Parkersburg High School Big Reds Football

Oct. 14 Huntington game

Jackson Scores 4 As Speedy Huntington Handles PHS 40-21

HUNTINGTON – Speed is a huge asset. It makes it easy to score touchdowns and helps makes big plays.

Thus fourth ranked Huntington was able to defeat Parkersburg 40-21 here Friday night despite having the ball in its possession for less than half the game.

The Highlanders ran just 36 plays but produced 523 yards thanks to breakaways from Zah Zah Jackson and Company that enabled the home team to score six touchdowns and win their sixth game in seven outings. The Big Reds felt to upset the Highlanders they would have to maintain possession and keep the ball out of the hands of speedsters like Jackson, Wayne Harris and all-state quarterback Gavin Lochow. PHS accomplished that by keeping the ball for 31.37 minutes to just 16.09 minutes for Huntington but it was to no avail as the home team came up with one big play after another.

Jackson scored four touchdowns, three on runs of 76, 19 and 56 yards and returned an interception 13 yards for another. He had 183 yards rushing on just seven carries and caught two passes for 19 more. Harris, the all-state transfer from South Charleston, scored just one touchdown but caught six passes for 120 yards. Lochow, who earned the J.R. House Award a year ago as the state’s best quarterback, ran for 135 yards on nine carries and completed nine of 12 passes for 180 yards.

The Big Reds had a 20-19 edge in first downs, ran for 156 yards and David Parsons completed 18 of 31 passes for 202 yards. Aiydn Cooke became the first PHS player to rush for 100 yards this year as he gained 111 yards on 20 carries while Austin Fleming caught six passes for 34 yards and Anthony Ice caught five for 72.

PHS started the game with an impressive 10-play, 63 yard drive that used up over half the first quarter clock. Mixing the run with the pass, the Big Reds got the touchdown with 5:45 showing when Cooke went over right guard from a yard away. Big play was a 21 yard pass to Ice on a third-and-nine situation.

Huntington’s first possession saw a 20-yard run by Lochow followed by a 57 yard breakaway by the quarterback that appeared headed for a touchdown only to have Casey Stanley catch him at the three yard line and knock the ball out of the runner’s hand and Ice recovered.

But misfortune reared its head just two plays later when Jackson stepped in front of a Parsons’ pass and took it into the end zone. The extra point was blocked and PHS still held a 7-6 lead.

The Big Reds took the ball to the Huntington 40 but ran out of downs on a fourth down incompletion. It then took the home team just three plays to score as Jackson took a pitch to the left, reached the sidelines and simply out-ran everyone to the end zone with 11:29 on the clock for a 13-7 lead.

PHS tried to answer with a nice drive of 13-plays with a first down on the Huntington 13 but settled for a 33-yard field goal try that missed.

A Matt Stalnaker fumble recovery got PHS the ball back on the Highlander 34 but on fourth-and-one from the 25 the Big Reds came up with no gain and turned the ball over.

Huntington quickly capitalized by throwing a 41 yard pass to Malik McNeeley and then a 31 yard scoring strike to a wide-open Harris over the middle to make it 20-7 after the PAT.

Second half saw the Highlanders display more of their speed on the ground, taking the kickoff and moving 61 yards in five plays to score on Jackson’s 19 yard run to make it 27-7.

But PHS was not ready to throw in the towel as the Big Reds followed with a 13-play drive for 67 yards and a touchdown on a seven yard pass to Ice, who caught the ball at the one and turned away to slip a tackle and go into the end zone to make it 27-14 with 5:04 left in the third period. Cooke made the big play when he picked up three yards on a fourth down and two yards to go near midfield. Matt Stalnaker also caught a 16 yard pass on the drive.

Huntington missed a field goal just 47 seconds into the fourth quarter but PHS had to punt and the Highlanders got a 56 yard TD from Jackson as he cut back and out-ran the defense again.

Trailing by 20, PHS tried to push the ball in a hurry as Ice caught a 26 yard pass and Cooke ripped off a 10 yard gain but Fleming’s extra effort produced a fumble on the Huntington two-yard line after a 14 yard gain. A touchdown would have cut the lead to two scores with 6:25 left to play.

