By Stephen Smoot
The run of good Friday night weather and fantastic performances continued for Pendleton County this past week. With an electrified Jimi Hendrix style rendition of the Star Spangled Banner getting players and fans both prepared, the home standing Wildcats roared into action.
Tygarts Valley had a larger squad, both in terms of the size and also the number of players, than in previous years. This shows program progress, but Pendleton County has pounded opponents of all shapes and sizes so far this season.
Travis Owens took the opening kickoff from the 10 up to the 35-yard line. The first play went for zero yards. The second play went for zero yards.
But the third play saw Colton Roberson lofting a pass deep downfield. Britton Lough ran underneath on a post pattern, hauled it in, and scored the opening touchdown with 50 seconds passed in the first quarter. It was Lough’s lone reception on the day while Roberson posted nearly one fourth of his 198 yards total for the game. He went 10 for 16 overall with four touchdowns.
Owens stepped in for the unavailable Kam Redman. He booted the extra point through, then kicked the ball off to the Bulldogs.
Tygarts Valley had some success at first trying the corners. So far in the season, speedy and quick teams have found creases as they ran closer to the sidelines. With a little less than 10 minutes left in the first, the Bulldogs picked up a first down on third and four, but saw a net gain of a few feet in the next three plays and punted.
Tygarts Valley’s punter has an extraordinarily high punt whose elevation makes returns nearly impossible. Their initial kick rolled to the Wildcat 13. After a run to the 25, Roberson on first down slid left, reversed field, rolled right, and dropped a pass into the hands of Corbin Dove, who was deep in their opponents’ territory.
The Bulldogs hounded Dove out of bounds at the 27. Braylon Willis took the ball right, bouncing like a pinball between defenders as he pushed to the Bulldog 11. The offense tried to work the ball into the endzone with Willis, who got the ball to the five. On fourth down, Roberson played pitch and catch with a wide open Owens. The kick after was no good, but the score extended to 13-0.
The Wildcats kicked off again. The Bulldogs’ strategic goal was simple. Use the clock as another defender. On each offensive play, they waited until the final seconds of the play clock to hike the ball, then looked for ways to run against the strong Pendleton County front. They aimed to shorten the game, reduce Wildcat scores, and hope for a chance to compete.
Pendleton County got the ball back with 4:16 left in the first. With Redman out, Zac Smith, head coach, went with a tandem of backs. The elusive Willis handled duties earlier; now Will Smith stepped in the backfield.
Smith took the first two handoffs, going for two on first down, then 10 more on second. Willis could sprint around or make moves to get past defenders. Smith squared his shoulders, hit the crease at a full run, and dared any Bulldog to attack. For the night, Smith picked up 44 yards on five carries.
The two runs set up the Wildcats with a first down at their own 39. They continued marching downfield. On second and six, Smith got from the Tygarts Valley 36 down to the 22. On the next play, Roberson launched a timing pattern type of pass for Owens, who scored the second of his two touchdowns on the night. The kick was no good and the score thereafter was set at 19-0.
Early in the second quarter, Tygarts Valley briefly celebrated a punt return for a touchdown, but saw it negated by a flag for illegal block. On third and 11, they attempted a pass from a trick play, but Dove got his hands on it instead and gave his squad the ball back at midfield.
Tygarts Valley hit a receiver late on first down, giving Pendleton County the 35-yard line and a first down. Roberson took the ball himself out of the backfield and followed his blockers to the right sideline, then the “Coal Train” chugged into the endzone for another Wildcat touchdown. This time, the Wildcats went not for an extra point, but into a spread formation. Roberson tossed the ball to Chase Owens for the two-point conversion and a 27-0 advantage.
At this point, the Bulldogs run of luck turned from bad to just plain rotten. After a strong first down run, Tygarts Valley fumbled on second down with Roberson recovering. With the ball back in his hands, Roberson wasted no time getting the ball into the hands of Chase Owens on a downfield strike. The Bulldogs pushed him out at their 18.
Willis followed with an eight-yard sweep to the 10. Then Roberson tossed the ball to Chase Owens again for another touchdown. This time for the extra point try, the offense took the field in a tight T formation, handing the ball to Chase Owens to run it in and extend the lead to 35-0 . . . with 6:13 remaining in the first half.
Tygarts Valley got the ball back on their own 39. They tried a double pitch play on second and 13 that went for a single yard, then threw an interception six yards downfield. The Bulldog defense held this time, forcing a punt from near midfield. They, however, muffed the punt and allowed the alert David Noble to recover at the Bulldog 21.
The now demoralized Bulldogs had to watch Smith once again rumble through the middle of their defense for yet another touchdown at the 2:47 point. Roberson topped it off with a two-point conversion run.
Tygarts Valley received the kickoff, but a penalty pushed them back to their own five. A Bulldog fumble gave the Wildcats the ball back with 2:22 left in the first half.
Tygarts Valley had tried to use trick plays to gain any traction through the course of the second quarter, but here, coach Smith dialed up one of his own. On second and goal, Roberson threw left but short to Dove, who deftly shoveled the ball back to a streaking Bryce Basagic on the rare hook and lateral play.
Basagic barreled eight yards for a touchdown. With the two-point conversion, the halftime score was 51-0.
To limit blowouts after recent seasons that saw some quad A teams scoring relentlessly on opponents, the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission approved rule changes to limit the possibility of such outcomes. Quarters shorten to 10 minutes and the clock runs at all times, except during injuries, when a scoring discrepancy gets to a certain point.
The Wildcats called off their dogs in the second half and inserted their future stars. Tygarts Valley opened up a sustained drive to start the third quarter, going 10 plays and covering 31 yards. On third and 13, they gained 10 yards with Cameron Wyatt’s tackle preventing the first down. On the next play, the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs.
Wyatt returned to the focus of the action on the second play of the drive when relief quarterback Mason Miller hit him in stride streaking down the sidelines. Tygarts Valley shoved him out just inside the 20-yard line in one of the final plays of the third stanza.
A few plays later, Cayson Armstrong showed his speed on a sweep left, dodging defenders until he crossed the line and gave his team the final score of the day. After the two-point conversion, the Wildcats led 59-0.
The game ended on a 25-yard gain by Willis, who earned 75 yards on eight attempts.
Pendleton County’s defensive line has punched and counterpunched with some of the strongest lines in the area, but dominated in this matchup. Ty Heavner picked up six tackles, Spencer Hartman five, Noah Lockard four, and Sam Eason three. Ronnie Thompson from his linebacker position also garnered six stops and Chase Owens five, but the defensive line accounting for nearly 20 tackles shows dominance up front.
Keyser continues to climb, having beaten all opponents since week one handily and undefeated Petersburg rose to fifth in the Metro News rankings, with WVSSAC coming out after press deadline. Traveling Friday, the Wildcats (ranked fourth by Metro News) take on Tucker County (ranked third by MN.)
Coach Smith has talked all season about how his squad remembers the 2024 playoff game dominated by the Mountain Lions and have used that as motivation ever since.
Although Pendleton County has been tested all year long save one game by tough teams, Tucker County is the team to beat in Class A in eastern West Virginia . . . until someone beats them.
