Parkersburg High School Big Reds Football

2020 Jefferson Game

Big Reds Corral Cougars, 37-20

The ninth ranked Parkersburg Big Reds won their third game in a row Friday night at Stadium Field against an opponent that was not on their original schedule and as they beat Jefferson 37-20.
Bryson Singer not only threw for two touchdown passes to Julian Martin but ran for over 100 yards and scored a touchdown on an incredible pass reception off a deflection that wound up covering 85 yards.
Meanwhile Xadrian Snodgrass ran for two touchdowns and led the team with 129 yards on 14 carries as PHS was able to run for 258 yards and pass for another 147 to up its record to 6-2 against a team it was meeting for the first time ever on the football field.
A fumble recovery by Jake Barnette got the ball rolling for the Big Reds on the Jefferson 34 with 8:34 left in the first quarter. Three straight plays lost yardage but a roughing the kicker penalty gave PHS new life and this time Singer took off for 19 yards to start a new drive which came to an end on an incomplete pass and forced freshman Casey Stanley to come on and kick his third straight field goal of the season, a 22 yarder with 5:07 on the clock.
The teams continued to trade punts before the Big Reds decided to go to a power-I running game and Snodgrass and Singer moved the ball to the 14 yard line before the PHS quarterback faked a handoff and hit a wide open Martin in the end zone for the touchdown with 10:11 on the first half clock. Stanley’s kick made it 10-0.
Jefferson drove to the PHS 20 but the PHS defense held and got the ball back on downs. The Big Reds had to punt to the Jefferson 32 and two plays later Snodgrass recovered a fumble on the Jefferson 26. On the first play Singer hit Martin on a slant pass over the middle for the second touchdown with 3:44 remaining in the half. Stanley’s kick made it 17-0.
But the Cougars didn’t make the five hour trip from the eastern panhandle to roll over as they answered with a 9-play, 65 yard drive that ended with Samuel Roberts hitting Spencer Powell from 13 yards out for the touchdown and passed to Powell for the two-point conversion with 41 seconds left before intermission.
Roberts finished the game with 18 completions in 40 attempts for 228 yards with Powell catching eight for 142 yards and was Roberts’ target at least 10 other tries. On the scoring drive he caught four passes for 47 yards.
The Big Reds stretched their lead to 24-8 on their second possession of the third quarter with Snodgrass breaking loose for a 56-yard scoring sprint but Jefferson answered in a hurry thanks to a 33-yard run by Evan Tewell, who got the touchdown on a one yard carry up the middle with 2:26 left in the period.
Leading 24-14, the PHS offense switched around with Singer playing the role of receiver and Michael Owen taking over at quarterback. Owen tossed a bomb down the sideline and two Jefferson defenders were there to cover. But somehow Singer was able to pick off the ball as it bounced off one of the Cougars who was laying on the ground and the PHS junior took off from the 50 and looked back over his shoulder on the way to his first receiving touchdowns as a Big Red. Stanley’s kick made it 31-14 with 1:24 left in the quarter.
Jefferson pulled to within 11 on a 31 yard scoring pass over the middle to Isaiah Fritz with 5:52 left in the game but a fourth down sack by Justin Waybright on the Jefferson 26 put an end to any comeback hopes by the Cougars.
PHS got a final score when Snodgrass gave a big second effort run to score from the 10 on a fourth down and seven plays with 19 seconds remaining.
Casey Mahoney had 10 tackles while Jeffrey Jones and Zach Howard had eight each to lead the PHS defense. Waybright had two of his team’s three sacks while Barnette had the other sack and two of the team’s three fumble recoveries.