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Ohio conquers: Buckeye State bests West Virginia, 47-13, in BACF

JOE ALBRIGHT The Marietta Times West Virginia’s Matt Eichhorn, defending, and Shenandoah’s Nick Miller, running the ball, collide at the W.Va. 1-yard line during second-quarter action of the 25th annual Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis All-Star Football Classic Friday at St. Marys’ Bill Hanlin Stadium.

ST. MARYS, W.Va. — The Ohio team of River head coach Mike Flannery put on a dominating performance here Friday night at Bill Hanlin Stadium as the Buckeyes rolled past host West Virginia, 47-13, in the 25th annual Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis All-Star Football Classic.

Buckeye MVP Tojzae Reams, whose 45-yard late third quarter pick-6 made the score 40-13, had plenty of help as Ohio cut the all-time series deficit to 15-10.

Ohio scored the first 21 points and held a 14-0 cushion after an opening quarter which saw the Mountaineers of Parkersburg High School head coach Mike Byus amass just 40 yards compared to the Buckeyes’ 211.

“When we took that opening drive and used that clock that gave us an idea of what we were going to be able to do,” said Flannery, whose squad took the lead for good following a 12-play, 83-yard drive that was culminated by Monroe Central quarterback Ryan LaFollette’s 3-yard run that was followed by a true extra point from Belpre’s Bailey Sprague.

The rest of the evening didn’t go too much better for the Mountaineers, who got their first six-pointer from MVP Aaron Turner of Point Pleasant. By the time he hauled in a 19-yard touchdown reception from Big Red signal-caller Kam Mace, the hosts trailed 21-7 with 7:53 left in the second as Parkersburg South’s Amhed Ali made the extra point.

Monroe Central's Ryan LaFollette, left, carries the ball as St. Marys' Dalton Houser pursues during second-quarter action of the 25th annual Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis All-Star Football Classic Friday at St. Marys’ Bill Hanlin Stadium.

W.Va. did pick up a first down on its opening drive thanks to St. Marys’ Matt Eichhorn going for 23 yards on a pass from Mace, but a short punt ensued. That led to Ohio’s next touchdown. River’s Cole Hinerman had a key 31-yard grab to convert a third-and-21 play from the Ohio 18. Later, Bellaire’s Gabe Rejonis, who was picked off in the red zone on a trick play in the first half by Williamstown’s Bradan Mullenix, had a fancy 47-yard catch-and-run touchdown reception from LaFollette.

Rejonis made the reception going toward the W.Va. bench and then managed to tip-toe down the sideline, keeping his balance, before darting into the end zone.

Following the game, Shenandoah’s Cash Presnell, who recovered a fumble early in the second quarter, joined Reams in dousing Flannery with a cooler of water.

“They tagged me with that daggone water,” Flannery quipped. “The people of the BACF treated us tremendously and these kids had a lot of fun. We had 21 kids and what I said at the beginning of the week when someone asked me what was most impressive?

“Number one, there were no egos. Number two, their IQ and intelligence on the football field. We had the speed and used the speed and did a heckuva job. They really caught on to some things. They got along as a group and that’s what it’s all about. They understand it was all a service tonight (for cystic fibrosis).”

After that fumble recovery by Presnell, Nick Miller of Shenandoah took over as a Wildcat quarterback. After runs of 21 and 8 yards, he bulled in from the 5 and W.Va. was down 21-0 with 8:58 left before intermission.

St. Marys’ Jaiden Smith finally got the Mountaineer crowd to come to life with a 39-yard kickoff return, which led to Turner’s 19-yard touchdown pass from Mace.

Big Red Seth Dailey, who had game-highs of five catches for 85 yards, hauled in a 48-yard bomb from his ex-teammate. That led to a Smith 5-yard TD scamper as the hosts clawed to within 21-13 with 3:06 left in the second after the missed extra point.

It appeared W.Va. would have a shot to add to its momentum when Roane County’s Tyler Ricker forced a LaFollette fumble which was recovered by Doddridge County’s Curtis James.

As it turned out though, W.Va .wasn’t able to score and the Buckeyes went into the break with a 28-13 advantage following a 14-yard TD run via a sweep by Reams.

Miller toted the rock 15 times for a game-high 87 yards and his 15-yard TD at 5:12 of the third made it 34-13.

Following Reams’ pick-6, Marietta’s Devon Moss tacked on the final touchdown of the game thanks to a 4-yard run at 10:29 of the fourth.

Late in the affair, Rejonis picked off Mace and was eventually taken down by Wirt County’s Aaron Peterman, who was hurt on the play. The ex-Tiger eventually got back up, but the contest was officially called with 2:37 remaining.

LaFollette finished with 56 yards on 18 carries while Reams had five totes for 66 stripes. Smith (15-69) and Mace (8-41) had the only rushes for W.Va. as Eichhorn finished with three catches for 37 yards.

The victory was the fourth for the Buckeyes in the last seven meetings.

——

25th annual Battle

Against Cystic Fibrosis

All-Star Football Classic

at Bill Hanlin Stadium

Ohio 47, West Virginia 13

Ohio 14 14 12 7 — 47

W.Va. 0 13 0 0 — 13

O: Rylan LaFollette 3 run (Bailey Sprague kick) 5:53, 1st

O: Gabe Rejonis 47 pass from LaFollette (Sprague kick) 2:36, 1st

O: Nick Miller 5 run (Sprague kick) 8:58, 2nd

W: Aaron Turner 19 pass from Kam Mace (Ahmed Ali kick) 7:53, 2nd

W: Jaiden Smith 5 run (kick failed) 3;06, 2nd

O: Tojzae Reams 14 run (Sprague kick) 11.2, 2nd

O: Miller 15 run (kick failed) 5:12, 3rd

O: Reams 45 interception return (kick failed) 3;46, 3rd

O: Devon Moss 4 run (Sprague kick) 10:29, 4th

Team stats

Ohio: First downs: 25; Rushes-yards: 48-258; Passing yards: 124; Total yards: 382; Passing: 3-8-1; Punts-average: 3-41.0; Fumbles-lost: 2-1; Penalties-yards: 10-75

W.Va.: First downs: 13; Rushes-yards: 24-102; Passing yards; 153; Total yards: 255; Passing: 11-27-3; Punts-average: 4-23.5; Fumbles-lost: 2-1; Penalties-yards: 7-80

Individual stats

Ohio: Rushing: Team 1-(-6), Clint Wikander (Shenandoah) 2-22, Ryan LaFollette (Monroe Central) 18-56, Tojzae Reams (Belpre) 5-66, Gabe Rejonis (Bellaire) 3-22, Nick Miller (Shenandoah) 15-87, Devon Moss (Marietta) 3-3, Teddy Smith (Waterford) 2-8; Passing: Rejonis 0-1-1, 0 yards; LaFollette 3-7-0, 124 yards; Receiving: Cole Hinerman (River) 1-31; Rejonis 1-47; Reams 1-46

W.Va.: Rushing: Team 1-(-8), Kam Mace (PHS) 8-41, Jaiden Smith (St. Marys) 15-69; Passing: Mace 11-27-3, 153 yards: Receiving: Seth Dailey (PHS) 5-85, Matt Eichhorn (St. Marys) 3-37, Smith 1-3, Aaron Turner (Point Pleasant) 2-28

MVPs: Reams (Ohio), Turner (W.Va.)

Notes: Ohio has won four of the last seven meetings, but W.Va. leads the all-time series 15-10. The game was halted with 2:37 left in the fourth quarter after a Rejonis interception when he was tackled by Wirt County’s Aaron Peterman, who suffered an injury on the play.

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