Panthers defeat rival Rebels 48-8
BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
NAUGATUCK, W.Va. — The Tug Valley Panthers, ranked and seeded No. 1 in Class A, advanced in the West Virginia high school football playoffs with a convincing first-round 48-8 victory over regional rival Tolsia on a chilly, drizzly Saturday afternoon at Bob Brewer Stadium in Naugatuck.
The playoffs were delayed one week due to some schools and counties filing court injunctions because of the new points ranking system and the new classification alignments for schools in the Mountain State. Eventually the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the WVSSAC, the governing body for high school sports in the state and their original playoff slate.
Tolsia took an early lead in the first quarter as Luke Williamson hit paydirt for the Rebels on a 2-yard touchdown run. The 2-point conversion made it 8-0.
“Any time you have more than a week off, you hope you don’t lose any momentum, especially not knowing when or who your next opponent is going to be. I think we started off a little slow but we picked it up as the game went on,” said Tug Valley head coach Hady Ford. “We started off a little slow on defense but we made a couple of adjustments and finished very strong.”
The Panthers got on the scoreboard as sophomore quarterback Preston May completed a 13-yard touchdown pass to tailback Bryson Elia. He then connected with Cameron Slone on the 2-point conversion play to tie the game at 8-8 with 2:37 left in the first quarter.
Tug Valley took the lead when May hit Cameron Slone on a 50-yard TD pass. Then Aiden Bosserman’s extra point kick made it Panthers 15-8.
Tug Valley fans saw May fire a 68-yard strike for a touchdown to Cameron Slone as he took it to the house for another Panther TD to make it 22-8 with 7:36 left until the half.
Aiden Bosserman kicked a 28-yard field goal for Tug Valley to add to the lead. That made it 25-8 with 1:43 left in the second quarter.
May fired a 34-yard touchdown pass to speedy sophomore Derek Jewell. The Panthers led Tolsia 32-8 with 2:59 left in the third quarter after the extra point kick.
TV’s May, a legit All-State candidate, completed his fifth TD of the day as he connected with senior Brady Brewer on an 80-yard score. The conversion made it 39-8 with 29 seconds left in the third quarter. That was the score heading into the final quarter of the afternoon.
May ended the game with six TD passes. He completed 19-33 passes for 482 yards.
“Preston made some really good throws and some good reads. He just continues to get better each week. He’s put in a lot of hard work in the offseason and during season and it’s showing,” Ford said of May’s performance.
The Panthers’ Adam Slone tackled Tolsia QB Robert Evans in the end zone for a safety. Those two points gave TVHS a 41-8 lead with 8:15 left in the first-round playoff game.
TVHS got a final TD from Elia as he caught another perfect pass from May in the end zone. Riley White kicked the extra point for the Panthers.
“During the delayed week off, our offense line put in some extra work to get better and it showed in the game. They made some game adjustments that helped make some plays that wouldn’t have normally been there. They’re starting to work as a unit,” Ford added.
Elia had six carries for 44 yards while hauling in 7 passes for 128 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Cameron Slone led the receivers with 203 yards and two touchdowns with seven catches. Brewer had one catch for 80 yards and a touchdown, Jewell caught three passes for 63 yards and one touchdown and Ashton Davis had one catch for 8 yards.
Defensively, Dakoda Walker led the Panthers with 12 tackles. Adam Slone and Cane Thompson had 11 tackles each. Austin Smith finished with eight tackles, while Thompson and Brewer both had an interception in the game.
Tug will host No. 8 Petersburg (6-5) Saturday afternoon, who beat No. 9 River View 49-8 Saturday.
“Any time you are in the playoffs and playing at the house is a blessing. We’re grateful for where we are and what we’ve done but by no means are we satisfied. We know that there’s more work to do,” Coach Ford concluded.
Score by quarters:
Tolsia: 8 0 0 0 – 8
Tug: 8 17 14 9 – 48