Portsmouth

Portsmouth vs Chesapeake

 

By PAUL BOGGS

Photo’s by Tim Gearhart

PORTSMOUTH — Sometimes, all it takes is one — or one three times.

And, while it wasn’t the shootout of last year’s matchup, nor did Portsmouth’s Talyn Parker put up quite the eye-popping and jaw-dropping rushing statistics this time, it wasn’t too far behind.

That’s because Parker — the reigning Southeast District Division V Offensive Player of the Year and now Portsmouth’s all-time career rushing leader — scored on three separate one-play possessions on Friday night, en route to leading the Trojans to a 34-20 victory over visiting Chesapeake inside Trojan Coliseum in Portsmouth.

Parker scored on single-play possessions of 60 (10 seconds), 59 (11 seconds) and 22 yards (six seconds) that combined for 27 seconds — and amassed a massive 288 yards on 17 carries.

Last season, in Portsmouth’s 55-39 high-scoring triumph at Chesapeake, Parker went off for an unreal 381 yards and four scores on 30 attempts.

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So while his numbers aren’t as outrageous as last year’s against the Panthers, he still burnt them for three one-play scores that added up to 18 points — and when the game was still within reach.

In interviews both before and afterwards on Friday night, the two head coaches basically knew what the other’s general gameplan was.

Chesapeake planned to ball-control the speedy and athletic Trojans and consume the clock, limiting Parker to as much defensive play as possible.

Of course, Portsmouth always wants Parker to touch the football, for he can break off an explosive play on any given snap.

While the Panthers had some success with their grind-it-out run-oriented wing-T style, Parker needed just one play — or actually three — to demonstrate why he such a threat on any.

“It just shows you the type of talent the young man (Talyn) has. You give him a crease and he takes it the distance,” said Portsmouth coach Bruce Kalb. “He finds that hole, hits it and explodes through it. And he is so good in breaking tackles.”

“He (Parker) is a great running back and we talked all week about getting him on the ground. If we tackled him, got him on the ground and made them drive the ball, we were hoping we could force them into mistakes,” said Chesapeake coach Todd Knipp. “We scored on that first drive, then unfortunately, he answers in one play by going for 60 yards. We had to make tackles in the open field to get Parker down, and we didn’t.”

Indeed, the Trojans erased a 7-0 deficit, and scored 20 consecutive second-half points to put the contest on ice midway through the final quarter.

With the win, Portsmouth raised its record to 6-1 and 3-1 in the OVC, while Chesapeake fell to under .500 to 3-4 — and are eliminated from championship contention in the league at 1-3.

Chesapeake also essentially aided Portsmouth in the final 30 minutes — and all the while when the Panthers were on the Trojans’ side of midfield.

“We blew some opportunities to score. We fumbled twice, had two turnovers on downs, had a touchdown called back,” said Knipp. “The things that we needed to do to win this football game, we were unable to finish up and follow through on. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot repeatedly with turnovers.”

The Panthers lost two fumbles, including following a 15-play, 84-yard drive that devoured five-and-a-half minutes off the second-quarter clock — and after the Panthers were inside the 5-yard-line with 29 seconds to play in the first half.

At that point, because Chesapeake scored nine minutes earlier to tie it at 14-14 with Randy Wilson’s second of two extra-point kicks, a touchdown on that march would have put the Panthers in front.

“That was a key moment in the game — fumbling on the 2-yard-line with half-a-minute left in the half,” said Knipp. “We could have gone into half with a 21-14 lead, and that could have really changed things.”

Kalb concurred.

“That was a big goal-line stand for the second week in a row,” he said. “I was really proud of our defense for stiffening up there and keeping them out of the end zone. We carried that momentum over into the second half.”

With the Panthers’ offensive style, and the Trojans’ quick-strike ability, Chesapeake actually ran 30 more plays from scrimmage (69-39), as Portsmouth only outgained the Panthers on the ground by 10 yards (361-351).

Chesapeake also held a 22-15 advantage in first downs, as the Panthers’ plays in the first half outnumbered Portsmouth’s by 25 (40-15).

