2006 Season

Big Reds Crush GW, 53-7

It was a very, very impressive opening to the second century of Parkersburg Big Red football.

With six different players scoring touchdowns, the fourth-ranked Big Reds started their 101st season of football by crushing George Washington 53-7 in the Kickoff Classic at Charleston's Laidley Field.

Dominating every phase of the game, PHS got two touchdowns from quarterback Andy Thomas, who also found time to throw a scoring pass to Nathan Conley. P.J. Polsley, Charlie Taylor, Matt Lindamood and Matt Winans also found the end zone while Tyler Warner had a busy night with two field goals and five extra points.

The Big Reds ran for 360 yards and added 13 passing while holding GW to just 99 yards in total offense with more than half of than coming on a 58 yard touchdown run. Nine different players took turns carrying the ball for the Big Reds, who substituted freely in the second half after building a 34-7 halftime lead. While Taylor, Lindamood and Thomas was leading the way with 78, 77 and 76 yards rushing respectively, the PHS defense held the Patriots without a pass completion and in the second half gave up only 11 total yards and just one first down (that coming on the game's final play). The Big Reds ran 64 offensive plays to just 34 for GW, who suffered four turnovers.

It took PHS just 18 seconds to score when Polsley stepped in front of a George Washington pass attempt on the game's first play and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown to begin the rout. Three plays later the Big Reds were back in business following a Josh Jenkins fumble recovery on the GW 26 yard line. It took just four running plays for Thomas to follow his massive front line of blockers into the end zone from nine yards away with 9:03 still showing on the first quarter clock.

Although GW scored in the first quarter when speedy Eric Morrison slipped around end for his long TD run, the Big Reds tacked on three more touchdowns in the second quarter.

Taylor capped a 66 yard drive with a 12 yard run with 8:11 on the clock. That drive saw PHS overcome a 10 yard holding penalty and get a 20 yard run from Lindamood. Later in the quarter Lindamood put the finishing touches on a 27 yard drive with 4:16 remaining on a one yard run behind the blocking of Taylor and Chris James. That drive was set up when GW was pinned deep in its own territory and Mason Roberts returned a punt 11 yards to the Patriot 36 yard line. A GW turnover, this one coming when Travis Bunner stripped the GW ball carrier , set up the final TD of the half, another quarterback sneak by Thomas with 11 seconds on the clock. A 21 yard run by Taylor was the big play on the drive that saw PHS up its lead to 34-7.

The second half started with a 64 yard PHS scoring drive, highlighted by a 17 yard run from Chris Row. It ended when Thomas found a slanting Conley for a 13 yard pass and run play.

Mop-up time saw Warner kick field goals of 28 and 20 yards while backup running back Matt Winans scored on a four yard run with 1:25 left to play. The final scoring drive saw Mark Grimm break loose on a 29 yard run.

Defensively, PHS held GW to minus yardage on 12 of its 34 plays as Joe Shafer and Roberts led the way. Matt Littleton and Winans had quarterback sacks during the game while Littleton and Matt Doster joined Jenkins with fumble recoveries.

Scoring

#4 Parkersburg (1-0)                      14      20      10      9        -        53

George Washington (0-1)               7       0       0       0        -        7

^{Scoring Plays}

P – P.J. Polsley 50 interception return (Tyler Warner kick) 11:42 1^st

P – Andy Thomas 9 run (Warner kick) 9:03 1^st

GW – Eric Morrison (58 run (Adam Younis kick) 4:03 1^st

P – Charlie Taylor 12 run (Warner kick) 8:11 2^nd

P – Matt Lindamood 1 run (kick failed) 4:16 2^nd

P – Thomas 1 run (Warner kick) :11 2^nd

P – Nathan Conley 13 pass from Thomas (Warner kick) 6:28 3^rd

P – Warner 28 field goal, :48 3^rd

P – Warner 20 field goal, 7:52 4^th

P – Matt Winans 4 run (pass failed) 1:25 4^th

Individual Statistics