Story by Kerry Patrick, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
PARKERSBURG — Parkersburg South kept its postseason bubble intact and beat Princeton at its own game with a 44-34 victory in the Patriots’ regular-season finale at Erickson All-Sports Facility.
South, seeded 18 in this week’s WVSSAC rankings, improved to 5-5 and now must await word if enough fell into place around the state on Friday night for the Patriots to qualify as one of the 16 teams for the Class AAA state tournament.
South quarterback Robert Shockey threw for 310 yards and four of his receivers combined for five touchdown receptions — including a pair from Cyrus Traugh, who finished with 11 catches for 159 yards.
Princeton also brought along a vaunted passing attack with the 6-foot-4 Grant Cochran, who finished with 416 yards through the air and three touchdown passes. His two main targets were Peyton Clemons with 105 yards on six receptions and Dominick Collins with 81 yards on five catches while accounting for two touchdowns.
While Princeton barely applied any pressure on the South quarterback, it was Patriot defensive lineman Demetrius Gearheart and company who were able to cause just enough havoc for the Princeton signal-caller. Garrett racked up a pair of sacks and another tackle for loss. For the game, South’s defense broke through with six sacks.
The two teams combined for 43 pass attempts in a first half which witnessed South building a 28-14 lead.
With South set to receive the second half kickoff, Princeton attempted one of a host of onside kicks. The one out of intermission was Princeton’s first of two conversions and led to Brodie Rice’s 2-yard touchdown run and cut the deficit to 28-21 just three minutes into the third quarter.
That was as close as Princeton came as South scored touchdowns on its next two possessions and increased the advantage to 44-28 in the early stages of the fourth quarter.
Cochran hooked up with Collins for a 28-yard touchdown completion which concluded the scoring with 8:41 remaining, but Parkersburg basically played keepaway. On the ensuing series with South facing fourth-and-6 from the Princeton 36, Shockey found Triston Walker for a 23-yard pass play and another Patriot first down — one of 24 for the game.
Princeton’s last offensive possession ended at the South 28 when Gearhart recovered as his teammates collected yet another quarterback sack.