“When you score so quick like we can and did tonight, your defense is right back out on the field. Then the style of offense Chesapeake runs, they are going to take three (yards), four, five, six, seven yards every time. But we challenged our defense at halftime that they had to get off the field,” said Kalb. “They have to make those hits and pop that ball loose. We needed our defense tonight to make those hits, be in position, make them earn everything that they get. Our defense was on the field a lot in the first half — I think we only had three possessions.”

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In the second half, Chesapeake turned the ball over on downs twice, including inside the red zone at the 19 on the second-to-last play of the third quarter.

On the opening play of that drive, Kamren Harless — who amounted 166 yards on 26 carries and scored the game-tying touchdown in the second period on a 28-yard sprint — had a 23-yard touchdown run called back due to a holding penalty.

Before Parker’s final touchdown from 22 yards with five minutes and 39 seconds remaining, the Trojans blocked a Panther punt following a three-and-out possession.

Trailing 34-14 with 1:52 to play, Chesapeake finally scored again on a slippery 17-yard run by quarterback Donald Richendollar — in which he broke free from what seemed to be several sure Trojan tackles.

Portsmouth power fullback Tyler McCoy, who rushed three times on its final drive including for 30 yards from midfield to the red zone, recovered the onside kick following that TD to seal the win.

“We almost completely shut them out in the second half,” said Kalb. “This was actually one of the more complete games we’ve played — both halves defensively, offensively and special teams. Everybody wants to point to Talyn Parker and what he does, but I can’t praise our other seniors enough for picking up where last year’s seniors left off.”

Will Todd, who added 95 yards on 17 totes, caught Richendollar’s only completion on three second-half attempts for 23 yards — which actually converted 4th-down-and-7 from the Portsmouth 40 and kept the final scoring drive alive.

The Panthers posted 351 rushing yards on 66 attempts — as Richendollar (30 yards) and Logan Walsh (48 yards) carried nine times apiece.

Chesapeake’s opening possession was what it hoped to demonstrate all night — a well-executed dozen-play, 74-yard, five-minute march that featured four separate backs all carrying the ball.

Walsh went in from three yards out at the 6:52 mark, and Wilson’s extra point gave the Purple its only advantage.

That lead lasted just 10 seconds, as Parker burst up the middle and almost untouched en route to his 60-yard scamper.

Joel Bowling made the first of his four extra-point kicks to tie it at 7-7, and the Trojans never trailed again — after forcing Chesapeake into a three-and-out and punt.

Portsmouth quarterback Drew Roe, who completed seven of 10 passes for 66 yards, threw for a pair of touchdowns to give the Trojans a pair of seven-point cushions (14-7 and 21-14).

With 1:50 left in the first quarter, and after Parker picked up 36 yards in four consecutive carries to the Chesapeake 19, Roe completed a hitch pass to Bryce Wallace, who made the catch at the 10 and broke a tackle to score.

The Trojans then broke the 14-14 tie on the opening second-half series, as Roe hit Eric Purdy with a seven-yard strike at the 7:45 mark — aided by an earlier pass to Purdy for 13 yards and a Parker pickup of 36 to the Panther 13.

Purdy actually jumped and high-pointed the reception in front of Walsh, and took a hard hit from him as he hit the ground — but held onto the ball.

That capped a quick six-play, 78-yard four-minute move, as the weapons of Purdy (three receptions for 25 yards), Wallace (two receptions for 22 yards) and Michael Duncan (three receptions for 19 yards) do so much to take pressure off of Parker.

“With Drew Roe’s ability to get the ball out to those guys, and now the defense has to know where they are and cover them, that opens up even more lanes for Talyn to run in. It becomes pick your poison,” said Kalb. “Do you stack the box and stop Talyn Parker, or do you widen your defense out and allow Talyn the chance to do what he does best?”

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And, what Parker did best on Friday night was, as usual, break the big one — three times.

Portsmouth returns to OVC action next week when it travels to Fairland.

