Big Reds Drop Overtime Thriller 35-34 In Opener

ONA - Parkersburg's young football team fell behind early, regained its composure to rally and go ahead twice late in the game only to watch last year's hard-luck team, the Cabell Midland Knights, rally to pull out a 35-34 overtime victory over the Big Reds in the season opener.

PHS fell behind 13-0 in the first quarter and 20-7 late in the second period but rallied to tie the game at 20-all at intermission and took the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter only to have Cabell respond to that score with a 96 yard touchdown run and the game wound up going into overtime.

Cabell won the toss and went on defense first in the overtime. PHS started from the 20 yard line and with starting quarterback Derek Wenzel on the bench with severe leg cramps due to the humidity, elected to run right up the middle with Chris Row. Row, who had already scored two touchdowns, got four carries and produced a touchdown on a four yard run over the left side with Kyle Smith getting the big block. Jeff Lantz kicked the extra point for a 34-27 lead.

The home team decided to do exactly the same thing, running Brad Jenkins, who had also scored two touchdowns, up the middle twice for six yards. Quarterback Tyler Bartley picked up just one yard on third down as Alex Clegg, Zack Cokeley and Michael Winans made a big stop. But on fourth down and three from the 13 yard line Bartley followed his man in motion (Jenkins) around right end and picked up six yards for a first down. Three plays later Jenkins scored up the middle to pull the Knights within one. Rather than play for the tie and another overtime, Cabell Midland elected to go for the win and ran Bartley on the same play as the fourth down run, except to the left this time, and he got across the goal line for the two point conversion and the win.

Last year Midland lost six games by a touchdown or less, including a 47-41 season-opening defeat at Parkersburg.

For the game, Jenkins finished with 235 yards rushing on 20 carries, including the 96 yard scamper and an early 62 yard run. The Knights, whose offensive line averages over 275 pounds per game, gained 337 yards on the ground and added 41 through the air. PHS had 190 yards rushing as Row led the way with 85 yards on 18 attempts. In the air, PHS was eight of 15 for 87 yards.

Cabell Midland got off to a great start in the game as Jenkins raced 62 yards up the middle on the second play of the contest. The Knights scored three plays later on a three yard run up the middle by 225 pound fullback Bryce Paul.

PHS went three-and-out on offense, giving the ball back to the home team via punt at the CM 43. The Knights drove to the Big Red nine yard line but wound up two yards short on a fourth down pass play. But on the first offensive play for PHS, a fumble was recovered by Cabell's Stevie Brown on the nine yard line.

It took the Knights three plays to score with Jenkins going over the left side from the two. The extra point kick was wide but it was 13-0 with 4:17 left in the first quarter and things were looking very bad for the Big Reds.

The Big Reds responded with a nice drive, getting a 16 yard run by Wenzel and a nine yard pickup by Thomas Ruddlesden (who was injured on that play and did not return to action). The drive stalled at the Cabell Midland 10 and Wenzel kicked a 27 yard field goal but the points were taken away because the Big Reds had only 10 men on the field and Wenzel's kick from the 32 was wide right with 1:04 left in the first quarter.

PHS got the ball back two plays later on an interception and 21 yard return by Stephen Roush and this time PHS capitalized by going 46 yards on 10 plays for the touchdown, a one yard run up the middle by Row behind the blocking of Cody Craig with 8:09 left in the half. Row's 16 yard run was the big gainer on the drive and Jason Phillips added an 11 yard pickup on a reverse.

But the home team turned to Bartley and the flashy senior signal caller responded by driving his team 75 yards on 10 plays to push the Knights up 20-7. Bartley had two eight yard runs and a 12 yard scamper on the drive as well as hitting Jenkins with a 22 yard completion and finding Michael Brumfield with a 13 yard reception. The TD came on a three yard run around left end by the CM quarterback.

Wenzel then did something no Big Red had done in almost 10 years, return a kickoff for a touchdown. The PHS junior picked the ball up on the 16 yard line near the sideline, immediately cut back to the middle of the field, then out-ran the defenders to the end zone. Lantz's kick made is 20-14 with just 2:14 left in the half.

