Wenzel's 4th Kickoff Return TD Fails to Stop Capital From 28-7 Win

Derek Wenzel returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown - setting a state record and writing his name in the national high school football record book as well - but it wasn't enough as visiting Capital came back to defeat the Big Reds 28-7.

A junior playing in his first game after sitting out two weeks with a knee injury, Wenzel watched the opening kickoff go between his legs at the 10 yard line. He turned, ran back and picked the ball up at the one yard line. He started cautiously up the middle of the field before turning to his right and heading for the sidelines. He picked up a couple of clearing blocks at the sideline and then sped the rest of the way to complete a 99 yard touchdown return with just 22 seconds gone in the game.

The return was Wenzel's fourth kickoff return touchdown of the year (in just seven games), setting a state record. The fourth TD also puts him in the national record book. The national record is six touchdowns held by two players (Josh Tarbox of Michigan and Mike Williams of Illinois) while four players have returned five in a season. Wenzel joins a group of just eight other players in the history of high school football who have ran back four kickoffs for TD's in a single season.

The win for Capital was its eighth in a row after a season-opening loss to George Washington. Keion Wright, only a sophomore, ran for 165 yards on 29 carries and scored on touchdown for the Cougars while James Woods ran for two touchdowns and picked up 76 yards on just eight carries. Wright came into the game with 1,023 yards rushing in eight games. Overall, Capital ran for 319 yards against the Big Reds.

After the fireworks to begin the game, it settled into a grind-it-out contest for the rest of the rainy first half.

Capital took the kickoff following Wenzel's score and put together an 11-play drive to the Parkersburg 13 before the Big Red defense stiffened and got big tackle-for-loss plays from Michael Riblett and Zach Cokeley and then sophomore Justin Johnson. On third down the Cougars completed a pass but Johnson and Cory Ohse were there to make the stop on the 16 yard line. From there Dustin Pullin tried a 33 yard field goal which was well short.

PHS then took over and drove from its own 20 to the Capital 20, using 10 plays. The drive saw Matt Newlon hit Wes Ankrom for a 16 yard completion on third down and eight to go and then found Ryan Black with a 13-yard pass on another third-and-eight situation. Chris Row, Christian Ong and Wenzel had nice runs on the drive but on first down at the Cougar 20, Row was stripped of the ball and Josh Kay recovered for the visitors to end the threat on the next to last play of the first quarter.

Capital drove down the field quickly but on fourth down at the PHS 22, Stephen Roush stepped in front of a Joe Beane end zone pass attempt with 8:24 left in the half.

The Big Reds were thwarted by a quarterback sack and had to punt with Capital's Melvin Allen coming up with a 13 yard return to the PHS 40 yard line. On the first play, Beane hit Jonathan Harold over the middle for 33 yards to set up Woods' two yard TD run up the middle with 5:10 left on the clock. The extra point kick attempt failed due to a bad snap and wound up with a pass attempt.

At the half, PHS still clung to a 7-6 lead.

Both teams failed to move the ball on their first possessions of the second half but when Capital took over with 6:43 left in the third quarter own its own 31 yard line things started to happen in a hurry. Wright carried three times for gains of 10, 11 and 14 yards while Woods broke off a 31 yard run to move the ball to the PHS three in just four plays. Zach Hendershot stopped Wright for no gain but then Woods ran up the middle virtually untouched for the TD with 4:41 left in the quarter. He also ran for the two-point conversion to make it 14-7.

Capital pushed its lead to two touchdowns early in the fourth quarter as Wright led a 55 yard drive that took nine plays. The TD came with 9:54 left in the game on a one yard run by the speedy 10th grader.

PHS tried to get back on the board on its following possession, picking up a couple of first downs but a quarterback sack forced the Big Reds to punt and the Cougars put the game away with a 63 yard, nine-play drive that climaxed with Justin Cousins 22 yard run with just 49.2 seconds left in the contest.

Capital (8-1,8-1) vs. Parkersburg High (3-6,3-5)

Date: Oct 24, 2008  Site: Parkersburg           Stadium: Stadium Field

Attendance: 500

Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score

Capital.............  0  6  8 14  - 28

Parkersburg High....  7  0  0  0  -  7

Scoring Summary:

1st 11:38 PHS - Derek Wenzel 99 yd kickoff return (Jeff Lantz kick)

                                                                               CAP 0 - PHS 7

2nd 05:10 CAP - James Woods 2 yd run (Jonathan Harold pass failed)

                                                  3 plays, 40 yards, TOP 1:13, CAP 6 - PHS 7

3rd 04:41 CAP - James Woods 3 yd run (James Woods rush)

                                                 6 plays, 69 yards, TOP 2:02, CAP 14 - PHS 7

4th 09:54 CAP - Keion Wright 3 yd run (Jarred Newhouse kick)

