Parkersburg High School Big Reds Football

Nov. 8, 2019 Park. South Game

Turnovers Doom Big Reds Again

It was Deja vu in a bad way again for the Parkersburg Big Red football team as they took on cross-town rival Parkersburg South.
For the second week in a row the Big Reds turned the ball over seven times and the result was another lop-sided defeated for the Dudley Avenue boys as South prevailed 49-14 in the regular season finale.
Fortunately, PHS will take its 5-5 record and advance to the playoffs but most likely will have to take a long road trip to meet Musselman as the 12th seed in the Class AAA playoffs. Final official opponent, site, date and time will be determined at the playoff meeting to be held Sunday, Nov. 9. Parkersburg South, 9-1, will be at home in the first round of the playoffs next weekend.
The turnover plaque that started last week against Huntington held true again against South with five interceptions (giving PHS nine in the last two games) and a pair of lost fumbles. The Big Reds were also plagued by a blocked punt and with poor tackling that enabled South to pile up 267 yards rushing while adding 196 through the air for a 463 total. The 49-14 margin was the second worst loss ever to South in the 53 year history of the series, nearly breaking the mark set in 2002 when South won 44-7.
South senior quarterback Brandon Penn threw for three touchdowns, ran for a fourth and returned a fumble for yet another score. He also had three interceptions on defense to go with his 196 yards passing (14 of 22 with no interceptions) and 75 yards rushing.
Devin Gaines, a speedy and hard runner, finished with a pair of touchdowns and ran for 147 yards on 24 carries for South. The Patriots converted 10 of 15 third downs and finished with 24 first downs.
PHS managed just 29 net yards on the ground to go with 151 through the air. Bryson Singer was nine of 21 with 123 yards and two touchdowns but did throw four of the five interceptions. Michael Owen was three of seven for 28 yards and one pick before being injured in the fourth quarter. Matt Curry caught five passes for 75 yards and one score while Sam Potts caught four for 69 yards and the other touchdown.
South took the opening kickoff and drove 52 yards on 13 plays with 12 of them being on the ground but was denied on a fourth down sack by C.J. Wade after advancing to the three yard line.
Two plays later South had the ball back as Penn came up with his first interception on the PHS 37. It took the Patriots just five plays to score from there as Gaines ran up the middle and over would-be tacklers to the end zone with 6:04 on the first quarter clock.
South got the ball back four plays later on the PHS 40 after a blocked punt but much the same as they had done with the goal-line stand the defense came through and forced the Patriots to punt.
The Big Reds responded to tie the game with 11 seconds left in the first quarter after a 65-yard, nine-play drive. Potts scored on a 13-yard pass play which saw him catch the ball at the five and stretch out to dive over the goal line and then kicked the extra point to make it a 7-7 contest.
Things continued to look good for PHS as Justin Waybright recovered a Penn fumble at the South 29 on the last play of the first period. The Big Reds drove to the five yard line and looked ready to take the lead but on a first and goal play they fumbled the ball away.
South then put together a 95 yard drive that took 15 plays and ran five minutes off the clock. Big plays were runs of 16 and 13 yards by Penn, who scored the touchdown himself on a sneak from the three.
Three plays later the interception bug raised its head again with Nathan Bentz collecting the ball at midfield. PHS nearly got the ball right back but what could have been an easy interception was dropped and the Patriots made that mistake costly by coming up with a 33-yard pass completion to Gains and finally scoring on a 26 yard pass to Dylan Day to take a 21-7 lead with 2:49 left in the first half.
Another interception two plays later (by Penn) gave South the chance to score again and Gaines reached the end zone after four straight runs with 1:33 on the clock – their third touchdown in a three and a half minute span to make it 28-7.
With time running out in the half, the Big Reds were able to go from their own 20 to the South 26 but another interception, this one in the end zone by freshman Cyrus Traugh, ended that threat.
The third quarter was more of the same for PHS as the Big Reds fumbled the ball away on their first play from scrimmage and Penn scored this time after picking up a wayward backward pass and running it in from 30 yards away. The Patriots then added a short touchdown pass to Jeff Tucker to cap a 10-play, 76-yard drive and got another on a five-play, 73-yard possession that was highlighted by a 42 yard pass to Levi Rice which allowed Landon Francisco to catch an 11-yard TD toss on the next play to make it 49-7.
A running clock in the fourth quarter shortened things but the Big Reds were able to avoid their worst loss ever in the series with one minute left to play when Singer threw 25 yards to Matt Curry for the touchdown which was set up by a 30 yard run by Anthony Craig.

