CRAIGSVILLE — The Red Devils were due.

Calhoun County defeated Richwood 34-14 Friday night to snap a 26-game losing skid dating back to September of 2022. They improved to 1-1 heading into next week’s home showdown with Wirt County.

It was also the first victory for CCHS head coach Jeff Goodrich.

Charter Cottrell had a 2-yard rushing touchdown followed by a 29-yard TD strike from Brennen Carpenter to Gavin Hicks to make it 12-0 after one.

Chase Schoolcraft, who led all ball-carriers with 104 yards on four attempts, made it 20-0 in the second on a 63-yard scoring jaunt.

Then, with four minutes left in the half, Carpenter hit Hucks on another touchdown pass, this time from 38 yards out, to stretch the lead to 26.

Richwood put together a response, as Corey Minter had an 8-yard rushing TD before Grady Hall threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Travis Johnson to cut it to 26-14.

However, Calhoun wasn’t going to be denied on this night. The Red Devils put things away with a 10-yard rushing touchdown by Carpenter with 4:17 remaining.

Cottrell netted 70 yards on 12 rushes. Carpenter was 4 for 8 passing for 93 yards while Hicks had three catches for 88 yards and an interception. Schoolcraft forced and recovered a fumble.

Corey Minter led Richwood with 98 yards on 24 carries. Hall was 5 for 8 passing for 91 yards. His top target was Lyndon Hunt, who had 76 yards on three receptions.

Braxton County 49, Gilmer County 14

SUTTON — Landon Mays threw a pair of touchdown passes, including one to himself, to help propel Braxton County to a 49-14 win over Gilmer County Friday.

After a scoreless first quarter, Braxton (1-1) put up 28 points in the second to take command. Logan Payne ran for a 29-yard score, Adrian Ramsey had a 15-yard TD run and Mays found Jamie Nettles on a 14-yard scoring strike. Mays also had a pass batted back to himself that he caught and ran 15 yards for a touchdown.

In the third, Mays exploded for an 80-yard rushing touchdown. On the ensuing drive, Elijah Marcum picked off a pass in Gilmer’s own end zone for a rare 0-yard touchdown.

Gilmer finally answered in the fourth when Tyler Ratliff ran for a 10-yard score before hitting Remi Huffman on a 16-yard TD pass to make it 42-14.

Braxton got the last laugh with 3:55 to go when Josh Hoover connected with Bryson Currence on a 57-yard TD pass.

Ratliff rushed 17 times for 77 yards and threw for 80 more yards on three completions. Lexington Groff caught three passes for 92 yards.

Mays had 91 yards on just two carries and went 7 for 12 passing for 88 yards. Payne added 84 yards on 11 rushes while Ramsey had six totes for 62 yards.

Doddridge County 48, Ritchie County 0

WEST UNION — They only played two quarters Friday night, but the Doddridge County Bulldogs made an emphatic statement against Ritchie County, pulling away for a 48-0 win in a game that was called early due to weather.

Kyle Satterfield bookended the game with a pair of scoop-and-scores. Just 17 seconds into the game, Satterfield picked up a fumble and returned it 19 yards to the house to get things started. Lyric Blake (2 yards) and Brycen Eidel (59 yards) both ran for touchdowns to make it 21-0 after a quarter.

In the second, Brysen Dixon had a pair of touchdown passes to Landon Thomas, who finished with 64 yards on four receptions. Eidel found the end zone again from 44 yards out before Satterfield grabbed another fumble at the Ritchie 30 and took it for a score.

Eidel led all rushers with 117 yards on six attempts. Lyric Blake added 77 yards on eight carries. Dixon was 5 of 7 passing for 83 yards.

Doddridge improved to 2-0 and will visit Tyler Consolidated next week.

The Rebels, who finished with just 42 total yards of offense, will travel to South Harrison next week in search of their first win of the season.

Waterford 49, Shenandoah 0

SARAHSVILLE — Six different players found the end zone for Waterford as the Wildcats left Shenandoah with a convincing 49-0 win Friday night.

Trevin Zimmer was the only Wildcat to find paydirt twice, including a 5-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. Gavin Hiener also caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Hayden Jones to make 14-0 after one.

In the second, Ryder Wolfe (1 yard) and Kameron Johnson (5 yards) both had rushing TDs to make it 28-0 at halftime.

After Zimmer’s second TD of the game — a 2-yarder — Avery Pottmeyer, who moved to quarterback late in the game, rushed for a 22-yard touchdown to stretch the lead to 42 going into the final period.

Maddox Antill closed it out with a 25-yard scoring jaunt as Waterford improved to 3-0 with the big one set for next week — Fort Frye at Waterford.

Jones led the Wildcats with 72 yards on six carries. Johnson added 53 yards on 11 rushes. Jones also was 10 for 13 passing for 154 yards. His favorite receiver was Weston Fairchild, who had 74 yards on four catches.

Athens 33, Marietta 21

MARIETTA — The Marietta Tigers put together a 21-point third quarter to get themselves back into Friday’s game against Athens at Don Drumm Stadium, but the Bulldogs held on for a 33-21 win.

A 53-yard touchdown run by Anthony Sutton got the scoring started and put Athens (3-0) up 7-0 at the 8:01 mark in the first quarter.

Marietta’s defense settled in from there, forcing a punt, picking up a fourth down stop and getting an interception from Trenton McVey to halt a potential Bulldogs scoring drive right before halftime. However, Athens did make it a two-score game on Sutton’s 13-yard TD jaunt with 4:07 left in the second.

Conversely, the Tiger offense struggled to get something going. Their first five drives resulted in four punts and an interception by Blake Taylor.

The Tigers got on the board in the third period when Owen Riley ripped the ball out of the hands of David Sharp and took it 53 yards to the house.

The Tiger defense then got a big tackle for loss by Will Tornes to force a punt as the momentum appeared to be swinging in Marietta’s favor.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, Tornes took a handoff 35 yards to put the ball on Athens’ 26-yard line. After a Braydon Frye 16-yard run pushed the ball to the 6, Kobe Alexander punched it in from 4 yards out and Kingston McMahon’s cut it to 20-14 late in the third.

On fourth-and-9 from the Marietta 36, Athens came up with a huge response in the form of a touchdown pass from Briar Thomas to Tyriq Cunningham to stretch the lead back to 13.

However, the Tigers punched back again as Tornes took a handoff 58 yards for a touchdown to cut it to 27-21.

With the Bulldogs facing third-and-12 from the Marietta 40, Frye blitzed off the edge and sacked Thomas for a seven-yard loss to force a punt.

Disaster struck, though, for the Tigers when they went three-and-out and botched the punt, giving Athens the ball inside Marietta’s 5. Sharp found the end zone from 4 yards out, and though the Tigers stuffed the two-point try, they found themselves down 12 with 5:26 left in the game.

An interception by Wheatley on the next drive all but sealed it, as the Tigers dropped to 0-3 with a trip to Claymont set for next week.