Playff Hopes Alive As Big Reds Bounce Riverside 48-35 On Record-Setting Night
Game Statistics
BELLE - Records fell as the Big Reds kept their playoff hopes alive with a wild 48-35 win over Riverside here Friday night.
Winning their fourth game of the year, the Big Reds got big games from the big three of Karson Snyder, Easton Martin and Brenton Strange and a defense which came up with seven turnovers to defeat the host Warriors and end their dream of an amazing turn-around that they hoped would produce a playoff berth. PHS will shoot for win number five next week when they host Parkersburg South.
Snyder set a pair of school records and moved closer to another as he caught two touchdown passes among his seven receptions. He now holds the all-time regular season record of 11scoring receptions, has tied the all-time record of 11 in a single year (held by Mike Lerch) and is just one behind the record for career TD catches with his 19 total (Jeremy Bell holds the record with 20).
Easton Martin turned in his second straight 200-plus rushing yardage night and ran for three touchdowns, including two in a crucial fourth quarter effort that held off the Warriors. Martin was a workhorse with 28 carries for 218 yards, nearly bettering his career mark of 221 yards set just last week.
Strange, who earlier this year tied a school record with two interception returns for touchdowns in a single game, tied another mark against Riverside with three interceptions. He also scored an offensive touchdown in the third quarter when the two teams were trading scores like two boxers going toe-to-toe in the middle of the ring.
The Big Reds came up with three fumble recoveries including a 30 yard touchdown return by Wyatt Strobl.
Bradley Craig, who had the other interception for PHS, wound up throwing for 123 yards as he completed 11 of 20 passes. Those passing yards combined with 270 yards rushing gave the Big Reds 393 yards in total offense.
Riverside, which had lost 24 games in a row prior to a season-opening win over Beckley, piled up 461 yards in total offense as quarterback Mark Scites completed 22 of 35 passes for 285 yards but suffered four interceptions. The Warriors had one receiver catch seven passes and three catch five each. Gage Lanham ran for three touchdowns.
Riverside took the opening kickoff and went 71 yards on 10 plays but PHS answered promptly on an eight-play, 70-yard drive to set the tone for the entire evening.
The Warriors went 65 yards to the end zone on seven plays in their next possession but this time the Big Reds could not answer and punted the ball away. Riverside drove to the PHS 31 but Strange intercepted on the six yard line and returned the ball 50 yards to the Warrior 44. This time PHS capitalized with Craig finding Snyder for the final 23 yards to tied the game at 14 after the extra point kick by Christian Axman.
The Big Reds went up by a TD when Wyatt Strobl recovered a fumble at the Riverside 30 and took it all the way to the end zone.
But this time Riverside was able to answer with a 10 yard TD run by Lanham that was set up by a 33 yard pass to Blake Wentz. That left the score at 21-all at the intermission.
PHS got the ball to start the second half and promptly went 65 yards for a touchdown in just seven plays with Snyder out-fighting a defender in the end zone for the record-breaking TD.
After the two teams traded punts, Riverside got the ball back and drove 58 yards on seven plays to tie the score again on an eight yard pass to Wentz. But three plays later Martin broke loose for a 54 yard run to set up a one yard plunge over the right side by Strange with 34 seconds left in the third period to make it 35-28.
Strange got his third pick of the night on the first play of the fourth quarter and returned it to the Riverside 15, setting up a touchdown run by Martin on the first play as he crossed the goal line dragging a defender behind him. That put PHS up by 14 points but with 11:42 left to play everyone in the stands knew there was more to come in the way of scoreboard changing.
It took Riverside just 2:15 to get on the board again as Lanham scored from the 21 to cap a 68-yard drive that saw four plays of 11 yards or more.
Things really looked precarious moments later when Martin fumbled the ball away but it was deep in Warrior territory at the 11. Riverside appeared to have gotten out of trouble when Lanham caught a 41 yard pass and took it to the 50 only to fumble with Shane Miller recovering and taking it to Riverside 32.
An illegal block on the fumble return put the ball back on the 42 but PHS was able to ride the running of Martin to the nine yard line where Axman missed a 26 yard field goal that would have given PHS some breathing room.
Two plays later Craig came up with an interception at the Riverside 38 and Martin got the insurance touchdown with 1:07 left in the game on a 21 yard run to surpass the double century mark.
Defensively for PHS, Strange had 10 tackles to go with his three interceptions while Davey McNemar and Tyler Lawrentz were in on nine stops each.
