It wasn’t pretty, but the Valley Lumberjacks defeated Bellaire St. John 21-2 Homecoming night at Tom West Field, Oct. 2.

Before the game, Valley High School crowned their 2009 Homecoming Queen, McKenzie Bucher.

The ‘Jacks received the opening kickoff. But, St. John – who had all healthy players for the first time this season – stopped the them with a three-and-out.

The ‘Jacks pinned the Irish on their first series, sacking the visiting quarterback twice and forcing the Irish to punt at the five yard line. Valley brought the punt back in St. John territory and started their second drive in good field position. After marching down the field, the ‘Jacks’ Ronald Morris high-stepped it in from 17 yards for a Valley touchdown. Jeremiah Burch added the extra point kick to give the hosts a 7-0 lead early in the first period.

Neither team could score the rest of the period, but the ‘Jacks did find paydirt in the second period on a 16-yard TD scamper by Cody Scott. The point after failed and Valley went into the locker room up, 13-0.

After the break, Morris scored Valley’s final touchdown on a four-yard plunge in the third period and Alex Henderson caught a Garrett Ueltschy pass for the two point conversion.

The ‘Jacks failed to score in the fourth period, but the Irish landed their hosts in the endzone for a two-point safety.

“It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win,” said Valley Head Coach Tom West. “St. John has played all season with injured starters and was healthy in this match. They are a better team than their record shows. I thought our offense moved the ball well on the ground, and I was impressed with our defense. We stopped them when we had too. We caught them at their best and we scored enough points to get the win.”

Morris led Valley’s ground assault with 73 yards and two touchdowns, while Scott and Cody Bates netted 71 and 60 yards, respectively. Matthew Poling netted 13 yards rushing, while Ueltschy added 11 yards. Casey Pingley, Kierin Swiger and Drew Wade each added positive yards for the Lumberjacks.

Passing the ball, Ueltschy hooked up with Scott on a 12-yard gainer and connected with Henderson on a two-point conversion pass.

Defensively, Poling picked off an Irish pass and joined Pingley and Billy Streets in delivering a QB sack. In addition, Pingley, Scott, Morris and Clay Ueltschy recovered Irish fumbles. The leading tackler for Valley was Justin Carter and Clay Ueltschy with eight each, while Streets, Wade and Scott each added six.

The Lumberjacks will play their next three games on the road starting with Clay-Battelle Friday, Oct. 9; Bishop Donahue, on Oct. 23 and Paden City on Oct. 30. The final regular season game will be played at Tom West Field in Pine Grove Nov. 6 against Cameron.