10th title for Parkersburg
Sunday, December 3, 2006
By RICK RYAN - The Charleston Gazette

WHEELING — Yes, it was the state championship game but, no, it didn’t really make much difference for Parkersburg.

The Big Reds plowed past Martinsburg the same way they’d done to just about everbody this season, rolling up a 34-6 victory in the Class AAA title game in front of about 6,000 fans at Wheeling Island Stadium.

It marked the 10th state championship for the Big Reds, who trail only Ceredo-Kenova’s 11 titles among West Virginia high schools. It’s also the second 14-0 championship team turned in by PHS, matching the one in 1999.Junior halfback Matt Lindamood and senior fullback Charlie Taylor each went well over 100 rushing yards for the top-ranked Big Reds, who hammered out 352 yards on 43 carries. Lindamood had 170 yards on 17 attempts and scored three touchdowns while the 230-pound Taylor added 123 yards on 13 rushes, including a 43-yard scoring burst.

Lindamood was selected as his team’s MVP by a media vote, but it just as easily could have gone to Taylor as both provided tackle-busting efforts behind a dominant offensive line.

“I’ve always said this year we have the best line in the state,’’ Taylor said, “and I’m sticking to it, especially now that we’ve just won the state championship. They’re great and most of them will be back next year.’’

The game matched the top two teams in the state rankings, but No. 2 Martinsburg (12-2) wasn’t treated any differently than Parkersburg’s other victims.

PHS, the Mountain State Athletic Conference champion, came into the game outrushing its opponents 270 yards per game to 64 and outscoring them 29-6, and improved on those numbers Saturday. The Bulldogs became the ninth team this season Parkersburg had beaten by a margin of at least 21 points.

“They’re bigger and better,’’ said Martinsburg coach Dave Walker, whose team made its fourth trip to the finals in six years, but again came up empty. “I don’t know if there’s anything we could have done any different.’’

Not only were the Big Reds overpowering on offense, scoring on their first five full possessions, they again thwarted the opposing running game.Martinsburg, which rushed for 440 yards in last week’s semifinal victory over Fairmont Senior, managed just 77 yards on 29 carries. Leading runner Josh Twyman, still slowed by a sore ankle, was held to 33 yards on 13 attempts after entering the game with 1,850 yards and 22 TDs on the ground.

Speedy Marcus Scott, Martinsburg’s change-of-pace back and another 1,000-yard rusher who was averaging 11 yards a carry, never came close to breaking one Saturday, gaining 25 yards on six tries.

That prompted the Bulldogs to put the ball up 23 times, with Dustin Peters completing 11 for 113 yards, but he had three picked off.“The fact that we weren’t able to really run the ball effectively [forced the issue],’’ Walker said. “We felt like we could do some things in our pasing, but we just weren’t able to do a whole lot. They’ve got a great team and they’re better than us. They just physically beat us up front.’’

Martinsburg, trailing 24-0 at halftime, got its only score after opening the second half with an onside kick, recovered by Zach Newhouse on the PHS 37-yard line. Three plays later, Dustin Peters zipped the ball to Xavier Peters on a slant pattern and the latter found a seam down the middle of the field for a 33-yard touchdown. Xavier Peters (three catches, 50 yards) was voted Martinsburg’s MVP.

But any panic that might have instilled in Parkersburg was answered on the next two snaps. Taylor broke three tackles on a 20-yard run and Lindamood took the next carry 32 yards to the Bulldogs 15. Three plays later, Lindamood carried a pile of six defenders across the goal line for a 4-yard TD run.

Lindamood also scored on carries of 56 and 13 yards in the first half.

“I love watching Matt run,’’ Taylor said of Lindamood. “He’s a heck of a running back. No other back in the state has the strength and speed he does. He has a lot more speed than I do. I’ve worked on mine a little bit, but I’m a little too heavy to do much.’’

Parkersburg’s players, sometimes outsized and outquicked but never outmanned, cited togetherness as their main advantage.

“We’re like a family,’’ Taylor said. “No one is as close as we are. These are all my brothers right here.’’Quarterback Andy Thomas concurred.

“We play together so well,’’ he said. “Most of us have played together since pee wee. We were all on the same team.’’

Thomas also credited the special bond between the team’s linemen and coaching staff.“I’m not involved in the line part of practice,’’ he said, “but whatever they do down there works. The coaches did an awesome job this year.

“Martinsburg was probably bigger than us up front. Really, a few of the teams we’ve played have been. But we’re tough and we’ve worked hard, and we just like to pound people in the second half.’’