BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
NAUGATUCK, W.Va. — The Tug Valley Panthers downed visiting Wyoming East 44-12 in their homecoming game Friday night at Bob Brewer Stadium in Naugatuck.
Coach Hady Ford and his staff were playing without the services of All-State tailback Bryson Elia. The senior is still nursing a pulled hamstring.
In Elia’s absence, junior Cane Thompson took over much of the duties at running back and performed admirably for the Panthers.
“Cane really stepped it up tonight and filled in great for Bryson,” Ford said. “I think he had a couple of rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown.”
Thompson scored two touchdowns and grinded out 93 yards on 12 carries while hauling in one pass for a 47-yard TD.
TVHS led 26-0 at halftime with Thompson scoring a pair of TDs, while Gavin Fitzpatrick and Cam Slone also hit pay dirt in the first half.
Junior quarterback Preston May had a good night, completing 14 of 19 passes for 328 yards and three touchdowns; however, he did have a couple of interceptions.
Bryson Richardson had a couple of rushes for 22 yards and a touchdown, Cam Slone had one carry on a jet sweep for 24 yards and a TD and May had three rushes for 37 yards. The team had 176 total yards rushing in the game.
Slone caught six passes for 148 yards and a TD. Teammate Derek Jewell hauled in four passes for 106 yards, Thompson had one for 47 yards and Fitzpatrick had a 5-yard TD reception.
On defense, Thompson was a beast with 14 tackles, Jason Holyfield and Richardson each had 10 stops, Jewell had eight tackles and Slone and May both had seven tackles.
“I felt like we had our moments,” Coach Ford said of his team’s defense. “We made some good plays, but we also made a few mental mistakes. Overall we did what we needed to do to take care of business.”
Braxton Morgan and Grayson Ashley scored Wyoming East’s two touchdowns in the second half. They fell to 0-4 on the season.
“Any time you can get a win that’s a good thing,” Ford commented. “Our goal is always just to get better every week and focus on the opponent in front of us. We can’t overlook anybody on our schedule.”
Tug Valley improved to 2-2 on the season and will have a bye this week before hitting the road for the next three games at River View, Wayne and Mount View.
“It definitely comes at a good time for us,” Ford said of the open week. “Bryson should be good to go after the bye week, so that will help us. We have a couple of others banged up so hopefully we get ourselves healed up and get ready for a physical River View team.”
Score by quarters:
Wyoming: 0 0 6 6 – 12
Tug Valley:12 13 7 12 – 44
