OxfordPress.com

For some high school football programs it is easy to find a list of successes and failures.

At Beavercreek, however, it takes a lot of digging through old record books to find success.

The program had its first winning season since 1991 last year, defeating Xenia 21-20 the final game to go 6-4.

Now the Beavers are on a roll. They have the longest current winning streak in the Dayton metro area at six straight — the final four last season and a 2-0 record so far this year. A 26-23 win last week was the Beavers' first defeat of Carroll since 1998.

Some further records digging shows the last Beavercreek team to go 2-0 was in 1986. They lost the next week and finished 5-5.

Today, Sept. 5, the Beavers host 2-0 Sidney. The following week, Beavercreek plays Fairborn.

In the win over Carroll, Tyler McLean came up with the biggest play. The safety made a helmet-to-helmet hit on Carroll running back Joe Arata on the 1-yard line.

The hit not only stopped Arata from scoring, but McLean caused a fumble. Sophomore linebacker Branden Smith recovered on the goal line with 34 seconds left to preserve the win.

"I'll never forget that hit," McLean said. "It's not only big for me, but for the team.

"Coach (Scott Clodfelter) always talks about the difference in winning and losing is making big plays in big games. The opportunity was there and I was able to make the play, and Branden made a big play falling on the ball.

"Getting Carroll shows us we can beat good teams. It's a great confidence builder for us."

There were other big plays:

• Brad Sundstrom made an over-the-shoulder catch on a fade route for a 31-yard TD reception from quarterback Tim Carroll to put the Beavers up 17-14 with 1:45 left in the first half.

• Junior Nick Gundel kicked a 47-yard field (one yard short of school record) on the final play of the first half for a 20-14 lead.

• Junior Gabe Henry ran hard, following the blocks of guard Blaise Dilley on what proved to be the winning drive.

• The Beavercreek coaching staff knew when to move away from the run wide, throw deep book and go to the power game.

"This is the next step in building our program, beating a great team like Carroll," Clodfelter said.

"This is a big win not only for us but to a lot of people in the community. It shows all the work people have put in helping the program to get better is paying off."