PARKERSBURG — Billy Martin made “Billy Ball” popular when he was the manager of the Oakland Athletics professional baseball team.
Fifth-year Parkersburg head football coach Bernie Buttrey now has made “Bernie Ball” the rage for fans of the No. 1 Big Red football team.
Friday night at Stadium Field “Bernie Ball” proved to be more than two-time defending Class AAA state champion Morgantown could handle as Parkersburg eliminated the Mohigans by a 42-14 score in the first of two semifinal games.
Parkersburg, now 13-0, will take on the winner of today’s 1:30 p.m. contest between No. 2 Martinsburg and No. 6 Fairmont Senior in the state championship game at Wheeling Island Stadium at noon on Saturday, Dec. 2.
“There’s a million things running through my head right now,” Buttrey said. “I’m just very thankful for the opportunity to coach such a wonderful group of kids.”
Morgantown, which concluded its season with a 10-3 mark, opened the game like a defending state champion should, taking the kickoff and putting together a 14-play, 71-yard scoring drive to take an early lead.
Senior fullback Levi Johnson culminated the six-minute drive with a 7-yard plunge with 5:46 remaining in the first quarter. Senior place kicker Garrett Bradlyn added the extra point and Parkersburg found itself trailing for only the second time in the playoffs.
“Normally, I panic when something like that happens,” continued Buttrey, who will be making his first appearance as a head coach in the Class AAA championship game. “But, I could see some things in that drive. I knew if we tightened up we could stop them.”
And, stop the Mohigans the hosts did.
More importantly, the Big Reds answered the Morgantown drive with one of its own, taking the ensuing kickoff at its own 34 and driving 66 yards in nine plays for the game-tying score.
Senior Charlie Taylor did the honors on a short screen pass which the 230-pounder turned into a 42-yard scoring romp through the Mohigan secondary. Junior Tyler Warner’s PAT evened the score at seven with 1:04 left in the first quarter.
“That was the answer,” said Buttrey. “Charlie really got us going with that huge run.”
And once the red and white got rolling, nothing was going to stand in its way.
Morgantown closed out the first quarter and opened the second with a 12-play drive which placed the ball on the PHS 15. However, Bradlyn’s 32-yard field goal with 8:46 remaining until intermission went wide right of its intended mark.
The next eight minutes would belong to the boys in red and white.
Taking over on its 20, Parkersburg would need only four plays to take the lead for good. A pair of runs by junior Matt Lindamood accounted for only 2yards, but a Thomas 13-yard pass to Nathan Conley kept the drive alive and on the very next play, Lindamood — who finished with 193 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 21 carries — broke into the Mohigan secondary and out-raced any would-be tackler to the end zone. Again, Warner would make good on his PAT and PHS led, 14-7, with 7:07 showing on the clock.
The Big Red offense would be back in business just four plays later.
This time, Thomas and Company would put together a 10-play, 68-yard drive with Thomas throwing his second touchdown pass—a 6-yarder to sophomore Kyle Smith — with 50 ticks still on the clock. Warner’s PAT, which was forced further back due to a 5-yard penalty, failed to connect, leaving the hosts leading by 13, 20-7.
But with only 50 seconds left there was little to worry, right?
Wrong. Taking over at his 21, Morgantown senior quarterback Charlie Russell engineered a 4-play drive that took only 31 seconds with the Mohigan signal-caller finding senior Derek Long in the end zone from 42 yards out for the score. Bradlyn’s PAT was good and Parkersburg’s lead was sliced to six, 20-14.
But, like it has done so many times during the season, Parkersburg took the second half kickoff, put together a 13-play, 78-yard drive that ate more than seven minutes off the clock, and regained its two-touchdown advantage when Thomas scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns on the night from 3-yards out with 4:52 on the clock.
Thomas would then make the score 28-14 when he found Conley in the end zone on the two-point conversion try.
Parkersburg’s defense displayed its muscle on the Mohigans’ ensuing drive, forcing a three-and-out and giving the Big Red offense the football at the PHS 43 with 3:38 remaining in the third quarter.
Morgantown would not see the ball again until the 11:41 mark of the fourth quarter, however, and Parkersburg’s lead would grow by seven more points on a 13-yard Lindamood scamper and Warner’s third PAT of the evening.
Thomas, who finished with 101 yards on 6-of-9 passing, closed out the scoring on a 13-yards dash with 8:27 left in the game.
“We feel like if we can get to halftime tied or in the lead, we are going to win the football game,” added Buttrey. “You take away that early touchdown and the long pass and the game wasn’t that close.”
Parkersburg will look to capture its 10th state football crown on Saturday. The last Big Red team to capture the state title was in 2001.
Untitled Document
Super Six
c/o Bernie Dolan - Director
1976 Park View Road
Wheeling, WV 26003
