Big Reds Blank Monarchs 35-0; Thomas Has Hand in 4 TDs

Andy Thomas had a hand in four touchdowns as the Big Reds opened the 2007 Class AAA playoffs with an impressive 35-0 victory over the Monarchs from John Marshall Saturday afternoon at Stadium Field.

Shane Lantz of John Marshall came into the playoffs with a whopping 27 touchdown passes but his aerial circus was shot down by a Big Red defense which has not allowed a touchdown in the last three games.

Meanwhile, PHS rolled up 410 yards in offense with Matt Lindamood leading the way with 179 yards rushing on 23 carries. Lindamood also caught a screen pass from Thomas and scored to complete a 71 yard play. Thomas ran for three touchdowns and 42 yards on nine carries while completing two of four passes for 80 of the team's 96 yards.

Lindamood now has 1,967 yards rushing this season.

John Marshall had 228 yards in total offense as Lantz did complete 19 of 28 passes for 169 yards but he was picked off once and suffered three sacks. Wide receiver Mark Sampson caught 12 passes but for only 58 yards. The Monarchs' explosive offense got into the red zone only once.

The Big Reds will play host to Bridgeport (10-1) either Nov. 16 or 17 at Stadium Field. Bridgeport defeated Martinsburg 27-26 on Friday night and since the Indians are a lower seed, they will have to come to Parkersburg to play. The time and date will be decided at the playoff meeting on Sunday, Nov. 11 at the WVSSAC offices.  

John Marshall, which came into the game averaging over 26 passes per game, got the ball first, completed its first pass for 27 yards but then ran into trouble. Lantz went back to pass on the second play, slipped and fell for a six yard loss. On the next play Matt Winans and Zach Nolan got through to sack him for a five yard loss and on third down he threw incomplete to force a punt which went out of bounds on the PHS 30 yard line.

The Big Reds ran Lindamood for 11 yards on the first play but then had three running plays net just three yards and they were forced to punt with Tyler Warner shanking one out of bounds for only 23 yards.

With Lantz running and passing well, the Monarch proceeded to move from their own 33 to the PHS 21 but were hit with a penalty that pushed them back to the Big Red 41. On the next play the Winans brothers combined to produce yet another defensive touchdown for the Big Reds. Matt Winans broke through to nail Lantz, who coughed up the ball and Michael Winans scooped it up at midfield and raced in for the score to make it 6-0 with 3:39 left in the first quarter. Warner's kick was good.

John Marshall picked up a couple of first downs on its next possession but nice tackles by Thomas and Brandon Eckelberry on JM's Sampson forced another punt. PHS started from its own 24 and got a 34 yard burst from Lindamood on the first play. Three more runs by Lindamood and one by Thomas moved the ball to the Monarch 18. From there Thomas faked a dive, kept the ball up the middle, spun out of a tackle inside the 10 and scored standing up with 10:47 on the clock. The extra point kick hit the left upright to make it 13-0.

Lantz again moved John Marshall, throwing seven times and running once, but after getting to the PHS 26, he was intercepted by Jason Phillips, who returned it to the PHS 44 with 7:29 left before the half.

The Big Reds then put together a drive which would be the back-breaker in the game.

Lindamood and Thomas took turns carrying the ball with Thomas adding a nine yard completion to Stephen Roush for good measure. A total of 14 plays later the Big Reds had a first and goal from the John Marshall five yard line with 28 seconds left before the half. Lindamood had a 24 yard TD run called back by a holding penalty on the 10th play but that only made things more interesting. 

With the clock being the biggest enemy, Thomas gained two yards on an option, threw incomplete to Lindamood coming out of the backfield (15 seconds left on the clock) and then ran Lindamood over left tackle to the one yard line. With the team lined up and under five seconds on the clock, a flag came out. The referee indicated for the timer to put 4.4 seconds on the clock (apparently the line judge had inadvertently kicked the ball after placing it) and with just over a second left on the clock the Big Reds got the ball snapped and Thomas followed Zach Nolan into the end zone on a sneak for the touchdown with no time on the clock. After a penalty on PHS for illegal substitution, Thomas rolled right and threw back left to a wide open Lindamood for the two-point conversion. 

