PHS "Cardiac Kids" Drop Another Heartbreaker, 27-26

For the second week in a row the PHS football team staged a great comeback only to have it come up short as the Big Red "Cardiac Kids" showed great heart but still came up one point shy, 27-26, against the home standing Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles of Beckley.

Scoring three touchdowns in the final nine minutes of the game, the Big Reds put it all on the line in going for the victory with 11 seconds remaining after Aaron Roberts scored on a one yard quarterback sneak. But on the two-point conversion attempt, Roberts was tackled short of the goal line and PHS suffered its fourth loss of the season and second in a row by the margin of an extra point conversion.

The Big Reds entered the fourth quarter trailing 14-6 but put Beckley in the hole early when Kyle Foster punted to the 10 yard line. A sack by Chase Shank and J.D. Barnette put the home team back on its one yard line and two plays later Roberts forced a fumble which Josh Trembly recovered almost on the goal line.

Roberts got the touchdown on the next play following the blocking of Ben McFarland and Austin Brown over the left side. Roberts then ran around right end for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14-14 with 9:11 on the clock.

But what had been a defensive struggle quickly opened up as Beckley, sparked by a 27 yard kickoff return, answered the Big Red score with a touchdown just five plays later on a three yard run by Troy Lilly. Brent Osborne's extra point kick made it 21-14 with 7:01 left in the game.

The Big Reds followed suit by going 68 yards on six plays with Roberts rolling left and hitting Austin Life on the two yard line and the PHS receiver stepped into the end zone to make it 21-20 with 4:18 left in the game. Head coach Don Reeves decided to go for the lead right there but Roberts' two-point conversion pass attempt was short of the mark and PHS trailed by one.

An onside kick failed and Beckley started from its own 50 and took seven plays to reach the end zone on a 28 yard pass to Chase Hancock with just 1:21 remaining. But there was hope as the extra point kick was wide right and the margin was 27-20.

Roberts then hit Stephen Dailey for gains of 14 and 11 yards and found Dylan Thomas for a 24 yard pickup as the clocked ticked down. A personal foul penalty on Beckley gave PHS a first and goal on the eight yard line and Roberts picked up seven on one run and then ran a sneak for the touchdown with 11 seconds remaining.

Again the Big Reds rolled the dice for a try at victory instead of a tie but Roberts was stopped and the score was 27-26.

The never-say-die PHS squad kept their miracle hopes alive as Noah Weaver recovered the onside kick at the Beckley 47 with 6.5 ticks left but the 60 yard "Hail Mary" toss by Roberts into the end zone was batted down and the Eagles came away with the victory.

Roberts finished with 81 yards rushing and 180 yards passing for PHS while Chase Shank led the team with 93 yards on 18 rushes. Austin Life had two receptions for 88 yards and the Big Reds wound up with a 366-288 advantage in total yards but suffered three turnovers. Shank and Life were the leaders on defense with 14 and 11 tackles respectively.

An interception set up the first score of the game, a 24 yard run by Hancock with just 84 seconds gone in the game.

Beckley went up 14-0 with 11:05 left in the first half when Osborne passed 14 yards to Lilly from an unusual spread formation with all the interior linemen to the left of center.

But after that score the Big Reds put together a 12-play, 77 yard drive that ate up nearly five minutes. A 14 yard pass to Shank was the big gainer and set up the junior fullback's 10 yard run over left tackle with 6:02 on the clock. The extra point kick was low and PHS trailed 14-6.

Roberts drove PHS into scoring position again at the end of the half only to have his pass intercepted by Hancock at the Beckley three yard line.

On their first possession of the second half, PHS fans had something to cheer about when Roberts broke away for a 92 yard touchdown run only to have the play negated by a chop block penalty two yards deep in the Big Red backfield.

That set the stage for the wild fourth quarter.

