Sports
Wheelersburg Ends Nelsonville-York’s Season
By: Xavier Fox
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With the No. 4 seed Nelsonville-York Buckeyes (9-3) and the No. 1 seed Wheelersburg Pirates (12-0) facing off on Saturday night, the question coming into this game was whose terrific season would come to an end? Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, their season ended with 38-6 loss, while the Pirates kept their perfect season alive.
After two terrific defensive stands by both teams, Wheelersburg started the scoring first with a 29 yard pass from Mack Dyer to Clint Hatfield to put them up 6-0 late in the first quarter.
By the second quarter, the Pirates were able to maintain control with a 4 yard touchdown run by fullback Xander Carmichael to put them up 14-0. Dyer added to this with a 14 yard pass to his tailback Keaton Newsome to increase their lead to 21 before halftime.
In the second half, the Buckeyes looked to overcome the 21 point deficit, but the Pirates made sure that would not happen, by striking first. They were able to do this with a 12 yard run by Mack Dyer, and a 30 yard field goal from Daylor Lewis to increase their lead to 31-0. These two scores were enough to activate the running clock rule.
However, the Buckeyes didn’t want to give up, as Hunter Edwards launched a 61 yard pass to his freshman tailback Keegan Wilburn to help stop the running clock, and put the Buckeyes on the board to make it 31-6.
The Pirates were not fazed at all by this, as they were able to drive down and score on an 18 yard run by their tailback, Keaton Newsome, to put keep that running clock in effect with a score of 38-6.
This was enough to give the Pirates the win, as they were able to shut down the Buckeye offense, and give their defense fits all night.
For the Buckeye offense, which has been very successful all season long with breaking through defenses and causing problems throughout the TVC-Ohio, they were shut down by an outstanding Pirate defense. Hunter Edwards, who had just over 480 yards of total offense last week, was unable to find any holes this week, as the Pirate Defense was able to keep him contained, and make sure he didn’t escape. The Pirate defense also made sure that Alex Mount’s replacement, Keegan Wilburn, didn’t break out for a big run or catch anything thrown his way.
The Buckeye defense had plenty of success against the Pirate offense, but after a while, they were able to find the holes in the defense and exploit them. With so many weapons on offense for the Pirates, they were able to use every one of them to see what they could do against the Buckeye defense.
Unfortunately for Nelsonville-York, its magical season ends at 9-3, and will be losing key players, including Hunter Edwards, Noah Andrews, and Gridiron Glory POTY candidate Alex Mount. For the Wheelersburg Pirates, they will be moving on to the Regional Final to keep their perfect season alive when they play against the No. 3 seed Coshocton Redskins.