A 49-yard pass to Harris set up an insurance score for Huntington as D’Edrick Graves ran in from the three with 3:29 remaining.

PHS was able to hit the end zone again with 14 seconds left when Parsons found Fleming from two yards out. The big play on the drive was a 16 yard completion to Ice on a fourth-and-six play at midfield. Stanley’s extra point kick was blocked for the final 41-20 margin.

Big Reds, now 3-4, travel to University of Charleston’s Laidley Field next Friday to meet Capital.

#19 Parkersburg vs #4 Huntington (Oct 14, 2022 at Huntington)

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Total

Parkersburg 7 0 7 6 - 20

Huntington 6 14 7 14 - 41

Qtr Time Scoring play

1st 05:45 PHS - Aiydn Cooke 1 yd run (Casey Stanley kick), 10-63 6:15

04:27 HUNT - Zah Zah Jackson 13 yd interception return (Jonny Aya-Ay kick blockd)

2nd 11:29 HUNT - Zah Zah Jackson 76 yd run (Jonny Aya-Ay kick), 2-60 0:24

00:45 HUNT - Wayne Harris 31 yd pass from Gavin Lochow (Jonny Aya-Ay kick), 4-75 1:08

3rd 10:26 HUNT - Zah Zah Jackson 19 yd run (Jonny Aya-Ay kick), 5-61 1:21

05:04 PHS - Anthony Ice 7 yd pass from David Parsons (Casey Stanley kick), 13-67 5:16

4th 08:06 HUNT - Zah Zah Jackson 56 yd run (Jonny Aya-Ay kick), 4-76 1:55

03:29 HUNT - DEdrick Graves 3 yd run (Jonny Aya-Ay kick), 6-98 2:56

00:14 PHS - Austin Fleming 2 yd pass from David Parsons (Casey Stanley kick blockd), 9-71 3:08

PHS HUNT

FIRST DOWNS 20 19

RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 33-156 24-343

PASSING YDS (NET) 202 180

Passes Att-Comp-Int 31-18-1 12-9-0

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 64-358 36-523

Fumble Returns-Yards 0-0 0-0

Punt Returns-Yards 0-0 0-0

Kickoff Returns-Yards 7-89 2-48

Interception Returns-Yards 0-0 1-13

Punts (Number-Avg) 1-53.0 0-0.0

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-2

Penalties-Yards 8-62 6-63

Possession Time 31:37 16:09

Third-Down Conversions 7 of 13 1 of 2

Fourth-Down Conversions 2 of 4 0 of 0

Red-Zone Scores-Chances 3-5 2-3

Sacks By: Number-Yards 0-0 1-2

RUSHING: Parkersburg-Aiydn Cooke 20-111; David Parsons 8-26; Austin Fleming 2-21; Jakel Shelton 1-5; Anthony Ice 2-minus 7. Huntington-Zah Zah Jackson 7-183; Gavin Lochow 9-135; DEdrick Graves 7-24;

Jonathon Jackson 1-1.

PASSING: Parkersburg-David Parsons 18-31-1-202. Huntington-Gavin Lochow 9-12-0-180.

RECEIVING: Parkersburg-Austin Fleming 6-34; Anthony Ice 5-72; Matt Stalnaker 3-58; Aiydn Cooke 2-17; Xavier Robinson 1-13; Casey Stanley 1-8. Huntington-Wayne Harris 6-120; Zah Zah Jackson 2-19; Malik

McNeeley 1-41.

INTERCEPTIONS: Parkersburg-None. Huntington-Zah Zah Jackson 1-13.

FUMBLES: Parkersburg-Austin Fleming 1-1. Huntington-Zah Zah Jackson 1-1; Gavin Lochow 1-1.

Parkersburg (3-4) vs. Huntington (6-1)

Date: Oct 14, 2022 • Site: Huntington • Stadium: Bob Sang

Attendance: 750