Parkersburg High School Big Reds Football

Sept. 27, 2019 Marietta Game

Craig, Potts Lead Big Reds Over Long-Time Rivals, 42-21

Anthony Craig made his return to the lineup an auspicious one with four touchdowns while Sam Potts added a pair as the Big Reds bounced back to defeat ancient rival Marietta by a 42-21 score Friday night at Stadium Field in the 115th meeting of the two Ohio River neighbors.

The Big Reds used a new power formation with Justin Waybright and C.J. Wade as lead blockers for Craig, who had missed the first four games of the season with an injury, and the diminutive running back responded with four short touchdown runs and 99 yards rushing on 19 carries to help PHS raise its record to 3-2 on the year and hand Marietta its third straight loss in a series which dates back to the year 1900. The Tigers (a Class AA school by West Virginia standards) are also 3-2 on the year.

Sam Potts added a pair of long play touchdowns, a 53 yard pass reception and a 50 yard interception return.

The Big Reds dominated the first half but gave up a score on a blocked punt and then allowed the Tigers to score twice in the third quarter to tie the game at 21-all before regaining control of the game's tempo and grinding out the victory.

PHS ran for 290 yards on the night as Bryson Singer twisted and turned for 128 yards on 19 carries and added 176 yards through the air as the sophomore quarterback completed 11 of 18 passes with Braeden Mason catching seven for 77 yards. Craig added two receptions for 37 yards.

Marietta, which was held to seven total yards in the first half including minus 16 on the ground, was sacked seven times with Wade being in on four of them. The Tigers finished with 234 total yards as Corbin Alkire was able to complete 18 of 26 passes for 211 yards.

The Big Reds drove to the Marietta 22 yard line on their first possession but fumbled the ball away. After forcing the Tigers to a 3-and-out, PHS got on the board on its second try as Singer broke off a 41 yard run on the first play to the three yard line and three plays later Craig ran over left end for the score.

Another punt and PHS was back in business, driving to the 11 only to have Potts miss a 29 yard field goal.

Marietta then took advantage of a PHS mistake as Chase Taylor blocked Matt Curry's punt and Donavon Wheeler scooped it up and returned it eight yards into the end zone for the tying touchdown.

The PHS response was a 65 yard drive highlighted by a 26 yard catch and run by Craig, who scored from the three with 5:42 left in the first half. That was followed shortly afterward by a six-play, 49 yard drive with Craig reaching the end zone from the one with 2:20 on the clock to make it 21-7 after Potts converted the third of six points after on the night.

A fumble recovery on the PHS 17 yard line set up a Marietta touchdown with 8:05 showing in the third quarter. Quarterback Corbin Alkire scored on a 13 yard run to cut the lead to 21-14.

The Big Reds appeared to have stopped the Tigers on their next series by an interception by Michael Owen was wiped out by a holding penalty and Marietta wound up scoring on a fourth-and-goal from the 27 on a heave into the end zone by Alkire to Wheeler. The PAT tied the score at 21-all with 2:48 in the third period.

PHS answered with three straight scores to put the game away. The first came on a nifty play by Singer, who faked a sideline throw and then went deep up the sideline to Potts, who caught it in stride and scored standing up with 1:14 remaining in the quarter.

Marietta missed a 40-yard field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter and PHS then drove 80 yards on 12 plays to make it 35-21 on Craig's one yard run. A 28 yard scamper by Singer was the big play on the drive but it was a leaping grab by Mason on a pass from Singer on a fourth-and-10 situation that was the key to the scoring possession.

Three plays later Potts stepped in front of an Alkire pass at midfield and took it to the end zone to make it 42-21. Marietta did drive to the PHS 10 with time running out but a fourth down pass was incomplete.