The Big Red defense then forced a punt which Roush returned to the Cabell 43 and Wenzel immediately broke off a 16 yard run and then passed for six more yards to Wes Ankrom. A diving catch by Roush at the one yard line was followed by another similar grab just inside the end zone for a touchdown with three seconds showing on the clock. However, the extra point kick was blocked and PHS had to settle for a 20-20 halftime tie.

On the first offensive play of the second half, Wenzel broke loose again, this time for a 76 yard touchdown run but an holding penalty was called 10 yards behind the play, wiping out the six points. Three plays later PHS fumbled the ball away on its own 32 yard line.

The Knights threatened on the ensuing series, driving inside the PHS 10 yard line but on fourth and goal from the 11, Cokeley sacked Bartley for a 13 yard loss and the Big Reds took over with 5:01 left in the third quarter.

The Big Reds then drove 76 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. A 36 yard completion to Roush, who caught five passes on the night for 71 yards, was the big play that led to a fourth down three-yard touchdown run over right tackle by Row. Clegg and Ben Clark opened the hole for Row and Lantz's kick made it 27-20 on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Zach Hendershot recovered a Cabell Midland fumbled which was caused by Frank Settle's tackle and PHS was back in business three plays later on its own 43. Although PHS was forced to punt with nine minutes remaining, things looked good as Wenzel's punt went out of bounds on the Midland four yard line.

But things only looked good for a minute as Adkins took the handoff on the first play from scrimmage, went up the middle and found nobody there, racing untouched 96 yards for the touchdown. Alex Molina's kick tied the game at 27-27.

Neither team seriously threatened the rest of regulation as PHS came up with a big quarterback sack by Clegg and Phillips grabbed an interception.

The win by Cabell Midland ended a five-game losing streak against PHS, which was playing its first overtime game since a 41-35 triple-overtime loss to Riverside in 2003.

  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4 OT   Score

  Parkersburg High....  0 20  0  7  7  - 34       Record: (0-1)

  Cabell Midland...... 13  7  0  7  8  - 35       Record: (1-0)

   Scoring Summary:

  1st 10:12 CM - Bryce Paul 3 yd run (Brandon Adkins kick), 5-80 1:48, PHS 0 - CM 7

      04:17 CM - Brad Jenkins 2 yd run (Brandon Adkins kick failed), 3-9 1:28, PHS 0 - CM 13

  2nd 08:09 PHS - Chris Row 1 yd run (Jeff Lantz kick), 10-46 4:15, PHS 7 - CM 13

      02:29 CM - Tyler Bartley 3 yd run (Alex Molina kick), 10-75 5:40, PHS 7 - CM 20

      02:14 PHS - Derek Wenzel 84 yd kickoff return (Jeff Lantz kick), , PHS 14 - CM 20

      00:03 PHS - Stephen Roush 1 yd pass from Derek Wenzel (Jeff Lantz kick blocked), 5-43 0:54, PHS 20 - CM 20

  4th 11:56 PHS - Chris Row 3 yd run (Jeff Lantz kick), 10-76 5:05, PHS 27 - CM 20

      08:48 CM - Brad Jenkins 96 yd run (Alex Molina kick), 1-96 0:00, PHS 27 - CM 27

  OT  00:00 PHS - Chris Row 4 yd run (Jeff Lantz kick), 13-0 12:40, PHS 34 - CM 27

      00:00 CM - Brad Jenkins 3 yd run (Tyler Bartley rush), 13-0 12:40, PHS 34 - CM 35

                                                  PHS       CM

  FIRST DOWNS...................       16       17

  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   45-190   49-337

  PASSING YDS (NET).............       87       41

  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........       15-8-1   12-3-2

  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   60-277   61-378

  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0

  Punt Returns-Yards............          1-2      1-4

  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........      4-107     4-72

  Interception Returns-Yards....     2-30     1-25

  Punts (Number-Avg)............   3-30.7   2-43.0

  Fumbles-Lost..................      2-2      1-1

  Penalties-Yards...............     9-65     9-79

  Possession Time...............    22:06    37:38

  Third-Down Conversions........  5 of 13   3 of 9

  Fourth-Down Conversions.......   2 of 2   1 of 4

  Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      3-4      3-6

  Sacks By: Number-Yards........     4-34      0-0

  RUSHING: Parkersburg High-Chris Row 18-85; Derek Wenzel 8-47; Christian Ong

  4-17; Frank Settle 9-15; Tom Ruddlesden 1-9; Jason Phillips 2-9; Stephen Roush

  2-8; Matt Newlon 1-0. Cabell Midland-Brad Jenkins 20-235; Tyler Bartley 19-46;

  Bryce Paul 8-39; Mike Brumfield 1-11; Tyler Anderson 1-6.

