(Football News - Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)

MARTINSBURG — Cooper Cancade ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 4:20 left in Saturday’s first-round Class AAAA playoff game against top-seeded Martinsburg, but it was all Bulldogs otherwise.

Martinsburg dominated its way to a 77-7 victory to advance to the quarterfinals, where it will play host to Parkersburg’s rival, Parkersburg South.

MHS had seven players combined for 11 touchdowns, with Brian Dick scoring three and Koi Fagan and Kevin Myers adding two each.

Cancade was 13 for 25 passing for 82 yards. He ran for 19 yards and a score. Ethan Jones led the PHS ground game with 44 yards on 17 carries while Tytan Parsons had four catches for 43 yards.

The Big Reds finished the season with a 4-7 record, while Martinsburg improved to 11-0.

Roane County 35, Chapmanville 14

SPENCER — Garrett Brabham had a monster effort on defense and Lane Watson became Roane County’s all-time single-season scoring leader here Saturday afternoon as the second-seeded Raiders handed No. 15 Chapmanville a 35-14 setback in the opening round of the Class AA playoffs.

The 11-0 Raiders of head coach Paul Burdette, who welcome in No. 7 Scott next week, only held a 21-14 advantage with 11:51 left in the contest after Tiger Preston Kovach’s 2-yard touchdown run.

However, Watson answered on the ensuing drive with a 21-yard scoring scamper where he jumped over a defender at the 5 and leaped into the end zone.

Brabham, who finished with four sacks, had a strip-sack of CHS signal-caller Dakota Dalton that led to Clay Walker’s 7-yard scoring burst with 6:03 remaining to set the final score.

Shay Harper, who had one catch for 55 yards and carried nine times for 49 stripes, put the Raiders ahead for good at 8:35 of the first thanks to a 12-yard TD run.

It looked like Watson had a 65-yard punt return for a score late in the first, but he was ruled out at the 1. On the next play, Watson scored to become the Raiders’ single-season leader.

Down 12-0, the Tigers finally dented the scoreboard at County Stadium when Dalton found Austin Adkins for a 21-yard scoring strike. It was 12-7 with 4:58 remaining in the half following Jonathan Ferrell’s PAT.

The Raiders managed a 23-yard field goal by Cobun Cottrell, the team’s first of the season, late in the second to take a 15-7 cushion into intermission.

Although a Harper 7-yard run to the end zone made it 21-7 at 7:44 of the third, the Tigers had their chances in the fourth but couldn’t convert.

Watson, who blocked a field goal in the first half, finished with 18 carries and a game-high 102 ground yards. He also had a game-high 15 tackles, while Cooper Greathouse had seven, Tyson Freeland five and Walker, who had 45 rushing yards on nine attempts, recorded two sacks.

RCHS signal-caller Jacob Greathouse, who was 4 of 6 for 73 yards and didn’t attempt a pass in the second half, also had an interception.

Kovach finished with 19 rushes and 71 yards, while Dalton hit 21 of 35 for 237 yards. Robert Cook (7-63), Austin Adkins (5-76), Benji Adkins (4-71) and Andrew Topping (5-27) accounted for all the receiving.

Sherman 30, Tyler Consolidated 14

SETH — In a Class A opening round playoff game here Friday night at a rainy and cold Zontini Field, No. 6 Sherman advanced to the quarterfinals after eliminating No. 11 Tyler Consolidated, 30-14.

The Silver Knights of second-year head coach Kyle Ritz, who finished the season at 6-5, opened the game with five straight runs from Branson Winfrey as the visitors went from their own 35 to the Tide 30. However, on a fourth-and-long play TCHS quarterback Brady Strode was intercepted by River Williams, who returned it 23 yards to the Silver Knight 42.

Despite a Reese Davis tackle for loss to force a third-and-7, Dawson Green went for 9 yards to get the first down and then toted it for a dozen stripes to reach the red zone. Two plays later, signal-caller Eli Pauley found paydirt from 9 yards out and the visitors trailed 8-0 following the conversion run.

Tyler Consolidated proceeded to march 71 yards to tie the score in the second quarter. A Strode completion to Cayden Hall got the Silver Knights into Sherman territory and Winfrey later scored from the 3. The game was even following Strode’s conversion run, despite not being able to initially handle the snap in the rain.

Sherman, which improved to 9-2 and is likely to head to No. 3 Wahama next week barring an upset by No. 14 Madonna, managed to find paydirt to grab the lead at intermission. Despite a holding call which gave the hosts the ball first-and-20 at the TCHS 39, Trey Lester broke off a 10-yard run and then followed it up with a 29-yard dart to the end zone. Lester, who left via injury in the second half, ran in the conversion for the 16-8 cushion with 3:12 still left on the clock.

The Tide had a prime opportunity to go up by two scores before the break after Colby Atkins recovered a Tyler Consolidated fumbled reverse attempt. However, the TCHS defense held as the Tide turned it over on downs in the red zone.

Sherman, which gave fourth-year head coach Kevin Buzzard his first playoff victory, took the opening possession of the second half and marched to the TCHS 25 before a personal foul and a Davis interception of Pauley.

Staring down a fourth-and-15 at the Tide 30, Strode found Davis for an 18-yard completion and two plays later Winfrey reached the end zone from 11 yards out. The conversion run failed as the Tide still led 16-14 at the 5:43 mark.

When the fourth quarter started the Silver Knights had the ball at their own 16. Although the visitors managed one first down they were forced to punt.

Sherman’s offense was stymied by the Silver Knights, who took over at their own 20 with about 7:30 left in the affair. Facing a fourth-and-1 at their own 29, coach Ritz went for it but they came up just inches short. However, the Silver Knights forced a turnover on downs and regained possession with four-plus minutes remaining at their own 26.

Disaster struck for TCHS on the third play of the drive as Pauley stepped in front of a Strode aerial and housed it from around 30 yards away. Tyler Consolidated managed to stop the two-point pass and trailed 22-14 with 3:16 left on the clock.

Needing a touchdown and the conversion to tie, the Silver Knights had a huge scrambling run from Strode on a fourth-and-13 snap from the TCHS 33, but it was called back due to an illegal formation.

Strode’s pass on fourth down fell incomplete as Green’s 1-yard plunge and Pauley’s run for two set the final score.

The playoff win for the Tide was their first since a 44-8 victory back in 2018 versus Parkersburg Catholic.