Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

CHESAPEAKE — Isaiah Gunther helped take care of the offense. The defense took care of everything else.

Gunther ran 16 times for 150 yards and a touchdown while also catching four passes for 40 yards as the Coal Grove Hornets blanked the Chesapeake Panthers 29-0 Friday in a battle for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Hornets’ defense limited the Panthers to 63 net total yards as they sacked Chesapeake quarterback Casey McComas six times for a loss of 64 yards.

Daniel Rutherford had two sacks for minus 26 yards and Austen Pleasants had had 1.5 sacks for 23 yards. David Abrams and Tanner Dolen also got in on the sack attack.

Coal Grove (5-3, 2-0) racked up 401 total yards with 245 coming on the ground.

Quarterback Jesse Rigsby was 9 of 13 for 156 yards and two touchdowns with an interception.

Chesapeake (5-3, 2-1) was limited to 16 net yards rushing. McComas was 9 of 12 passing for 47 yards.

The game was scoreless until 2:45 left in the first quarter when the Hornets blocked a punt out of the end zone to take a 2-0 lead.

“Chesapeake had a good defensive scheme. It worked,” said Hornets’ coach Dave Lucas. “We made some adjustments before we could move the ball. We made some minor changes in the way we were blocking people.”

It remained that way until late in the half when the Hornets marched 83 yards in 12 plays. Rigsby capped the drive as he hit Dolen with a 26-yard scoring pass with six seconds left on the clock.

Jonathan Joseph’s conversion kick made it 9-0 at the half.

“That (touchdown) before the half was huge. (Chesapeake coach Andy Clark) has done a great job with his kids,” said Lucas.

Coal Grove got the ball to begin the second half and promptly went 53 yards in nine plays to take a 15-0 lead. Tanner Murphy shed a plethora of tacklers on a 3-yard run for the touchdown.

Gunther had a fourth-and-one stop of Cecil Fletcher for a loss of 5 yards and the Hornets had the ball back at their own 33.

A big 33-yard run by Gunther got the ball to the 1-yard line and he finished off the drive on the next play to make it 21-0 with 1:18 to go in the third quarter.

“It’s a typical Coal Grove team. They execute and don’t beat themselves,” said Clark. “We were in position to make some plays and didn’t. When you do that against a good team, it’s going to come back to haunt you. You can’t give them second chances.”

Coal Grove added an insurance touchdown with 9:45 to play when Rigsby and Joe Akers teamed up on a 44-yard touchdown pass. The duo clicked on the conversion play and it was 29-0.

The score was set up when Pleasants and Abrams sacked McComas for a 16-loss back to the Panthers’ 44.

Coal Grove 2 7 12 8 = 29

Chesapeake 0 0 0 0 = 0

First Quarter

CG — Safety (blocked punt went out of end zone) 2:45

Second Quarter

CG — Tanner Dolen 26 pass from Jesse Rigsby (Jonathan Joseph kick) 0:06

Third Quarter

CG — Tanner Murphy 3 run (run failed) 8:00

CG — Isaiah Gunther 1 run (pass failed) 1:18

Fourth Quarter

CG — Joe Akers 44 pass from Jesse Rigsby (Akers pass from Rigsby) 9:45

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CG Ch

First downs 18 5

Rushes-yards 40-245 28-16

Passing yards 156 47

Total yards 401 63

Cmp-Att-Int 9-13-1 9-12-0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 2-15 4-24

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING —Coal Grove: Isaiah Gunther 16-150 TD, Tanner Murphy 5-29 TD, Tanner Dolen 11-22, Austin Ruggles 2-3, Jesse Rigsby 2-10, Jacob Clark 3-31, Ranze Large 1-0; Chesapeake: Maccoy Brown 7-32, Nate Smith 4-9, Cecil Fletcher 6-7, Casey McComas 11-minus 32.

PASSING — Coal Grove: Jesse Rigsby 9-13-1 156; Chesapeake: Casey McComas 9-12-0 47.

RECEIVING — Coal Grove: Isaiah Gunther 4-40, Sean Paulus 2-31, Joe Akers 1-44 TD, Tanner Dolen 1-26 TD, Jacob Clark 1-15; Chesapeake: Cecil Fletcher 5-28, Maccoy Brown 1-14, Kolton Webb 1-minus 5, Nate Smith 2-10.