Paden City 60,

Hundred 0

Wildcat Taylor Still rushed for 204 yards and scored three touchdowns, while the Paden City defense held the Hundred Hornets to 65 total yards in blasting its way to a 60-0 win on Homecoming Night at Berger Field, Sept. 23.

Freshman quarterback Zach Heasley capped off an impressive 75-yard opening drive with an 18-yard scoring strike to senior Payton Hinkley at the 4:24 mark and Still ran in the two-point conversion to give Paden City a quick 8-0 lead.

After holding the guests to a three-and-out, Still took a direct snap and ran 25 yards to paydirt for a 14-0 Paden City lead.

Still got another TD in the second period and the combination of Heasley to Hinkley worked to perfection twice, with the latter one going the distance from 10 yards out and another Paden City tally. After the Heasley PAT kick, the ‘Cats were on top, 27-0.

However, the ‘Cats weren’t done, Still broke free on a nice 60-yard TD jaunt, keyed by a Jamie Billiter block on the second straight direct snap. Still racked up 102 yards in the first period and tacked on 78 yards in the second period before his duty on offense was over.

“I can’t say enough about Taylor Still,” said head Coach Brent Croasmun. “He is a very good runningback and he just seems to get better each and every week. He is just starting to see the field so well right now.”

At the half, Amanda Heasley was crowned Paden City Homecoming Queen.

On the Hornets’ first possession in the second half, quarterback Dylan Murphy was hit by a host of Wildcats led by Hinkley and Kane Pyles. That forced a bad pass that the Green’s Aaron Higgins swiped out of the air and jolted into the end zone for a touchdown and a 48-0 advantage.

The Paden City defensive ends Hinkley and Pyles were in the Hornet back field all night and defensive linemen of Billiter, Trey Leonard, Keith Hardbarger, and Kyle Staton kept the Hundred QB running for his life the whole game. “I am real happy with how our defense played,” continued Croasmun. “That’s one of the better performances we have had here in a very long time. Our line got good penetration all night and our ends did a good job containing.”

The Wildcats’ Geoffrey Bidwell took over behind the center and rambled 40 yards on a keeper but fell short of the goal line. However, he scored one play later to push the ‘Cats’ advantage to 48-0.

Paden City reserves Craig Allen and Brandon Cross each found the end zone in the fourth quarter to help Paden City post a 60-0 shutout.

The Wildcats finished with 363 yards rushing and 418 yards of total offense. “We played real well on offense the last couple weeks and that starts with the offensive line, which has just been overpowering,” Croasmun said. Paden City’s offensive line consists of Ben Anderson at center, Hardbarger and Leonard at guards, Staton and Billiter at tackles, and Hinkley at tight end.

Bidwell followed Still with 75 yard rushing and a touchdown, while Allen, Cross, and Heasley tacked on positive yardage. Heasley was 3-4 for 48 yards and a pair TDs to Hinkley, while Kennedy Cain hauled in a Bidwell pass for 19 yards.

Shutting down the Hornets was an understatement, as the Wildcat defense swarmed to the ball and allowed Hundred to accumulate only 54 total yards of offense. Fifty-one of those yards came on a Murphy-to-Mhar Olayan pass reception. Murphy and Thomas Preston had 14 yards rushing, but lost yardage from quarterback sacks and tackles behind the line of scrimmage gave Hundred minus yardage rushing.

The Wildcat defensive line shut down running lane opportunities, while the secondary and linebackers clawed the Hornets with four sacks and an interception, forced fumbles, and deflected several passes.

Leonard and Matt Barker had seven tackles each, with Barker dropping Hundred kick returners four times. Hinkley, Billiter, and Pyles each recorded six tackles for the 2-2 Wildcats. Staton, Leonard, and Pyles each recorded a quarterback sack, while Leonard had a fumble recovery.

Hundred’s Raymond Yoho had a game-high 12 tackles, while Olayan, Tyler Opyoke, and Jade Hains each recorded eight tackles.

Paden City will visit Cameron Friday at 7:30 p.m., while Hundred will travel to Monarch Stadium in Moundsville to take on Bishop Donahue, also at 7:30 p.m.

River 42, Caldwell 41

The River Pilots’ senior runningback, Austin McConn, powered his way into the end zone from one yard out and freshman Colton Wright split the uprights in overtime to give the Pilots a thrilling 42-41 victory over the Caldwell Redskins at Flannery Field Sept. 23.

McConn scored the game’s first tally and Wright’s kick was true to give the Pilots a 7-0 lead in the opening period.