  PASSING: Parkersburg High-Derek Wenzel 8-13-0-87; Matt Newlon 0-2-1-0. Cabell

  Midland-Tyler Bartley 3-12-2-41.

  RECEIVING: Parkersburg High-Stephen Roush 5-71; Wes Ankrom 3-16. Cabell

  Midland-Brad Jenkins 1-22; Mike Brumfield 1-13; Tyler Hughes 1-6.

  INTERCEPTIONS: Parkersburg High-Stephen Roush 1-21; Jason Phillips 1-9. Cabell

  Midland-Tyler Hughes 1-25.

  FUMBLES: Parkersburg High-Chris Row 1-1; Stephen Roush 1-1. Cabell Midland-Tyler

  Bartley 1-1.

  SACKS (UA-A): Parkersburg High-Zack Cokeley 1-0; Michael Riblett 0-1; Alex Clegg

  1-0; Frank Settle 1-0; Jon DeGarmo 0-1. Cabell Midland-None.

  TACKLES (UA-A): Parkersburg High-Michael Winans 9-10; Jason Phillips 5-6;

  Stephen Roush 4-2; Frank Settle 4-2; Alex Clegg 3-3; Justin Johnson 4-1; Zack

  Cokeley 3-2; Wes Ankrom 2-3; Ben Clark 2-3; Zach Hendershot 3-1; Kyle Smith 2-2;

  S. Zickefoose 1-3; Chris Row 2-1; Zach Stanley 0-3; Jon DeGarmo 1-1; Michael

  Riblett 1-1; Cody Craig 1-0; Bryce Warner 0-1; Ryan Black 0-1; Ian Ash 0-1.

  Cabell Midland-Michael Hayes 5-7; Cole Bowers 6-3; Stevie Brown 5-2; Bryce Paul

  4-1; Bodie Grass 3-2; Tyler Hughes 2-3; Mike Brumfield 1-4; Tyler Anderson 3-1;

  Jake Gaskins 2-1; Davey Freeman 2-0; James Nowlin 1-1; Tyler Bowman 1-1; Tyler

  Canavan 1-1; Brad Jenkins 1-0; Matt Kingery 1-0; Evan Shoemaker 0-1. -

2007 game story

Big Reds Come Back To Top  Knights, 47-41, As Lindamood Scores 5 Touchdowns

It wasn't the type of game anyone expected with 88 total points and over 700 yards in total offense - but it was as close as many thought it would be as the Big Reds rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat visiting Cabell Midland, 47-41, in a sweltering season opener at Stadium Field.

Matt Lindamood put on a spectacular show with five touchdowns and 297 yards rushing as he carried the Big Reds to their come-from-behind victory on his broad shoulders. With his team behind by 10 points in the fourth quarter, Lindamood scored twice to give PHS the victory. His go-ahead TD came with just 1:35 left in the contest.

For Cabell Midland it was the third time they were playing the Big Reds in their last four contests and the result was a third straight loss despite coming from a 24-6 first quarter deficit to take a 41-31 lead early in the fourth quarter. The Knights used a wide-open passing offense to erase a 31-12 deficit with 29 consecutive points only to find it impossible to stop the determined Lindamood.

Midland threw for 304 yards while PHS ran for 305. Together the teams ran 107 plays and amassed 718 yards in total offense.

The Knights stunned the PHS crowd at the start when Tony Lovejoy returned the opening kickoff 95 yards up the middle for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead.

But the Big Reds regrouped in a hurry taking just four plays before Lindamood burst over the left side and scored on a 63 yard run with 10:20 left on the clock. Tyler Warner added a 30 yard field goal five minutes later to run the score to 10-6 but there was plenty more action for the new scoreboard just a few minutes later.

Matt Littleton recovered a fumble on the Cabell 30 yard line and two runs by Lindamood produced another touchdown with 3:38 left in the first quarter. Warner's kick made it 17-6 and three plays later Joe Shafer stepped in front of a Midland pass at Midland and rambled all the way to the end zone with 3:01 on the clock. Warner's PAT made it 24-6.

