By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

PEDRO — Alex Shears kept coming up with the big plays and the Wheelersburg Pirates came up with the win.

Shears ran for two scores and returned an interception for another touchdown as the Pirates beat the Rock Hill Redmen 33-8 on Friday.

“We had a couple of breakdowns on the interception return and the punt return, but we played them pretty well,” said Rock Hill coach Todd Knipp. “The Shears kid is a good athlete and he got out on us a few times. Our kids played hard. We were in the ball game.”

Shears ran seven times for 82 yards and was 6 of 11 passing for 80 yards and an interception.

Wheelersburg (4-1) got on the scoreboard with 8:14 left in the first quarter on a 3-yard run by Brett Hood and it was 7-0.

Shears then scored on a 32-yard keeper and the lead was 14-0 with 5:24 left in the quarter.

The special teams got the next score as Eddie Miller returned a punt 53 yards to make it 20-0.

A big turning point came at the end of the first half. Rock Hill was knocking at the door when Shears came up with an interception and ran it back 98 yards for a touchdown and it was 26-0 with 11 seconds left in the half.

The Pirates got a 1-yard scoring run by Shears to lead 33-0.

Rock Hill got on the scoreboard when Jonah Cox hit Trey Wilds on a 7-yard TD pass. The duo also hooked up on the conversion.

Rock Hill had 199 total yards with 148 coming on the ground. Jared Bruce ran 14 times for 76 yards and Jesse Lane added 69 on 21 attempts. Cox was 7 of 14 for 51 yards and an interception.

“We’re moving the ball on people, we’re just not finishing,” said Knipp.

Ryan Depriest had an interception for Rock Hill.

Wheelersburg 14 12 7 0 = 33

Rock Hill 0 0 0 8 = 8

First Quarter

Wh – Brett Hood 3 run (Eddie Miller kick)

Wh – Alex Shears 32 run (Eddie Miller kick)

Second Quarter

Wh – Eddie Miller 53 punt return (kick failed)

Wh – Alex Shears 98 interception return (kick fail)

Third Quarter

Wh – Alex Shears 1 run (Eddie Miller kick)

Fourth Quarter

RH – Trey Wilds 7 pass from Jonah Cox (Wilds pass from Cox)

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Wh RH

First downs 12 12

Rushes-yards 34-172 42-148

Passing yards 80 51

Total yards 252 199

Cmp-Att-Int 6-11-1 7-14-1

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 5-40 2-20

Punts-average 5-38.2 7-34.3

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Wheelersburg: Mark O’Brien 8-20, Brett Hood 9-29, Alex Shears 7-82, Dylan Miller 5-29, Tyler Claxon 3-9, Eddie Miller 2-3; Rock Hill: Jared Bruce 14-76, Jesse Lane 21-69, Trey Wilds 3-7. Jonah Cox 4-minus 4.

PASSING–Wheelersburg: Alex Shears 6-11-1 80; Rock Hill: 7-14-1 51.

RECEIVING–Wheelersburg: Austin Hall 3-54, Derek Arthur 2-17, Dylan Miller 1-9; Rock Hill: Trey Wilds 5-27, Jared Bruce 1-8, Ryan Depriest 1-16.