Local Sports

GW too much for PHS, 64-21

CHARLESTON -- Any concerns about George Washington going stale during its bye week didn't last long. Less than four minutes of game time, actually.

Sophomore Jaden Black ran 12 times for 214 yards and six touchdowns Friday night during an on-and-off rain to propel the unbeaten Patriots to a 64-21 conquest of visiting Parkersburg at Steve Edwards Sr. Field in Charleston's South Hills.

GW, which was off last week, went up 21-0 less than four minutes into Friday's game - despite running only six offensive plays — and cruised to a 50-7 advantage by halftime.

Black did all his damage in the first half and scored on carries of 60, 1, 1, 31, 47 and 36 yards, giving him 16 touchdown runs this season.

It marked the most points GW had ever scored on Parkersburg, bettering a 56-12 victory in 2011.

"Real fortunate,'' said GW coach Steve Edwards Jr. "I didn't know how we were going to come out, but things started rolling our way.''

George Washington's penchant of tricky kickoffs - onside boots, trying to trap the return man near the sideline, etc. - worked wonders early, allowing the Patriots to build their early lead. Edwards said that was partly planned, partly taking advantage of the situation.

"A little bit of both,'' Edwards said. "We work on those things all the time. Those are things we emphasize. We try to be as unpredictable and dangerous as we can, and sometimes it works and sometimes it don't. We had the opportunity to work on some things we need to work on.

"That's a good football team there - they just had a bad night,'' he said of the Big Reds.

The Patriots (5-0) entered the game second in the SSAC Class AAAA playoff ratings, one spot behind Morgantown. Parkersburg (3-3) was seventh, with the top 16 qualifying for the postseason and the first eight in each class getting the choice of approved home field in the opening round.

By halftime, GW had surged into its 50-7 lead, with all of those points coming by the 11:05 mark of the second quarter.

Black tallied touchdowns on six of his first 10 carries and didn't touch the ball in the second half. George Washington was able to keep the ball away from the Big Reds in a variety of ways during that onslaught.

The Patriots got onside kick recoveries from both Dashawn Brockman and Teddy Smith, their kicker. Ashtyn Lusk also recovered a Parkersburg fumble at the Big Reds 27, which led to a De'Sean Isabell touchdown pass to Davon Brockman on the next play.

It might have been even worse by halftime, but a pair of long GW touchdowns on a kickoff and punt return were negated by penalties.

Parkersburg got on the board late in the first quarter on a 56-yard pass from Noah Smith to Brady Thorn to make it 36-7.

When the score reached 50-7 early in the second quarter, Parkersburg had run only 10 offensive plays owing to GW's stingy tendencies with possessing the ball. The Patriots had run just 18 plays, with seven of them resulting in touchdowns.

The entire second half was played with a running clock, owing to the Patriots' lead.

"It snowballed really fast,'' said Big Reds coach Matt Kimes. "They proved that they're a championship-caliber team this year, and we can't afford to have a start like that. We couldn't create any momentum or rhythm on either side of the ball the entirety of the first quarter.

"We're going to keep fighting and keep grinding and try to find a way to be better next week.''

George Washington's second-half scores were an 8-yard run by Tavion Woods and a 24-yard pass from backup QB Graysen Pullins to Jasean Black.

Parkersburg's TDs after the break came on a 10-yard Noah Smith toss to Karsen Kimes and a 14-yard scramble by Smith with 1:26 remaining. Smith completed 10 of 21 passes for 160 yards and two scores.

The Patriots ended up with 295 yards on 27 carries and Isabell hit on 5 of 6 passes for 62 yards.

GW leads the all-time series against the Big Reds 19-11.

Edwards was asked how he would motivate his team, which has won its first five starts by an average of nearly 38 points heading into next week's showdown with Princeton.

"We still have some silly penalties,'' he said, "and our intensity - I thought we let up a little bit in the second quarter. I take some of the blame for that. You can't let your foot off the gas.

"The last five, six minutes of the second quarter we weren't very sharp and we can't do that - especially next week and what we've got down the road.''

Parkersburg came into Friday's contest riding a three-game winning streak, beating Hurricane, Parkersburg South and Riverside.

George Washington 64, Parkersburg 21

P 7 0 7 7 - 21

G 36 14 7 7 — 64

GW - Jaden Black 60 run (T.Smith kick), 11:03 1st

GW - Jaden Black 1 run (T.Smith kick), 9:03 1st

GW - Jaden Black 1 run (T.Smith kick), 8:15 1st

GW - Jaden Black 31 run (Butcher pass from T.Smith), 5:03 1st

GW - Davon Brockman 27 pass from Isabell (T.Smith kick), 4:08 1st

P - Thorn 56 pass from N.Smith (Sisk kick) 1st

GW - Jaden Black 47 run (T.Smith kick), 11:49 2nd

GW - Jaden Black 26 run (T.Smith kick), 11:05 2nd

P - Kimes 10 pass from N.Smith (Sisk kick), 4:38 3rd

GW - Woods 8 run (T.Smith kick), 3:25 3rd

GW - Jasean Black 24 pass from Pullins (T.Smith kick), 7:11 4th

P - N.Smith 14 run (Sisk kick), 1:26 4th

Team stats

Parkersburg: First downs: 9; Rushes-yards: 22-54; Passing yards: 160; Total yards: 214; Passing: 10-21-0; Fumbles-lost: 1-1; Penalties-yards: 3-27; Punts-averageL 2-36.5

George Washington: First downs: 14; Rushes-yards: 27-295; Passing yards: 86; Total yards: 381; Passing: 6-8-0; Fumbles-lost: 0-0; Penalties-yards: 5-35; Punts-average: 0-0

Individual stats

Rushing — Parkersburg: Greer 10-32, Smith 7-12, Widman 3-8, McCullough 1-3, Sisk 1-(-1); GW: Jaden Black 12-214, Valentine 6-51, Dashawn Brockman 3-23, Morrison 1-8, Woods 1-8, Davon Brockman 1-2, Isabell 3-(-11); Passing - Parkersburg: N.Smith 10-21-0-160; GW: Isabell 5-6-0-62; Pullins 1-2-0-24; Receiving - Parkersburg: Thorn 4-78, Sisk 2-9, Jones 1-48, Kimes 1-10, Smith 1-9, Greer 1-6; GW: Valentine 2-28, Davon Brockman 2-23, Jasean Black 1-24, Ford 1-11