PROCTORVILLE – If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Saturday, October 14, 2000

PROCTORVILLE – If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And that’s just what the Fairland Dragons did Friday night as they blanked the Coal Grove Hornets 12-0 in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

After two straight strong performances ended in tough losses of 14-13 and 17-0, the Dragons gave it yet another try and earned the fruits of their effort.

"In the previous games we played pretty hard, but we weren’t rewarded. Tonight we were and that’s the big thing," Fairland coach Bryan Ward said.

"(Senior tackle) Ernie Humphrey told me their senior class had never beaten Coal Grove. I didn’t realize that, but he said they were going to go out and beat Coal Grove and they did."

Fairland, 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the OVC, did it with defense. The Dragons limited the Hornets to 99 total yards including a minus 14 the first half. Coal Grove leading rusher Jason Adams was held to just 33 yards on 23 carries.

Keying the defensive effort were Darin Thomas with five quarterback sacks, and nose guard Tim Adkins.

"Thomas played well defensively," Ward said. "We played a 5-3 and put Timmy Adkins down at nose guard. He’s just 155 pounds, but he’s like greased lightning and they couldn’t handle him. Defensively, we played as well as we can play."

Fairland had 253 total yards with 210 coming on the ground. Chris Hardy ran 18 times for 141 yards and Thomas added 41 yards on 10 tries.

"Hardy ran his guts out. He ran through tackles," Ward said. "The kids played hard and with a lot of emotion. I was scared we wouldn’t be ready to play. It was Senior Night and they were emotional, but it really worked in our favor."

It didn’t take the Dragons long to get on the scoreboard. They went 70 yards in just four plays capped by Adkins’ 4-yard touchdown run. Hardy triggered the drive with a 48-yard gallop on the first play of the game for the Dragons.

The conversion kick failed and it was 6-0.

Coal Grove appeared to have tied the game on the ensuing kickoff when Adams returned the kickoff for a touchdown. But a penalty erased the play and the Hornets never recovered.

Coal Grove (3-4, 1-1) had a chance to tie the game and possibly take the lead in the third quarter, but a drive ended when Brandon Spence pounced on a fumble with 6:52 left in the quarter.

"I guess we had what you could call bad break. We had a fumble inside the 5, and then we had a kickoff return for a touchdown called back on a penalty," Hornets coach Nick Miller said. "But they came out ready to play and we didn’t. Give Fairland credit. (Coach Ward) did a good job."

Wheelersburg 43, Northwest 14

WHEELERSBURG – It was homecoming, and the seniors took charge.

Wheelersburg seniors Lance Davis, Dusty Chamberlin, and Michael Branon helped lead the Pirates to a 43-14 rout of the Northwest Mohawks Friday in a Southern Ohio Conference Division II game.

Davis ran for 53 yards and three touchdowns, Chamberlin had 83 yards rushing plus a score, and Branon led a defensive charge with eight tackles, two sacks, and two forced fumbles as the Pirates evened their record at 4-4 on the season and went to 2-1 in the SOC.

Junior halfback Billy Dever ran for 126 yards and a touchdown as Wheelersburg racked up 436 total yards.

Northwest (4-4, 0-3) jumped in front when Doug Montavon picked up a fumble at the 1-yard line and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown to make it 7-0.

But Wheelersburg ran off 43 unanswered points that weren’t interrupted until Montavon ran 13 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.

Montavon carried 14 times for 108 yards.

Down 7-0, Wheelersburg answered with a scoring drive capped by a 5-yard Davis run for a touchdown. Chamberlin’s conversion kick tied the game.

Dusty Winebrenner then returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown and it was 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Dever’s 6-yard scoring run extended the lead to 21-7 to start the second quarter, and Chamberlin scooted 18 yards for a touchdown that gave the Pirates a 28-7 halftime lead.

Davis had touchdown runs of 8 and 1 yards in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

Wheelersburg plays at Portsmouth West next Friday in an SOC game before closing the season at home against Portsmouth.

Portsmouth East 33, Green 8

FRANKLIN FURNACE – The Portsmouth East Tartans took a 20-0 first half lead and went on to beat the Green Bobcats 33-8 Friday in a Southern Ohio Conference game.

Brian Payne led the Tartans offense with 195 yards rushing on a 22 carries and scored three touchdowns.

East, 4-4 and 1-2 in the SOC, had 423 total yards as David Blevins rushed 20 times for 137 yards.

Quarterback Ryan McGraw had 79 total yards as he ran for 49 and passed for another 30.

Payne ran 12 yards for a touchdown to go up 6-0 in the first quarter.

The lead went to 12-0 early in the second quarter on a 1-yard run by Johnny Stapleton. Payne came back with an 18-yard scoring run late in the quarter and McGraw threw to Bobby Yates on the conversion to make it 20-0.

Green, 0-8 and 0-4, cut the deficit to 20-8 on a 24-yard touchdown run by quarterback Alex Poe with 11:51 on the clock in the fourth quarter. Poe hit Jacob Yarnell for the conversion.

But East came back to score on a 2-yard run by McGraw and it was 26-8.

After a turnover, East added an insurance touchdown with 3:50 to play on Payne’s 33-yard touchdown run.

Green hosts Oak Hill next Friday in an SOC game.