South escapes North in West Virginia North- South all-star game 21-20 OT

 

Just missed

On Saturday morning, I made my way from Columbus, Ohio, to South Charleston, West Virginia, to take in the West Virginia North vs. South game. I.M.O., this game is played when all-star games should be played, and that is Saturday afternoon, and the crowd this one brings shows that that statement could be true.

Early in the opening quarter, Luke Hudson (University) hit Landon Frey (North Marion) for a nice 15-yard catch on third and nine. Later in the quarter, Hudson found Brayden Carder (Lewis County) for 14 yards. The South defense got the early hit of the game when Ethan Holliday (Greenbrier West) leveled Zach Bender (Spring Mills) for a four-yard loss after the reception. The scoreless opening act ended with a powerful four-yard run from Gavin Moore (Brooke), who came close to breaking off a much longer run.

With 8:27 left in the half, Tyler Wise (Brooke) got to Matt Frye (Scott), holding the dangerous quarterback to a tiny gain. At the 7:43 mark of the quarter, Anthony Bachinski (Brooke) got to Frye for a loss of ten. The Brooke Bunch represented their school very well in this one.

Hudson found Frey for 16 yards, with the clock showing 5:48. Malachi Stromile (Weir) busted free for a 10-yard run with a little over four minutes left in the half. The nine-play, 55-yard drive came to a close when Dylan Ours (Fairmont Senior) pounced in for the 5-yard score. Triston Walker Parkerburg South made this a 7-0 game when his point-after-kick just cleared the crossbar with 35.2 seconds left in the fast-moving first half.

Chris Ross (Mingo Central) would be sacked by E.J. Hendrix (Martinsburg) and Anthony Williams (Spring Mills) for a loss of seven, with 6"04 left in the third. Ross shook off the sack with a 20-yard strike to BJ Williams (Clay County) at the 4:57 mark of the quarter. The drive hit a little pothole when Ross was sacked for a 10-yard loss. It looked like #26 Brayden Carder (Lewis County) posted the sack. Ross must have thought he was playing Madden, and the computer glitched when he spotted BJ Willams all along for a 56-yard touchdown. Williams would hold on to the point after kick for Saeed Aboulhosn (Princeton), who locked the game up at seven with 2:38 left in the quarter.

The game had 8:17 left in regulation when Frye connected with RJ Hairston (Bluefield) for a 63-yard score to make this a 14-7 game. Facing a fourth and five, the North would go for it with 4:55 left in the game, and that decision was made good when Hudson hit Ours for the 51-yard score, locking this one up at fourteen.

Andrew Schoon (Point Pleasant) and Ross teamed up for a big 26-yard gain with 1:20 left in the fourth. Ross would be picked off by Ours with a little under a minute left on the clock. The score would still be locked when the clock hit triple zero's, so off to overtime we would go.

The Soouth would have the ball first, and they needed five plays to go 20 yards for the score, which came on a 3-yard run by Sawyer VanMatre (Wahama) to make this a 21-14 game.

The North used a 20-yard touchdown pass from Ian Crookshanks (East Fairmont) to Ours to close the North to within a point. After some discussion, the North opted to go for the win. Ours lined up under center and tried to go at the heart of the South's defensive line, but he never had a chance to go forward as the big boys up front knew where he was going, and they put a stop to it as easily as Jerry West sank free throws.

My unofficial stats

North

61 plays

348 yards

Passing, 15-25, 2 touchdowns, 1 in

South

48 plays

188 yards (16 in the first half)

Passing, 8-15, 2 touchdowns

 

All pics can be found at the link below
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10229477012184139&type=3