Coal Grove Overcomes Valley in Second Half Thriller
By: Ty Carpenter
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COAL GROVE, Ohio (WOUB)— The Coal Grove Hornets defended their home turf against Lucasville Valley in a thrilling 30-16 victory.
Coal Grove would receive the opening kickoff and would start the game slow. Their first drive would result in a punt back to Valley, who would in turn also score no points on their opening drive.
This defensive back and forth would continue for some time, before Coal Grove’s Kaden Murphy would begin the scoring with a 51-yard touchdown run to go up 6-0 after his team got the stop on downs.
As the first half was closing, Valley would respond by marching down the field thanks to impressive runs by Anthony Aaron but would come up short after Hornets #3 Rylan Smith made a diving play to force an incompletion on fourth down. The score at half was 6-0 Coal Grove.
Valley would receive the kickoff to open the second half and would get things rolling immediately. Not even a minute into the quarter, #9 Aidan Waughtel would keep it and run it in from 68 yards out for the touchdown to put Valley up 7-6.
Later in the third quarter, the Hornets would finally respond with Kaden Murphy finding the endzone again after a 49-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion fails again, and Coal Grove goes up 12-7.
But on the first play of Valley’s next drive, Gabe McNeil would take the handoff and run it in from 60 yards out to go back up, 13-12 Valley.
As the third quarter drew to a close, on the final play, Kaden Murphy would take it in again for his third touchdown of the night, putting Coal Grove up 18-13. From this point on, the offenses would grow dormant.
The Hornets would nail a punt pinning Valley on the 1-yard line, which led to an interception by Coal Grove defensive lineman Joe Scarberry, who returned it for a touchdown, putting his team up 24-13.
Valley would march down the field and opt to kick a field goal to make it a one-score game. They would follow that field goal up with a successful onside kick and get the ball back with a chance to tie it up.
In that drive, they checked it down to Lex Logan, who fumbles the pass and ultimately loses it, leading to a fumble that is recovered by the Hornets.
Coal Grove would only need one first down to ice the game, but Caden Turner would return it all the way to put the Hornets up 30-16.
On Valley’s final drive, Coal Grove would end it with an interception by Leland McKnight, finishing with a final score of 30-16 Coal Grove.
With this win, Coal Grove looks to create a win streak next week against Meigs, while Valley hopes to get a win on the road at Piketon.