Lindamood Scores 3 Then Sits Down As Big Reds Bounce Vikings 55-3 And Await First Home Playoff Game

Matt Lindamood scored three touchdowns then went to the bench with 10:33 left in the third quarter to watch the Big Reds wrap up a 55-3 victory over visiting Ripley and notch their ninth win of the season - a win that secured home field advantage through the first two rounds of the Class AAA playoffs.

The three touchdowns gives the senior running back 28 for the year and the victory means PHS will stay at home through the first and second rounds of the playoffs, which will begin in two weeks. The Big Reds came into the game ranked second in the state behind George Washington but figure to drop to third in next week's ratings after Martinsburg was given back its two forfeited games by a judge's decision. The win was the 23rd in last 24 games for the Big Reds while Ripley suffered its seventh loss in nine outings.

PHS actually trailed 3-0 at the end of the first quarter but scored on the first play of the second quarter, then tacked on three more touchdowns before halftime to go up 28-3. After Lindamood scored on a 51 yard run just 1:27 into the third quarter, most of the PHS starting lineup went to the bench and the reserves came on to score three more times to account for the final margin.

Lindamood ran the ball 13 times for 98 yards while Andy Thomas scored one TD on an interception return and passed to Tyler Humphrey for a 69 yard pass-and-run touchdown. Humphrey, Steve Armitage and Matt Newlon added second half touchdown runs as PHS amassed 439 yards in total offense, 333 of it coming on the ground. Three different PHS quarterbacks completed a total of four passes for 105 yards.

Ripley had 233 yards in total offense with 124 of it coming through the air with Seth Parsons completing 17 of 29 passes with one interception. However, the Vikings never got any closer to the PHS goal line than the 27 yard line, from where Thomas Motes kicked a 44 yard field goal with 5:13 left in the first quarter. The Vikings' longest pass completion was only 17 yards and the Ripley offense was further hampered by Tyler Warner putting nine straight kickoffs into the end zone.

The Vikings had the game's first possession and starting from their own 20 with a five-wide receiver spread formation, moved the ball with short passes to the PHS 27 but a third down pass was broken up by Brandon Eckelberry and Motes came on to kick the field goal that gave his team its only lead of the contest.

The Big Reds responded with a 14-play, 82 yard drive that took 6:52 and culminated with Lindamood taking a pitch from Thomas and going around left end for the touchdown from three yards away on the first play of the second quarter. Warner's kick hit the upright bar but PHS had the lead for good at 6-3.

PHS forced Ripley to punt four plays later and starting from their own 37 the Big Reds drove quickly for another three-yard TD run by Lindamood. This time the drive took five plays and required only 2:40 as the big play was a 31 yard run around left end by Thomas. Thomas passed to Joey Shafer for the two-point conversion and a 14-3 lead.

Just seconds later Thomas scored on an 18-yard interception return after the senior captain came up with a tipped pass and raced untouched into the end zone with 8:15 left in the half. Warner's kick made it 21-3.

Although Ripley picked up a couple of first downs on its next possession the Vikings were finally forced to punt and PHS took over on its own 31 with 5:04 on the clock. Thomas required just one play to find a wide open Tyler Humphrey near the right sidelines and the sophomore sped into the end zone for the first of his two touchdowns on the night.

The Big Reds took the second half kickoff and began from their own 34. After Lindamood picked up nine yards and Shafer six to move the ball to the 49 it was time for "The Mood" to show his stuff. Taking the handoff over the right side, the talented senior runner cut back against the grain and quickly got into the open up the left sidelines from where he rambled into the end zone to complete a 51 yard play with just 1:27 gone in the half. Although the extra point run attempt by holder Wes Ankrom failed, PHS was up 34-3 and coach Bernie Buttrey decided it was time to send his starters to the bench for good.