* * *

Chesapeake 7 7 0 6 — 20

Portsmouth 14 0 13 7 — 34

C— Will Todd, 3-yard run (Randy Wilson kick), 6:52, 1st (7-0 C)

P —Talyn Parker, 60-yard run (Joel Bowling kick), 6:34, 1st (7-7 tie)

P — Bryce Wallace, 19-yard pass from Drew Roe (Joel Bowling kick), 1:50, 1st (14-7 P)

C — Kamren Harless, 28-yard run (Randy Wilson kick), 9:31, 2nd (14-14 tie)

P — Eric Purdy, 7-yard pass from Drew Roe (Joel Bowling kick), 7:45, 3rd (21-14 P)

P — Talyn Parker, 59-yard run (kick failed), 3:50, 3rd (27-14 P)

P —Talyn Parker, 22-yard run (Joel Bowling kick), 5:39, 4th (34-14 P)

C — Donald Richendollar, 17-yard run (kick failed), 1:52, 4th (34-20 P)

Team Statistics

C P

First Downs 22 15

Scrimmage Plays 69 39

Rushes-Yards 66-351 29-361

Passing Yards 23 66

Total Yards 374 427

Cmp-Att-Int 1-3-0 7-10-1

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1

Penalties-Yards 7-58 8-61

Punts-Average 2-19 1-44

——

Individual Leaders

RUSHING —Chesapeake: Kamren Harless 26-166 TD, Will Todd 17-95 TD, Logan Walsh 9-48, Donald Richendollar 9-30 TD, Carson Nida 3-11, Randy Wilson 1-1, Team 1-0; Portsmouth: Talyn Parker 17-288 3TD, Drew Roe 8-25, Tyler McCoy 4-48

PASSING — Chesapeake: Donald Richendollar 1-3-0-23; Portsmouth: Drew Roe 7-10-1 66 2TD

RECEIVING — Chesapeake: Will Todd 1-23; Portsmouth: Eric Purdy 3-25 TD, Bryce Wallace 2-22 TD, Michael Duncan 2-19

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Portsmouth vs Coal Grove

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Portsmouth vs Rock Hill

Parker, Trojans push past Rock Hill

By PAUL BOGGS

Photo’s by Kent Sanborn

PEDRO — Speed kills.

So do turnovers at the most inopportune times.

For two-and-a-half quarters on Friday night, the undermanned Rock Hill Redmen matched the heavily-favored and visiting Portsmouth Trojans score for score.

But, like many other teams before them, the Redmen simply couldn’t catch Portsmouth senior Talyn Parker – before they were undone by two lost fumbles which led directly to 14 second-half Portsmouth points.

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#
1
Name
Talyn Parker
Position
2020
Height
5-11
Weight
195
Current Team
Portsmouth
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2019
In the end, Parker – the reigning Division V Southeast District Offensive Player of the Year – poured on 266 rushing yards and all five Trojan touchdowns, and Portsmouth posted a 40-28 Ohio Valley Conference victory.

The matchup marked the OVC opener for both clubs, as Portsmouth stayed undefeated at 4-0, while the Redmen remain winless at 0-4.

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In fact, for the Trojans, it is the first time that the tradition-rich program has started a season with four triumphs since 2002.

That is important, per Portsmouth second-year head coach Bruce Kalb.

Head Coach Bruce Kalb

Current Team
Portsmouth
Past Teams
Waverly
“I’m very happy for this group of seniors and very proud of the work they have done so far for this 4-0 start. They deserve all the credit as the leaders on this team,” he said. “To do something that hasn’t been done in 17 years is special. We have a lot of football ahead of us of course and a lot of things we need to clean up and work on, but these seniors have led the way and deserve this start to the season that we’ve had.”

While it’s been an excellent beginning to 2019 for the Trojans, it’s been the exact opposite for the Redmen.

Rock Hill has suffered several injuries – some season-ending – over the course of the first four games, including starting senior running backs Zak Adkins and T.J. McGinnis.

Add to that MASH unit on Friday was fellow senior starting back Logan Hankins, who didn’t play in the second half due to suffering concussion-like symptoms.

But the Redmen gave an excellent effort against the talented Trojans, as their two tight end T-formation full-house offense moved the ball – often times at will.

However, Rock Hill fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half, as the Trojans recovered and scored four plays later to go up 24-14.

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Then, late in the third quarter, the Redmen fumbled following an eight-play four-minute and 15-second drive – in which they moved from midfield to just inside the red zone.

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Following five plays of 10 yards or more, and only two minutes later, Parker posted his fifth and final touchdown – a 25-yard run to double the lead at 40-20 with 10-and-a-half minutes remaining.

