Thomas Helps Big Reds Thwart Cabell Midland Upset Bid, 17-13

Andy Thomas ran for 109 yards and threw for one touchdown to help Parkersburg's Big Reds thwart an upset bid by Cabell Midland and advance in the Class AAA playoffs. PHS punched its ticket to the quarterfinals with a 17-13 first round win Saturday afternoon at a wet Stadium Field.

The Big Reds kept the ball away from speedy Cabell Midland, running 61 offensive plays to just 28 for the Knights, to run their record to 11-0 heading into next week's second straight Mountain State Athletic Conference rematch. PHS will host St. Albans, a 21-0 winner over Bridgeport, at a date and time to be determined by the Red Dragons. It is believed they will pick Friday night, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m.

PHS, which beat Cabell Midland 21-7 just three weeks ago, got a playoff record-tying 45 yard field goal from Tyler Warner and a three yard touchdown run from a still-recovering Matt Lindamood in addition to Thomas' eight yard scoring pass to Charlie Taylor. Thomas completed four of five passes for 33 yards in the rain while running 18 times for 109 yards. Taylor carried 16 times for 53 yards and Lindamood ran 11 times for 39 yards. The Big Reds amassed 246 yards on the ground on 56 rushes.

While PHS was piling up 279 yards in total offense on those 61 plays, Cabell Midland was held to 132 yards on 28 plays with 92 of those coming on the ground. The Knights' Christian Edwards, a top Kennedy Award candidate, was held to 99 yards rushing on 12 carries with 63 of those coming on his one scoring play. The Knights completed five off 11 passes for 40 yards including a 22 yard TD from Josh Ferguson to Jordan Marcum.

The Big Reds started the rainy game with a patented drive from their own 26 yard line. Converting two third down and one fourth down play, Thomas took 14 plays to direct his team into scoring range, getting a playoff record-tying 45 yard field goal from Warner after running 8:45 off the clock. His two yard run on a fourth-and-two situation at the Cabell 31 was the big play on the drive.

While the PHS defense held Midland to minus four yards on their first six offensive plays, the offense got untracked after an 11 yard punt return by Mason Roberts to the PHS 42 yard line. A 14 yard pickup on an end-around run by P.J. Polsley came on third down and a lucky bounce (or three) helped keep the nine play scoring drive alive. On another third down play, Thomas kept the ball around the right side but fumbled after a nice gain, the ball bounced forward, was touched first by a Big Red player, then a Cabell player, then another Big Red player, and finally wound up going out of bounds with PHS retaining possession after a gain of 23 yards to the 13 yard line. Lindamood, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury, carried for four yards, then Thomas for six more, and finally Lindamood followed the blocking of Chris James and Sean Chichester into the end zone from three yards away with 2:44 left before the half.

But before the PHS fans could get that comfortable feeling, Cabell Midland struck back with a 65 yard, eight play scoring drive. Runs of 12 and 10 yards by Edwards started things but it was Ferguson who threw a perfect 21 yard scoring strike to Marcum down the right sidelines for an over-the-shoulder catch in the end zone. The extra point kick made it 10-7 with 33 seconds left before intermission.

Then, it took just two plays for Midland to go ahead in the second half.

From his own 37, Edwards took a handoff and started right before reversing directions and finding running room up the left sidelines all the way to the end zone. The 1,6000 yard rusher had put his team ahead with the sizzling run but the extra point kick was blocked and little did the senior speedster suspect that his offensive heroics would be over for the day. He would carry the ball just three more times, gaining two yards to give him 99 on the day, and then was stopped for no gain on his last two attempts (first by Joe Shafer and Charlie Taylor combined and lastly by Matt Littleton). The Knights would not get another first down the rest of the game and their final hurrah ended with a Matt Winans quarterback sack with 2:42 left in the contest.

Meanwhile, PHS answered Edwards' big run with a big drive.

Starting from their own 31, the Big Reds ground out 12 straight running plays to move the ball to the eight yard line. Roberts had the biggest play on the drive, a 10 yard run, while Lindamood carried six straight times to put the ball inside the 10. With a third and three situation, Thomas rolled out and threw to Taylor, who caught the ball in a crowd of three defenders for the winning touchdown with 3:59 left in the third quarter.

Even a PHS lost fumble on its own 36 yard line could not help Cabell Midland, which suffered 25 yards in penalties following the recovery. The Big Reds finished the game inside the Knights' one yard line. Thomas appeared to have scored when he tried a quarterback sneak, bounced outside and backed into the end zone but the officials blew the play dead and PHS elected to let the clock run out before trying another play.

Scoring by Quarters

Cabell Midland (6-5)           0       7       6       0       -        13

Parkersburg (11-0)              3       7       7       0       -        17

^{Scoring Plays}

P – Tyler Warner 45 field goal, 3:15 1^st

P – Matt Lindamood 3 run (Warner kick), 2:44 2^nd

CM – Jordan Marcum 22 pass from Josh Ferguson (Patrick Stapleton kick) :33 2^nd

CM – Christian Edwards 63 run (kick blocked) 11:05 3^rd

P – Charlie Taylor 8 pass from Andy Thomas (Warner kick) 3:59 3^rd

Individual Statistics