Gallery by Heather Belcher
Beckley – On money downs Oak Hill repeatedly hit the jackpot.
The Red Devils converted on a pair of third-and-long situations on back-to-back drives Friday night, scoring touchdowns on both drives to secure a crucial 21-19 win over Beckley at Van Meter Stadium.
The win clinched a playoff berth for Oak Hill and delivers a crushing blow to Beckley’s playoff hopes as the Flying Eagles entered the week just inside the playoff bubble.
The third down conversions that propelled Oak Hill in the win proved necessary with the Flying Eagles mounting a comeback effort that fell short by a couple of inches.
After Beckley receiver Elijah Redfern scored a touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Devin Richardson to make it 21-19 with 4:09 left in the game, the hosts went for the tie.
Malachi Lewis, who was in coverage on the touchdown, played Redfern’s route perfectly, getting a finger on the conversion pass to force an incompletion.
“We knew they were going to do a lot of different formations from double wing to double tight to straight empty sets,” Oak Hill head coach Davon Marion said. “I think some frustration came in because maybe I should’ve burned a timeout because we didn’t have the right personnel out here to matchup but we just wanted to lock back in because it’s all about the next play. That’s what I preach to these kids because it’s all about the next snap and (Lewis) did get a finger on that ball and knocked it out of range. That’s huge for our football team. He’s a gamer and he wanted to make plays and he cares about this team so we’ll rely on Malachi to make plays all night.”
Relying on Lewis proved to be a sound strategy as he accounted for two passing touchdowns and another with his legs on the offensive side of the ball.
His first score, a 1-yard rush early in the second quarter, helped the Red Devils knot the game following a 53-yard interception return by Elijah Gray that ricocheted off a Beckley receiver.
The turnover helped slow the Flying Eagles who scored first on a Konnor Ray rushing touchdown and were driving after Oak Hill fumbled three times on its first drive, unable to recover the third one.
Beckley regained the lead with 3:18 left in the half courtesy of a 25-yard field goal from Tyler Radford and was positioned to add more points after sacking Lewis at the Oak Hill 9 on the following drive. But the first backbreaking third-down conversion followed with Lewis scrambling for 20 yards and a first down. His legs led the way again as he kept the following play alive and hit Mikey Spack for a 32-yard conversion, scrambling for nine more yards later in the drive on third-and-10.
The latter scramble set up fourth-and-1 from the Beckley 6 with 10 seconds left. A 6-yard scoring strike from Lewis to David Spaulding gave the Red Devils a 14-10 lead at the break, one they built upon right out of the gates.
Facing third-and-16 at their own 22, the Red Devils converted once again on a halfback screen to J.D. Mauritz that picked up 19 yards. Six plays later Lewis nailed a streaking Gray for a 31-yard touchdown pass to make it a 21-10 game.
“The first one (conversion) was just Malachi being an athlete,” Marion said. “He didn’t like what he seen and he got out of the pocket and that’s what he’s been doing all season. He gets out and makes plays and we expected that tonight and that’s what he done. It was a clutch moment to keep a drive alive and that touchdown before halftime turned out to be huge and it was Malachi being himself and making plays for the team.
“And that halfback screen to J.D., we haven’t practiced that since Week 1 of the season but it’s something we thought would work because they were blitzing us like crazy and at halftime we drew it up and gave the kids a reminder of how we wanted to block and things like that. It hit big for us once J.D. got the ball and he made plays for us. They were keying in on the run so we had to find a way to get him the ball and he made plays for us.”
The Flying Eagles found their footing in the fourth quarter but a pair of incompletions while needing two yards at the Oak Hill 15 forced them to trot Radford out for a successful 32-yard field goal attempt.
The Beckley defense forced a punt afterwards and collected 52 of its 63 second-half yards on the drive that ended in Redfern’s touchdown catch but the Red Devils milked the rest of the clock with six plays featuring two rushes from Mauritz and four from Lewis.
“Lewis is a tough kid,” Beckley head coach Street Sarrett said. “He made plays for them against Bluefield last week and he did against us tonight.”
Lewis finished with 119 yards and a score on 25 carries while completing five passes for 97 yards and two more scores.
The win clinches the first playoff berth for the program since 2018 and marks the first time the Red Devils have won eight games since 2013.
“Honestly, that’s why I’m here,” Marion, a graduate of Mount Hope said, “I’m a Fayette County guy and I knew there was talent in this program and you’ve got to push it to the next level. The kids have truly bought into what I’ve been preaching since I got here and they want to be good and they expect to get these results but they know you have to put the work in first to get there and I’m just happy for the kids because these seniors, I think this is their first winning season in four years. And these underclassmen, this is something to strive for each year. I’m just happy for our kids and I’m proud to be from Fayette County. Our community needed this, our school, needed this and I tell everyone If your football season is good, your school year is good so it’s huge for our community.”
Oak Hill will close the regular season next week when it hosts University.
Beckley will make its final stand for a playoff spot at George Washington.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
OH: 0 14 7 0 – 21
B: 7 3 0 9 – 19
Scoring Plays
Q1
B: Ray 1 rush (PAT good), 7:29
