Highlanders Hand Big Reds 28-6 Loss

Game Statistics / Game Pictures

Jadon Hayes of Huntington ran for 236 yards on 28 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead the number one ranked Highlanders to their fourth straight victory, a 28-6 decision over host Parkersburg Friday night at Stadium Field.

The Highlanders broke open a close game with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. PHS trailed 7-6 at the half.

PHS suffered an early turnover when a PHS receiver caught the ball only to have it stripped by a Huntington defender. The Highlanders, however, could not convert as a bad snap ruined a 23 yard field goal try by Cason Kessinger, who put four of five kickoffs into the end zone on the night.

Huntington got on the board first late in the second quarter when Seth Finnegan capped a long, 15 play, 84 yard drive with a seven yard touchdown run with 3:15 left in the half. Kessinger kicked the first of four extra points to make it 7-0.

But PHS took to the air and were aided by a pair of 15 yard penalties on Huntington as the Big Reds got their touchdown just over two and half minutes later. But it was a costly drive as the Big Reds lost their big play offensive weapon when Karson Snyder went down with an ankle injury after catching a seven yard pass over the middle. Snyder had caught three passes for 44 yards when he left the game, not to return.

But even without Snyder, PHS got on the board thanks to a 17 yard screen pass to Rylan Hamilton to the three yard line. Two plays later Hamilton went over left guard with 36 seconds remaining before halftime. However, the extra point missed and PHS trailed 7-6.

Huntington wasted little time in the second half, getting a touchdown on a 53 yard run by Hayes just 45 seconds into the third quarter.

It looked like PHS would respond in kind after a 49 yard kickoff return by Hamilton to mid-field. a 15 yard run by Bradley Craig and a 12 yard scamper by Easton Martin helped PHS move the ball to the 17. A pass to Craig picked up 11 more yards but the threat expired after two incomplete passes on the Huntington three yard line with 8:13 showing on the third quarter clock.

The rest of the was spent with PHS chasing Hayes as he ran for 154 of his yards in the second half and carried the ball 13 times. The Big Reds never threatened after its failure to score on a first and goal from the six early in the third period.

For PHS, Ethan Airhart completed 16 of 28 passes for 157 yards and one interception with Hamilton catching six for 37 and Strange two for 50. Defensively, Dave McNemar led the way with 16 tackles while Tyler Lawrentz had 11 tackles and played an outstanding first half.

#2 Huntington vs #16 Parkersburg Big Reds (Sept 16, 2016 at Parkersburg)
Score by Quarters                1        2        3       4      -      Total
Huntington                         0       7       7       14     -        28
Parkersburg Big Reds         0       6       0       0       -        6
Qtr Time Scoring play
2nd 03:15 HUNT - Seth Finnegan 7 yd run (Cason Kessinger kick), 15-84 6:14
00:36 PHS - Rylan Hamilton 2 yd run (Christian Axman kick failed), 8-80 2:39
3rd 11:15 HUNT - Jadon Hayes 53 yd run (Cason Kessinger kick), 2-54 0:45
4th 10:30 HUNT - Brandt Adkins 1 yd run (Cason Kessinger kick), 6-93 1:32
07:55 HUNT - Jadon Hayes 4 yd run (Cason Kessinger kick), 4-44 1:38
......................................................HUNT        PHS
FIRST DOWNS                                19               14
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)                 49-346        19-49
PASSING YDS (NET)                      72               157
Passes Att-Comp-Int                        10-7-1         29-16-2
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 59-418        48-206
Fumble Returns-Yards                      0-0              0-0
Punt Returns-Yards                          0-0              0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards                      2-27            1-49
Interception Returns-Yards              2-4              1-0
Punts (Number-Avg)                         3-32.0         5-37.4
Fumbles-Lost                                    0-0              1-1
Penalties-Yards                                 12-108        3-23
Possession Time                                25:51          22:09
Third-Down Conversions                 4 of 9          2 of 8
Fourth-Down Conversions               1 of 2          0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances                 3-4              1-3
Sacks By: Number-Yards                 1-8              1-5
RUSHING: Huntington-Jadon Hayes 28-236; Seth Finnegan 13-90; Richard Edwards 3-13; Brandt Adkins 5-7. Parkersburg Big Reds-Ethan Airhart 7-16; Easton Martin 5-16; Rylan Hamilton 4-7; Bradley Craig 1-6; Karson Snyder 1-4; Brenton Strange 1-0.
PASSING: Huntington-Brandt Adkins 7-10-1-72. Parkersburg Big Reds-Ethan Airhart 16-28-1-157; Bradley Craig 0-1-1-0.
RECEIVING: Huntington-Chris Rogers 2-32; Seth Finnegan 2-28; Lenny Jackson 2-5; Ian Norwood 1-7. Parkersburg Big Reds-Rylan Hamilton 6-37; Karson Snyder 3-44; Brenton Strange 2-50; Bradley Craig 2-14; Easton Martin 2-8; Shane Miller 1-4.
INTERCEPTIONS: Huntington-Malik Grier 1-4; Dez Bradshaw 1-0. Parkersburg Big Reds-Easton Martin 1-0.
FUMBLES: Huntington-None. Parkersburg Big Reds-Brenton Strange 1-1.
SACKS (UA-A): Huntington-Manny Mercedes 1-0. Parkersburg-Shane Miller 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): Huntington-Manny Mercedes 1-0; malik Grier 1-0. Parkersburg Big Reds-Davey McNemar 5-11; Tyler Lawrentz 7-4; Brenton Strange 5-3; Wyatt Strobl 3-5; Jake Johnson 4-3; Easton Martin 3-3; Max Turner 1-4; Karson Snyder 1-1; Shane Miller 1-1; Jacob Woodyard 0-2; Ryan Creech 0-2; Tyler Moler 0-2; Christian Axman 1-0.
Huntington (4-0) vs. Parkersburg Big Reds (1-3)
Attendance: 1000
Kickoff time: 7:00 • End of Game: 9:13 • Total elapsed time: 2:13. Temperature: 87