Wellston Uses Big 2nd Quarter to Pull Away from Athens
By: Erin Ashley, Grayson Wolf
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WELLSTON, Ohio (WOUB) – After the rain cleared prior to kickoff, a rainbow shined above Wellston, Ohio. This would be symbolic as the Golden Rockets would launch and take home a homecoming victory over the Athens Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs would get on the board first though. Landon Wheatley would hit Marcus Stevers over the middle and he would dive into the endzone to put the Bulldogs up 7-0.
The game would become a back-and-forth battle throughout the first quarter. Isaac Molihan would hit Zach Wilbur streaking down the sideline for a 73-yard touchdown to even the score 7-7.
The Bulldogs would respond with a 27-yard downfield strike from Wheatley to Derrick Welsh to put Athens back up 14-7. Welsh finished with five catches for 148 yards and that lone touchdown.
At the beginning of the second quarter is when the Golden Rockets offense really took off. It started with a 1-yard touchdown run by Molihan, but after a missed PAT the Bulldogs would stay in the lead 14-13.
On the very next Athens play a Bulldog fumble would be recovered by Payton Downard to give the ball right back to the Golden Rockets.
They would capitalize as Molihan would connect with Brenton Breech for a score. Looking to go up 21-14, the Golden Rockets reached into their bag of tricks. Molihan handed it off to Gage Downard who would run right, then jump and toss the ball into the endzone where Garrett Brown would haul in the two-point conversion.
The Rockets would keep their foot on the gas. They attempted an onside kick and recovered it after it knocked off a Bulldog player.
They did not capitalize on the recovery but a few drives later, Molihan again would hit Wilbur on a slant pass for the score to extend the Rocket lead to 27-14. Wilbur finished the game with just those two catches but both went for scores and totaled 93 yards.
Athens would threaten to score before the end of the half but a Rocket interception as time ran out stalled any hope the Bulldogs had of getting back into the game.
After no scores from either side in the third quarter, Molihan would score another rushing touchdown. With the help of another two-point conversion, the Rockets would go up 35-14 in the fourth quarter.
After trading scores again, Wheatley ran in a quarterback keeper from one yard out to pull Athens within 14 with just under five minutes to play. However, Wellston sealed the game with a pick six with under two minutes to go in the game.
The Golden Rockets would take this one by a final score of 49-28.
Wheatley would finish the night with 305 yards through the air and two touchdowns. The signal caller on the other sideline, Molihan, would finish with 215 yards through the air and five total touchdowns.
Athens falls to 2-6 and 2-2 in the TVC-Ohio. Meanwhile, Wellston is now 4-4 overall, 3-1 in the TVC-Ohio, and have won three of their last four games.