“The final score doesn’t reflect how hard our kids played and how well we played at times,” said Rock Hill head coach Mark Lutz. “I thought we handled the line of scrimmage most of the game, which is what we tried to do. That’s the best our offensive line has blocked all year. We had kids out injured and we lost Logan Hankins early, then we’re playing (Talyn) Parker who is just lightning in a bottle. If you don’t tackle him, more than likely he is going to break one. He had two long runs tonight. Then we had two unfortunate turnovers at the wrong times, one of which set up a short field for them and the other we were driving the ball. We controlled the line of scrimmage, and there weren’t too many negative plays that we had. A loss is a loss, but our kids played hard and that’s all I can ask of them.”

The Redmen, which did not attempt a single pass, ran the football 55 times for a massive 302 yards and picked up 24 first downs.

“It’s such a difficult offense to face,” said Kalb. “You really have to be disciplined. Rock Hill has big powerful offensive linemen and their backs run very hard. Here they are picking up four, five, six yards on you every time, but I thought we hung in there and we made some good adjustments in the second half.”

Logan Hankins had 46 first-half yards and a touchdown on seven carries, but sophomore Owen Hankins and junior Hayden Harper carried 20 times apiece, as Hankins amounted 142 yards while Harper hit for 102 and two short touchdown runs (four and two yards).

#
3
Name
Owen Hankins
Position
2022
Current Team
Rock Hill
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2019, 2020, 2021

Parker picked up his 266 yards on 16 carries, as the Trojans rushed 27 times for 331 yards as a team.

Drew Roe, Portsmouth’s sophomore quarterback, completed 11-of-17 passes for 137 yards – with Eric Purdy catching eight of Roe’s passes for 107 yards.

Roe rushed four times for 32 yards, as the Trojans did not punt, did not commit a turnover, and racked up 22 first downs.

The Trojans also converted all five of their extra-point tries – which were all two-point conversions.

“Those (two-point conversions) are plays we’ve been working a lot on in practice. We’ve had some issues in the kicking game, and we knew there are going to be times when we need to go for two. You want to trust and have confidence in going for two points,” said Kalb. “We did a nice job of executing all of those attempts. And in a 12-point final score, 10 points makes a huge difference.”

Meanwhile, Rock Hill went 2-of-4 on two-point attempts, including a pass failure on its second touchdown with 4:16 remaining in the second quarter.

Harper capped an impressive 13-play, 66-yard, seven-minute and three-second scoring march with a four-yard plunge to make it 16-14, as the Redmen actually appeared to convert the subsequent two-point run attempt.

But a chop block penalty was called on the Redmen, negating the conversion and forcing Rock Hill to retry the PAT at the 17-yard-line.

The second attempt failed, but Lutz labeled the fumbling of the second-half kickoff as “the death to us.”

The Redmen received the kick, but it bounced right off the return man –and into the arms of Portsmouth’s Reade Pendleton who recovered right at the 26.

Four plays and a minute and 49 seconds later, Parker cut up for an 11-yard TD run, as Roe completed the two-point conversion pass to Michael Duncan for a 24-14 Trojan advantage.

The Redmen returned to their ground assault, driving 65 yards and nine plays in four-and-a-half minutes, as Harper had his 2-yard run to trim the deficit to 24-20.

The two-point run attempt failed, and Parker burned Rock Hill with his second scoring run of at least 59 yards – a 69-yard scamper at the 4:38 mark of the third quarter.

On the game’s opening play, Parker broke about a half-dozen tackles on a 59-yard dash to the end zone – just 23 seconds into the contest.

“What more can you say about Talyn?” said Kalb. “But the thing is, he just keeps getting better.”

Tyler McCoy made it 32-20 with his two-point conversion run, as the Redmen then moved the ball exactly 34 yards to the Portsmouth 17 before fumbling.

The Trojans recovered, and Roe completed passes to Purdy for 13 and 14 yards, sandwiched around 10 and 18-yard gains by Parker – prior to his 25-yard scoring sprint.

Roe’s two-point pass to Bryce Wallace officially doubled the advantage, which was Portsmouth’s largest of the night.