                                                 9 plays, 55 yards, TOP 4:39, CAP 21 - PHS 7

    00:50 CAP - Justin Cousins 22 yd run (Jarred Newhouse kick)

                                                 9 plays, 63 yards, TOP 4:40, CAP 28 - PHS 7

  Kickoff time: 7:30      End of Game: 9:38      Total elapsed time: 2:08

                            Team Statistics (Final)

                                                   CAP      PHS

               FIRST DOWNS...................       21        9

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

                 Passing.....................        1        4

                 Penalty.....................        2        0

               NET YARDS RUSHING.............      319       69

                 Rushing Attempts............       52       30

                 Average Per Rush............      6.1      2.3

                 Yards Gained Rushing........      364       90

                 Yards Lost Rushing..........       45       21

               NET YARDS PASSING.............       36       55

                 Completions-Attempts-Int....    2-6-1   7-14-0

                 Average Per Attempt.........      6.0      3.9

                 Average Per Completion......     18.0      7.9

               TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS...........      355      124

                 Total offense plays.........       58       44

                 Average Gain Per Play.......      6.1      2.8

               Fumbles: Number-Lost..........      3-0      2-1

               Penalties: Number-Yards.......     5-37     5-33

               PUNTS-YARDS...................     1-30    4-130

                 Average Yards Per Punt......     30.0     32.5

                 Net Yards Per Punt..........     27.0     29.2

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

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

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

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

               KICKOFFS-YARDS................    5-254     2-97

                 Average Yards Per Kickoff...     50.8     48.5

                 Net Yards Per Kickoff.......     20.8     30.0

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

               Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD.   1-13-0    1-3-0

                 Average Per Return..........     13.0      3.0

               Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD   2-37-0  5-150-1

                 Average Per Return..........     18.5     30.0

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

               Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD.   1-19-0    0-0-0

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

               Possession Time...............    26:30    21:30

                 1st Quarter.................     6:21     5:39

                 2nd Quarter.................     6:56     5:04

                 3rd Quarter.................     6:27     5:33

                 4th Quarter.................     6:46     5:14

               Third-Down Conversions........   3 of 8  3 of 10

               Fourth-Down Conversions.......   0 of 2   1 of 3

               Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      4-6      0-1

               Sacks By: Number-Yards........     2-15      0-0

               PAT Kicks.....................      2-2      1-1

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

                                 Individual Statistics (Final)

Capital                                        Parkersburg High

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

Keion Wright    29  186   21  165  1 19  5.7   Christian Ong   13   40    0   40  0  8  3.1

James Woods      8   76    0   76  2 31  9.5   Chris Row        7   28    0   28  0  9  4.0

Josh Sharp      10   77   12   65  0 16  6.5   Derek Wenzel     7   22    2   20  0  8  2.9

Justin Cousins   1   22    0   22  1 22 22.0   Matt Newlon      3    0   19  -19  0  0 -6.3

Kevin Lee        1    2    0    2  0  2  2.0   Totals...       30   90   21   69  0  9  2.3

Howard Davis     1    1    0    1  0  1  1.0

Joe Beane        2    0   12  -12  0  0 -6.0

Totals...       52  364   45  319  4 31  6.1

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

Joe Beane          6-2-1     36  0   33    0   Matt Newlon       11-5-0     47  0   16    2

Totals...          6-2-1     36  0   33    0   Derek Wenzel       3-2-0      8  0    4    0

                                               Totals...         14-7-0     55  0   16    2

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

Jonathan Harold    1   33    0   33            Wes Ankrom         3   33    0   16

James Woods        1    3    0    3            Stephen Roush      2    8    0    4

Totals...          2   36    0   33            Ryan Black         1   13    0   13

                                               Christian Ong      1    1    0    1

                                               Totals...          7   55    0   16

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

Tre Hicks          1   30  30.0   30    0    0 Wes Ankrom         4  130  32.5   41    0    0

Totals...          1   30  30.0   30    0    0 Totals...          4  130  32.5   41    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

Melvin Allen     1  13 13  0   0  0  0   0  0  Stephen Roush    0   0  0  0   0  0  1   0  0

Myles Duiguid    0   0  0  2  37 19  0   0  0  Zach McGee       0   0  0  1  15 15  0   0  0

Totals...        1  13 13  2  37 19  0   0  0  Chris Row        1   3  3  0   0  0  0   0  0

                                               Derek Wenzel     0   0  0  4 135 99  0   0  0

                                               Totals...        1   3  3  5 150 99  1   0  0

Field goal attempts                            Field goal attempts

Dustin Pullin   1st 05:27  33 yds - Missed

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

Dustin Pullin      5  254   0   0  50.8        Jeff Lantz         2   97   0   0  48.5

  FUMBLES: Capital-Joe Beane 2-0; Josh Sharp 1-0. Parkersburg High-Matt Newlon 1-0; Chris Row 1-1.

