BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
GLEN HAYES, W.Va. — The Tug Valley Panthers improved to 5-1 on the season as they rolled over the Tolsia Rebels 44-7 Friday night to get another road win at Wilt Salmons Athletic Field.
Coach Hady Ford’s squad led 12-0 after one quarter of play and 24-7 at halftime. The Panthers added 20 more points in the third quarter for the final margin of victory. Tug Valley had 463 yards of total balanced offense. They were able to advance the pigskin on the ground and via the pass.
“It’s always good to get a win. Each week we’re just trying to get better and keep improving,” said Ford. “I feel like we were able to do that this week.”
“We try and keep a balanced offense and not be one-dimensional. But we also try to take what the defense gives us. That allows us to get more players involved as well.” Ford added.
Quarterback Elijah Fluty was 13-20 passing for 120 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while backup Jaxson Nenni-Mills saw his first action as the signal caller and was 5-11 passing for 82 yards.
Adam Slone led the rushing attack for Tug Valley gaining 150 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns, while Bryson Elia rushed for 76 yards on five tries and a TD. Austin Smith rushed for 31 yards on seven carries and a TD, while Fluty rushed twice for 15 yards and a score.
Brady Brewer had four catches and 37 yards for the Panthers, while Paul Preece had three catches for 63 yards, Smith had two for 15 yards and Elia three for 33 yards and a TD. Julian Vance scored his first touchdown of the season and caught three passes for 39 yards.
On defense, Buddy Marcum had nine tackles, while Brewer, Ashton Davis and Dakoda Walker each had five stops for a balanced defense for the Panthers. Brewer, Preece and Elia each had an interception.
“Our defense has played well this year and everyone continues to improve. You have to play good defense in order to make any kind of a playoff run,” said Coach Ford. “The bye week will allow us to heal up and focus on us some this week. Mount View is waiting, so we gotta get focused on them.”
Davis Dingess scored Tolsia’s only TD from a pass and led them with 66 receiving yards. Rebel’s QB Luke Williamson was 4-12 passing with a TD and three interceptions.
Tug Valley dropped from No. 2 down to No. 12 in the WVSSAC rankings of Class A in West Virginia last week. The win this week moved them back up in the playoff hunt. The top 16 teams make the postseason in the Mountain State.
Tug Valley is off this Friday for a bye week, then hosts Mount View Oct. 14.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
Tug: 12 12 20 0 – 44
Tolsia: 0 7 0 0 – 7