The Redmen made it 40-28 with a 14-play, 64-yard, seven-minute and 17-second scoring march that picked up five first downs – and was capped off by a Hunter Massie 1-yard QB sneak.

Harper ran in the two-point conversion, as Logan Hankins had Rock Hill’s opening touchdown and two-point run – a 9-yarder to cap an eight-play, 68-yard drive at the 7:25 mark of the opening quarter.

That tied the score at 8-8, as Portsmouth never trailed, going ahead 16-8 just 40 seconds into the second quarter after a five-play, 56-yard drive that spanned a minute and 22 seconds.

Roe ran for 15 yards to move the Trojans into Rock Hill territory, as another Roe completion to Purdy for 40 yards set up Portsmouth 1st-and-goal at the 2.

The Trojans succeeded with Roe throws to Purdy in the flat, and letting Purdy pick up yards after the catch.

#
2
Name
Drew Roe
Position
2022
Height
235
Weight
5-06
Current Team
Portsmouth
Leagues
OVC, SEO
Seasons
2019, 2020, 2021
“Of course, once Talyn gets going, we want Drew to throw enough and complete enough passes to keep the defense honest,” said Kalb. “We have a lot of playmakers on this team besides Talyn, and it’s important we get them involved and keep them involved if we are going to be successful.”

Parker finished the drive on the next play, and ran in the two-point conversion run.

The Redmen return to OVC action next Friday when they travel to Fairland, while Portsmouth returns to the road – and returns to OVC play – at defending champion Gallia Academy.

The Blue Devils defeated Chesapeake 55-27, thus setting up a matchup of undefeateds at historic Memorial Field in Gallipolis.

Fairland vs Rock Hill

Gallia Academy vs Portsmouth

 

*     *     *

Portsmouth 40, Rock Hill 28  

Portsmouth 8 8 16 8 – 40

Rock Hill 8 6 6 8 – 28

P — Talyn Parker, 59-yard run (Talyn Parker run), 11:37, 1st (8-0 P)

RH —  Logan Hankins, 9-yard run (Logan Hankins run), 7:25, 1st (8-8 tie)

P — Talyn Parker, 2-yard run (Talyn Parker run), 11:20, 2nd (16-8 P)

RH — Hayden Harper, 4-yard run (pass failed), 4:16, 2nd (16-14 P)

P— Talyn Parker, 11-yard run (Michael Duncan pass from Drew Roe), 10:04, 3rd (24-14 P)

RH — Hayden Harper, 2-yard run (run failed), 5:29, 3rd (24-20 P)

P — Talyn Parker, 69-yard run (Tyler McCoy run), 4:38, 3rd (32-20 P)

P — Talyn Parker, 25-yard run (Bryce Wallace pass from Drew Roe), 10:24, 4th (40-20 P)

RH  — Hunter Massie, 1-yard run (Hayden Harper run), 3:03, 4th (40-28 P)

Team statistics

P RH

First downs 22 24

Plays from scrimmage 44 55

Rushes-yards 27-331 55-302

Passing yards 137 0

Total yards 468 302

Cmp-Att-Int. 11-17-0 0-0-0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 3-2

Penalties-yards 5-56 4-30

Punts-average 0-0 1-29

Individual Leaders

RUSHING — Portsmouth: Talyn Parker 16-266 5TD, Drew Roe 4-32, Donavon Carr 2-14, Beau Hammond 1-12, Tyler McCoy 3-8, Team 1-(-1); Rock Hill: Owen Hankins 20-142, Hayden Harper 20-102 2TD, Logan Hankins 7-46 TD, Skylar Kidd 5-19, Hunter Massie 3-(-7) TD

PASSING — Portsmouth: Drew Roe 11-17-0-137; Rock Hill: none

RECEIVING — Portsmouth: Eric Purdy 8-107, Bryce Wallace 2-16, Michael Duncan 1-14; Rock Hill: none

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Portsmouth vs River Valley

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Portsmouth vs Valley

By PAUL BOGGS

Photo’s by Kent Sanborn

Video by Ben Spicer

 

PORTSMOUTH – Believe it or not, Portsmouth’s Talyn Parker had more points (30) than he did rushing yards (21) on Thursday night.

But, what matters most, the senior standout Parker had more points than the visiting Valley Indians.

