Prep football: Parkersburg takes out Hurricane

Early on, the Redskins kept enough spark and momentum going to stay with their Mountain State Athletic Conference foe.

But the Big Reds were able to block two Hurricane punts that led to an Ethan Jones 14-yard touchdown and a 4-yard scamper to paydirt by sophomore quarterback Alex Greer.

However, the Redskins’ Kutscher reeled off a 22-yard scramble that eventually resulted in a 38-yard field goal by Seth Casto to keep the Redskins within one score at the break with 17-10 deficit.

The second half was all Parkersburg as it used big plays to pull away for the final score.

“We came out and executed at a high level early on but unfortunately, we’re a young team and when adversity strikes …,� said Redskins coach Dustin Hatfield. “We’ve just got to regroup and keep pushing forward. It’s not going to get any easier.�

Coming into the game, Parkersburg (1-2) had struggled this season stopping the run as it surrendered 324 rushing yards to Spring Valley in a 30-20 loss last week and 266 yards to Morgantown in the opener.

“I told them at halftime that we gotta be a more-disciplined team,� said fourth-year Big Reds coach Matt Kimes. “But we cleaned it up in the second half and it’s our first win of the season and we’re excited about that.�

Hurricane (0-3), in rebuilding mode after the departure of current South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä coach Donnie Mays, won this contest 49-14 last season in dominating fashion. The victory was part of a successful campaign that saw the Redskins win two playoff games to earn a semifinal spot in the initial Class AAAA postseason tournament, where they fell to Spring Mills.

This season reveals a very young team with many sophomores and freshmen being used in the starting lineup on both sides of the ball.

This contest served as the Redskins’ only home game in the first half of the season. They travel next Friday to face the Huntington Highlanders.

Parkersburg starts a three-game homestand at Stadium Field next Friday beginning with long-time rival Parkersburg South.

Parkersburg 45, Hurricane 16

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First quarter

H — Widen 22 pass from Schuster (Casto kick), 9:11

P — FG Sisk 24, 7:46

P — Jones 14 run (Sisk kick), 4:24

Second quarter

P — Greer 4 run (Sisk kick), 3:27

H — FG Casto 38, :40

Third quarter

P — Jones 58 run (Sisk kick), 11:36

P — Jones 8 run (Sisk kick), 6:13

P — Craven 40 pass from Greer (Sisk kick), 4:48

Fourth quarter

P — Bowman 5 run (Sisk kick), 10:17

H — Kutscher 8 run (no attempt). :00

Team statistics

;;;Park;Hurr

First downs;;;18;17

Rushes-yards;;;26-262;33-175

Passing yards;;;107;124

Passing;;;7-15-1;15-33-2

Total yards;;;369;299

Fumbles-lost;;;2-1;2-1

Penalties-yards;;;8-100;5-40

Punts-average;;;1-44.0;4-21.8

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Parkersburg: Jones 12-141, Greer 7-65. Hurricane: Gregory 16-55, Kutscher 14-66, Turner 3-54.

PASSING — Parkersburg: Greer 6-11-88, Cameron 1-4-0-19. Hurricane: Kutscher 15-33-2-124.

RECEIVING — Parkersburg: Parsons 2-31, Leavitt 1-5, Craven 2-56, Thorn 2-15. Hurricane: Armstrong 7-48, Widen 3-55, Lauerman 2-3, Turner 1-8.