2023 P. South Game
PHS Wins Wild One From South, 43-35
Game Statistics
It was certainly a game that lived up to his hype.
In a contest between two heavyweight fighters trading punches for four quarters, Parkersburg earned some respect from around the state by coming from behind to defeat second-ranked Parkersburg South 43-35 Friday night before 5,000 fans at Stadium Field.
The fourth-ranked Big Reds, who were only ranked 11th in state media polls, won the battle of attrition by coming up with five turnovers and getting a near-record 410-yard passing performance from David Parsons to win its fourth straight game and hand the Patriots their first loss in four outings.
PHS won despite giving up nearly 700 yards in total offense to a South team which came into the contest averaging 70 points per game and gave up its first touchdown of the year on the game’s first play from scrimmage.
The Big Reds won by making key defensive plays when they had to make them and by getting a huge game from Parsons, who threw for five touchdowns and scored a sixth himself on a 50 yard run. Although he came up nine yards shy of tying the all-time single game passing yardage record, Parsons was able to complete 18 of 25 passes with no interceptions while rushing for 86 yards on 12 attempts to account for all but 10 yards of his team’s total offense for the night.
His Big Four receiving corps put up some gaudy numbers themselves as Casey Stanley and Anthony Ice each scored twice and Andrew Stalnaker once on plays covering 29, 42, 38, 82 and 69 yards. Stanley caught four passes for 85 yards, Ice seven passes for 147 yards, Andrew Stalnaker four passes for 122 yards and twin brother Matt Stalnaker had two receptions for 54 yards.
The South offense put up an amazing 451 yards rushing thanks to another incredible performance by Gage Wright. The Patriot senior came into the game with 16 touchdowns and tacked on four more to his total on plays that covered 15 yards (on a pass), 80 yards, 30 yards and 12 yards while finishing the game with 292 yards rushing on 24 attempts and the one pass reception.
Patriot quarterback Turner Garretson completed 14 of 26 passes for 221 yards but suffered three interceptions and lost one of his team’s two fumbles. He ran for 106 yards on 19 carries.
The two teams combined for 44 first downs and 1,178 yards in total offense. South finished with 672 yards total on 79 plays with 451 coming on the ground while PHS had 96 rushing for a total of 506.
The Big Reds trailed 35-33 heading into the fourth quarter but went up for good on the first play of the period when Parsons found Andrew Stalnaker over the middle and the PHS senior sped to the goal line barely ahead of South’s Tristan Walker. Stanley’s extra point kick put PHS up by five.
South tried to regain the lead as it had done three times before but came up short on a fourth down play when Matt Stalnaker broke through and tackled Wright for a three-yard loss on the Big Red 18 yard line.
PHS then ran six minutes off the clock with a 10-play drive that ended when Big Red coach Matt Kimes elected to go for a field goal with 2:06 remaining on a four-and-one situation from the South 14 yard line. The kick was good and PHS was up by eight with 2:01 remaining in the game.
South’s offense went to the air on all but two of its last 11 plays and moved to the Big Red 34 yard line before Jake Bauman and Adam Elder sacked Garretson for a one yard line as time appeared to expire. After a lengthy delay, it was decided to put nine-tenths of a second back on the clock and Garretson’s end zone heave was picked off by Andrew Stalnaker to end the game.
The game lasted nearly four hours (3:42) thanks to 26 accepted penalties for 193 yards (12 on South and 14 on PHS).
South scored on the game’s first offensive play when Devon Forshey found himself all alone behind the PHS secondary and went 80 yards to the end zone. After a penalty, Wright ran for the two-point conversion.
The Big Reds answered with a 29 yard scoring toss to Stanley but the extra point kick was blocked and PHS found itself down by two points.
South moved to the PHS 16 yard line but fumbled the ball away at that point and PHS had to punt on its next possession. South fumbled again near midfield but PHS couldn’t convert on a fourth-and-one at the 40 and South increased its lead to 14-6 on the scoring pass to Wright with just 26 seconds left in the first quarter. The two-point conversion failed and on the last play of the period, Parsons faked a handoff at midfield and went up the left sideline for a touchdown. Stanley’s PAT kick made it 14-13 heading into the second stanza.
On the first play of the second quarter, Wright went 80 yards to the end zone, shaking off tacklers all along the way. The extra point kick made it 21-13.
The Big Reds cut it back to one point on a 42 yard scoring toss to Stanley, who found his way past the South secondary.
An interception by Ice set up PHS to take the lead 27-21 on a 38 yard pass to Ice, who got a clearing downfield block by Andrew Stalnaker.