#11 Big Reds vs #3 Patriots (Nov 08 2019 at Parkersburg)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Total
Big Reds 7 0 0 7 14
Patriots 7 21 21 0 49
Qtr Time Scoring play
1st 06:04 SOUTH - Devin Gaines 25 yd run (Ben Haught kick), 5-37 1:00
00:11 PHS - Sam Potts 13 yd pass from Bryson Singer (Sam Potts kick), 9-65 2:43
2nd 05:09 SOUTH - Brandon Penn 3 yd run (Ben Haught kick), 15-95 4:51
02:49 SOUTH - Dylan Day 26 yd pass from Brandon Penn (Ben Haught kick), 5-49 1:17
01:33 SOUTH - Devin Gaines 1 yd run (Ben Haught kick), 5-41 1:02
3rd 11:47 SOUTH - Brandon Penn 30 yd fumble recovery (Ben Haught kick)
07:09 SOUTH - Jeff Tucker 2 yd pass from Brandon Penn (Ben Haught kick), 10-76 3:19
04:48 SOUTH - Landon Francisco 11 yd pass from Brandon Penn (Ben Haught kick), 5-73 1:23
4th 01:00 PHS - Matt Curry 25 yd pass from Bryson Singer (Sam Potts kick), 5-73 3:19
PHS SOUTH
FIRST DOWNS 13 24
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 28-29 49-250
PASSING YDS (NET) 151 212
Passes Att-Comp-Int 28-12-5 26-16-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 56-180 75-462
Fumble Returns-Yards 0-0 1-30
Punt Returns-Yards 1-3 2-3
Kickoff Returns-Yards 7-29 2-14
Interception Returns-Yards 0-0 5-47
Punts (Number-Avg) 5-23.4 2-30.5
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-2
Penalties-Yards 7-45 7-90
Possession Time 20:04 26:56
Third-Down Conversions 2 of 11 10 of 15
Fourth-Down Conversions 1 of 2 1 of 3
Red-Zone Scores-Chances 1-2 5-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards 2-18 2-27
RUSHING: Big Reds-Bryson Singer 12-35; Anthony Craig 13-27; Carter King 1-minus 4; Michael Owen
2-minus 29. Patriots-Devin Gaines 23-153; Brandon Penn 19-75; Corey Beverage 5-14; Dylan Day 1-5;
Trey Robinson 1-3.
PASSING: Big Reds-Bryson Singer 9-21-4-123; Michael Owen 3-7-1-28. Patriots-Brandon Penn
16-24-0-212; Sam Schuler 0-2-0-0.
RECEIVING: Big Reds-Matt Curry 5-75; Sam Potts 4-69; Carter King 2-minus 2; Jacob Campbell 1-9.
Patriots-Dylan Day 5-80; Landon Francisco 4-35; Devin Gaines 3-23; Levi Rice 2-65; Jake Hogsett 1-7;
Jeff Tucker 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS: Big Reds-None. Patriots-Brandon Penn 3-10; Nathan Bentz 1-21; Cyrus Traugh 1-16.
FUMBLES: Big Reds-Michael Owen 1-1; Bryson Singer 1-1; Sam Potts 1-0. Patriots-Brandon Penn 1-1;
Dylan Day 1-1.
Big Reds (5-5) vs. Patriots (9-1)
Date: Nov 08 2019 • Site: Parkersburg • Stadium: Erickson All Sports
Attendance: 5000
Kickoff time: 7:00 • End of Game: 9:34 • Total elapsed time: 2:34