CHAPMANVILLE – Brody Dalton ran for 127 yards and two touchdowns, passed for 104 yards and two touchdowns and Chapmanville closed out the season with a 40-28 victory over county rival Man Friday night at Tiger Stadium.
Chapmanville (4-6) scored touchdowns on four consecutive possessions using a zone running game to rush for 308 yards with three different rushers. Kohl Farmer rushed for 111 yards on 18 carries and one touchdown before having to leave the game with a hip injury suffered late in the second quarter. Charles Stallard, Farmer’s replacement, ran for 71 yards on 13 carries and one touchdown.
“We challenged our offensive line at halftime,” Chapmanville coach James Barker said. “We knew that Kohl being injured changed a lot of what we wanted to do in the second half.”
Farmer, who entered Friday 169 yards shy of 1,000 rushing yards for the season, got the Tigers on the scoreboard first with a 6-yard touchdown run capping a 14-play 67-yard drive that ate up 7:54 of the first quarter clock.
Man would need to two plays to answer on the ensuing possession as Jordan Adams outraced the Chapmanville defense for a 46-yard touchdown to knot the contest at 7-7 with 3:42 remaining.
The Hillbillies would block a Chapmanville punt on the Tigers next possession as Justin Copley blocked Dalton’s punt to set the Hillbillies up with a first-and-goal at the Tiger 8 as the first quarter ended in a 7-7 tie.
Facing a 4th-and-goal from the Chapmanville 2 to start the fourth quarter, Man went with its jumbo package inserting Jayden Brown at quarterback. Brown was stripped of the football and Ryan Chapman recovered the fumble for Chapmanville at it’s own 2-yard line.
The Hillbillies defense forced a Tigers punt and Justin Grimmett appeared to have a 45-yard punt return for a score, but a block-in-the-back penalty at the Tigers 19 nullified the touchdown.
Four plays later, quarterback Israel Canterbury was striped by Chapmanville’s RJ Jones and Elijah Pridemore recovered the fumble at his own 18 with 8:34 remaining in the first half.
Six plays and 82-yards later, Dalton hooked up with William Kirkendall for a 24-yard touchdown to give the Tigers a 13-7 lead with 5:57 remaining in the first half.
It didn’t take Man long to answer as the Hillbillies needed just five plays to regain the lead on Canterbury’s 1-yard run with 3:58 to play in the first half.
Chapmanville moved the ball to Man 39 with under a minute to play but faced a 4th-and-21 situation. Barker initially sent his punt team out but called timeout to think it over. After the timeout he sent his offense back onto the field.
Dalton found Stallard for a 31-yard gain to the Man 8 and on the next play, Dalton scored from 8-yard out to give the Tigers a 19-14 lead with 0:39 remaining.
Chapmanville was successful on third and fourth downs converting 66.7% of the time. The Tigers were 6-of-10 on third down and a perfect 2-for-2 on fourth downs.
“Outside of the one it was manageable,” Barker said. “The 4th-and-20 call I kind of pulled out of my butt there, but the quarterback threw a great ball on that pass to Charles.”
Man would attempt a 29-yard field goal with 0:03 remaining in the first half, but Jaxon Tipton’s kick was blocked at the line of scrimmage ending a first half that featured one tie and two lead changes.
On Man’s opening possession of the second half, Grimmett appeared to have a first down, but Jeffrey Vance stripped him of the ball at the Tiger 40-yard line and returned it to the Hillbilly 3.
Dalton ran it on the next play as the Tigers extended their advantage to 26-14 with 8:35 to play in the third quarter.
Man answered with an Adams 7-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 26-21 with 5:49 remaining.
On the ensuing kickoff, Kirkendall was stripped of the ball as Brady Hall-Montgomery recovered the fumble for the Hillbillies at the Tigers 28-yard line.
Man drove to the 8-yard line, but Sam Leslie stripped Canterbury of the football at the Tigers 2-yard line and returned it five yards to the 7 with 3:16 remaining.
Chapmanville marched 93-yards in 12 plays and 5:26 as Stallard scored from 1-yard out to give Chapmanville a 33-21 lead with 9:50 to play.
Man answered with a 70-yard touchdown pass from Canterbury to Grimmett to draw within 33-28 with 8:41 remaining in the contest.
Man would get no closer as Dalton’s 17-yard touchdown with 4:19 to play put the Tigers up 40-28.
“They did a great job of having an answer for everything we did,” Barker said. “We had an answer for them as well and that is kind of how the game went.”
A costly penalty and two red zone fumbles plagued the Hillbillies in the first half and two fumbles in the second half had the Hillbilly coaching staff wondering what if. For the game Man turned the ball over five times including three times in the red zone.
“We had opportunities,” Man coach Harvey Arms said. “You can’t have five turnovers in a game.”
Canterbury completed 7-of-12 passes for 159 yards and one touchdown and one interception. Adams rushed for 93 yards on nine carries and scored twice. Chris Issacs ran for 55 yards on nine carries and Grimmett had 43 yards on six carries and caught three passes for 103 yards and one touchdown.
Dalton completed 5-of-his-10 passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns. Kirkendall caught two balls for 32 yards and two touchdowns. Stallard had one grab for 31 yards, RJ Jones caught one pass for 22 yards and Jacob Topping one for 19 yards.
Man ends the season with a 4-6 record and missed the playoffs for the second straight season.
Chapmanville, who was 1-5 following a loss to Class AA No. 1 Herbert Hoover, closed the year with victories in three-of-its-last four games.
“These kids could have quit on me after the Hoover game going into our bye week,” Barker said. “They stuck by me, and they trusted me and our coaching staff.”
The Tigers return seven starters on both offense and defense next season along with a promising group of middle school athletes.
“We are going to miss our senior group,” Barker said. “They did a heck of a job for us.”
“We got a Harts Middle School group, that was undefeated, coming in, and we got a good Chapmanville Middle School group coming in,” Barker said. “The future is bright for Chapmanville, West Virginia.”