South drove all the way to the Big Red three yard line on its next possession but first Stanley stopped Wright for no gain then two plays later Matt Stalnaker sacked Garretson for a nine yard loss and on fourth down the pass was overthrown in the end zone.
South regained the lead when Wright went 30 yard around end untouched and the extra point made it 28-27 only to see the Big Reds answer with an 82-yard scoring pass to Ice, who got open across the middle and beat the Patriot defender to the goal line. After four penalties (two each way), Stanley missed his first extra point of the season and PHS had a 33-28 advantage.
The Patriots retaliated in quick fashion, going 80 yards in 2:10 to score on a 12 run by Wright, who had earlier in the series broke one for 34 yards.
That set up the Parsons toss to Andrew Stalnaker to push PHS back on top by five, 40-35, and set up the wild finish.
Unofficially on defense the Big Reds were led by Matthew Stalnaker with 14 tackles while brother Andrew added 11 and Stanley and Zane Lewis had 10 tackles each.
#2 South Parkersburg vs #4 Parkersburg
(Sep 15, 2023 at Parkersburg HS)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Total
Parkersburg South 14 7 14 0 - 35
Parkersburg 13 14 6 10 - 43
Qtr Time Scoring play
1st 11:45 SP - Devon Forshey 80 yd pass from Turner Garretson (Gage Wright rush), 1-80 0:15
09:04 PHS - Casey Stanley 29 yd pass from David Parsons (Casey Stanley kick blockd), 5-63 2:40
00:26 SP - Gage Wright 15 yd pass from Turner Garretson (Collin Hayes pass failed), 6-60 2:31
00:11 PHS - David Parsons 50 yd run (Casey Stanley kick), 2-55 0:15
2nd 11:40 SP - Gage Wright 80 yd run (James Thompson kick), 2-80 0:25
09:13 PHS - Casey Stanley 42 yd pass from David Parsons (Casey Stanley kick), 6-74 2:20
06:50 PHS - Anthony Ice 38 yd pass from David Parsons (Casey Stanley kick), 3-48 1:11
3rd 06:53 SP - Gage Wright 30 yd run (James Thompson kick), 8-80 3:12
03:14 PHS - Anthony Ice 82 yd pass from David Parsons (Casey Stanley kick failed), 1-82 0:17
01:14 SP - Gage Wright 12 yd run (James Thompson kick), 7-80 2:00
4th 11:49 PHS - Andrew Stalnaker 69 yd pass from David Parsons (Casey Stanley kick), 2-66 1:15
02:06 PHS - Casey Stanley 32 yd field goal, 10-68 5:59
.............................................................PS PHS
FIRST DOWNS 27 17
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 53-451 24-96
PASSING YDS (NET) 221 410
Passes Att-Comp-Int 26-14-3 26-18-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 79-672 50-506
Fumble Returns-Yards 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards 2-0 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards 3-52 4-47
Interception Returns-Yards 0-0 3-23
Punts (Number-Avg) 1-27.0 4-37.5
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 0-0
Penalties-Yards 12-86 14-107
Possession Time 25:06 22:54
Third-Down Conversions 6 of 13 2 of 8
Fourth-Down Conversions 2 of 4 0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances 2-5 1-1
Sacks By: Number-Yards 0-0 3-11
RUSHING: South Parkersburg-Gage Wright 24-292; Turner Garretson 19-106; Eli Bartley 10-53. Parkersburg-David Parsons 12-86; Jakel Shelton 9-22; Sylas Cheuvront 1-minus 3; Cooper Cancade
2-minus 9.
PASSING: South Parkersburg-Turner Garretson 14-26-3-221. Parkersburg-David Parsons 18-25-0-410; Cooper Cancade 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: South Parkersburg-Devon Forshey 6-142; Eli Bartley 4-41; Triston Walker 3-23; Gage Wright 1-15. Parkersburg-Anthony Ice 7-147; Andrew Stalnaker 4-122; Casey Stanley 4-85; Matthew Stalnaker
2-54; Jakel Shelton 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS: South Parkersburg-None. Parkersburg-Anthony Ice 1-23; Andrew Stalnaker 1-0; Cyrus Backus 1-0.
FUMBLES: South Parkersburg-Gage Wright 1-1; Turner Garretson 1-1. Parkersburg-None.
South Parkersburg (3-1) vs. Parkersburg (4-0)
Site: Parkersburg HS • Stadium: Stadium Field
Attendance: 5000
Kickoff time: 7:30 • End of Game: 11:12 • Total elapsed time: 3:42
SACKS (UA-A): South Parkersburg-None. Parkersburg-Jake Bauman 0-2; Matthew Stalnaker 1-1; Adam Elder 0-1.
