Sept 21, 2018 at Marietta: Game

Big Plays Help Power PHS

Big Reds Over Marietta 41-28

Game Statistics

MARIETTA, Ohio – He may be the littlest guy on the field at 5-foot-6, 150 pounds (and that is stretching it a bit) but Braeden Mason made two of the biggest plays here Friday night in Parkersburg’s 41-28 big play win over long-time Ohio River rival Marietta.
On a night that saw the Big Reds turn in five plays of over 50 yards, Mason made his presence felt with a 66 yard touchdown reception and a 52 yard pass and run play. In all he caught six passes for a whopping 141 yards.
And he got plenty of help from the likes of Tyler Moler, Brenton Strange, Jake Johnson and Jeremy Walls.
Moler ran the ball 22 times for 230 yards and one touchdown while making a spectacular 16 yard reception for another score.
Strange caught six passes for 122 yards including receptions of 28, 29 and 32 yards.
Johnson scored two touchdowns while throwing for two more as he completed 15 of 21 for 295 yards (cracking the top 10 in all-time passing yards in a game) and ran for 50 more yards.
Walls actually turned in the biggest big play of the night when he intercepted a pass and returned it 87 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter. Hayden Morris also had an interception for PHS.
In all the Big Reds piled up 570 yards on 61 plays or nearly 10 yards per attempt but did turn the ball over three times (once at the Marietta five yard line).
Marietta, now 2-3 like Parkersburg, stayed in the game on the arm and legs of Corbin Alkire who ran for 86 yards on 12 carries and passed for 171 yards although completing just 12 of 32 passes with the two interceptions.
Defensively for PHS, C.J. Wade had nine tackles including a sack while Aurelius Edmonds contributed eight stops.
Marietta actually jumped out to a 7-0 lead as PHS turned the ball over on an interception on its first drive and the Tigers capitalized by going 33 yards on six plays to reach the end zone on a six yard pass to Tony Munos.
PHS drove 65 yards on its next possession but ran out of downs on the Marietta four when a lob to Strange in the corner of the end zone fell incomplete.
After forcing a Marietta punt, the rest of the first half belonged to the Big Reds as they scored on their next three possessions to take a 21-7 halftime lead.
A 32 yard pass to Strange and a run of 18 yards by Moler set up Johnson’s 23 yard TD scramble with no time left on the clock to end the first quarter.
PHS was back in business four plays later on its own 30 and three plays later Moler got open up the middle and was tripped up at the one yard. Johnson scored on the next play.
A missed field goal from 42 yards out by Marietta gave PHS the ball back on its 20 and seven plays later Moler scored from the one. A 28 yard catch by Strange was the big play on that drive.
On the first offensive play of the second half by PHS, Johnson threw a bomb to a wide-open Mason behind the Tiger secondary and he raced into the end zone to complete a 66-yard score and make it 28-7.
Marietta broke the string by scoring on a fourth and goal play from the seven with Alkire hitting a wide open Daniel Long to cut the lead to 28-14.
Walls came up with his pick-six late in the third quarter as Strange hit the Marietta quarterback causing a weak pass that the Big Red defensive back had little trouble snaring and heading up a wide-open field to make it 34-14.
A 31-yard run by Alkire set up a Marietta touchdown on a short run by Kory Science that cut the lead to 34-21 with just 11 seconds gone in the fourth quarter.
Later in the fourth period, Morris got his interception and return to the PHS 27 and that set up Moler to score on a great one-hand, leaping catch that covered 16 yards.
Marietta added a meaningless touchdown with 12 seconds remaining.

Score by Quarters 1      2        3        4        -        Total
Parkersburg         7        14      13      7        -        41
Marietta               7        0        7        14      -        28
Qtr Time Scoring play
1st 07:01 MAR - Tony Munos 6 yd pass from Corbin Alkire (Sean Fournier kick), 6-33 1:51
00:00 PHS - Jake Johnson 23 yd run (Issac Withrow kick), 4-66 0:38
2nd 09:30 PHS - Jake Johnson 1 yd run (Issac Withrow kick), 4-70 1:37
05:51 PHS - Tyler Moler 1 yd run (Issac Withrow kick), 7-80 2:40
3rd 09:14 PHS - Braeden Mason 66 yd pass from Jake Johnson (Issac Withrow kick), 1-66 0:14
05:06 MAR - Daniel Long 7 yd pass from Corbin Alkire (Sean Fournier kick), 10-61 4:01
01:04 PHS - Jeremy Walls 87 yd interception return (Issac Withrow kick failed)
4th 11:49 MAR - Kory Science 3 yd run (Sean Fournier kick), 5-58 1:07
05:06 PHS - Tyler Moler 16 yd pass from Jake Johnson (Issac Withrow kick), 10-73 3:31
00:12 MAR - Kory Science 37 yd run (Sean Fournier kick), 5-64 1:45