Sept. 20 Capital game
Cancade’s 2 TD Tosses to Thorn Help Big Reds Bounce Back, 31-19 Game Statistics / Game Photos
CHARLESTON – Cooper Cancade threw two touchdown passes to freshman Brady Thorn to help the Parkersburg Big Reds bounce back with a 31-19 victory over the eighth ranked and previously once-beaten Capital Cougars here Friday at the University of Charleston’s Laidley Field.
Cancade completed 11 of 17 passes for 138 yards with Thorn catching four for 83 yards while Jakel Shelton turned in another workhorse effort in the backfield with 19 rushes for 92 yards and five receptions for 25 more yards. Cancade, in addition to his passing yardage, ran nine times for 55 yards and directed a back-breaking 14-play drive in the third quarter that used 8:44 of the 12-minute period.
The Big Reds controlled the game virtually from start to finish but had a tough time putting away the much-improved Cougars. PHS had a 21-9 margin in first downs and ran for 190 yards for a total offense of 328 yards on 53 plays while limiting Capital to 187 yards on 38 plays. Time of possession was 30:06 to 17:54 in favor of the visitors.
The game was close because Capital scored on a 22-yard interception return touchdown and a 53 yard scoring run by speedy David Robinson, who accounted for most of the Cougar’s offense with 113 yards rushing on 11 carries and three receptions for 26 yards.
PHS also got a defensive touchdown from Zane Lewis on a 22 yard fumble recovery and iced the victory on a nine-yard run by Ethan Jones.
The Big Reds got a defensive stand on the first series of the game, holding the home team on downs at their own 16 yard line and then went ahead on a 10-play, 84-yard drive that ended when Cancade rolled left and found Thorn at the left sideline corner of the goal line for a 23-yard pass play.
After forcing Capital to punt, the Big Reds found themselves in a hole on their own seven yard line and gave up a pick-six interception to the Cougars’ Jamal Dotson, who ran the ball in from 22 yards out with 9:52 left in the second quarter.
With just over two minutes left in the first half Cyrus Backus had a 20-yard punt return to the Capital 38 and on the first play following Thorn made a great catch for the touchdown, juggling the ball at the goal line and coming down with the completion in the end zone.
PHS used its defense to produce points just 33 seconds later when Aeneas Lauderman stripped the Capital quarterback of the ball and Zane Lewis picked it up and ran it into the end zone. Quinton Wright’s extra point made it 21-7 just 23 seconds left before the intermission.
The Big Reds then started the second half with the nearly nine minute scoring drive that was capped by Wright’s 31 yard field goal – his fourth of the season.
Capital recovered from that with a 55-yard kickoff return by David Robinson which led to a four yard run by versatile Fernado Valdivia which cut the lead to 24-13. Robinson followed that a few minutes later with his 53 yard scoring jaunt where he simply out-ran the Big Red defenders down the left sideline. That cut the lead to 24-19 with 7:57 remaining in the contest.
A 33-yard kickoff return by Connor Petty and a 22-yard run by Cancade set up Jones for his nine-yard scoring play with 4:11 left that iced the victory by pushing the lead to 12 points. Javel Chandler followed that with an interception with 2:40 remaining.
The Big Reds have a bye week coming up followed by a trip to George Washington on Oct. 11.
(Sep 27, 2024 at Charleston)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 - Total
Parkersburg (2-3) 7 14 3 7 - 31
Capital (2-2) 0 7 6 6 - 19
Qtr Time Scoring play
1st 02:36 PHS - Brady Thorn 23 yd pass from Cooper Cancade (Quinton Wright kick), 10-84 4:34
2nd 09:52 CAP - Jamal Dotson 22 yd interception return (Brayden Robinson kick)
01:55 PHS - Brady Thorn 38 yd pass from Cooper Cancade (Quinton Wright kick), 1-38 0:08
00:23 PHS - Zane Lewis 22 yd fumble recovery (Quinton Wright kick)
3rd 03:09 PHS - Quinton Wright 31 yd field goal, 14-60 8:44
00:34 CAP - Fernado Valdivia 4 yd run (Kayden Flower kick failed), 6-33 2:23
4th 07:57 CAP - David Robinson 53 yd run (Fernado Valdivia rush failed), 2-61 0:59
04:11 PHS - Ethan Jones 9 yd run (Quinton Wright kick), 6-56 3:29
PHS CAP
FIRST DOWNS 21 9
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 36-190 23-122
PASSING YDS (NET) 138 65
Passes Att-Comp-Int 17-11-1 15-7-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 53-328 38-187
Fumble Returns-Yards 1-22 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards 1-20 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards 4-63 5-142
Interception Returns-Yards 1-0 1-22
Punts (Number-Avg) 0-0.0 2-35.0
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards 6-30 6-55
Possession Time 30:06 17:54
Third-Down Conversions 4 of 9 1 of 7
Fourth-Down Conversions 2 of 4 0 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances 2-2 1-2
Sacks By: Number-Yards 0-0 0-0
RUSHING: Parkersburg-Jakel Shelton 19-92; Cooper Cancade 9-55; Ethan Jones 7-29; Bryan Gregory 1-14. Capital-David Robinson 11-113; Fernado Valdivia 6-29; Camdyn Harris 2-minus 1; Peyton Grigsby 4-minus 19.
PASSING: Parkersburg-Cooper Cancade 11-17-1-138. Capital-Peyton Grigsby 7-15-1-65.
RECEIVING: Parkersburg-Jakel Shelton 5-25; Brady Thorn 4-83; Preston Riffle 1-16; Devin Widman 1-14. Capital-Fernado Valdivia 3-31; David Robinson 3-26; Turay Rush 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS: Parkersburg-Javel Chandler 1-0. Capital-Jamal Dotson 1-22.
FUMBLES: Parkersburg-Cooper Cancade 1-0. Capital-Peyton Grigsby 2-1.
Attendance: 500
Kickoff time: 7:30 • End of Game: 9:53 • Total elapsed time: 2:23