Tigers vs Big Reds (Sep 27, 2019 at Parkersburg)
Score by Quarters 1 .2. 3 .4 .- Total
Tigers ...................0 .7 14 .0 - 21
Big Reds ..............7 14 .7 14 - 42
Qtr Time Scoring play
1st 07:15 PHS - Anthony Craig 1 yd run (Sam Potts kick), 4-44 1:13
2nd 10:14 MARIETTA - Donavon Wheeler 8 yd blocked punt return (Sean Fournier kick)
05:42 PHS - Anthony Craig 3 yd run (Sam Potts kick), 12-65 4:32
02:20 PHS - Anthony Craig 1 yd run (Sam Potts kick), 6-49 1:50
3rd 08:05 MARIETTA - Corbin Alkire 13 yd run (Sean Fournier kick), 2-17 0:43
02:48 MARIETTA - Donavon Wheeler 27 yd pass from Corbin Alkire (Sean Fournier kick), 9-70 4:16
01:14 PHS - Sam Potts 53 yd pass from Bryson Singer (Sam Potts kick), 4-67 1:27
4th 06:07 PHS - Anthony Craig 1 yd run (Sam Potts kick), 12-80 4:37
04:29 PHS - Sam Potts 50 yd interception return (Sam Potts kick)
.............................................................MARIETTA ..PHS
FIRST DOWNS ..................................................10 ..17
RUSHES-YARDS (NET).............................. 26-23 ..42-290
PASSING YDS (NET) ......................................211 ..176
Passes Att-Comp-Int.................................. 26-18-1 ..18-11-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.......... 52-234 ..60-466
Fumble Returns-Yards ......................................0-0 ..0-0
Punt Returns-Yards .........................................2-32 ..2-37
Kickoff Returns-Yards.................................. 6-127 ..3-43
Interception Returns-Yards ...............................0-0 ..1-50
Punts (Number-Avg) ....................................5-41.0 ..2-22.5
Fumbles-Lost ......................................................0-0 ..4-2
Penalties-Yards .................................................6-51 11-97
Possession Time ..............................................25:20 22:00
Third-Down Conversions ..............................1 of 11 1 of 6
Fourth-Down Conversions ..............................2 of 4 2 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances .................................2-5 4-5
Sacks By: Number-Yards ..................................0-0 7-46
RUSHING: Tigers-Chase Taylor 8-18; Corbin Alkire 17-8; Tony Munos 1-minus 3. Big Reds-Bryson Singer. 19-128; Anthony Craig 19-99; Carter King 2-68; Braeden Mason 1-8; TEAM 1-minus 13.
PASSING: Tigers-Corbin Alkire 18-25-1-211; Tony Munos 0-1-0-0. Big Reds-Bryson Singer 11-18-0-176.
RECEIVING: Tigers-Kory Science 4-34; Tony Munos 4-0; Reece Gerber 3-26; Donavon Wheeler 2-38; Cyrus Rhodes 2-16; Chase Taylor 1-50; Corbin Alkire 1-44; Tyson Shaffer 1-3. Big Reds-Braeden Mason 7-77;
Anthony Craig 2-37; Sam Potts 1-53; Matt Curry 1-9.
INTERCEPTIONS: Tigers-None. Big Reds-Sam Potts 1-50.
FUMBLES: Tigers-None. Big Reds-Anthony Craig 1-1; Bryson Singer 1-0; Braeden Mason 1-1; TEAM 1-0.
Tigers (3-2) vs. Big Reds (3-2)
Date: Sep 27, 2019 • Site: Parkersburg • Stadium: Stadium Field
Attendance: 3000
Kickoff time: 7:30 • End of Game: 10:02 • Total elapsed time: 2:32
Temperature: 84 • Wind: mild • Weather: sunny
SACKS (UA-A): Tigers-None. Big Reds-C.J. Wade 3-1; Kyle Grant 1-0; Casey Mahoney 1-0; Justin
Waybright 0-1; Aaron Kupfner 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): Big Reds-C.J. Wade 6-4; Braeden Mason 6-0; Justin Waybright 3-3; Gage Fiore 3-2; Carter Mills 3-0; Casey Mahoney 2-1; Jim Shrewsbury 0-3; Michael Owen 2-0; Aaron Kupfner
2-0; Xadrian Snodgrass 2-0; Luke Read 2-0; Sam Potts 1-1; Kyle Moore 0-2; Caleb Frazier 0-2; J.D. Martin 1-0; Zach Anderson 1-0; Kyle Grant 1-0; Zach Howard 1-0; Jeffrey Jones 0-1.