×

Parkersburg Catholic gridiron squad ready for Madonna

Photo by Jordan Holland Parkersburg Catholic’s Ryan Roedersheimer looks for running room against St. Marys during a 2016 regular season matchup.

PARKERSBURG — When Parkersburg Catholic lost three-year starting quarterback Alec Hinton in the Crusaders’ season opener, practically pretty much everyone bailed on PCHS’ football fortunes this fall.

Now though, behind switching some players around, mere freshman Jeb Boice taking over without hardly a hitch at QB and senior Ryan Roedersheimer providing a potent running threat, the Crusaders sport a 3-2 slate heading into their homecoming game versus 0-5 Madonna at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at PHS Stadium Field.

Even head Catholic grid boss Curt Shriver admits his squad “has played well” filling the void after “we had to rearrange things. But it’s been kind of a chess match, moving guys from here to there and trying to make our way through the season with the injuries we had.”

Boice took over in game 1 for Hinton when he went down, and “has done a fine job since,” said Shriver.

“And other younger guys have stepped up as well to fill some voids for us. So now we’ve got some things rolling here and have been able to be productive the last couple games.”

Most of all however, “we’re healthy going into this week’s game,” noted Shriver, “and back at full strength with our 17 guys.”

Still, according to Shriver, “it will be a gradual transition back in” for Hinton at quarterback. “We’re going to let him get acclimated again and get back into the flow of things, and not just throw him in there. It’s been a long time from Aug. 26 to now.”

So therefore in the meantime, Boice is expected to start at QB Saturday as the Crusaders “are evolving more every week, getting better so we can add a little bit more to our playbook as we go and they’re picking it up well,” said Shriver.

While homecoming will celebrate 50 years of Parkersburg Catholic football, Shriver’s mind is on Madonna, who “has good size across the front (line), averaging about 250 (pounds), so that’s a pretty good line for a stable of backs to run behind,” he said.

Those Madonna backs are QB Dustin Brown and running backs Chayce Lemley, Garet Hostuttler and Donavan Kirby. “They kind of rotate those guys through to keep them all fresh,” said Shriver. “So we’ve got to find ways to keep the ball out of their hands and keep them on the sidelines.”

Madonna’s best passing threat is wide receiver Tavon Jeter, who is “a burner,” said Shriver. “They’ll run him on some end-arounds too.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today