                                Defensive Statistics

    Capital

    ## Player          Solo  Ast  Tot  TFL/Yds  FF FR-Yd Intc BrUp Blkd Sack/Yds QH

       36 James Woods        7    4   11     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    20 Justin Cousins     5    1    6     .     .   .     .      1    .      .     .

    84 Melvin Allen       4    1    5     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    35 Jake Kelly         4    1    5    2/11   .   .     .      .    .     1/9    .

          Parkersburg High

    ## Player          Solo  Ast  Tot  TFL/Yds  FF FR-Yd Intc BrUp Blkd Sack/Yds QH

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

    3  Cory Ohse          9    6   15     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    1  Stephen Roush      7    3   10     .     .   .    1-0     .    .      .     .

    22 Michael Winans     5    5   10     .     .   .     .      1    .      .     .

    42 Zack Cokeley       4    6   10    2/3    .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    40 Ben Clark          5    3    8     .     .   .     .      1    .      .     .

    43 Jason Phillips     4    1    5     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     1

    77 Justin Johnson     3    2    5    1/5    .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    75 Kyle Smith         2    3    5    1/2    .   .     .      1    .      .     1

    69 Michael Riblett    2    3    5    1/1    .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    78 Zach Hendershot    2    2    4     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    73 Zach Stanley       2    2    4    1/2    .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    82 S. Zickefoose      2    1    3     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    29 Frank Settle       1    1    2    1/1    .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    19 Jordan Nolan       1    .    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    13 Bryce Warner       1    .    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    12 Derek Wenzel       1    .    1     .     .   .     .      1    .      .     .

    4  Zach McGee         .    1    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    8  Wes Ankrom         .    1    1     .     .   .     .      .    .      .     .

    34 Chris Row          .    .    .    1/5    .   .     .      .    .      .     .

  2007

Big Reds Record Convincing 25-0 Victory Over Capital

The question now is not whether or not PHS can bounce back from a streak-ending loss but whether or not the new streak will continue through a trip to Wheeling Island Stadium.

A convincing 25-0 victory over a streaking and sixth-ranked Capital team saw the third-ranked Big Reds not only turn in a flawless offensive performance but by far the best defensive showing of the season.

Matt Lindamood did what Matt Lindamood does - ran the ball 27 times for 163 yards and two touchdowns.

Andy Thomas added 84 yards rushing on 15 carries, scored a touchdown and threw for another TD.

PHS had 264 yards in total offense, 259 of it on the ground, did not have a turnovers and only had two penalties.

The Big Red defense, led by Thomas' two blocked kicks and a great effort from Jason Phillips (returning to the lineup after missing a game with a concussion), pitched a shutout against a team which had five times scored 30 or more points and had put up 116 points in the last three games. Capital was held to 71 yards rushing and 94 yards passing.

Capital started the game much like George Washington had done the week before. The Cougars mixed the run and pass, driving from their 20 to the PHS 20. But then the Big Red defense stiffened. On a third-and-two play Derek Wenzel brought down Jermere Hall for a nine yard loss on a sweep and on fourth down pressured Malik Witten into an incomplete pass with Lindamood breaking up the attempt..

PHS then took over on the 29 and proceeded to put together a patented, grind-it-out on the ground drive of 12 plays that produced a touchdown on a one-yard run by Lindamood on the first play of the second quarter. Lindamood carried seven times for 37 yards on the drive (including one run of 12 yards) with his scoring play coming over the right side behind the blocks of Jeff Delancey, Travis Bunner and Joey Shafer. Thomas also had a 12 yard run on the drive. Tyler Warner's kick made it 7-0 but hardly anyone thought that would stand up against the speedy Cougars.

The Cougars again moved the ball, going from their 20 to the PHS 23 for a first down only to once again be thwarted. A pair of five yard penalties were sandwiched around stops by Thomas and Stephen Roushl, forcing a 37 yard field goal try, which was partially blocked by Thomas. Capital was flagged five times on that possession.

Although forced to start from inside their own five yard line, PHS got a 20 yard run from Lindamood to get out of the hole. However, the Big Reds were eventually forced into their only punt of the night. Capital got a 37 yard return and were only 38 yards from the PHS end zone with 4:24 left in the half. After Capital picked up a first down at the 26 it was Brandon Eckleberry, then Roush that came up with tackles for two yard losses. On third down Phillips stopped a scrambling Witten for no gain and on fourth down Eckelberry broke up a pass in the end zone intended for 6-foot-4 Tyrone Goard (who had caught 9 touchdown passes coming into the game).

