Parkersburg High School Big Reds Football

Oct 5, 2018 George Washington: Game

Moler Sets Rushing Record; Strange Leads Defense in 32-7 Win Over GW

It has been quite a week for Brenton Strange but Friday night he had to turn a lot of the spotlight over to Tyler Moler.
Moler became the first runner in the 100-plus year history of Parkersburg High School football to eclipse the 300 yard mark in a single game as he set the school record in a 32-7 triumph over visiting George Washington.
The senior running back rushed for an all-time record 308 yards on 31 carries and scored three touchdowns to power PHS to its fourth win of the year. He scored on runs of 53, 29 and 80 yards as he eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark for the second season in a row. His yardage total broke the record of 299 yards set by Ryan Holbert in 2002.
Of course Strange also had something to say about the Big Reds fourth success in last five games. After officially committing on Monday to attend Penn State next fall and play football for the Nittany Lions, all the 6-foot-5 senior did against GW was add to his already school record totals for receptions, yardage and touchdowns by catching five passes for 66 yards and a touchdown on a 37 yard play. But he was even more of a presence on defense as he had two quarterbacks, two interceptions and six total tackles to help PHS shut down a George Washington offense led by Marshall recruit Grant Wells.
The Big Reds held a GW offense which had been averaging 35 points to a mere touchdown while coming up with four interceptions. Kionte Peacock and Jacob Woodyard also had picks for PHS with Woodyard leading the team in tackles with seven and one sack. PHS had three sacks of Wells in addition to the interceptions and the senior Patriot quarterback completed just 13 of 27 passes for only 115 yards. The Patriots also were held to 93 yards on the ground (38 of that coming on one run by Wells).
Jake Johnson, who threw for over 400 yards last week, added 108 through the air against GW, hitting 12 of 20 passes and two touchdowns (giving him 18 on the season).
The Big Reds took the opening kickoff and drove 62 yards on 11 plays to score on Johnson’s three yard pass to Shane Miller with three minutes elapsed.
After forcing a punt, PHS got the ball back on its eight yard line but moved to midfield before an interception halted the series.
However, Strange promptly picked off Wells on the next play and PHS had the ball on the GW 32. Two penalties cost the Big Reds 20 yards and on fourth down they threw an incomplete pass. PHS was flagged 11 times for 114 yards in the game.
GW drove to the Big Red five yard line behind the arm and legs of Wells but Strange halted that threat with an end zone interception which he returned 102 yards for a touchdown only to have it erased by a flag thrown for holding 10 yards behind the ball carrier.
An exchange of punts saw PHS get the ball back on his 41and three plays later Moler broke loose for a 53 yard sprint to the end zone to make it 13-0.
George Washington got on the board thanks to a 38-yard run by Wells that set up his short TD pass to Alex Mazelon with 2:50 left in the first half.
But two minutes later Moler broke off another scoring run, this one from 29 yards away and PHS went into intermission on top by the score of 19-7.
The third quarter was a punting contest until Woodyard came up with his interception. Three running plays by Moler gained 23 yards before Johnson found Strange behind the GW defense for a 37 yard scoring toss to run the lead to 257 just 35 seconds into the fourth quarter.
The Big Reds got the ball back again one play later on Peacock’s pick of Wells and it was another dose of Moler as he ran three times for 11 yards to push the ball to the 20 yard line before he took it all the way with 9:03 left for TD number three.
Needing just 18 yards to reach the 300 mark, the Big Red offensive line saw to it that Moler reached his goal on their next possession as he gained eight, one and then 17 yards before leaving the game to a standing ovation.