Local Sports

Big Reds win big, turn attention to playoffs

PARKERSBURG -- In case Parkersburg football fans forgot what Brady Thorn was capable of, the junior Big Red reintroduced himself Friday night at Stadium Field.

Thorn scored four total touchdowns -- two apiece on each side of the ball -- and started the game off with a bang on a 50-yard scoop-and-score on the second play from scrimmage as PHS celebrated senior night with a 69-6 win over Oak Hill.

"Brady set the tone," said Parkersburg head coach Matt Kimes. "He'd been out since the Huntington game. He's such a key piece to what we want to do. He's such an explosive football player. It was so good to have him back out there."

Thorn caught five passes for 92 yards, including touchdowns from 29 and 24 yards out. He also had a 55-yard pick-six.

"Having Brady back is really big for us," said PHS senior Cole Sisk. "He's one of our main guys, if not the main guy. He's awesome. He just makes plays all around the ball, whether it's defense, special teams, or offense. He's a real stud, man."

Due to injuries in Parkersburg's backfield, Sisk got the start at running back and led the Big Reds' ground game with 79 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries.

"He hadn't played running back much in his career with our program," Kimes said. "Just kind of a necessity. We've had some running backs go down. He stepped up into the role and did a great job."

Sisk wasn't the only PHS senior who shined bright in the game. Devin Widman carried three times for 49 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Cameron even came in at quarterback and threw a 35-yard touchdown pass.

"It was surreal, man," Sisk said. "You just have to soak in the moments while you can. You're never going to get to do this with your boys anymore. You've been doing it since you were young. It's just so unreal to even think it's over. Freshman year feels like yesterday. Now, it's my last game ever on Stadium Field. It hits really hard."

Santana Jones, Daelon Evans, Carter Smith, Warren Whitlatch, Austin Craven, Zach Medina, Drey Grinter, Jackson Roe and Andrew Henderson round out the PHS senior class.

"Proud of all our seniors, man," Kimes said. "They all contributed at some point tonight in the win. Awesome way to send our seniors off. Now, we'll rest up this weekend. Like I told these guys: 'We're in it.' We're in the tournament. They're going to have to carry us off the field because we're going to leave it out there."

The Big Reds are projected to get the No. 10 seed in the Class AAAA playoffs, which would mean a first-round road trip to No. 7 Musselman.

After starting the season 3-2, PHS was on a four-game losing skid heading into Friday's matchup with the Red Devils. The win puts them at 4-6 heading into the postseason.

"I feel like we needed this really bad," Sisk said. "It feels really good to get momentum. This is going to help us in the long run, for sure."

Starting QB Noah Smith completed 10 of 14 passes for 160 yards and three touchdowns. Brady Miller caught a 35-yard TD while Myles Ross hauled in a 22-yard scoring strike. Tyreke Glover had a rushing touchdown. Glover and Xander Bowman both had picks, giving the Big Reds four total interceptions -- three against Oak Hill starting trigger-man Caleb Spack, who finished 11 for 24 for 67 yards.

The Red Devils, who were limited to 109 total yards of offense, finally got on the board with 59 seconds left in the game when Andreus Johnson returned a kickoff 70 yards to the house. They finished the season 0-10.

"We had been trending and getting better since our bye week," Kimes said. "We've played a really tough schedule. We had a gauntlet of four games that anybody in the state would have trouble competing against. We showed some resilience. A lot of kids could have probably said 'Why do we keep doing this?' But it's for moments like tonight that we can put it all together and just play really sound football. We've shown if we can do that, we can be a pretty good football team."

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@newsandsentinel.com.

At Stadium Field

Parkersburg 69, Oak Hill 6

O (0-10) 0 0 0 6 -- 6

P (4-6) 28 20 7 14 -- 69

P: Brady Thorn 50 fumble return, Cole Sisk kick, 11:07 1st

P: Sisk 8 run, Sisk kick, 8:17 1st

P: Thorn 29 pass from Noah Smith, Sisk kick, 6:17 1st

P: Devin Widman 2 run, Sisk kick, :55 1st

P: Thorn 55 interception return, Sisk kick, 10:37 2nd

P: Thorn 24 pass from Smith, Sisk kick, 3:30 2nd

P: Sisk 4 run, kick failed, :34 2nd

P: Tyreke Glover 8 run, Tyler Cameron kick, 2:11 3rd

P: Myles Ross 22 pass from Smith, Sisk kick, 7:11 4th

P: Brady Miller 35 pass from Cameron, Cameron kick, 1:25 4th

O: Andreus Johnson 70 kick return, run failed, :59 4th

Team stats

Oak Hill: First downs: 6; Rushes-yards: 20-42; Passing yards: 67; Total yards: 109; Passing: 11-26-4; Fumbles-lost: 1-1; Penalties-yards: 3-21; Punts-average: 0-0

Parkersburg: First downs: 13; Rushes-yards: 22-212; Passing yards: 195; Total yards: 407; Passing: 11-15-0; Fumbles-lost: 1-0; Penalties-yards: 7-49; Punts-average: 0-0

Individual stats

Oak Hill: Rushing: Cade Compton 11-25; Caleb Spack 3-11; Chance Billups 3-9; Paxton Hopkins 2-7; TEAM 1-(-10); Passing: Spack 11-24-3, 67 yards; Compton 0-2-1, 0 yards; Receiving: Caleb Compton 4-23; Kayden Patterson 4-9; Cade Compton 2-17; Tyler Colalseno 1-18

Parkersburg: Rushing: Cole Sisk 8-79, 2 TDs; Zayden Bowen 5-43; Devin Widman 3-49, TD; Noah Smith 2-29; Tyreke Glover 2-14, TD; Tyler Cameron 1-3; TEAM 1-(-5); Passing: Smith 10-14-0, 3 TDs, 160 yards; Cameron 1-1-0, TD, 35 yards; Receiving: Brady Thorn 5-92, 2 TDs; Brady Miller 1-35, TD; Myles Ross 1-22, TD; Karsen Kimes 1-17; Austin Craven 1-12; Sisk 1-9; Santana Jones 1-8

Next game: PHS awaits playoff matchup