Big Reds Fall to Highlanders

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HUNTINGTON - Clark Wilson threw two touchdown passes, Stefan Gibbs scored two touchdowns and Cason Kessinger kicked two field goals to lead the Huntington Highlanders to a 41-6 win over the Parkersburg Big Reds here Friday.

While the Huntington offense was rolling up over 400 yards in total offense, 247 rushing and 157 passing, it was the Highlander defense which actually stood out by limiting the visiting Big Reds to just 85 total yards.

PHS managed just five first downs, ran for just 38 yards and completed just five of 20 passes for 47 yards with one interception. The Big Reds punted the ball eight times and had one of those returned for a touchdown.

The home team, which has now beaten PHS five times in row, spreads its offensive heroics with four different players scoring touchdowns, three players rushing for between 49 and 80 yards and five players catching passes.

Dan Fox scored the only Parkersburg touchdown on a 20 yard reception in the third quarter and wound up catching four of the five completions in all while also returning two kickoffs for 60 yards.

Max Chefren continued to be the defensive standout with 11 tackles, including one sack and five tackles for loss. For the season the senior defensive end has an amazing 25.5 tackles for loss and six sacks among his 68 tackles plus a defensive touchdown.

Things got off to a bad start for PHS when Huntington kicked off and Big Red return man Jaden Lacaria appeared to go into the end zone but was allowed to run the ball out and got only to the seven yard line. Five plays later a punt put the home team in possession just 51 yards from the PHS end zone.

The PHS defense held and forced a 30 yard field goal by Kessinger, who was a big weapon for the Highlanders with his strong leg.

An interception gave Huntington the ball back two plays later and it took just two plays for the home team to cover the 34 yards with Wilson hitting Brandon Morrison over the middle for the touchdown and a 10-0 lead.

Huntington scored on its next possession thanks to a 63 yard pass to Dionne Jackson, who out-leaped the Big Red defender and then ran all the way to the PHS 24 yard line. The touchdown came on a six yard run by Gibbs to make it 17-0.

A short punt of only 11 yards set up Huntington's next score, a 17 yard pass from Wilson to Daniel Clark to make it 24-0. Wilson was injures a short time later when he scrambled for 18 yards but hurt his knee when he was run out of bounds.

Three big defensive plays by Chefren kept the Highlanders out of the end zone on their next possession and on the final play of the first half, Kessinger missed a 51 yard field goal attempt.

Kessinger kicked a 32 yard field goal just three and a half minutes into the second half but PHS got on the board on its second possession of the second half when they drove 52 yards in six plays with Trembly hitting Austin Life for 12 yards to set up the pass for the TD to Fox with 2:57 left in the third quarter.

Huntington got into the red zone on its following possession but Jordan Colebank came up with an interception for PHS at his 16 yard line and returned it to the 29.

But as was the case all night, the PHS offense failed to produce and Huntington got the ball back on another three-and-out punt. The Highlanders then took just two plays to score as Clark ran for 24 yards before Gibbs broke off a 38 yard run for the touchdown.

The final score of the night was a 71 yard punt return down the sideline by Jackson with 6:01 left in the game.

#18 Big Reds vs #16 Highlanders (Oct 17, 2014 at Huntington, WV)

Score by Quarters...................... 1 ..2 ..3 ..4 - Total
Parkersburg Big Reds............. 0 ..0 ..6 ..0 - 6
Huntington Highlanders........ 10 14 .3 .14 - 41

Qtr Time Scoring play
1st 04:45 HUNTINGT - Cason Kessinger 30 yd field goal, 11-38 4:46
03:20 HUNTINGT - Brandon Morrison 32 yd pass from Clark Wilson (Cason Kessinger kick), 2-34 0:40
2nd 11:49 HUNTINGT - Stefan Gibbs 6 yd run (Cason Kessinger kick), 5-82 1:24
09:34 HUNTINGT - Daniel Clark 17 yd pass from Clark Wilson (Cason Kessinger kick), 3-20 0:51
3rd 08:36 HUNTINGT - Cason Kessinger 32 yd field goal, 8-29 3:16
02:57 PHS - Dan Fox 20 yd pass from Josh Trembly (Josh Roney kick blocked), 6-52 2:03
4th 07:48 HUNTINGT - Stefan Gibbs 38 yd run (Cason Kessinger kick), 4-71 1:46
06:01 HUNTINGT - Dionne Jackson 71 yd punt return (Cason Kessinger kick)