Stonewall Jackson High School proudly bears the name of a man considered a hero in both Virginia and West Virginia. Last Friday, however, Pendleton County made the school look less like the august gentleman from Jackson’s Mills and more like the hapless Braxton Bragg.
The home team’s game plan went out the window from the opening kickoff. Travis Owens, among everything else that he brings to the team, has developed the skill of arcing kickoffs into the no-man’s-land between the 35- and 45-yard lines. He dropped such a kick on the left sideline at the 32 where his own team gathered up the unclaimed ball. Mason Miller then trotted his offense out onto the field at the 29 of Stonewall Jackson. He put the ball in the hands of Cayson Armstrong, who followed a bulldozer named Wyatt Hoyt to the six-yard line. On the very next play, Hoyt led the way again as Armstrong breached the endzone with a little more than 30 seconds gone in the game.
The Wildcats then kicked off with a 6-0 lead. The ball went to the 30 again. This time the home team secured the ball, but committed a personal foul that backed them up to their own 12.
The Generals worked to establish the run against the Wildcats. Their first attempt went right, but Owens and Spencer Hartman combined on the stop. Hartman brought down a ball carrier 11 times in the game to lead the team. After the Generals picked up a first down at their 25, they seemed to stall. Noah Lockard got a key stop on third and seven to set up a fourth and two, but the Generals converted and kept possession.
The early gamble helped them to get to their own 33, but no farther. Defensive stops and a penalty shuffled them back to the 25. On fourth and 15 from their 25, they punted to the Wildcat 39.
On second down and nine, Miller swung a pass wide right to Owens at the line of scrimmage. Britton Lough legally screened off the defender as Owens stiff-armed a would-be tackler. From there, he shot up the right sideline, not stopping until he had doubled the visiting team’s score. A 60-yard touchdown pass and an Owens extra point set the score at 13-0.
On the kickoff, David Noble dropped the kick returner at the 20. Noble and Lough also stopped the first down play for no gain. Two plays later, Sam Eason was not fooled by a screen pass, tackling the receiver for a gain of one. Stonewall Jackson with 2:37 left in the first quarter punted the ball deep to the Pendleton County 29.
A few plays into the drive on second and 14 at the Wildcat 35, Cameron Wyatt took a jet sweep to nearly midfield. On third and two, Miller gave the ball to Armstrong. Stonewall Jackson had called the right play, a run blitz up the middle that went unblocked. Armstrong side-stepped the blitzer and accelerated through the hole left there. He took the ball to the home team’s 37. Miller then found Lough for a short pass that the receiver turned into a 37-yard touchdown with less than a minute remaining in the first.
Noah Kobetic dropped the kick returner at the 35, almost catching him as he dangerously bobbled the reception. Stonewall Jackson got as far as their own 41 and tried to convert a fourth and two. Malcolm Smith hustled upfield to combine with Hartman on a stop for a loss of one and possession of the football. Stonewall Jackson stopped Pendleton County on their first two downs, forcing a third and 10. Miller’s cadence then pulled the defense offsides. On third and five, the Wildcats ran a jet sweep action from left to right. Instead of shoveling the ball to Wyatt again, Miller wheeled and hit Lough in stride. He took the ball to the 10.
A few plays later, Miller lined a pass to Owens at the five. Owens sprinted into the endzone, dove in to avoid the defense, and the ball popped out as he hit the ground. Officials could come to no conclusion on the play and made both sides replay the down. The call proved important in leading to the Wildcat drive stalling at the five. There, the Generals got the ball. They moved it two yards to set up third and eight. Stonewall Jackson’s quarterback dropped to pass, but could not escape Albert Ramos-Rivera charging in to make the stop with assistance from Noble. A heavy rush forced an angled punt that went only 30 yards.
With 5:23 left in the first half, Miller set the offense. Stonewall Jackson’s defense pushed them back five yards to the 41. On third and 14, Miller rolled right and looked right. Even before the ball hit Owens’ hands, one could hear an audible groan from the home team sideline. He made it to the 27. There, Miller launched a pass to Lough running a post pattern. Armstrong had motioned out of the formation before the snap, ensuring that one man would be uncovered. That man caught the pass and scored the touchdown. With 4:30 in the half, Pendleton County took a 25-0 advantage.
Stonewall Jackson had the ball for one play before Owens picked off a pass and took it to near midfield. The Wildcats took the ball to the Generals 32, but no further.
Pendleton County had every reason to come out full of fire in the third quarter of a game where the home team had shown no life thus far. Last season in Franklin, Zac Smith, head coach, applied mercy in the third quarter when he pulled his starters. The Generals found some momentum and rattled off some scores before the Wildcats restored order. The Generals certainly remembered that as well.
From their own 40, Armstrong bounced off a blocker in the backfield, then followed a wall of linemen up field to the Generals’ 45 for 15 of his 76 yards on 15 carries. A few plays later, Cameron Wyatt took a pass across the middle running from his left to his right, then straightened the run out and found the endzone. Owens led the team on for the conversion and scored from the Wildcat formation to put the score at 32-0.
Stonewall Jackson found room to operate on their next drive. They took the ball to the Wildcat 28 and ran a play action pass. Jonah See’s hustle stopped the play at the seven, preventing the touchdown. On first and goal, the Generals tried a run. Once again Ramos-Rivera came up with a big play. His textbook form tackle wrapped the thighs of the runner. His legs kept churning, driving the ballcarrier back for a loss. Defensive stops and penalties pushed the offense back to the 20 where they turned the ball over on downs.
The home team put up a touchdown with about six minutes left in the game. Wyatt Haynes came in at running back and immediately ran the ball 18 yards to the Generals’ 37. A few plays later on third down, Miller threw a deep slant to Cayden Hensley who reached the home team’s 20. At the two-minute point, the Wildcats had fourth and six at the 21, but ran a low percentage play for the situation. Haynes took the ball straight ahead, followed See’s block, and put the exclamation point on the score for his team. The final score was 40-8.
Weston Boyer and Tanner Hedrick each had stops on the final drive that helped keep the score there. Bryce Propst launched the final kickoff.
Miller was 16 for 26 for 327 yards. Owens had four catches for 102, Wyatt four for 81, Lough six for 125, See one for six and Hensley one for 13.
Friday, the Wildcats travel to the bright lights of Alexandria, Virginia, to contend with the Thomas Jefferson Science and Technology School. They have a 1-5 record on the year, but their student population would make them a Class AAAA school in West Virginia. They lost to Stonewall Jackson 30-14.
