Big Reds Build Big Lead, Coast to 41-6 Win Over Dragons

Game Statistics / Game Pictures

In military terms it was a first half blitzkrieg as the Big Reds played near perfect football to build a 35-0 halftime lead and then coasted to a 41-6 victory over St. Albans Friday night at Stadium Field.

Easton Martin ran for 129 yards and scored two touchdowns on just six carries while five other players reached the end zone as PHS won its second straight game.

Bradley Craig ran for one TD and threw a pair of touchdown passes, one each to Brenton Strange and Karson Snyder while Nick Johnson returned a punt 78 yards for a score.

Defensively, Noah Weaver led a defense that held the Red Dragons out of the end zone until the middle of the fourth quarter.

PHS produced a touchdown the first time it touched the ball when Johnson raced 78 yards up the middle on a punt return with less than four minutes gone in the game.

Two minutes later Johnson took the ball away from a St. Albans ball carrier at midfield. six plays later Craig threw a fade pass to 6-foot-4 freshman Strange in the end zone for a 10 yard scoring play to make it 14-0 with 4:17 left in the first quarter.

PHS had to punt on its next possession despite a play where Craig had a three yard reception of a pass he threw himself which was batted into the air and landed back in the quarterback's hands.

The next series for the Big Reds was short and sweet as they went 62 yards on three plays for their third score. A 36 yard run up the gut by Weaver was followed by a great second effort run for 19 yards by Martin, who took it into the end zone around the right side on the next play with 10:46 remaining in the half.

After a three-and-out defensive stand the next PHS possession was even shorter as Martin broke loose for a 77 yard TD scamper on the first play to make it 28-0 with 8:17 still left on the clock.

The final Big Red points of the half were set up by Brannon Turner's 24 yard interception return to the 11 yard line. A six-yard personal foul penalty on the Dragons meant it took Craig just two tries to get in the end zone from the five.

The second half started poorly for PHS as three plays resulted in minus 16 yards and then a punt, But the punt turned out to be a 66 yarder by Chase Minnite. The visitors then reeled off 11 plays to move from their own nine to the 50 before having to punt again.

The Big Reds then needed just four plays to score. Strange ran 50 yards for a touchdown that was called back by a penalty only to have that followed by a 46 yard TD catch and run by Snyder of a Craig pass.

St. Albans finally got on the board with a one yard run with 7:23 left in the game thanks mainly to a 32 yard quarterback scramble by Jayson Barrett.

The Big Reds actually had almost 200 yards rushing (198) in the game but lost 46 yards on 10 different plays. In the air, Craig was seven of 10 for 115 yards with Strange the only one to catch more than one pass.

Score by Quarters           1     2   3   4 - Total
St Albans (1-5)                  0    0   0  6 - 6
Big Reds (2-4)                  14   21  6  0 - 41
Qtr Time Scoring play
1st 08:19 PHS - Nick Johnson 78 yd punt return (Chase Minnite kick)
04:17 PHS - Brenton Strange 10 yd pass from Bradley Craig (Chase Minnite kick), 6-49 1:59
2nd 10:46 PHS - Easton Martin 7 yd run (Chase Minnite kick), 3-57 0:57
08:17 PHS - Easton Martin 77 yd run (Chase Minnite kick), 1-72 0:16
02:21 PHS - Bradley Craig 5 yd run (Chase Minnite kick), 2-11 0:50
3rd 02:45 PHS - Karson Snyder 46 yd pass from Bradley Craig, 4-71 2:38
4th 07:23 SA - Layette Patterson 1 yd run (Jayson Barrett pass failed), 10-65 3:41
                                                  SA               PHS
FIRST DOWNS                      10                12
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)         52-190         29-152
PASSING YDS (NET)            15                128
Passes Att-Comp-Int                  5-1-1           11-8-0
TOTAL OFFENSE –YARDS  57-205         40-280
Fumble Returns-Yards               0-0               0-0
Punt Returns-Yards                   0-0               3-119
Kickoff Returns-Yards              6-42             2-40
Interception Returns-Yards        0-0               1-24
Punts (Number-Avg)                 8-30.0          4-41.8
Fumbles-Lost                             4-1               0-0
Penalties-Yards                          9-68             8-64
Possession Time                        28:04           19:56
Third-Down Conversions          6 of 15         4 of 8
Fourth-Down Conversions        0 of 0           0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances         1-1               3-5
Sacks By: Number-Yards          2-9               0-0
RUSHING: St Albans-Layette Patterson 28-110; Jayson Barrett 7-59; Reggie Jackson 9-19; Kobe Wright 1-3; Gavin Nida 1-2; Carter Lantz 1-1; John McCoy 1-0; Bo Deleonardis 1-minus 1; Gerardo Deleonardis 1-minus 1; Kayleb Driggs 2-minus 2. Big Reds-Easton Martin 6-129; Noah Weaver 2-37; Nick Johnson 3-4; Brenton Strange 3-3; Karson Snyder 2-minus 2; Dakoda Sims 4-minus 3; Jaden Lacaria 4-minus 6; Bradley Craig 5-minus 10.
PASSING: St Albans-Jayson Barrett 1-4-1-15; Nathan Roy 0-1-0-0. Big Reds-Bradley Craig 7-10-0-115; Karson Snyder 1-1-0-13.
RECEIVING: St Albans-Zach Robrtson 1-15. Big Reds-Brenton Strange 2-25; Karson Snyder 1-46; Brannon Turner 1-19; Dakoda Sims 1-13; Nick Johnson 1-12; Easton Martin 1-10; Bradley Craig 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS: St Albans-None. Big Reds-Brannon Turner 1-24.
FUMBLES: St Albans-Jayson Barrett 1-0; Bo Deleonardis 1-0; Reggie Jackson 1-0; Gerardo Deleonardis 1-1. Big Reds-None.
TACKLES (UA-A): St Albans-None. Big Reds-Noah Weaver 8-7; Tyler Lawrentz 4-4; Nick Johnson 4-3; Davey McNemar 2-5; Stevie Scholl 3-0; Issiah Gossett 2-1; Brenton Strange 2-1; Isaac Edman 1-2; Ethan Farinash 1-2; Easton Martin 2-0; Karson Snyder 1-1; Jarrid Winters 1-0; Graham Nesselrode 1-0; Joe Robinson 1-0; Dakoda Sims 1-0; Nathaniel Steed 1-0; Bradley Craig 1-0; Jesse McGrew 1-0.