But while the first quarter was virtually all PHS the second quarter belonged to Midland and only an interception by Andy Thomas near the goal line in the final 30 seconds of the half kept the Knights from scoring twice. Cabell did get a touchdown at the 5:16 mark of the second quarter on a three yard run by quarterback Tyler Bartley. Bartley hit Jordan Marcum with five passes for 67 yards on the 82 yard scoring drive.

PHS upped its margin to 31-12 to begin the second half when Lindamood broke away on the first play from scrimmage for TD number three, a 62 yard scamper with just 21 seconds gone off the clock. Warner kicked the third of his six extra points on the night.

Midland then lit up the scoreboard for a couple of quick touchdowns.

Back-to-back 44 yard passes from Bartley to Pat Stapleton and then Dakota Nelson put the ball on the PHS one yard line and Bartley sneaked it in from there. Two minutes later Stapleton had a 66 yard punt return to the PHS three yard line and two plays later Zach Steele scored.  The two extra point kicks by Stapleton made it 31-26 and the Knights were not through yet.

Midland put together a six play, 63 yard drive that climaxed when Bartley had to track down a high shotgun snap but was able to weave his way for 11 yards and a touchdown with 1:00 left in the third quarter to go up 32-31. On a fake kick the Knights got two more points when holder Stapleton threw to Steele to make it 34-31.

   As if that wasn't enough the Knights recovered an onside kick and, aided by a pass interference penalty, went 46 yards on four plays with Bartley running it over from the one. Stapleton's kick made it 41-31 and the Cabell fans were starting to celebrate what they thought was a victory over the number one ranked, defending state champions.

   But the Big Reds went to their bread-and-butter man, Lindamood, and immediately put together a 70 yard scoring drive that took nine plays - seven of them runs by Lindamood. The scoring play was a 28 yard run through a huge hole over the right side with 7:40 left to play. The kick by Warner cut the score  to 41-38.

   Defensively, PHS stepped it up a notch with Lindamood making a big third down sack of Bartley to force a punt. Starting at their own 46 the Big Reds put together another patented drive, covering the 54 yards in 10 plays with Lindamood following Josh Jenkins over the left side from a yard away with just 1:35 on the clock. The senior running back carried the ball the last six plays of the winning drive with Warner's kick running the PHS margin to 45-41.

   The final try by Cabell ended in frustration. An incomplete pass was followed by a quarterback sack from Mark Riblett and then Matt Winans tackled Bartley in the end zone for a safety with 1:13 remaining. The Big Reds then ran out the clock following the recovered onside kick attempt on the free kick.

Cabell Midland (0-1)    6    6    22    7    -    41

Parkersburg (1-0)        24    0    7    16    -    47

CM - Lovejoy 95 kickoff return (run failed) 11:44 1st

P - Matt Lindamood 63 run (Tyler Warner kick) 10:20 1st

P - Warner 30 field goal, 4:52 1st

P - Lindamood 14 run (Warner kick) 3:38 1st

P - Shafer 50 interception return (Warner kick) 3:01 1st

CM - Bartley 3 run (run failed) 5:16 2nd

P - Lindamood 61 run (Warner kick) 11:39 3rd

CM - Bartley 1 run (Stapleton kick) 9:53 3rd

CM - Steele 1 run (Stapleton kick) 7:55 3rd

CM - Bartley 11 run (Steele pass from Stapleton) 1:00 3rd

CM - Bartley 1 run (Stapleton kick) 11:11 4th

P - Lindamood 28 run (Warner kick) 7:40 4th

P - Lindamood 1 run (Warner kick) 1:35 4th

P - Safety, Matt Winans tackled quarterback in end zone, 1:134th 

                            Team Statistics

                                                          CM      PHS

               FIRST DOWNS...................       18       16

                 Rushing.....................              3       13

                 Passing.....................             13        2

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

               NET YARDS RUSHING.............       76      306

                 Rushing Attempts............       30       43

                 Average Per Rush............      2.5      7.1

                 Yards Gained Rushing........      123      325

                 Yards Lost Rushing..........       47       19

               NET YARDS PASSING.............      321       35

                 Completions-Attempts-Int....  19-28-2    6-8-0

                 Average Per Attempt.........     11.5      4.4

                 Average Per Completion......     16.9      5.8

               TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS...........      397      341

