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Gilkeson, Boggs lead South past Ripley, 35-27

PARKERSBURG – Parkersburg South quarterback Garrett Gilkeson hooked up with wideout Cody Boggs for a trio of touchdowns here Friday night at the Erickson All-Sports Facility and the host Patriots handed Ripley a 35-27 setback in the season opener for both teams.

Ripley signal-caller Trevor Tucker ripped off a 41-yard touchdown jaunt with 4:56 left in the contest to cut the deficit to what was the final score, but the Patriots of head coach Mike Eddy managed to run out the clock thanks to a 14-yard run by Zach Thompson, a Gilkeson 11-yard scramble and a pair of late runs by Brendan Schwendeman where he ripped off 27 stripes.

Thompson, who rushed a dozen times for 62 yards, gave the Patriots the lead for good when he scored just five ticks into the second quarter on a 6-yard burst. The first of five made Micah Boles extra points put Ripley in a 7-0 hole.

That deficit only grew larger as Gilkeson hit Boggs on a 20-yard touchdown pass at the 5:35 mark. Although Viking Jake Martin, who had 106 yards on 17 attempts, scored from 7 yards out and Easton Berry’s extra point made it 14-7 with 3:50 left in the half, the Patriots got a 32-yard TD reception from Boggs with 34.6 left before intermission to go up by two scores.

Jerry Ransom hauled in a short pass in the flat early in the third and then galloped all the way across the field as he turned that into a 42-yard TD reception at the 9:23 mark. A bad snap by the Vikings left the score at 21-13.

Ripley, which heads to Point Pleasant next Friday, recovered a fumble on the Patriots’ ensuing possession, but failed to move the ball and went three-and-out.

PSHS took advantage on its next series as Schwendeman’s 39-yard catch set up Nick Sanders’ 7-yard TD run to give the Patriots a 28-13 advantage entering the final quarter.

Thanks to a Trevor Boot 17-yard reception, the Patriots moved into the red zone early in the fourth and Boggs hauled in a 5-yard slant pass for his third TD catch of the evening. Boggs finished with seven receptions for 97 yards while Gilkeson hit on 16 of 22 attempts for 255 yards. Boot had two catches for 50 and Schwendeman, who rushed for 86 yards on nine attempts, grabbed four passes for 63 yards.

Tucker completed half of his 16 aerials for 144 yards and finished with 120 yards rushing. Alex Hambrick grabbed four of those for 81 yards.

Parkersburg South will look to continue its winning ways at 7:30 p.m. next Friday when University invades for an Ohio Valley Athletic Conference and Two Rivers Athletic Conference affair. Ripley will make its home debut against Point Pleasant next Friday.

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