Aricle and Pics: Wheelersburg 24 Waverly 13

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

Last night I made my first visit to watch a game at Waverly. The game when all was said and done turned out to be worth the 1:45 minute drive. A late fumble at the one-yard-line kept Waverly from taking a late lead, that was followed by a drive of championship caliber by the Pirates to put this contest away.

The Pirates got things started with an eleven-yard run by Mack Dyer just fifteen seconds gone off of the clock. That run was followed by a twelve-yard run by Dominic Reyes, at the 10:45 mark. The Pirates offensive line was off to a good start in this one as you can see, with the two big runs. At the 9:07 mark Dyer was hit and coughed the ball up, luckily for the Pirates Lyden Collins pounced on it though the play went for a six-yard loss. From there the drive ended on an incomplete fourth down pass, with 8:23 left in the quarter.

Waverly saw their opening drive end on a fourth down play where Easton Wolfe came up way short of the first down marker, after making a catch, with 7:20 left in the quick moving quarter.

The Pirates would try to go back to what looked to be a potentially powerful ground game, but this time the Tigers led by Tate Evens got to #32 Xander Carmicheal for a two-yard-loss, with 5:35 left. Wheelersburg offense recovered nicely with a twenty-yard-run at the 4:31 mark by #5 Tanner Bivens all the way to the Tigers six-yard-line. The ten-play, eighty-one-yard drive came to a climax on a pass from Dyer to Bivens for a nine-yard score, with 2:42 showing on the clock. Strong footed kicker,Daylor Lewis easily hit the point after kick to make this a,7-0 Pirates lead.

A sack by Keaton Newsome and Chase Stidham on the Tigers quarterback resulted in a fourteen-yard loss, with just 1:17 left in the quarter.

The Tigers defense got a much needed big play, when Dyer was picked off by Easton Wolfe, with 10:38 left in the half. The Tigers defense seemed to be getting spanked hard at times, but they seem to have a knack to bounce back from it, as they seem to be waiting for their offense to pick things up.

The Tigers offense would not show up after the pick just :23 later they would turn the ball over via a fumble. Garrett Moore made a nice catch but coughed the ball up and pouncing on it for the Pirates was Clint Hatfield #42.

The Pirates offense got a twelve-yard run from Newsome at the 9:21 mark. At the 8:30 mark facing a third and three, the Pirates easily picked up the first down, with a thirteen-yard run by Dyer. The drive continued with a Dyer to Trey Canary pass good for sixteen-yards. Canary was wide open making the completion easy. The twelve-play drive ended with a twenty-nine-yard field goal by,Lewis making this a,10-0 game at the 7:00 mark of the quarter.

The Tigers offense finally showed life,when Drew Harris exploded on a sixty-five-yard run making this a,10-6 game. The point after kick by,Darby Teeters made it a ,10-7 game with 5:55 left in the half.

Dyer threw a pass in the direction of Bivens, who made a sensational diving catch for a big gain and a first down. Bivens picked up sixteen-yards to the Tigers one, with 49.1 seconds left in the half. From there Dyer muscled his way in for the score, with 44.2 seconds left in the half.The point after kick made it a,17-7 game as the teams prepared to head to the locker rooms.

The third quarter was very young when,Drew Kritwiser went untouched for a forty-nine-yard score. The point after kick was missed leaving this a,17-13 game. The drive totaled seventy-yards and took just five plays.

There would be three more nice defensive plays made before the quarter ended. The first was made by the Tigers, when they stopped the Pirates Bivens two-yards short of the first down marker on a fourth down play, with 8:07 left in the quarter. The next came at the 3:13 mark, when Newsome made a diving pick on a ball that was tipped. The final play came with 2:16 left, when the Tigers stuffed a fake punt attempt.

The Tigers were still trailing by four with 11:45 left in the game, but they had the ball on the Pirates one-yard-line. after a seven-yard run by, Drew Harris. With the crowd anticipating a Tigers score after the next snap, but the snap was horrible and resulted with a sack on quarterback for a thirteen-yard loss, with 10:57 left in the contest.A incomplete pass on fourth down ended the drive and scoring hopes of the Tigers. There was a lot of contact with the receiver in the end zone but nothing was called. One guy sitting behind me, who was there as a fan of the game and not a fan of either team said wow, that was not called. I, myself thought the flag was going to be thrown too, but the ref did not see it that way.

The Pirates would find themselves facing a fourth and one, with 4:57 left in the game and they would go and convert, when a direct snap went to Carmichael and he moved the chains, with a nice little run. The Pirates would end the thirteen-play,eighty-four-yard championship like drive, with a one-yard Carmicheal plunge into the end zone. The point after making this a,24-13 game, with 2:51 left.

The Pirates defense would get a pick by Taylor Doerr to put the final touches on their eleven point win. The pick came with 1:08 left.

UNOFFICIAL STATS
Wheelersburg
73-PLAYS
394 YARDS
PASSING 8-15 1 TD 1 INT

WAVERLY
57 PLAYS
325 YARDS
PASSING 15-27 2 INT'S

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

Pics
https://www.facebook.com/DavidLewisBurn ... loaded=167

Pics are not great because of the seat I had and all of the super large people surrounding me.

[Burg93]

Nice report. Where did you find a seat?

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

On the Pirates side opposite of the scoreboard near the 35-yard-line.

[JTEK]

I've been critical of officials in the past but I thought last nights crew did a nice job. They let both teams play and we're consistent, if it wasn't a penalty in the first quarter it wasn't going to be called in the 4th quarter.

[Mad-Dogg]

excellent article

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

excellent article

Thanks.