Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

BIDWELL — The Coal Grove Hornets did a little tuning up.

The Hornets made sure they didn’t look ahead to next Friday’s showdown with Fairland by scoring 50 points in the first half en route to a 63-28 rout of the River Valley Raiders Friday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Coal Grove (3-4, 2-0) will host Fairland in a battle of OVC unbeatens with the winner taking a big step toward a league title.

The Hornets racked up 419 total yards including 276 on the ground. Sidney Tucker ran 18 times for 119 yards and scored four touchdowns to lead the offense.

D.J. Miller had 10 carries for 63 yards and a score. Quarterback Jesse Rigsby was 6-of-12 for 153 yards and a touchdown.

River Valley (1-6, 0-2) was held to 73 yards rushing. The Raiders had 181 yards through the air as Dayton Hardway was 11-of-31 and a touchdown. However, he was intercepted three times.

Mason Nance, Joe Akers and Nathan Harrison all had interceptions for the Hornets. Isaiah Gunther had seven tackles and David Abrams six to lead the defense.

Coal Grove jumped out to a 14-0 lead as Tucker ran 5 yards for a touchdown three minutes into the game and Miller had a 19-yard scoring run at the 6:16 mark.

Gunthers’ 1-yard scoring run pushed the lead to 21-0 to begin the second quarter and a 36-point explosion by the Hornets.

Hardway hit Austin Bradley with a 20-yard scoring pass to get River Valley within 21-7, but Tucker answered with a 9-yard run and Miller’s conversion run made it 29-7.

Bradley scored on a 1-yard run and it was 29-14, but Austin Ruggles electrified the crowd with an 80-yard kickoff return and the lead was 36-14.

River Valley tried to keep pace as Mark Wray ran 8 yards for the touchdown with 1:45 left in the half, but Tucker scored on a 2-yard run with just 32 seconds on the clock.

The Raiders went to the air, but Nance came up with an interception and Rigsby hit Conor Markins on a 58-yard scoring pass with only eight seconds left and it was 50-21 at the break.

Wray had his second 8-yard scoring run to begin the second half, but Coal Grove put the game out of reach on a 14-yard jaunt by Tucker and a 7-yard scamper by Ian McFarland.

Coal Grove 14 36 13 0 = 63

River Valley 0 21 7 0 = 28

First Quarter

CG — Sidney Tucker 5 run (kick failed) 8:54

CG— D.J. Miller 19 run (Sidney Tucker run) 6:16

Second Quarter

CG — Isaiah Gunther 1 run (Jonathan Joseph kick) 9:57

RV — Austin Bradley 20 pass from Dayton Hardway (Devin McDonald kick) 8:59

CG — Sidney Tucker 9 run (D.J. Miller run) 6:34

RV — Austin Bradley 1 run (Devin McDonald kick) 4:24

CG — Austin Ruggles 80 kickoff return (Jonathan Joseph kick) 4:04

RV — Mark Wray 8 run (Devin McDonald kick) 1:45

CG — Sidney Tucker 2 run (Jonathan Joseph kick) 0:32

CG — Conor Markins 58 pass from Jesse Rigsby (Jonathan Joseph kick) 0:08

Third Quarter

RV — Mark Wray 8 run (Devin McDonald kick) 10:00

CG — Sidney Tucker 14 run (Jonathan Joseph kick) 9:30

CG — Ian McFarland 7 run (kick failed) 4:03

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CG RV

First downs 22 20

Rushes-yards 45-276 28-73

Passing yards 153 181

Total yards 419 254

Cmp-Att-Int 6-12-0 11-32-3

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 12-130 7-45

Punts-average 0-00.0 0-00.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Coal Grove: Sidney Tucker 18-119 4TD, D.J. Miller 10-63 TD, Isaiah Gunther 6-17, Sean Paulus 2-21, Jesse Rigsby 3-5, Joe Akers 1-2, Austin Ruggles 1-4, Tanner Henry 1-3, Jacob Clark 2-35, Ian McFarland 1-7 TD; River Valley: Austin Bradley 6-24, Justin Arrowood 4-4, Dustin Bickers 3-3, Mark Wray 8-36 2TD, Dayton Hardway 2-minus 5, George Williams 3-8, Josh Campbell 2-3.

PASSING—Coal Grove: Jesse Rigsby 6-12-0 153; River Valley: Dayton Hardway 11-31-3 181, George Williams 0-1-0.

RECEIVING—Coal Grove: Conor Markins 1-58 TD, Joe Akers 2-67, Isaiah Gunther 3-28; River Valley: Kirk Morrow 3-46, Austin Bradley 3-40 TD, Tyler Twyman 1-38, Mark Wray 2-26, Dustin Bickers 1-21, Nick Jeffers 1-10.