By Dave Helmick
TuckerCountySports.Com
PARSONS – The #2 Mt. Lions Football team hosted #7 Tug Valley in the Quarterfinals of the West Virginia Football Playoffs on Saturday November 18th. Tucker County scored 12 points in the first half and then the Mt. Lions exploded for 30 points in the second half to capture the shutout victory over Tug Valley 42-0.
Tucker County won the coin toss and deferred their option to the second half. The visiting Panthers got the ball to start the game and failed to convert on fourth down to give the Mt. Lions the ball. Tucker County was forced to punt on their first possession. The Mt. Lions defense again held to give Tucker County the ball back at the Tug Valley 39. This time the home team put together a drive that was capped off with a 11 yard touchdown pass from Ethan Rosenau to Garrett Wilfong. The 2 point conversion failed to make the score 6-0 Tucker County with 4:14 left in the first quarter. The Mt. Lions defense held again as the first quarter ended with the score 6-0 Tucker County. Both teams struggled to sustain drives in the second quarter as the score remained 6-0 midway through the second. Tucker County then mounted a scoring drive late in the first half as Jared Reall would dive in to the endzone from 1 yard out with 36 seconds left in the second quarter. The PAT would fail again for the Mt. Lions to put the halftime score at 12-0 Tucker County.
The Mt. Lions received the kick to start the third and the offense would go to work again. Tucker County marched the ball down the field on a 63 yard scoring drive that was finished off with a 16 yard touchdown pass from Rosenau to Blaike Adams. The 2 point conversion failed to give Tucker County the 18-0 lead with 8:02 left in the third quarter. The Panthers would then fumble on their next drive and the Mt. Lions recovered at their own 23. Tucker County’s offense then continued to click as they got another big play as Rosenau connected with Wilfong for a big 63 yard touchdown pass with 2:31 left in the third. The PAT was good on a pass to Wilfong to make the score 26-0 Mt. Lions after three quarters of play. Tucker County would then add two more scores in the fourth quarter as Adams scored on a 6 yard touchdown run with 10:36 left in the game. The PAT was good on a pass to Adams to put the Mt. Lions advantage to 34-0. Then Tucker County put the scoring to an end with a 9 yard touchdown run by Reall with 6:17 left in the fourth. The PAT was good on a reverse pass play, as Adams passed it to Racer Channell for the conversion to make the score 42-0 Tucker County. The Panthers could not get on the scoreboard before the running clock expired and the Mt. Lions collected the Quarterfinal Playoff win by the final score of 42-0.
Ethan Rosenau led Tucker County with 199 yards passing on an 18 of 23 performance. Jared Reall added 136 yards rushing on 26 carries and Garrett Wilfong had 6 receptions for 109 yards receiving. Maddox Anderson collected 6 catches for 53 yards receiving and Blaike Adams chipped in with 27 yards rushing and 23 yards receiving. Jared Reall and Garrett Wilfong led the Mt. Lions defense with 6 tackles each in the win for Tucker County.
#2 Tucker County(12-0) advances to the State Semi-Finals and they will host #3 Williamstown(12-0) on Friday November 24th at home. Kickoff is set for 4pm and the winning team will advance to the State Championship game in Wheeling on Saturday December 2nd. For more information go to TuckerCountySports.Com.
