Parkersburg's Sylas Cheuvront (2) carries the ball during Friday's game against Spring Valley at Stadium Field. (Photo by Brian Cox Photography)

PARKERSBURG — Coming off of a blowout loss to Morgantown, the Parkersburg Big Reds aimed to bounce back in their home opener against Spring Valley Friday night.

Despite a competitive back and forth first half, the Big Reds went home with a 30-20 loss after falling victim to the Timberwolves’ dominating run attack in the second quarter, exposing a weakness also seen in last week’s game against the Mohigans.

“We’ve got to figure out the run defense as it’s been really bad the last few weeks,” said Parkersburg head coach Matt Kimes. “We’ve got to bang our head against the wall and try to come up with a better game plan to help us win.”

On just the fifth play of the game, the Big Reds gave up a 54-yard run to Spring Valley running back Miguel Cane, which ended up being the first big run of the 324 rushing yards that the Big Reds would allow.

Despite the disappointment felt on their first defensive drive, the Big Reds answered back almost immediately with a 60-yard touchdown run from senior running back Ethan Jones, tying up the game early.

Parkersburg's Ethan Jones (8) carries the ball during Friday's game against Spring Valley at Stadium Field. (Photo by Brian Cox Photography)

Going into the second quarter, Big Reds quarterback Alex Greer broke off on a 55-yard run which led to an 8-yard touchdown run from running back Sylas Cheuvront that extended the Big Reds’ lead to 7.

Greer was a vital part of Parkersburg’s efforts, leading the Big Reds with 157 rushing yards, 71 passing yards, and a late game touchdown that gave Parkersburg hope towards the offense going forward.

Cheuvront’s touchdown run would be the last time that the Big Reds would hold a lead for the rest of the game, as Spring Valley’s Dominic Hanshaw caught a 51-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Caldon Lovejoy following a muffed punt by Parkersburg’s Javel Chandler, tying the game up 13-13 going into the half.

The back-and-forth battle of both teams came crashing down however when Parkersburg failed to score in the third quarter while up a field goal to Spring Valley in the third to make the score 16-13.

“After muffing the punt and giving up that long touchdown, we just couldn’t get the momentum back,” said Kimes.

The Timberwolves continued to expose the Big Red’s run defense in the fourth quarter by ripping off two short touchdown runs by running backs Cam Perdue and Zeke Lewis making the score 30-13, while adding on to the 159 rushing yards that the Big Reds gave up in the second half.

A late game comeback was attempted by the Big Reds after multiple stalled drives and a Spring Valley takeaway, but Greer’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Tytan Parsons to shorten the lead to 10 was far too late in the game for anything to come to fruition.

“We’re going to play good football teams every Friday night, but we can’t make self-inflicted mistakes,” said Kimes.

Despite the loss, Kimes is keeping his head up and is committed to keep working with his team.

“To the Big Red community, don’t lose faith,” said Kimes. “Keep supporting these guys and keep believing in what we’re doing as a program and I promise we will get things turned around.”

The Big Reds host their longtime rival, Parkersburg South, next week at home.