However, the Redskins responded with three straight touchdown scampers to forge into the lead at 19-7.

River’s backup quarterback, Logan Lucas, tossed a 66-yard touchdown aerial to Dallas Necessary to cut the deficit. Usual quarterback Cody Caldwell was sidelined from a concussion in River’s previous game.

The Pilots closed the gap right before the half on a special team’s play and its defense stuffed the Redskin offense on its last series of the first half. McConn broke loose to block a punt and teammate Jordan Sapp picked up the loose pigskin and rambled 40 yards for another Pilot score to climb to within 21-19 at the break.

When play resumed in the second half, a fired-up Caldwell bunch scored twice. And, before you could blink an eye, the Redskins extended their lead to 35-21. However, River clawed its way back, scoring on a one-yard plunge from McConn, who caught the two point conversion pass from Lucas later in the third frame.

River held the mighty Redskins in the fourth period and Lucas ran the football in from 10 yards out to knot the game at 35. But, the all-important PAT attempt that would have won the game missed its mark to send the game into overtime.

In the overtime period, Caldwell scored on an 18-yard run to give the guests a six-point lead after the PAT failed. That gave the Pilots the opening they needed to gain the nod.

But, the first-down snap sailed over the head of Lucas and rolled 15 yards to the 35 yard line where Lucas fell on top of it. After an incomplete pass and facing a third and long, Lucas connected with Kameron Brown on a 14 yard pitch-and-catch to set up a fourth down situation at the 21 yard line. Needing 11 yards for a fresh set of downs, the Pilot quarterback connected with Brown once more to give the hosts a new set of downs inside the Redskin five yard line. That set the stage for the McConn-Wright game-winning heroics.

Lucas was 17-29 for 241 yards and a touchdown, while McConn rushed for three touchdowns and caught a two-point conversion pass to lead the Pilot offense. McConn also hauled in five passes for 45 yards. Brown, Necessary and Garth Richter each caught three passes, while Cross caught two and Nick Asturi grabbed one.

Defensively, Asturi led the way with 10 tackles and two quarterback sacks. Jonathan Stewart had nine tackles and five assists, while McConn brought down eight Redskins and assisted on five. Richter had seven tackles and two assists and Brown claimed five tackles and one assist.

The Pilots will host Zanesville’s Bishop Rosecrans at 7 p.m. on Homecoming night at Flannery Field, Friday, Sept. 30.

Toronto 22, Valley 8

The Valley Lumberjack defense gave up 377 yards on the ground to the Toronto Red Knights in a 22-8 defeat on Valley’s Homecoming Night.

Before the game, the Lumberjacks crowned Kaylee Cain homecoming queen, but that was one of few things that the Valley faithful had to cheer about during the evening.

After holding Valley to a three-and-out to start the game, Toronto marched down the field 65 yards and tallied the game’s first touchdown on a rained-soaked, muddy Tom West field in the opening period to grab a quick 8-0 lead after the two point conversion run.

The ‘Jacks hung right with the big and strong Red Knights, but only reached the Red Knight Red-Zone on their second possession after a nice Hunter Ring to Drew Wade 54-yard pass play. However, the Knights got a break when the Valley receiver slipped and fell for an incomplete pass in the end zone. Toronto took over at its own six yard line.

The young Lumberjack defense held the Knights to a third down situation time and time again, but couldn’t stop them from picking up first downs, where they had 18 and Valley had only six.

However, Valley would hold its ground when the guests would get near the goal line, and went to the locker room down 8-0.

The third period was a carbon copy of the first two periods and the ‘Jacks were within striking distance, down only eight heading into the final period of play.

The Valley defense for most of the game was just worn out and Toronto finally finished a pair of drives with rushing touchdowns to take a 22-0 lead.

However, Ring connected with Casey Pingley on a nifty 74-yard pitch and-catch to break up the shutout and Clay Ueltschy caught the two point conversion pass.

Toronto had the ball for the biggest part of the game, grinding out 377 yards on 63 carries from the ground, while missing on all three passing plays.

Valley ran the ball only 24 times for 60 yards. Pingley, the team’s leading ball carrier, rushed for 63 yards on 14 carries, while Wade netted seven yards and Jon Smallwood tacked on five yards.

Ring completed one pass each to Pingley, Wade and Ueltschy for 142 yards, one TD and two interceptions.

Defensively, Ueltschy had a game-high 15 tackles, while T.C. Long and Spencer Mason each recorded 11 tackles. Smallwood made nine stops.

Valley will travel to Blacksville Friday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 pm. to face the Clay-Battelle Cee-Bees.