PHS had taken 7:29 and 18 plays to put its third touchdown on the board, sending John Marshall to the locker room at the half reeling from the wild finish.

The Big Reds then took the second half kickoff and put together an eight-play, 63 yard drive to run the score to 28-0. Riding workhorse Lindamood six times to the JM 11, Thomas went around the left side for the final 11 yards, throwing a nice stiff arm in the process to reach the end zone. Lindamood has runs of 13, 15 and 20 yards on the drive.

John Marshall got three first downs on its next series (one by penalty) but were again kept out of the red zone when two straight incompletions turned the ball over at the PHS 29. The Big Reds then needed only four plays to score on a screen play to Lindamood, who ran through the defense to complete the 71 yard scoring play with 2:25 left in the third quarter. Warner's kick made it 35-0.

The Monarchs, who had scored 83 points in their last three games, finally got inside the PHS 20 just before the start of the fourth quarter, thanks to a 15 yard penalty against PHS which came on a play in which Eckelberry appeared to have come up with an interception only to drop the ball when he hit the ground after going high in the air to make the attempted pickoff. A four yard pass completion put the ball at the PHS 13 as the third quarter ended but that was followed by a five yard penalty against John Marshall, a 13 yard quarterback sack by Michael Winans and a five yard run by Lantz. On fourth down Winans, Joey Shafer, and Chris James put the pressure on Lantz to force a poorly thrown incomplete pass.

The PHS reserves then put together a three first down drive and appeared headed for a touchdown when Allen Butterfield fumbled the ball away after a 15 yard run to the JM six yard line. With only 3:30 left in the game, John Marshall appeared content to let the game end, punting the ball away on fourth down and giving the Big Red second unit and chance to again come close to scoring as it drove to the Monarch one yard line before losing two yards on a fourth down run attempt with under a minute left to play.

Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score

-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----

John Marshall.......  0  0  0  0  -  0

Parkersburg.........  7 14 14  0  - 35

 Scoring Summary:

1st 03:39 PHS - Winans, Michael 50 yd fumble recovery (Warner, Tyler kick)

                                                                                            JM 0 - PHS 7

2nd 10:47 PHS - Thomas, Andy 18 yd run (Warner, Tyler kick failed)

                                                  6 plays, 76 yards, TOP 2:19, JM 0 - PHS 13

    00:00 PHS - Thomas, Andy 1 yd run (Lindamood, Matt pass from Thomas, Andy)

                                                 18 plays, 56 yards, TOP 7:29, JM 0 - PHS 21

3rd 07:32 PHS - Thomas, Andy 11 yd run (Warner, Tyler kick)

                                                  8 plays, 63 yards, TOP 7:32, JM 0 - PHS 28

    02:25 PHS - Lindamood, Matt 71 yd pass from Thomas, Andy (Warner, Tyler kick)

                                                  3 plays, 79 yards, TOP 1:53, JM 0 - PHS 35

                    Team Statistics (Final)

                                                            JM      PHS

               FIRST DOWNS...................       15       20

                 Rushing.....................           5       18

                 Passing.....................           8        1

                 Penalty.....................           2        1

               NET YARDS RUSHING.............       59      314

                 Rushing Attempts............       23       49

                 Average Per Rush............      2.6      6.4

                 Yards Gained Rushing........       97      328

                 Yards Lost Rushing..........       38       14

               NET YARDS PASSING.............      169       96

                 Completions-Attempts-Int....  19-28-1    3-6-0

                 Average Per Attempt.........      6.0     16.0

                 Average Per Completion......      8.9     32.0

               TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS...........      228      410