Just like they had done on their first possession of the game, the Big Reds took the second half kickoff and put together another great scoring drive. Covering 57 yards on 11 plays and consuming 6:49 off the clock. Thomas capped the drive with a four yard option run around end With Chris James making the big block to increase the score to 13-0. Thomas had a 10 yard run earlier in the drive and the big play was a "student body right" sweep pickup of 15 yards by Lindamood with Shafer and Chris Row leading the convoy.

After giving up one first down, PHS forced Capital to punt and Thomas got through to partially block his second kick and the Big Reds took over on their own 33. Even a holding penalty could not stop the Big Reds as Lindamood rambled for a total of 41 yards on four carries to help move the ball to a first down at the 19. Thomas scampered to the three and after offsetting penalties, Lindamood followed Bunner into the end zone to score his 25th touchdown of the year and make it 19-0 with 8:33 left in the game. On the two-point conversion attempt, Lindamood dove for the goal line and lost the battle of the officials as two signaled no good while one signaled he had crossed the goal line.

PHS got the ball back four plays later on a short punt and with only 35 yards to go, Thomas got 20 of that on one carry. On fourth and goal from the five, PHS went to the air for only the second time in the game and Thomas lofted a soft pass to Tyler Humphrey at the one yard line near the sideline and the sophomore back was able to step into the end zone for a touchdown to up the final margin to 25-0.

With 1:50 left to play, Michael Winans and Phillips got through to sack Witten for a 15 yard loss to seal the fate of the Cougars.

Although Warner missed two of three extra point attempts he effectively took away a big scoring threat from the Cougars - their kickoff return team. Three of his five kickoffs went one, five and eight yards deep in the end zone while the other two were caught inside the Capital five yard line.

Parkersburg.........  0  7  6 12  - 25       Record: (8-1,7-1)

Capital.............       0  0  0  0  -  0       Record: (7-2,7-2)

 Scoring Summary:

  2nd 11:55 PHS - Lindamood, Matt 1 yd run (Warner, Tyler kick), 12-71 6:10, PHS 7 - CAP 0

  3rd 05:11 PHS - Thomas, Andy 4 yd run (Warner, Tyler kick failed), 11-57 6:41, PHS 13 - CAP 0

  4th 08:33 PHS - Lindamood, Matt 3 yd run (Lindamood, Matt rush failed), 10-67 6:15, PHS 19 - CAP 0

      02:52 PHS - Humphrey, Tyler 5 yd pass from Thomas, Andy (Warner, Tyler kick failed), 7-35 4:02, PHS 25 - CAP 0

                                                  PHS      CAP

  FIRST DOWNS...................       15       10

  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   45-259    24-71

  PASSING YDS (NET).............        5       87

  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........         2-1-0  17-10-0

  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....47-264   41-158

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

  Punt Returns-Yards............         0-0     1-27

  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........        1-29     2-61

  Interception Returns-Yards....      0-0      0-0

  Punts (Number-Avg)............       1-35.0   3-23.0

  Fumbles-Lost..................            0-0      0-0

  Penalties-Yards...............             2-13     6-44

  Possession Time...............           26:43    21:00

  Third-Down Conversions........     5 of 8   4 of 9

  Fourth-Down Conversions.......   2 of 2   0 of 2

  Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......     4-4      0-2

  Sacks By: Number-Yards........     1-15      0-0

                                  Parkersburg                             Capital

   Rushing               No  Yds TD Lg  Avg    Rushing      No  Yds TD Lg  Avg

 Lindamood, Matt 27  163  2 20  6.0       Witten          11   31  0 11  2.8

 Thomas, Andy     15   84  1 20  5.6         Woods           2   28  0 27 14.0

 Shafer, Joey          2   11  0  7  5.5           Lee              1    8  0  8  8.0

 Butterfield, A.        1    1  0  1  1.0           Goard           3    7  0  7  2.3

   Passing         AttCmpInt Yds TD Lng  Passing         AttCmpInt Yds TD Lng

 Thomas, Andy      2-1-0     5  1   5         Witten           18-11-0   94  0  18

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

 Humphrey, Tyler    1    5    1    5   Goard              5   33    0   11

                                                       Green              2   27    0    18  

                                                    Thomas, R          2   18    0    9

                                                     Woods              1   18    0   18

                                                     Wright                1    -2    0    0

   Punting          No.   Avg Long I20   Punting          No.   Avg Long I20

 Warner, Tyler      1  35.0   35   0   Hicks              2  28.0   35   0

                                                    TM                 1  13.0   13   0

   Punt returns     No.  Yds   TD Long   Punt returns     No.  Yds   TD Long

                                                          Hall               1   27    0   27   

 Kick returns     No.  Yds   TD Long   Kick returns     No.  Yds   TD Long

 Roush, Stephen     1   29    0   29        Hall               2   61    0   33