BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
NEW RICHMOND, W.Va. — Senior quarterback Preston May accounted for 407 yards and six touchdowns Friday night to lead Tug Valley past Wyoming East 44-29 and give head coach Kyle Runyon his first career victory.
Tug Valley improved to 1-1 on the young season in the road game in New Richmond.
The Panthers, who only scored one touchdown in their season opener, saw the offense clicking on all cylinders Friday.
May was 17-of-31 passing for 293 yards and three touchdowns. He ran for another 114 yards on 13 carries, scoring three TDs rushing.
Cam Slone hauled in nine catches for 122 yards and a TD. Teammate Jarron Holyfield went four for 69 yards and a TD. Eli Whitt had one pass for a 35-yard TD. Mattox Sartin caught a pair of passes for 32 yards.
Bryson Richardson rushed for 36 yards on seven tries, while Cane Thompson had three rushes for 31 yards.
Ben Gillman led the defense with 10 tackles. Richardson had eight stops, Thompson six, Keaton Nelson six and Slone five.
Thompson returned this week after an injury forced him to miss the season opener at Mingo Central.
Coach Runyon was naturally pleased with his first win for his team and staff.
“It definitely was a surreal moment and was even better being able to experience it with the kids and coaching staff that I have,” he said of the victory.
Runyon credited the improvement to a productive week of practice and better execution.
“We cleaned up a lot of things in practice this week,” he said. “It took us a quarter to start showing that, but once we did, you could see that our guys understood their assignment.”
The coach said the performance shows the Panthers are moving in the right direction.
“I’m proud of everyone,” Runyon said. “We’re trending in the right direction. Obviously there’s still more we can do to improve, but they’ve got the weekend to enjoy this one.”
The Panthers hit the road Friday for their third straight road game. They will play Class AA Logan (2-0) at Logan’s Willis-Nisbet Stadium.
Runyon said the matchup is one his team has been anticipating.
“We’ve had the Logan game circled for a while and are ready to get after it,” he said. “We’re looking forward to going over there and hopefully coming out with the same results we did the last time we were over there.”
The Warriors drop to 0-2.
Tug Valley improved to 2-0 all-time against Wyoming East.
Score by quarters:
Tug: 0 14 15 15 – 44
East: 0 8 15 6 – 29