Score by Quarters .........1 2 3 4 Total
Parkersburg Big Reds...... 0 6 0 20 - 26
Woodrow Wilson............ 7 7 0 13 - 27

Qtr Time ....................Scoring play
1st 10:36 BECKLEY - Chase Hancock 24 yd run (Brent Osborne kick), 1-24 0:09
2nd 11:05 BECKLEY - Troy Lilly 14 yd pass from Brent Osborne (Brent Osborne kick), 10-39 6:55
06:02 PHS - Chase Shank 10 yd run (Josh Roney kick failed), 12-77 4:57
4th 09:11 PHS - Aaron Roberts 1 yd run (Aaron Roberts rush), 1-1 0:03
07:01 BECKLEY - Troy Lilly 3 yd run (Brent Osborne kick), 5-43 2:03
04:19 PHS - Austin Life 43 yd pass from Aaron Roberts (Aaron Roberts pass failed), 6-68 2:34
01:21 BECKLEY - Chase Hancock 28 yd pass from Brent Osborne (Brent Osborne kick failed), 7-50 2:57
00:11 PHS - Aaron Roberts 1 yd run (Aaron Roberts rush failed), 7-67 1:04

......................................PHS BECKLEY

FIRST DOWNS.................... 19 18
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 40-186 37-192
PASSING YDS (NET) .........180 96
Passes Att-Comp-Int .........17-8-3 19-9-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 57-366 56-288
Fumble Returns-Yards .........0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............. 0-0 2-28
Kickoff Returns-Yards........ 5-55 5-53
Interception Returns-Yards ...0-0 3-36
Punts (Number-Avg) ............3-32.7 2-26.5
Fumbles-Lost .......................1-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards ................10-84 11-90
Possession Time ..............27:42 35:18
Third-Down Conversions.. 5 of 10 3 of 10
Fourth-Down Conversions. 0 of 0 2 of 4
Red-Zone Scores-Chances. 3-4 2-4
Sacks By: Number-Yards ....1-8 0-0

RUSHING: Parkersburg Big Reds-Chase Shank 18-93; Aaron Roberts 14-81; Dylan Thomas 4-13; Chandler Hamilton 3-6; Josh Trembly 1-minus 7. Woodrow Wilson-Chase Hancock 11-87; Ron Blanks 4-50; Troy Lilly 10-44; Brent Osborne 10-12; Josh Creed 2-minus 1.

PASSING: Parkersburg Big Reds-Aaron Roberts 8-17-3-180. Woodrow Wilson-Brent Osborne 9-19-0-96.

RECEIVING: Parkersburg Big Reds-Austin Life 2-88; Chase Shank 2-29; Stephen Dailey 2-25; Dylan Thomas 1-24; Josh Trembly 1-14. Woodrow Wilson-Chase Hancock 4-55; Josh Creed 3-29; Troy Lilly 1-14;
Neq. Carrington 1-minus 2.

INTERCEPTIONS: Parkersburg Big Reds-None. Woodrow Wilson-Chase Hancock 2-20; Mecko Harris 1-16.

FUMBLES: Parkersburg Big Reds-Austin Life 1-0. Woodrow Wilson-TM 1-1; Chase Hancock 1-1.

SACKS (UA-A): Parkersburg Big Reds-Chase Shank 1-0. Woodrow Wilson-None.

TACKLES (UA-A): Parkersburg Big Reds-Chase Shank 5-9; Austin Life 5-6; Max Chefren 3-5; Stephen Dailey 4-2; Dylan Thomas 3-2; JD Barnette 2-3; Austin Brown 0-5; Chandler Hamilton 4-0; Josh Trembly 1-3; Aaron Roberts 2-1; Charley Conley 1-1; Noah Weaver 1-0; Josh Winger 0-1. Woodrow Wilson-Chase Hancock 8-2; Travis Matherly 4-2; Nicholas Cook 4-2; Troy Lilly 5-0; Ron Blanks 3-1; Chris Worley 2-1; Dakota Sizemore 1-2; Noah Hancock 1-2; Dylan Foster 0-3; Josh Creed 1-1; Justin Ward 1-0; Ocsar Escobar 1-0; 43 1-0; Brand. Hansford 0-1.