BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
PARSONS, W.Va. — In a battle of the big cats, the Mountain Lions of Tucker County defeated the Panthers of Tug Valley 42-28 in a hard-fought game Saturday at R.H. Armstrong Memorial Field in Parsons.
Tug Valley made the trip Friday to the state’s far eastern panhandle to give players time to rest for the first round of the Class A state playoffs.
The Panthers met No. 8 Tucker County (6-4) for the second time in three years in the playoffs.
This meeting would see Tug Valley play without the services of a couple of all-staters, running back Bryson Elia and linebacker Cane Thompson, due to injuries. The Panthers went into the game as the No. 9 seed with an identical 6-4 regular-season record.
“Having a few linemen out hurt us on being able to run the ball,” Tug Valley head coach Hady Ford said. “We passed well but if we could have gotten our run game going, it would have opened the pass up a little more.”
Panthers quarterback Preston May returned after missing the last two games with a concussion. He threw for a pair of touchdown passes in the first half, one to Cam Slone and one to Gavin Fitzpatrick, to keep TV close.
“Preston played a good game,” said Ford. “Even with missing a couple of games, he stepped back in and took off.”
Tug trailed 26-12 at halftime, but battled back to make it close in the second half.
“We gave up a few busted plays that resulted in touchdowns in the first half that hurt us,” Coach Ford said.
The Mountain Lions took the second-half kickoff and quickly passed their way down for another TD. The 2-point conversion made it 34-12 and gave the home team plenty of momentum.
Tug Valley refused to give up and kept fighting to claw back into the game.
May scored on a short TD run to help the Panthers cut into the Mountain Lions lead.
Later, May connected with wideout Derek Jewell for a nice TD pass with 5:33 left in the game. Jewell outran the secondary and got open and May dropped the pass right into the bucket. May then ran it in for the 2-point conversion to cut the Tucker County lead to 34-28.
The Panthers defense had a couple of good stops and forced an important third-and-15. However, QB Sam Marks hit Keelyn Eichelberger on a long pass for a huge first down for the Mountain Lions with just over two minutes left in the game. Tucker then worked to run down the final minutes and seconds of the game clock.
The Mountain Lions passed for the final touchdown with just :08 left in the game. Marks hit Eichelberger on a 17-yard score to give the home team breathing room in the final seconds. The conversion gave them a 42-28 lead.
Both offenses dominated through the air as May and Marks had a quarterback battle.
May completed 34-52 passes for 443 yards and 3 TDs and a pair of interceptions.
Marks completed 19-30 for 378 yards and 5 TDs.
May led Tug in rushing with 54 yards and had the team’s lone rushing TD. He also had a 2-point conversion run. Cam Slone hauled in 9 passes for 119 yards, Fitzpatrick brought in 10 catches for 130 yards, and Jewell 6 for 78, while each had a TD reception.
Reid Kisamore rushed for 72 yards and a TD to lead Tucker’s ground game.
Cayden Arnold had 119 receiving yards, Kisamore 101 and Eichelberger 91.
Defensively, Ben Gilman led the Panthers with 10 tackles. Keaton Nelson and Mark Jarvis each had six stops, while Jewell, Slone and Bryson Richardson each had five tackles.
Tug Valley finished the season with a 6-5 record.
“It was a tough year,” Coach Ford said. “We came in with high expectations, but injuries really hurt us this year. We only had one game where everyone was healthy. We played well at times but having seven injuries was just too much to overcome.”
Tucker County is now 7-4 and will have to travel this week to take on the No. 1 seed Wheeling Central Catholic.
Score by quarters:
Tug: 6 6 8 8 – 28
TC: 14 12 8 8 – 42