By Tom Bragg, For Lootpress.com
Gallery by Jen Lewis
HURRICANE, W.Va. – Parkersburg sure didn’t play Friday like a football team that had to win just to get in the playoffs in last week’s final game of the regular season, and Hurricane didn’t play like a team that had been blowing up scoreboards for most of the regular season.
The No. 13-seeded Big Reds went on the road and stifled an explosive Redskins’ offense, and the tandem of quarterback David Parsons and running back Jason Williams helped put plenty of points up as Parkersburg scored a 47-23 upset of No. 4 Hurricane in the first round of the Class AAA state playoffs.
“We’ve been getting better, man,” Parkersburg head coach Matt Kimes said. “We’ve been getting better every game and every week, and we knew it was in us. We needed to put all four quarters together in all three phases of the game, and our kids did that at Musselman last week and we got some momentum off that. We knew when we went to Musselman we had to win to get in, and then we were and I was like, ‘I wouldn’t want to play us.’”
Hurricane (8-3) learned that lesson early on Friday. After receiving the ball to start the game, the Redskins went three-and-out and were forced to punt, but punter Grayson Maddox bobbled the snap and the Big Reds (7-4) jumped on the loose ball on the Hurricane 1-yard line.
Three plays later Parsons, a senior, ran it in for an early 7-0 Parkersburg lead.
The Redskins had an answer for that one, with senior quarterback JacQai Long linking up with junior receiver and West Virginia commit Tyshawn Dues for a 74-yard gain to set up a short run by Long to even the score.
The Big Reds, however, wasted little time retaking the lead. Just over a minute after Long’s touchdown run, Parsons found receiver Andrew Stalnaker for an 8-yard touchdown and never really looked back as the Parkersburg defense clamped down.
The second quarter saw the Big Reds score on a safety following another poorly executed punt attempt by Hurricane, a field goal and another Parsons touchdown pass. The senior connected with Stalnaker again, who came very close to having a knee down when he caught the pass. That caused the Hurricane defenders to let up, but the officials never blew the play dead as Stalnaker raced into the end zone for a 38-yard touchdown that put Parkersburg ahead 26-7 just before the halftime break.
Hurricane coach Donnie Mays said the Big Reds didn’t surprise his team with any new wrinkles this week, they were just a better football team on Friday night.
“They did what we saw on film, but they just whipped us at times,” Mays said. “They played better than we did, and we weren’t very good tonight.”
The Redskins, in search of a spark, changed quarterbacks for the second half with Long giving way to Noah Vellaithambi, but points were still hard to come by in the final two quarters. Hurricane got touchdowns from sophomore running back Kylan Grace – the son of former Marshall and Canadian Football League standout John Grace – in third quarter while Vellaithambi and Dues linked up for a fourth quarter touchdown, but it was too little too late as every time the Redskins found a little momentum Parkersburg was there with an answer.
“We played like that a lot this year, and eventually that stuff catches up with you,” Mays said. “I said early in the week that you can’t let people get a jumpstart on you in the playoffs, and they did. We never got over the hump.
Parsons completed 13 of 21 pass attempts Friday for 183 yards and three touchdowns, while also running seven times for 31 yards and two more touchdowns. Williams, who missed several games for Parkersburg this season, led the way on the ground Friday with 17 carries for 122 yards and one touchdown.
For Hurricane, Vellaithambi completed 13 of 29 pass attempts for 146 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions and also ran for 66 yards. Long went 6 of 13 passing for 145 yards and added 66 rushing yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. Dues led all receivers with 143 yards on eight receptions with the one late touchdown.
“We’ve been good on defense all year,” Kimes said. “There have been some games where we’ve given up some yardage, but for the most part we’ve been solid on defense and giving ourselves opportunities to win. When we’re good on defense, which we have been most of the time, and we’re sound in the kicking game, which we usually are, and then we don’t turn the ball over we’re hard to beat.”
Parkersburg advances to next week’s Class AAA state quarterfinal round of the postseason, where the Big Reds will be on the road again at the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 5 Princeton and No. 12 Oak Hill.
P 14 12 14 7 – 47
H 7 0 8 8 – 23
SCORING
FIRST QUARTER
P – Parsons 2 run (Stanley kick)
H – Long 2 run (Mitchell kick)
P – A. Stalnaker 8 pass from Parsons (Stanley kick)
SECOND QUARTER
P – Safety
P – Stanley 24 field goal
P – A. Stalnaker 38 pass from Parsons (Stanley kick)
THIRD QUARTER
P – M. Stalnaker 17 pass from Parsons (Stanley kick)
P – Williams 28 run (Stanley kick)
H – Grace 5 run (2-point successful)
FOURTH QUARTER
H – Dues 5 pass from Vellaithambi (2-point successful)
P – Parsons 7 run (Stanley kick)
Statistics
Rushing: (P) Williams 17-22-1, Parsons 7-31-2, Cheuvront 4-2-0; (H) Grace 13-83-1, Vellaithambi 12-66, Long 3-5-1, Dues 1-(-5).
Passing: (P) Parsons 13-21-3-0; (H) Vellaithambi 13-29-146-1-2, Long 6-13-145-0-0.
Receiving: (P) A. Stalnaker 3-47-2, M. Stalnaker 3-19-1, Stanley 2-54, Williams 2-32, Ice 2-17, Cheuvront 1-14; (H) Dues 8-143-1, Terrell 8-78-0, McGrew 5-71.