Parker scored all five of the Trojans’ touchdowns, including the go-ahead and game-winner with 38.5 seconds remaining, as Portsmouth pulled off a thrilling 32-27 come-from-behind triumph in the 2019 football season opener  – inside majestic Trojan Coliseum in Portsmouth.

It was Portsmouth’s fourth consecutive victory in this series, as the Trojans have scored at least 32 points in all four.

This one, though, on a spectacular night for football weather-wise, was the hardest earned.

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Head Coach Bruce Kalb

Current Team
Portsmouth
Past Teams
Waverly
“I think I aged about five years in four quarters. That was just a barn-burner,” said an elated second-year Portsmouth coach Bruce Kalb. “Something we work on is how are we going to respond when we face adverse situations. In sports, it’s easy to blame the officials, blame this person, blame that person, or complain or get defensive. But our kids responded in a way tonight that kept this game going forward in our direction. In the end, we came out on top. We knew it was going to be a 48-minute battle, and our senior class made sure our kids didn’t quit.”

 

The Trojans, coming off their 7-3 regular season a year ago which included a Division V state playoff appearance, racked up 57 points on the Indians last year.

It marked the beginning of Parker’s explosive rushing season, as he amassed almost 300 yards – en route to a campaign of over 2,500 plus 29 touchdowns.

He is the reigning Division V Southeast District Offensive Player of the Year.

 

On Thursday, Parker was surrounded, swarmed under and gang-tackled by the Indians all evening, stymied to only 21 rushing yards on 17 carries.

He had 20 yards on 15 touches in the entire first half.

His longest official runs were a pair of five-yard second-quarter pickups, although he did have a fancy-footwork 53-yard fourth-quarter dash negated due to a crackback block.

Parker touched the ball on offense only three times in the second half, but his final touch was by far the most important.

With the Trojans trailing 27-26, and their 26-14 third-quarter advantage completely evaporated, Portsmouth pushed to the Indians’ 10-yard line – and faced a 3rd-down-and-6.

Drew Roe, the sophomore signal-caller making his first varsity start for the Trojans, found Parker open in the flat for the reception inside the 5-yard line.

Then, for once on Thursday night, Parker didn’t face an onslaught of Indians coming at him – and instead he broke a one-on-one tackle and found the end zone with 38.5 seconds left.

“Talyn gives you that extra gear. He saw paydirt and he made sure he got in there,” said Kalb. “He’s been working a lot this summer on being able to catch the ball out of the backfield. He came up big for us.”

That put Portsmouth in front 32-27, as the Trojans – capping a 50-yard, seven-play drive in only a minute and 21 seconds with no timeouts – took advantage of Valley’s second punt.

It followed an Indians’ three-and-out series, as the Valley punt near the two-minute mark sailed straight skyward, and eventually was covered by the Trojans at midfield.

For whatever mistakes the Trojans made on Thursday, and they did commit nine penalties for 90 yards, Valley made more – and Portsmouth made it pay.

Head Coach Darren Crabtree

Current Team
Valley
“We were our own worst enemy tonight,” said Valley coach Darren Crabtree. “We had a lot of penalties, a bad snap on a punt, a big kickoff return that lead to their first score, we fumble and they recover in the end zone, we missed some opportunities to get off the field (on defense). I told our kids that I don’t know that the best team tonight won. Parker is still, hands down, the best player on the field. But we let ourselves really get in our own way.”

The Indians were whistled for a dozen penalties for 103 yards, and three personal-foul penalties – including a pair of roughing-the-passer calls – aided in the Trojans’ three first-half touchdowns.

But perhaps no Indian penalty was bigger than in the Trojans’ final scoring drive, as a pass interference flag on 2nd-and-10 moved the hosts from the 27-yard-line to the 14.

Roe then connected with Bryce Wallace for nine yards to the five, as a Portsmouth illegal procedure pushed the ball back to the 10, setting up the Roe-to-Parker pass completion two plays later.

For his part, Roe performed quite well on his biggest stage to date.

He completed 10-of-24 passes for 146 yards, did not throw an interception, and knew when to throw the football away.

Kalb said the Trojans only averaged about seven passes per game last season, but they had to offset the Indians stacking the box on Parker – and Portsmouth only rushing for 28 yards on 26 tries.

