Parkersburg South's Kamero Jackson brings down Parkersburg's Tytan Parsons during the Big Reds' 20-17 victory Friday night at Stadium Field. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Staring at a 17-6 halftime deficit here Friday night at Stadium Field to rival Parkersburg South, the host Big Reds pitched a second half shutout as Parkersburg pulled out a 20-17 victory.

The now 2-2 Big Reds of head coach Matt Kimes, who entered the fray ranked No. 10 in quad-A, were finally able to celebrate when Patriot Logan Graham was tackled following a 28-yard gain near midfield on the last play after a Kinzyn Lutchmansingh delivery.

Prior to taking possession at their own 20 for the final two plays, the Patriots of first-year head coach Larry Thompson appeared to be on the march to regain the lead late in the fourth.

No. 14 PSHS had it second-and-8 at the Big Red 40, but a toss to Jaqwae Brown, who led the Patriots with 40 stripes on six totes, resulted in a 3-yard loss thanks to Cole Sisk. On the third-and-11 snap, Rex Ashcroft batted down a pass intended for Taj Joyce. Devin Widman then sacked Lutchmansingh, but the red and white were unable to run out the clock and Tyler Shahan was called upon to punt.

“What a great high school football game. What an atmosphere,” said an ecstatic coach Kimes, whose team was far from full strength just like the Patriots. “You got a bunch of kids putting it on the line for their school and communities. Hats off to Parkersburg South and their guys. They gave us all we wanted. They did some stuff we weren’t expecting them to do. We had some issues in the first half.

Parkersburg’s Alex Greer (24) carries the ball as Parkersburg South’s Taj Joyce (5) tries to track him down during Friday’s game at Stadium Field. (Photo by Brian Cox Photography)

“Some uncharacteristic stuff we hadn’t been doing that really hurt us offensively. It turned around the second half and they were kind of doing those and having the same silly mistakes. Kudos to our fans, our student section. The atmosphere was real loud. A college-like atmosphere. Super proud of my guys for how we responded. It would’ve been really easy down 11 points at halftime to come out and not play their butts off, but they did.”

PHS forced a three-and-out after kicking off and Sisk had a 36-yard grab from signal-caller Alex Greer on the Big Reds’ first play. Greer, who had 13 carries for 71 yards, proceeded to rip off a 29-yard gain and it was 6-0 Big Reds after Ethan Jones bulled in from the 2.

Aided by a personal foul penalty, the Patriot offense immediately answered via a 78-yard scoring drive as Lutchmansingh flicked a pass out to Joyce for a 9-yard scoring hookup. James Thompson’s extra point made it 7-6 with 2:51 left in the first.

Following a Big Red punt, the Patriots needed just three plays to find paydirt again as Lutchmansingh fired a pass out in the flat to Joyce, who housed it from 67 yards to make it 14-6 just 1:36 into the second.

PSHS got the ball right back after Channing Barrett intercepted Greer, but the visitors were forced to punt.

Parkersburg South's Logan Graham attempts to catch the ball after Parkersburg's Brady Thorn had a pass breakup during the Big Reds' 20-17 victory Friday night at Stadium Field. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Thompson’s 22-yard field goal with 0:22 remaining on the clock gave the Patriots the 11-point halftime advantage.

Parkersburg took possession to open the second half at the 47 after Austin Jones recovered an onside kick.

Coach Kimes’ squad needed just six plays to dent the scoreboard again. Ethan Jones, who had 11 totes for 66 stripes, had a 13-yard reception to make it first-and-10 at the South 23. On the next play, Greer hit Austin Craven behind the Patriot defense and it was 17-13 following the PAT by Sisk at the 9:09 mark.

South’s opening drive of the second half started at its own 44 after Derek Sandy had a 27-yard return. However, the Patriots proceeded to commit three straight false start penalties and were forced to punt.

PHS had a chance to cut into the deficit on its next series, but a 35-yard field goal by Sisk was off the mark.

A Craven sack ended the Patriots’ next drive and following the punt PHS took over at its own 40. Facing a third-and-5 at the PSHS 41, Greer lofted a pass that Parsons made an over-the-shoulder grab as he was tackled at the 1. However, an illegal man downfield penalty ultimately forced a punt.

The visitors were then forced to punt out of their own end zone and Lutchmansingh’s boot was touched at the 25 to give the Big Reds a short field.

Ethan Jones had runs of 4 and 15 yards to make it first-and-goal at the 6. Greer gained 5 yards on first down, but Ethan Jones was held to no gain by Charles Williams and Justice Drain. Greer, though, scored from the 1 for the go-ahead score with 6:32 remaining.

Lutchmansingh completed 10 of 14 attempts for 130 yards with Joyce (5-87) and Logan Graham (4-48) his top targets.

“They sure did,” coach Kimes added of the defense making plays when they had to. “Great job to coach (Mike) Eddy and the defensive staff. They made some adjustments at halftime. We put a couple different looks in to kind of take away some things we felt they wanted to do.

“We just willed ourselves kind of. We kind of willed ourselves to win. I can’t be more proud of our guys. It’s two in a row and hopefully we can keep building on this one.”

The Patriots of coach Thompson, who was unavailable for comment, will try to snap an 0-4 start to the campaign when John Marshall comes next Friday to the Erickson All-Sports Facility.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com