Parkersburg Big Reds vs Riverside Warriors (Oct 28, 2016 at Belle, WV)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 - Total
Parkersburg Big Reds 7 14 14 13 - 48
Riverside Warriors 14 7 7 7 - 35
Qtr Time Scoring play
1st 09:14 RIVER - Gage Lanham 9 yd run (Cameron Powell kick), 10-71 2:46
05:23 PHS - Easton Martin 13 yd run (Christian Axman kick), 8-70 3:49
02:42 RIVER - Jacob Clark 22 yd pass from Mark Scites (Cameron Powell kick), 7-65 2:41
2nd 08:00 PHS - Karson Snyder 23 yd pass from Bradley Craig (Christian Axman kick), 6-44 1:59
06:47 PHS - Wyatt Strobl 30 yd fumble recovery (Christian Axman kick)
04:37 RIVER - Gage Lanham 10 yd run (Cameron Powell kick), 6-65 2:10
3rd 08:58 PHS - Karson Snyder 20 yd pass from Bradley Craig (Christian Axman kick), 7-65 2:54
03:30 RIVER - Blake Wentz 8 yd pass from Mark Scites (Cameron Powell kick), 7-58 1:51
00:30 PHS - Brenton Strange 1 yd run (Christian Axman kick), 7-69 2:54
4th 11:36 PHS - Easton Martin 15 yd run (Christian Axman kick), 1-15 0:06
09:23 RIVER - Gage Lanham 21 yd run (Cameron Powell kick), 7-68 2:09
01:27 PHS - Easton Martin 21 yd run (Christian Axman kick blocked), 4-38 1:07
.................................................PHS RIVERSIDE
FIRST DOWNS 21 24
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 45-270 33-176
PASSING YDS (NET) 123 285
Passes Att-Comp-Int 20-11-1 36-22-4
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 65-393 69-461
Fumble Returns-Yards 2-48 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards 0-0 1-6
Kickoff Returns-Yards 6-63 6-63
Interception Returns-Yards 4-56 1-0
Punts (Number-Avg) 2-38.0 2-39.5
Fumbles-Lost 5-1 3-3
Penalties-Yards 2-22 11-99
Possession Time 26:29 21:15
Third-Down Conversions 9 of 14 6 of 10
Fourth-Down Conversions 1 of 2 0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances 5-7 3-3
Sacks By: Number-Yards 1-6 0-0
RUSHING: Parkersburg Big Reds-Easton Martin 28-218; Brenton Strange 6-34; Bradley Craig 9-14; Shane Miller 2-4. Riverside Warriors-Gage Lanham 12-67; Mark Scites 9-54; Alijah Fleming 11-39; Blake Wentz 1-16.
PASSING: Parkersburg Big Reds-Bradley Craig 11-20-1-123. Riverside Warriors-Mark Scites 22-35-4-285; Elias Canterbury 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: Parkersburg Big Reds-Karson Snyder 7-87; Brenton Strange 2-23; Chance Rawson 1-16; Tyler Lawrentz 1-minus 3. Riverside Warriors-Gage Lanham 7-85; Jacob Clark 5-75; Dom Reed 5-72; Blake Wentz 5-53.
INTERCEPTIONS: Parkersburg Big Reds-Brenton Strange 3-56; Bradley Craig 1-0. Riverside
Warriors-Michael Hall 1-0.
FUMBLES: Parkersburg Big Reds-Bradley Craig 4-0; Easton Martin 1-1. Riverside Warriors-Gage Lanham 1-1; Blake Wentz 1-1; Dom Reed 1-1.
Parkersburg Big Reds (4-5) vs. Riverside Warriors (4-6)
Attendance: 1000
Kickoff time: 7:00 • End of Game: 9:53 • Total elapsed time: 2:53
SACKS (UA-A): Parkersburg Big Reds-Davey McNemar 1-0. Riverside Warriors-None.
TACKLES (UA-A): Parkersburg Big Reds-Brenton Strange 7-3; Davey McNemar 5-4; Tyler Lawrentz 5-4; Jake Johnson 3-3; Tyler Moler 4-1; Karson Snyder 3-2; Easton Martin 3-1; Shane Miller 3-1; Chance Rawson 3-0; Isaac Edman 2-1; Wyatt Strobl 0-3; Bradley Craig 1-1; Ryan Creech 0-2; Max Turner 1-0; Brandon Braham 1-0.
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