a 56-yard touchdown run to give Xenia a commanding 22-0 lead heading into halftime.

Beavercreek had chances to keep the game competitive but couldn’t make the most of good field position.

The Beavers found themselves down just two scores with 6:00 remaining in third quarter following quarterback Brett Cherry’s 1-yard touchdown run.

Beavercreek coach Nic Black decided to try an onside kick and his team rewarded the call by recovering.

A 13-yard run from senior back Chris Lawrence moved the Beavers closer to the red zone, but that’s where the drive stalled.

Beavercreek ended up losing 11 yards on fourth down.

“We really lost track of some opportunities inside the 30 where we didn’t score,” Black said. “We go backwards for a couple plays, then we’re in a situation where you’ve got to go for it on 4th down because were down.”

Wells added his third touchdown with 6:24 remaining in the fourth quarter, giving Xenia a 35-7 advantage.

The Beavers will attempt to rebound at home against Carroll, and Xenia hosts Troy.