                 Total offense plays.........       58       51

                 Average Gain Per Play.......      6.8      6.7

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

               Penalties: Number-Yards.......     7-61     4-40

               PUNTS-YARDS...................     2-52    4-133

                 Average Yards Per Punt......     26.0     33.2

                 Net Yards Per Punt..........     26.0     20.2

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

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

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

                 Fair catch..................        0        1

               KICKOFFS-YARDS................    7-271    8-463

                 Average Yards Per Kickoff...     38.7     57.9

                 Net Yards Per Kickoff.......     24.0     27.1

                 Touchbacks..................        1        4

               Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD.   1-52-0    1-0-0

                 Average Per Return..........     52.0      0.0

               Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD  4-166-1   6-83-0

                 Average Per Return..........     41.5     13.8

               Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD..    0-0-0   2-50-1

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

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

               Possession Time...............    23:12    23:40

                 1st Quarter.................     6:35     5:25

                 2nd Quarter.................     6:54     5:06

                 3rd Quarter.................     6:50     5:10

                 4th Quarter.................     2:53     7:59

               Third-Down Conversions........   4 of 8   3 of 9

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

               Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      4-5      4-4

               Sacks By: Number-Yards........      0-0     6-41

               PAT Kicks.....................      3-3      6-6

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

                                 Individual Statistics

Cabell Midland                                                Parkersburg

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

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

Bartley, Tyler  16   75   47   28  2 33  1.8   Lindamood, Matt 29  298    1  297  5 63 10.2

Steele, Zach     7   21    0   21  2  9  3.0    Thomas, Andy     10   23    9   14  0  9  1.4

Dilcher, Brian   4   15    0   15  0  8  3.8    Butterfield, A.        2    1    3   -2  0  1 -1.0

Bryce, Paul      1    9    0    9  0  9  9.0      Winans, Matt         2    3    6   -3  0  3 -1.5

Anderson, Tyler  1    2    0    2  0  2  2.0   Totals...              43  325   19  306  5 63  7.1

Stapleton, Pat   1    1    0    1  1  1  1.0

Totals...       30  123   47   76  5 33  2.5

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

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

Bartley, Tyler    26-18-1   309  0   45    6   Thomas, Andy       8-6-0     35  0   14    0

Nelson, Dakota     2-1-1     12  0   12    0   Totals...          8-6-0     35  0   14    0

Totals...         28-19-2   321  0   45    6

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

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

Marcum, Jordan    13  189    0   41            Roush, Stephen     5   37    0   14

Fetty, Michael     2   77    0   44                Humphrey, Tyler    1   -2    0    0

Stapleton, Pat     2   49    0   45                 Totals...          6   35    0   14

Nelson, Dakota     1    8    0    8

Steele, Zach       1   -2    0    0

Totals...         19  321    0   45

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

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

Stapleton, Pat     2   52  26.0   27    0    0     Warner, Tyler      3  123  41.0   46    1    0

Totals...          2   52  26.0   27    0    0          TM                  1   10  10.0   10    0    0

                                                                   Totals...              4  133  33.2   46    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

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

Stapleton, Pat   1  52 52  0   0  0  0   0  0         Roush, Stephen   1   0  0  2  40 22  0   0  0

Lovejoy, Tony    0   0  0  4 166 95  0   0  0      Armitage, Steve  0   0  0  1  21 21  0   0  0

Totals...        1  52 52  4 166 95  0   0  0          Row, Chris       0   0  0  1  23 23  0   0  0

                                                                        Shafer, Joey     0   0  0  1  -1  0  1  50 50

                                                                        Collins, Tim     0   0  0  1   0  0  0   0  0

                                                                        Thomas, Andy     0   0  0  0   0  0  1   0  0

                                                                          Totals...        1   0  0  6  83 23  2  50 50

 Field goal attempts                            Field goal attempts

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

                                               Warner, Tyler   1st 04:52  30 yds - Good

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

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

Stapleton, Pat     7  271   1   0  38.7        Warner, Tyler      8  463   4   0  57.9

    FUMBLES: Cabell Midland-Anderson, Tyler 1-1. Parkersburg-Shafer, Joey 1-1.