Sports
Point Pleasant’s Dynamic Duo Propels Big Blacks To Big Win Over Ravenswood [VIDEO]
By: Clay Benjamin
Posted on:
In 2008, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States. The Billboard music top song of 2008 was “Low” by Flo-Rida and the top grossing movie was The Dark Knight. In Point Pleasant, West Virginia, however, Alan Wasonga set the Big Black single-season record with 27 touchdowns.
That record stood until Friday night.
With 6:36 left in the third quarter, junior running back Cody Mitchell punched it in from two yards out for his 28th touchdown on the season. His first touchdown of the night put the Big Blacks up 23-14 after the the extra point was blocked.
After that touchdown, Point Pleasant (8-0) never looked backed and went on to a 37-20 victory over long-time rival Ravenswood (6-1). The loss ends the Red Devils perfect start to the season and leaves the senior class winless against Point Pleasant.
The high-scoring affair got off to a slow start as both teams were held back by penalties on both sides of the ball.
To produce a spark on offense, Red Devils’ senior QB Rhys Jelich was moved to running back on the third offensive possession for Ravenswood. Jelich was replaced by freshman Stephen Dawson.
That would be the cure for Ravenswood, who settled for three-and-out on its first two drives. Jelich finished the night with 145 yards on 32 carries and two touchdowns.
His counterpart Aden Yates scored the first points of the game on a 32 yard touchdown run with 3:20 left in the first quarter. The score was 6-0 after the extra point was blocked, the first of two blocked extra points for Point Pleasant.
On the ensuing Red Devils drive, Jelich took a Dawson handoff 21 yards to the big house with 21 seconds remaining in the first quarter to give them a 7-6 lead.
Jelich would once again find the end zone on the Red Devils next possession early in the second quarter. On a third-and-two deep in their own territory, Yates turned on the jets and took the Dawson handoff 72 yards for his second touchdown of the night.
The first half ended on a controversial note. Big Black QB Aden Yates called his own number for a five yard run and picked up a first down with four seconds remaining. However, the officials did not stop clock after the first down to reset the chains.
After the a long meeting between the officials, Point Pleasant called a timeout to stop the clock with one second remaining. Ravenswood would call a timeout of their own to avoid a penalty for having 12-men on the field.
With one second remaining in the half, senior Dylan Lunsford hit a 25-yard field goal to give the Big Blacks a 17-14 lead going into the locker room.
The 14 points put up by the Red Devils’ offense was the second time this season that a team has put up 10 or more points against the Big Blacks in the first half.
Coming into tonight’s game, Point Pleasant had outscored there opponents 246-15 in the first half.
Gridiron Glory player of the year candidate Cody Mitchell would pick up one more touchdown and finished the night with 26 carries for 153 yards and two touchdowns.
After Mitchell’s second touchdown late in the third quarter made it 30-14, the Big Blacks looked like an 8-0 team and were able to close out the came.
The other player of the year candidate for the Big Blacks, Yates, went 10-for-12 passing and 121 yards. Yates also carried the ball 15 times, racking up 148 yards and two touchdowns.