After getting a couple of first downs, Ripley punted and PHS started from its own 35. Nine plays later, Humphrey scored on a beautiful counter play from 18 yards away to make it 41-3 after Warner's conversion. A fumble recovery by Anthony Thorpe ended Ripley's next possession and Steve Armitage ran the same play Humphrey had scored on to collect his touchdown from eight yards out and cap a 32-yard drive in five plays. The Big Red reserves scored again on their next possession as Jordan Powell got the ball on a fumble recovery at the Ripley 31. Eight plays later Newlon scored on a one yard sneak after Christian Ong set up the play with two runs for 14 yards to the one. Newlon also had a 14 yard pass completion to Tommy Hathaway on the drive.

The Big Reds used 13 different ball carriers in the game with three different quarterbacks completing passes. In addition to Lindamood's 98 yards, Thomas had 58, Shafer and Butterfield 43 each, Humphrey 35 and Ong 25 to lead the way on the ground while Thomas was 2-for-2 in the air for 86 yards while Thorpe was one of two for five yards and Newlon completed his only attempt. The tackles were evenly distributed as well with Thorpe, Matt Winans and Eckelberry leading the way while Jason Phillips and Jon DeGarmo had sacks.

                                          Ripley (2-7,2-7) vs. Parkersburg (9-1,8-1)

Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score

Ripley (2-7)..............        3   0    0   0  -   3

Parkersburg (9-1).........  0  28  13 14  - 55

  Scoring Summary:

1st 06:47 RIP - Motes, Thomas 44 yd field goal

                                                 12 plays, 53 yards, TOP 5:13, RIP 3 - PHS 0

2nd 11:53 PHS - Lindamood, Matt 3 yd run (Warner, Tyler kick failed)

                                                 14 plays, 82 yards, TOP 6:52, RIP 3 - PHS 6

    08:22 PHS - Lindamood, Matt 3 yd run (Shafer, Joey pass from Thomas, Andy)

                                                 5 plays, 63 yards, TOP 2:40, RIP 3 - PHS 14

    08:15 PHS - Thomas, Andy 18 yd interception return (Warner, Tyler kick) RIP 3 - PHS 21

    04:51 PHS - Humphrey, Tyler 69 yd pass from Thomas, Andy (Warner, Tyler kick)

                                                  1 play, 69 yards, TOP 0:13, RIP 3 - PHS 28

3rd 10:33 PHS - Lindamood, Matt 51 yd run (Ankrom, Wes rush failed)

                                                 3 plays, 66 yards, TOP 1:18, RIP 3 - PHS 34

    03:30 PHS - Humphrey, Tyler 18 yd run (Warner, Tyler kick)

                                                 9 plays, 65 yards, TOP 4:18, RIP 3 - PHS 41

4th 10:15 PHS - Armitage, Steve 8 yd run (Butterfield, A. kick)

                                                 5 plays, 32 yards, TOP 1:40, RIP 3 - PHS 48

    05:59 PHS - Newlon, Matt 1 yd run (Warner, Tyler kick)

                                                 8 plays, 31 yards, TOP 3:28, RIP 3 - PHS 55

                          Team Statistics (Final)

                                                   RIP      PHS

               FIRST DOWNS...................       13       16

                 Rushing.....................        5       13

                 Passing.....................        8        3

                 Penalty.....................        0        0

               NET YARDS RUSHING.............      109      333

                 Rushing Attempts............       25       48

                 Average Per Rush............      4.4      6.9

                 Yards Gained Rushing........      120      342

                 Yards Lost Rushing..........       11        9

               NET YARDS PASSING.............      124      105

                 Completions-Attempts-Int....  17-29-1    4-5-0

                 Average Per Attempt.........      4.3     21.0

                 Average Per Completion......      7.3     26.2

               TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS...........      233      438

