Wheelersburg beats Jackson in clash of undefeated teams
By: Jackie VanHoose
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JACKSON, Ohio (WOUB) – On a beautiful summer night for football in southern Ohio, two undefeated teams faced off. The Wheelersburg Pirates took a journey to the home stadium of the Jackson Ironmen, and in the end, the Pirates took the victory in a hard-fought 17-7 game.
Wheelersburg took possession first, and after some back and forth, Jackson intercepted the ball and took that to the bank, with senior WR Ryan Seimetz getting it into the red zone and a touchdown by junior RB Gavin Sites putting the Ironmen up early. The Pirates, as became evident through the night, are not the kind to take much of anything lying down, and sent RB Brady Doss down the field on a hair-raising 59-yard touchdown connection.
The second quarter contained no touchdowns, but a lot of amazing show from both teams’ defenses. There were three fumbles in the first half alone, showing prowess in that arena, and the real takeaway from the night was that the Pirates’ defense is not anything to be underestimated. The second half especially showed some real power from Wheelersburg, preventing Jackson from going much further than the 20-yard line with the ball.
Wheelersburg found a way past the low-scoring second quarter, scoring early in the third quarter on a fourth down by junior Stephen Hall. Not long after, they ended the quarter with a nail-biting fourth-and-2 on Jackson’s 14-yard line before electing to attempt a field goal to start the fourth quarter, expertly walloped by senior kicker Cooper Heimbach. The clock ran down and the game ended in a score of 17-7, truly a difficult matchup between two hard-to-beat teams who showed some really great work on the field.
Jackson goes on to play Western Brown next week, and Wheelersburg has the chance to expand on their new 3-0 record against the 2-1 Northwest Mohawks at home.