By Stephen Smoot
Pendleton County saw a two week reprieve from its first half of the season murderers row with a homecoming win over Tygarts Valley and a week off, but returned to the grind on the road at Tucker County.
The Wildcats handled a Class AAA Keyser team in week one that has caught fire and dominated opponents since, then handled a tough East Hardy squad that could battle its way into the playoffs after a challenging first few weeks.
It was the Mountain Lions, however, that Pendleton County spent several months waiting to play after a difficult end to their playoff run last year.
Travis Owens returned the opening kickoff to his team’s 31. On second down and long, quarterback Colton Roberson ran straight ahead and gashed the defense for 13. On the next play, a 17-yard pass found Britton Lough at the home team’s 38.
\Not long after on second and 10, Roberson rolled out, fired a quick pass to Chase Owens on the left sideline. He sprinted ahead for the Pendleton County score at the 9:30 mark in the first quarter. Tucker County blocked the point after try and the score was 6-0.
The Mountain Lions moved the ball about 20 yards from their own 38, but stalled out at the Wildcat 42. Their punter deftly dropped a high arcing punt at the Wildcat 11 and they opened their second drive from there.
On second and nine from their own 12, a deep pass attempt to Travis Owens found him battling the defender covering him one on one. While the pass fell incomplete, the penalty flag was tossed and Pendleton County picked up the first down at their own 27.
Several plays later at the 3:33 point in the first, Tucker County forced the Wildcats to face a third and three at the Mountain Lion 41. Will Smith took the handoff. He sprinted ahead, stiff armed a could be tackler, and drove down to the 33 for a first down. Three plays later, a great defensive play broke up a pass on third and nine, but Roberson connected with Lough on fourth down. Lough grabbed the ball at the 20 and took it the rest of the way for the second Wildcat touchdown of the quarter.
A quick toss to Chase Owens extended the lead to 14-0 on a two-point conversion.
If Pendleton County fans felt that this looked suspiciously easy thus far, they had every reason to. Tucker County had dominated most of the teams on their schedule, save Class AA powerhouse Frankfort. Pendleton County had too little time to savor the 14-point lead, because one of Tucker County’s mighty mite speedsters cut into it with an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
The Wildcat offense roared right back, however. Starting at the 20, Roberson bowled over tacklers to get the ball out to the 27. On the next play, he put the ball up quickly to appear to pass, then tucked it and ran it ahead to the Tucker 39.
Early in the game, Tucker County played a passive defense that gave significant time for Roberson to find receivers or locate creases through which to run. Even on a play where a bobbled snap seemed to throw off the timing, Roberson bulled ahead from the Tucker 33 to the 23.
With 8:43 left in the first half, Roberson dropped the ball into Chase Owens’ hands. He quickly tried a spin move, but touched dirt right before the goal line. A one-yard Roberson plunge put the Wildcats up 20-6.
Tucker County then changed up its strategy, putting more pressure on Roberson while on defense. They also started running plays that used the speed and aggressiveness of the Wildcat defense against it.
One play used with deadly efficiency was the screen pass. Offensive linemen allow their defensive counterparts to freely chase the quarterback. A running back slides into the area vacated by the defensive line. To play it correctly, a defense has to “feel” that the offensive line is not engaging and not sprint toward the passer.
Pendleton County does not include screen passes in its offensive repertoire, nor has it faced any run against it all year. This made the second quarter a learning situation for the defense. Tucker County also used misdirection to set up deep post patterns for completions.
The second quarter featured a series of misadventures for the visiting side and Tucker County entered the halftime break with a 28-20 advantage.
Tucker County kept the Wildcats pinned deep in their own territory for much of the third quarter while adding a touchdown of their own for a 34-20 lead.
Yet the Wildcats did keep moving the ball. At the 3:13 point in the third, Roberson pitched the ball to Travis Owens deep in the backfield. He slid out a few steps, then launched a pass deep to his brother, Chase, near midfield. The Wildcats got as close as the Mountain Lion 25, but a huge loss pushed them back to the 47. Even then, Roberson nearly completed a pass to the endzone that could have halved the lead.
Later in the fourth, Roberson and the offense moved the ball from their own 16 to the Tucker County 13, then a hard luck interception killed that effort.
As time wound down and during a period in which the ball could have been kneeled to run out the clock, Tucker County took out insurance against a possible three touchdown comeback in the final two minutes and scored their closing touchdown of the night for a final tally of 42-20.
Tucker County walked away with a triumph, but Pendleton County took away the kinds of lessons that feel painful at the time, but could pay dividends down the line.
The Wildcats travel Friday to Bath County, Virginia.
