Wheelersburg 41 Nelsonville York 0

 

Friday night took me to Hamilton Township High School to catch the Wheelersburg Pirates battle the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes. Both teams came in at a perfect 12-0 on the season.

At the 11:16 mark of the opening quarter, Elijah Brown, the Pirates' shifty senior running back, set the tone in this one with a 39-yard run. Caeleb Layton, the big 6-3, 215-pound defensive lineman for the Buckeyes, tossed Brown down for a loss of two, with 11:06 showing on the clock. Braylon Walker tossed the ball to Hunter Bivens, who raced to a gain of 16 yards. Rucker ended the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Gabe Campbell snapped the ball, Bryson Longfellow got the snap down, and the best kicker in Division Five, if not the entire state, Cooper Heimback, nailed the PAT to make this a 7-0 game, with 9:54 left in the quarter.

Brown, Hunter Henderson, and Ison Emnett teamed up to throw Buckeyes quarterback Cameron Sullivan down for a loss of seven, with 5:28 left on the clock. Sullivan shook the sack off with a 48-yard strike to a wide-open Walker Stone. The drive ended in the red zone on a turnover on downs.

Brown picked up 31 yards on two nice runs. Rucker picked up 17 yards as the Pirates' offensive line was making the ground game move through the Buckeyes' defense like a knife going through hot butter. Layton would get to Rucker for a loss of eight, with 2:37 left in the quarter. Layton had a really good game for the Buckeyes. Rucker picked up 10 yards with a nice run. Right before the quarter ended, Layton got to Rucker for a loss of nine.

Brown galloped to a 19-yard gain, with 11:03 left in the half. Rucker picked up 18 yards. With 9:13 left in the half, Brown scored from 2 yards. After Heimbach nailed his PAT, we had a 14-0 game.

Just five seconds later, Ison Emnett tipped the Sullivan pass that would be intercepted by Brown, putting the Pirates offense right back on the field.

Stephen Hall picked up 16 yards to give the Pirates a first and goal from the one, where Brown eased in for the score to make this a 21-0 game with 7:35 left in the one-sided half.

Bryson Montavon laid the pads to Austin Gautier on an option play, allowing just a gain of two for the Buckeyes, with 6:00 left in the half.

The Pirates would lose a yard when Rucker was dropped by Dakota Cunningham and Noah Loge with 1:34 left on the clock. Rucker would be dropped for a loss of three when Will Odenthal and Cunningham blew up the play. The final score in the half came on a 50-yard field goal by Heimback, making this a 24-0 game at the half.

The Buckeyes' defense came up big with 9:34 left in the third, when Isaac Speelman and Austin Gautier threw Xavier Mills down for a loss of four. Facing a third and twelve with 8:32 left in the third, the Pirates picked the first up when Rucker picked up 12 yards. Brown electrified the Pirates crowd with a 37-yard touchdown run; after Heimbach connected on the PAT, the score was 31-0, with 8:02 left on the clock.

Heimback would see his squib kick recovered by teammate Canaan Arthur, putting the Pirates offense right back on the field. Rucker picked up 16 yards, Brown 15, and then a 10-yard touchdown run from Brady Music put the Pirates up 38-0, with 4:56 left in the third.

Each team turned in a nice defensive play. before the quarter ended. For the Pirates, Hunter Henderson struck Sullivan for a two-yard loss to force a punt. For the Buckeyes, Speelman got to Stephen Hall for a loss of three.

The only scoring in the final frame came on a 40-yard field goal from Heimback to put the Pirates up 41-0.

Music would get to Gautier for a loss of three. Sullivan connected with Walker Stone for a gain of 22, with 4:22 left in the game. Gautier would be dropped by Hall for a loss with 6:08 left. The last big play in this one came with 2:57 left, with Gautier being knocked for a loss of two by Owen Wilburn.

My Stats

Nelsonville

48 Plays

157 yards

Passing, 5-17 (several dropped passes)

Wheelersburg

48 Plays

350 yards

Passing, 5-5

 

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