CHESHIRE — The Chesapeake Panthers played give and take with the ground game. They gave a good ground game and took River Valley’s ground game away.

Chesapeake used a strong running en route to a 28-23 Ohio Valley Conference win Friday over the River Valley Raiders.

The Panthers rolled up 324 total yards including 264 on the ground. Quarterback Aaron Donahoe ran 11 times for 93 yards and threw for another 60.

Drew Blake carried 12 times for 87 yards for the Panthers (3-6, 1-3) while Clinton Baise caught a pass for 49 yards and returned the second half kickoff for a score.

“We were really concerned they would run the ball right at us and we shut that down the first two times they had the ball and we continued to shut them down the rest of the game,” Panthers coach Phil Davis said.

River Valley had 277 total yards with 227 coming through the air. Quarterback Clayton Curnutte completed 19 of 30 passes, two for touchdowns. He ran for another score.

“Their quarterback did a nice job. We had people covered and he did a great job hitting people and they did a good job of catching it,” said Davis.

The Raiders took a 3-0 lead on a 31-yard field goal by Eric Caldwell early in the second quarter.

Chesapeake came back to take the lead just before halftime on a 5-yard run by Blake and a conversion run by Donahoe and it was 8-3.

The Panthers extended their lead to 14-3 to start the second half when Baise returned the kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown.

“The kicker had been kicking it short and that one he kicked to around the 5 and Baise did a nice job,” said Davis.

River Valley got within 14-11 midway through the quarter on a 1-yard run by Curnutte.

Chesapeake answered with a scoring drive that began in the third quarter and ended on the first play of the fourth quarter as Donahoe ran 15 yards for a touchdown. Blake added the conversion run and it was 22-11.

A 9-yard touchdown pass from Sean Sands got the Raiders within 22-18 with 7:59 left, but the Panthers put together a scoring drive on their next possession and Blake capped the march with a 10-yard run to make it 28-18 with 3:32 to go.

River Valley added a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Deel with 1:26 left to set the final score.

Chesapeake (3-6, 1-3) snapped a four-game losing streak with the win. River Valley fell to 1-8 and 0-4 in the OVC.

Chesapeake08614=28

River Valley03614=23

Second Quarter

RV — Eric Caldwell 31 field goal 10:02

Ch — Drew Blake 5 run (Aaron Donahoe run) 0:28

Third Quarter

Ch — Clinton Baise 96 kickoff return (pass failed) 11:45

RV — Clayton Curnutte 1 run (pass failed) 6:00

Fourth Quarter

Ch — Donahoe 15 run (Blake run) 11:54

RH — Sean Sands 9 pass from Curnutte (Caldwell kick) 7:59

Ch — Blake 10 run (run failed) 3:32

RV — Jordan Deel 1 pass from Curnutte (Caldwell kick) 1:26

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ChRV

First downs1417

Rushes-yards38-26430-50

Passing yards60227

Total yards324277

Cmp-Att-Int3-6-019-30-0

Fumbles-lost2-01-0

Penalties-yards7-552-15

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Chesapeake: Aaron Donahoe 11-93, Drew Blake 12-87, Alex Wells 6-32, Aaron Allen 3-27, Ryan Reynolds 3-20, Aaron Ross 3-5. River Valley: Cody McAvena 3-13, Tyler Canaday 8-12, Ryan Henry 4-8, Clayton Curnutte 8-7, Jordan Deel 5-6, Zach Baird 2-4.

PASSING—Chesapeake: Aaron Donahoe 3-6-0 60. River Valley: Clayton Curnutte 19-30-0 227.

RECEIVING—Chesapeake: Clinton Baise 1-49, Heath Hazlett 1-13, Drew Blake 1-minus 2. River Valley: Sean Sands 8-114, Jordan Deel 5-51, Zak Deel 3-26, Ryan Henry 1-24, Tyler Canaday 1-10, Chris Misner 1-2.