Lindamood, Taylor Lead Crushing PHS Ground Game In 34-6 Romp Over Beckley

Matt Lindamood and Charlie Taylor were about as easy to stop as two runaway tanks as they lead a crushing PHS ground game in a 34-6 romp over Beckley Woodrow Wilson in the first varsity Big Red football game played on the new artificial surface at Stadium Field.

The number two ranked Big Reds raised their record to 3-0 and avenged a defeat at Beckley a year ago while handing the Flying Eagles their third straight Mountain State Athletic Conference road loss to start the season.

Lindamood and Taylor, who weigh a combined 445 pounds and at one time had to share playing time but now both start in the backfield, showed the Big Reds now have a pair of punishing runners by combining for 215 yards rushing. Lindamood, who scored four touchdowns last Saturday, scored three against Beckley while rushing for 81 yards on 11 carries. Meanwhile,  the 230 pound Taylor thundered for 134 yards on just 14 carries and left a trail of bruised would-be Beckley tacklers in his wake on almost every carry. Overall the Big Reds ran for 338 yards on 55 carries with eight different players seeing action with the ball. The yardage was evenly distributed between the first half (169 yards) and second half (169 yards) even though the PHS second team offense played the entire fourth quarter.

Defensively, PHS held Beckley to 151 total yards with 122 rushing and 51 of that coming with just five minutes left in the game on a touchdown run by Marquel Ali. Andy Thomas had a huge first half, nearly hitting double digits in total tackles in the game's first 24 minutes. Matt Littleton and Travis Bunner had fumble recoveries while Zach Nolan and Joe Shafer had sacks.

The game started with the 1976 PHS state championship team members being introduced, including head coach Buddy James and, unlike the previous two games in which PHS scored in the first minute, this time the Big Reds turned the ball over themselves just 23 seconds into the contest on a fumble.

Beckley, running behind a huge offensive line, ran over five minutes off the clock before being forced to punt. PHS then started one of its patented power football drives with Lindamood, Taylor and Thomas running the ball on a 10-play, 78-yard drive that took just under five minutes. Lindamood did the honors from five yards away as he followed the block of 285 pound Josh Jenkins into the end zone with 1:23 left in the first quarter. Tyler Warner, who would again have a busy day with his leg, booted the first of his four extra points.

Warner wound up kicking two field goals for the second game in a row, hitting from 35 and 32 yards away, while booming seven kickoffs (four of which landed on the five yard line or deeper). He also had one punt for 48 yards.

On its next possession, PHS drove for the first Warner field goal to cap a 10 play drive with 6:24 left in the first half.

The final drive of the first half for the Big Reds covered 68 yards, took 12 plays, and was capped when Thomas sneaked over right guard with eight seconds on the clock. Warner's kick made it 17-0.

The second half started with Mason Roberts causing a fumble that Littleton recovered on the Beckley 43 and five plays later Lindamood ran over the left side from a yard away with 9:02 on the clock. Taylor had two 20 yard runs on that drive, both of which saw him run over, around and through defenders with an obvious refuse to go do attitude.

The final offensive burst of the night for the starting offensive unit came late in the third quarter. Starting from near midfield, PHS took eight plays to cover 48 yards with Lindamood going over from the nine on the first play of the fourth quarter. Anthony Thorpe, taking over for Thomas at quarterback, had completions of 10 yards to Lindamood and nine yards to Nathan Conley on the drive.

On Beckley's first offensive play following that touchdown, Big Red senior captain Taylor made a defensive play worthy of any highlight film anywhere. The Eagles tried a swing pass to Brandon Williams and as soon as he caught the ball he was leveled, make that flattened, with a hit from Taylor that could be heard across the Ohio River in Belpre. The PHS defenders were so excited by the play that their celebration drew a 15 yard penalty but as one fan was heard to exclaim, "It was worth it."

With second unit players on the field, the Big Reds were able to tack on Warner's final field goal with 7:30 on the clock to make it 34-0. Beckley's score came two and a half minutes after that (5:05 left in the game).

PHS was penalized seven times for 71 yards - all in the second half.