Titan Parsons, 11, of Parkersburg, makes a pass during Friday’s game against Musselman. (Photo courtesy of Brian Cox Photography)
PARKERSBURG — Jakel Shelton rushed for nearly 200 yards and Cooper Kancade had two touchdown passes to give No. 16 Parkersburg a class Friday during Senior Night here at Stadium Field. The regular season ended with a 29-6 victory over 13th place Musselman against AAAA.
Cancade, who attempted one pass after the break and completed 5-of-9 for 73 yards, completed a perfect aerial over an MHS defender to Zane Lewis to put the Big Reds on the board at 8:14 of the first. He took the lead and finished 8 plays. , a 61-yard scoring drive.
Head coach Brian Thomas’ Applemen, who entered the postseason with a 3-7 record after a forfeit win against Martinsburg, then went on a march that used up most of the remainder of the first quarter.
Facing a fourth-and-one near midfield, Zach Miller made a touchdown-saving tackle on Silas Backus, denying him a 15-yard gain. Nate Lasure, who led the visitors with 68 rushing yards on 18 attempts, ran for 17 yards to put the visitors in the red zone.
After making it four in the first inning, Taryn Boyles scored a touchdown, but it was called back with the aid of a runner penalty. Miller was 7-of-19 for 76 yards and was picked off by Javel Chandler late in the first half, but his TD toss attempt was stopped by Connor Petty.
Parkersburg’s Jesse Showalter, 80, goes up for a pass during Friday’s game against Musselman. (Photo courtesy of Brian Cox Photography)
PHS punted twice and MHS punted once before Chandler’s pick gave the hosts the pigskin at their own 25 minute mark with 1:19 on the clock.
Shelton went for a game-high 196 yards on 20 carries, using a spin move and a cutback to break off for 28 yards. A 39-yard pass from Cancade to Titan Parsons gave the Red-White a first-and-goal in the 8, but Cancade was stripped as Joshua Armenttraut recovered.
But then disaster struck for coach Thomas’ team when the Bucs recovered Demarion Warren’s fumble.
With the ball at the MHS 15, Cancade found tight end Braxton Kupfner alone in the end zone on the first snap, and Quinton Wright’s second PAT hit for a 14-0 halftime advantage. Obtained.
“It’s difficult to actually simulate that attack.” PHS third-year coach Matt Kimes credited the defense for holding the Applemen to 76 yards in the second half. “It’s not something you see every week, so when you try to figure it out, you have members of the JV running it. It’s obviously not the way the national team does it, so we bent it in the first half but didn’t break it. did.
“We made some adjustments in the second half. I thought we were going to be able to play some football (30-286). We’ve been able to let most guys play some football this year. It was nice to see that. I thought Jakel ran really hard. What a player. The other guys stepped in and encouraged the run game. Hats off to our offense. I did.”
The visiting team finally scratched the scoreboard at 5:09 of the third when they took the opening series over intermission and found paydirt on the 12th play of a 63-yard drive. Miller hit Rasul for a 19-yard scoring strike, but two runs failed.
After MHS’s short kick was returned 13 yards from midfield by Ethan Jones to the 45, Shelton had runs of 14 and 5 yards to take the ball to the 26. One play later, Jones took a counter and housed it for 22 points. 6 cushion with 3 minutes 38 seconds left in the third.
“It’s a counter, but we like to sell the outside of the zone the other way, and it took a couple of pretty good hits.” Kimes acknowledged, watching Jones run it twice, the first run gaining 38 yards.
“Honestly, I think you saw the Packers run that. Looks like out-of-zone in one direction, counters back in the other direction. We stole that from them, but it was It was very good for us. Obviously it went pretty well tonight.”
Still holding a two-run lead early in the fourth, Jones recovered at the Applemen’s 27 and Big Red Aeneas Loderman strip-sacked Miller. Loderman then made four plays from the ninth inning to set the final score.
“We’ve had a lot of success as a football program.” Coach Thomas said. “We’re very excited as a football program. We’ve had a long year with a lot of wins and success. Unfortunately, we’ve struggled a little bit this year and we’re a little down. It’s tough. Tane. My hat’s off to the kids. Our kids keep fighting and keep going out. We’re in Week 11, the last week of the season, and we didn’t have a single kid injured tonight. did.
“We’re completely healthy. Our kids show up and fight every day. They work hard. We didn’t play well tonight. We’ve been on a roll for the past month. We’ve been playing well and we’ve been a lot better since mid-season, but tonight was the worst we’ve ever played. We had a lot of self-inflicted penalties. We were who we were tonight. It’s frustrating, but the kids are fighting.”
Overall, Coach Kims is happy, but recognizes the Big Reds will have a tough road test in their postseason opener.
“We needed a game that combined four quarters of football in every phase.” Coach Kimes said. “I thought we did that, we had some breakdowns here and there, but for the most part we played a very clean game.
“When we do that, I’ve been telling the kids that we can compete with anyone, and now we have to do that again next week, no matter who our opponent is.” You’ll probably need to repeat this and power it up a bit more. ”
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com.