                 Total offense plays.........       54       53

                 Average Gain Per Play.......      4.3      8.3

               Fumbles: Number-Lost..........      3-3      1-1

               Penalties: Number-Yards.......     5-25     4-32

               PUNTS-YARDS...................    6-222     2-93

                 Average Yards Per Punt......     37.0     46.5

                 Net Yards Per Punt..........     33.2     44.5

                 Inside 20...................        0        1

                 50+ Yards...................        0        1

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

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

               KICKOFFS-YARDS................     2-90    9-540

                 Average Yards Per Kickoff...     45.0     60.0

                 Net Yards Per Kickoff.......     36.5     40.0

                 Touchbacks..................        0        9

               Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD.    1-4-0   2-23-0

                 Average Per Return..........      4.0     11.5

               Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD    0-0-0   2-17-0

                 Average Per Return..........      0.0      8.5

               Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD..    0-0-0   1-18-1

               Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD.    0-0-0    1-9-0

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

               Possession Time...............    22:38    25:22

                 1st Quarter.................     5:13     6:47

                 2nd Quarter.................     6:41     5:19

                 3rd Quarter.................     6:05     5:55

                 4th Quarter.................     4:39     7:21

               Third-Down Conversions........  3 of 10  7 of 10

               Fourth-Down Conversions.......   0 of 0   1 of 1

               Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      0-0      5-5

               Sacks By: Number-Yards........      0-0      2-6

               PAT Kicks.....................      0-0      5-6

               Field Goals...................      1-1      0-0

                                 Individual Statistics (Final)

Ripley                                                             Parkersburg

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

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

Milhoan          4   51    0   51  0 25 12.8      Lindamood, Matt  13   98    0   98  3 51  7.5

Mullins, Ronnie  7   19    0   19  0  6  2.7     Thomas, Andy     6   58    0   58  0 31  9.7

Bostic           5   16    1   15  0  5  3.0          Shafer, Joey     5   43    0   43  0 26  8.6

Board            2   14    0   14  0  7  7.0         Butterfield, A.  3   43    0   43  0 29 14.3

Winters          1   11    0   11  0 11 11.0      Humphrey, Tyler  2   35    0   35  1 18 17.5

Parsons,L        3    9    0    9  0  4  3.0        Ong, Christian   4   25    0   25  0 10  6.2

Parsons,Seth     3    0   10  -10  0  0 -3.3   Shank, Daniel    4   14    1   13  0 12  3.2

Totals...       25  120   11  109  0 25  4.4   Thorpe, Anthony  3   13    1   12  0  9  4.0

                                                               Armitage, Steve  3   11    1   10  1  8  3.3

                                                               Row, Chris       1    1    0    1  0  1  1.0

                                                               Newlon, Matt     1    1    0    1  1  1  1.0

                                                               Smith, Jordan    1    0    0    0  0  0  0.0

                                                               Zoller, Jimmy    2    0    6   -6  0  0 -3.0

                                                               Totals...       48  342    9  333  6 51  6.9

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

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

Parsons,Seth      29-17-1   124  0   17    2      Thorpe, Anthony    2-1-0      5  0    5    0

Totals...         29-17-1   124  0   17    2          Thomas, Andy       2-2-0     86  1   69    0

                                                                   Newlon, Matt       1-1-0     14  0   14    0

                                                                   Totals...          5-4-0    105  1   69    0

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

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

Mellert, Matt      5   47    0   17                    Humphrey, Tyler    1   69    1   69

Seabolt, Logan     5   47    0   13                 Lindamood, Matt    1   17    0   17

Akers, Lewis       3    7    0    4                   Hathaway, Tommy    1   14    0   14

Riddle             2   12    0    8                      Powell, Jordan     1    5    0    5

Ullom              2   11    0    6                      Totals...          4  105    1   69

Totals...         17  124    0   17

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

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

Motes, Thomas      6  222  37.0   47    0    0  Warner, Tyler      1   52  52.0   52    1    0

Totals...          6  222  37.0   47    0    0          Butterfield, A.    1   41  41.0   41    0    0

                                                                    Totals...          2   93  46.5   52    1    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

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

Akers, Lewis  1   4  4  0   0  0  0   0  0      Roush, Stephen   2  23 15  2  17 17  0   0  0

Totals...        1   4  4  0   0  0  0   0  0       Thomas, Andy     0   0  0  0   0  0  1  18 18

                                                               Totals...        2  23 15  2  17 17  1  18 18

Field goal attempts                            Field goal attempts

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

Motes, Thomas   1st 06:47  44 yds - Good

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

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

Motes, Thomas      2   90   0   0  45.0         Warner, Tyler      9  540   9   0  60.0