Parkersburg South defensive back Channing Barrett hits John Marshall wide receiver Landen Snyder, forcing the ball from his grasp, during the Patriots' 41-14 victory Friday night at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — John Marshall turned the ball over on four of its first five drives here Friday night inside the Erickson All-Sports Facility and Parkersburg South took full advantage as the Patriots handed first-year head coach Larry Thompson win No. 1 via a 41-14 running-clock victory.

The Monarchs of head coach Mark Cisar entered the fray ranked No. 10 in Class AAA and were coming off a bye week as they had their first 3-0 start to a campaign since the 1996 Class AAA state championship team.

However, Patriot Kaidyn Johnson forced a fumble on Monarch Landen Snyder following a 1-yard gain as teammate Dedrick Riggs recovered at the JM 48.

It appeared the No. 15 quad-A Patriots would score on their first offensive snap as signal-caller Kinzyn Lutchmansingh, who went 12 of 17 for 202 yards and three touchdowns, tossed a quick-hitter to Channing Barrett that he turned into a 46-yard gain. Despite having it first-and-goal at the 2, the JM defense held.

The Monarchs, who trailed 235-91 at the half in total yards and 319-197 for the game, were forced to punt.

Parkersburg South's Taj Joyce makes a catch during the Patriots' 41-14 victory versus John Marshall on Friday night at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

After taking over at the JM 42, sophomore tailback Jaqwae Brown went around the left side and then darted through traffic and across the field into the end zone. James Thompson’s extra point made it 7-0 at the 5:26 mark.

John Marshall possessed the ball for two snaps on its next series as Taj Joyce, who had four catches for 50 yards, intercepted Kayden Knapp.

Once again coach Thompson’s squad took over in JM territory at the 49. Facing a fourth-and-3 at the 17, Lutchmansingh fired a swing pass out to Derek Sandy who went in for the touchdown and a 14-0 cushion with 48.9 left in the first.

Like it was deja vu all over again, Parkersburg South’s defense got yet another turnover on John Marshall’s second snap of the drive as Barrett picked off Knapp, who finished 13 of 26 for 103 yards.

Despite taking over at their own 22, the hosts matriculated down the field into the red zone. Joyce had a 25-yard grab, Sandy had a key 21-yard gallop and Barrett had a 13-yard reception before Lutchmansingh found Joyce on a slant for a 12-yard touchdown. The score remained at 20-0 with 7:20 to play in the half after Wyatt Bartley’s PAT drilled the left upright.

Parkersburg South's Charles Williams tackles John Marshall's Hayden Fordyce during the Patriots' 41-14 victory Friday night at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

John Marshall responded and managed to have it first-and-10 at the Patriot 28 thanks to a Dalton Cooper 22-yard run as well as a 22-yard grab by Snyder. Facing a fourth-and-10, Knapp was chased out of the pocket and was strip-sacked by Kamero Jackson. Brody Nesselrotte looked like he would get the recovery near the JM sideline, but when he fell on the ball it squirted out and rolled inside the 30. However, teammate Asa Yost managed to scoop it up and then dart 71 yards to paydirt, which gave the Patriots their 27-0 intermission advantage.

“It’s just one of those things where our kids, man, it’s been pinned up inside of them and we hadn’t put a full game together yet,” admitted coach Thompson. “I think last week at PHS our kids played with relentless effort, but we didn’t execute at the highest level.

“We had seven or eight false starts in the second half. It killed us and we shot ourselves in the foot. For them to come out here and be resilient and to play through that week in and week out, I’m super proud of them. With the adversity they’ve faced it’s amazing.”

The Patriots, who improved to 1-4 and have a bye week before playing at Hurricane, added a 4-yard TD run by Sandy and a 49-yard Lutchmansingh to Barrett scoring strike to take a 41-0 cushion into the fourth.

John Marshall, which has now lost five straight to the Patriots and returns to action next Friday at Warren, finally got on the scoreboard at 8:45 of the fourth via a Knapp to Snyder 16-yard touchdown pass and Reid Hamrick’s ensuing PAT.

Parkersburg South running back Jaqwae Brown is wrapped up by the John Marshall defense during the Patriots' 41-14 victory Friday night at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Cain Martin’s 3-yard scoring grab from backup quarterback Jacob Cisar with 2:07 remaining set the final score.

Cooper (7-36) and Cisar (4-33) led the JM ground attack while Brown had 11 totes for a game-high 72 yards.

Barrett finished with five receptions for a game-high 117 stripes while Snyder (3-42), Martin (6-26) and Xavier Wells (5-38) had all of JM’s receptions.

Although coach Thompson would love to have a healthy roster he knows football is a game of attrition and it’s next-man-up.

“It’s like a double-edged sword. I’m happy that they are playing at a high level,” admitted Thompson, who with the win kept PSHS from its first 0-5 start since 2007. “Those kids are getting some Friday night experience. People don’t realize we had six sophomores starting tonight and then we had a sophomore (Kaleb Hall) come in at quarterback.

“We’re building. We’re building. We got to heal up. I’d love to keep the momentum rolling, but I think this week off is much needed. Our kids are banged up. We played four stout opponents. We’re gonna get healthy and prepare for Hurricane the next two weeks and after that we got to play Morgantown. We’re going to give everybody our best game.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com