“We did stop Parker on the ground. The kids did a real nice job of tackling him. Our outside guys came up and forced and made the tackle. Our interior seven guys played extremely hard and gang-tackled him, which is what you have to do,” said Crabtree. “But we also talked before the game about not letting their other players beat us.”

“We knew Valley was going to come in with that defensive gameplan. When you have a young man like Talyn (Parker) and a young and inexperienced offensive line, we expected that from them. But Drew Roe really stepped up tonight,” said Kalb. “We ended up deciding today (Thursday) that he was going to be the one to lead this offense. He is an ‘X’ factor with his legs and his decision-making. He is a sophomore stepping into a very senior-laden group, leading the team on that game-winning drive.”

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While Wallace caught three passes for 37 yards and Tyler McCoy one for 23, it was the tight-end drag pattern between Roe and Michael Duncan that made a major difference.

Duncan, the fellow sophomore who battled Roe in Portsmouth’s preseason quarterback competition, did his job at tight end – and caught four passes for 69 yards.

“Hats off to Michael Duncan tonight. He was battling Drew Roe for that quarterback position. As a junior, he said he wanted to see the field, and he told us that he can play at tight end,” said Kalb. “As a quarterback, he knows all the routes and all the blocking schemes, and he stepped up big time.”

Parker’s final of five touchdowns followed his first-half hat trick of short rushing ones – on plunges of two, four and three yards.

Valley’s punting problems set up the Trojans’ TD that gave them the 20-14 lead with 45-and-a-half seconds left before halftime.

Near the six-and-a-half minute mark of the second stanza, and with the Indians in their own territory between the 27 and 47, Valley’s Andrew Andronis lined up to punt the ball set at the 37.

An Andronis punt from the 42  on the previous snap rolled deep into Trojan territory, but the Indians were flagged for a false start – and forced to re-kick.

On the second attempt, the ball sailed high over Andronis’ head, and he could only fall on the pigskin at his own 12-yard line.

Although the Trojans didn’t score, they had flipped field position, and Valley’s first three-and-out series resulted in a 29-yard punt from the six with an 11-yard return.

From the 24, Roe found Parker for a seven-yard completion, as Parker accounted for the final two plays – the second of which was the 3-yard TD run.

More poor field position set up the Trojans’ next score, making it 26-14 midway through the third frame.

A 40-yard Portsmouth punt pinned the Indians at the 12, as a holding penalty and an incomplete pass set up 2nd-and-15 from the seven.

With Andronis in the shotgun, and almost on the goal-line, he never got the snap as he himself somewhat mishandled it – and a sea of Red buried him under as the ball was loose.

Parker recovered the fumble in the end zone, making it 26-14 for Portsmouth’s largest lead.

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“This early in the season, it’s who is going to make the fewest amount of mistakes, and who is going to capitalize when the other team makes a mistake,” said Kalb. “We had a defensive score in the end zone, and they had a high snap which turned the first-half field position in our favor.”

However, the Indians answered over the next 12 minutes and 40 seconds, erasing that dozen-point deficit to seize a 27-26 advantage with five minutes remaining.

Late in the third, and in between runs by Kayden Mollette and Andronis, Andronis found Mollete for a 20-yard gain to the Portsmouth 22.

 

Daegan Glover completed a 10-play, 65-yard four-minute and 51-second scoring drive with a 1-yard dive at the 56-second mark.

Austin Sommers’ third successful extra-point kick made it 26-21, as the Indians then forced a pair of Portsmouth three-and-outs.

The second such punt following those was from deep in Trojan territory, as Valley quickly moved 42 yards in five plays and a minute and 51 seconds, staking the lead with 5:08 to play.

For the second time in the game, Andronis found freshman Tyler Perkins on a deep slant route for a touchdown – this time on a 30-yard pitch-and-catch, in which Perkins was wide open at the 20 when made the reception.

Like Roe, the junior Andronis made his debut under center, and threw for 164 yards on 8-of-20, while leading all rushers with 74 yards on 19 totes.

Perkins caught four passes for 104 yards, as the Indians actually outgained the Trojans 312-174, including a 120-yard (148-28) advantage on the ground.