                 Total offense plays.........       51       55

                 Average Gain Per Play.......      4.5      7.5

               Fumbles: Number-Lost..........      1-1      1-1

               Penalties: Number-Yards.......     6-45     8-78

               PUNTS-YARDS...................     3-75     1-23

                 Average Yards Per Punt......     25.0     23.0

                 Net Yards Per Punt..........     25.0     23.0

                 Inside 20...................        0        0

                 50+ Yards...................        0        0

                 Touchbacks..................        0        0

                 Fair catch..................        0        0

               KICKOFFS-YARDS................     1-42    5-285

                 Average Yards Per Kickoff...     42.0     57.0

                 Net Yards Per Kickoff.......     23.0     36.4

                 Touchbacks..................        0        3

               Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD.    0-0-0    1-0-0

                 Average Per Return..........      0.0      0.0

               Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD   2-43-0   1-19-0

                 Average Per Return..........     21.5     19.0

               Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD..    0-0-0   1-25-0

               Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD.    0-0-0   1-50-1

               Miscellaneous Yards...........        0        0

               Possession Time...............    21:33    26:27

                 1st Quarter.................     8:24     3:36

                 2nd Quarter.................     3:18     8:42

                 3rd Quarter.................     5:39     6:21

                 4th Quarter.................     4:12     7:48

               Third-Down Conversions........  5 of 11   4 of 9

               Fourth-Down Conversions.......   0 of 3   3 of 4

               Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      0-1      3-4

               Sacks By: Number-Yards........      0-0     3-24

               PAT Kicks.....................      0-0      3-4

               Field Goals...................      0-0      0-0

                                Individual Statistics (Final)

            John Marshall                                  Parkersburg

Rushing       No Gain Loss  Net TD Lg  Avg   Rushing         No Gain Loss  Net TD Lg  Avg

--------------------------------------------   --------------------------------------------

Lantz, Shane    16   79   33   46  0 14  2.9   Lindamood, Matt 23  179    0  179  0 34  7.8

Drake, Chris     5   17    3   14  0  8  2.8     Thomas, Andy     9   42    0   42  3 18  4.7

Lantz, Derek     2    1    2   -1  0  1 -0.5     Humphrey, Tyler  3   36    0   36  0 20 12.0

Totals...       23   97   38   59  0 14  2.6     Shafer, Joey     4   34    0   34  0 18  8.5

                                                               Butterfield, A.  4   30    0   30  0 15  7.5

                                                               Ong, Christian   2    5    0    5  0  3  2.5

                                                               Shank, Daniel    1    0    2   -2  0  0 -2.0

                                                               Thorpe, Anthony  2    2    7   -5  0  2 -2.5

                                                               Armitage, Steve  1    0    5   -5  0  0 -5.0

                                                               Totals...       49  328   14  314  3 34  6.4

Passing     Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack   Passing         Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack

--------------------------------------------   --------------------------------------------

Lantz, Shane      28-19-1   169  0   29    3   Thomas, Andy       5-2-0     80  1   71    0

Totals...         28-19-1   169  0   29    3       Thorpe, Anthony    1-1-0     16  0   16    0

                                               Totals...          6-3-0     96  1   71    0

Receiving    No.  Yds   TD Long            Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long

-----------------------------------            -----------------------------------

Sampson, Mark  12   58    0   15          Lindamood, Matt    1   71    1   71

Jarrrett, Logan    4   61    0   29            Ong, Christian     1   16    0   16

White, Marshall    2   44    0   27           Roush, Stephen     1    9    0    9

Drake, Chris       1    6    0    6              Totals...          3   96    1   71

Totals...         19  169    0   29

Punting       No.  Yds   Avg Long In20 TB Punting      No.  Yds   Avg Long In20   TB

---------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------

Lewicki, Ryan  3   75  25.0   31    0    0     Warner, Tyler      1   23  23.0   23    0    0

Totals...          3   75  25.0   31    0    0      Totals...             1   23  23.0   23    0    0

                Punts Kickoffs Intercept                                      Punts  Kickoffs  Intercept

All Returns     No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg  All Returns     No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg

---------------------------------------------  ---------------------------------------------

Sampson, Mark    0   0  0  1  19 19  0   0  0          Roush, Stephen   1   0  0  1  19 19  0   0  0

Lantz, Derek     0   0  0  1  24 24  0   0  0              Phillips, Jason  0   0  0  0   0  0  1  25 25

Totals...        0   0  0  2  43 24  0   0  0                  Totals...        1   0  0  1  19 19  1  25 25

Kickoffs         No.  Yds  TB  OB   Avg        Kickoffs         No.  Yds  TB  OB   Avg

---------------------------------------                    ---------------------------------------

Lewicki, Ryan      1   42   0   0  42.0           Warner, Tyler      5  285   3   0  57.0

  FUMBLES: John Marshall-Lantz, Shane 1-1. Parkersburg-Butterfield, A. 1-1.