The Purple and Gold ran 69 plays to Portsmouth’s 50, and held an 18-13 advantage in first downs.

“Our kids played hard, their kids played hard, it was a great ballgame to watch,” said Crabtree. “We did some good things, such Kayden Mollette running the ball really hard in the second half and a couple of pass plays produced touchdowns. But we made too many mistakes, the stupid things that we did won’t beat anybody. Every time we made a mistake tonight, it came back to bite us.”

In the first half, Andronis accounted for Valley’s two touchdowns, trading two scores apiece with the Trojans for a 14-14 tie with 9:21 left in the second quarter.

Andronis found Perkins on a 20-yard deep slant to cap a nine-play, 79-yard drive, then ran the final 11 yards himself to end an eight-play, 63-yard march.

The Trojans answered each with Parker’s first two touchdowns – finishing a five-play, 21-yard drive that was set up by Eric Purdy’s 61-yard kickoff return and an impressive 11-play, 65-yard series in four minutes and 10 seconds.

James Thurman successfully kicked both of those extra points.

Sommers made his first three PATs for Valley, but missed on his final attempt.

The Indians return to the road, and return to non-league action, next Friday night at Coal Grove.

“It was a good high school football game. Somebody is going to win and somebody is going to lose,” said Crabtree. “We came up short, but we’ll get back to work. We’re all disappointed we lost, because we felt like we were in a position to win. The mistakes we did make tonight, we do know we can correct those.”

Meanwhile, the Trojans travel to arch-rival Portsmouth West next Friday night.

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“We have to make sure we cut out the mental mistakes,” said Kalb. “We made some errors tonight where we shot ourselves in the foot, but those are fixable, which is a good thing.”

For the Trojans on Thursday, Parker’s points (30) were a great thing – much more so than his rushing yards.

*     *     *

V – Ty Perkins, 20-yard pass from Andrew Andronis (Austin Sommers kick), 6:47, 1st (7-0 V)

P – Talyn Parker, 2-yard run (James Thurman kick), 4:26, 1st (7-7 tie)

V – Andrew Andronis, 11-yard run (Austin Sommers kick), 1:31, 1st (14-7 V)

P – Talyn Parker, 4-yard run (James Thurman kick), 9:21, 2nd (14-14 tie)

P – Talyn Parker, 3-yard run (kick failed), :45, 2nd (20-14 P)

P – Talyn Parker, fumble recovery in end zone (run failed), 5:47, 3rd (26-14 P)

V – Daegan Glover, 1-yard run (Austin Sommers kick), :56, 3rd (26-21 P)

V – Ty Perkins, 30-yard pass from Andrew Andronis (kick failed), 5:08, 4th (27-26 V)

P – Talyn Parker, 10-yard run pass from Drew Roe (run failed), :38, 4th (32-27 P)

TEAM STATISTICS

V P

First downs 18 13

Plays from scrimmage 69 50

Rushing (plys-yds) 49-148 26-28

Passing yards 164 146

Total net yards 312 174

Passes (cmp-att-int) 8-20-0 10-24-0

Fumbles (no-lost) 2-1 0-0

Penalties 12-103 9-90

Punts (no-avg) 2-20.5 5-34.8

Time of Possession 28:30 19:30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

Valley —  Andrew Andronis 19-74 TD, Kayden Mollette 13-33, Daegan Glover 8-38 TD, Tre Bratchett 7-34, Team 2-(-31); Portsmouth— Talyn Parker 17-21 3TD, Ty Pendleton 2-8, Tyler McCoy 1-4, Drew Roe 6-(-5)

PASSING

Valley — Andrew Andronis 8-20-0-164 2TD; Portsmouth — Drew Roe 10-24-0-146 TD

RECEIVING

Valley — Ty Perkins 4-104 2TD, Kayden Mollette 2-36, Connor Fell 2-24; Portsmouth — Michael Duncan 4-69, Bryce Wallace 3-37, Tyler McCoy 1-23, Talyn Parker 2-17 TD

 

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Portsmouth vs Ironton

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Portsmouth vs Fairland

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Portsmouth vs Gallia Academy

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Portsmouth vs Rock Hill

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Portsmouth vs Portsmouth West

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