Chance Short
The Ironton Tribune

CHESAPEAKE — The Chesapeake Panthers won a close one Friday night against the visiting Portsmouth Trojans.
Chesapeake chose to attack with the ground game as they took turns running the football with six different ball carriers as they totaled up 428 yards on 65 total rushes.
Panthers’ head coach Todd Knipp was happy the way his team played.
“We were able to run the ball inside and out,” said Knipp who added his guys still need to work on “eliminating the big plays and stalling drives with self-inflicted mistakes.”
As for the Trojans, they decided to air it out as their trigger man, Drew Roe, went 24-32 for 362 yards through the air. He added four total touchdown passes and an interception on the night.
Both teams scored on their first 3 possessions of the game, tying it at 21 late in the second quarter. That’s when the Chesapeake quarterback Donald Richendollar cut back on a designed quarterback run for a 24-yard touchdown that gave the Panthers a 28-21 lead with 1:42 remaining in the first half.
Portsmouth had one more shot before going into the half and had to settle for an 18-yard field goal by Joel Bowling that was true making it 28-24 at halftime.
Richendollar and Roe each threw a touchdown pass in the third quarter and the Panthers held on to a 4-point lead heading into the fourth, 35-31.
However, Roe found Reade Pendleton on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 62-yard touchdown pass, and gave the Trojan’s their first lead since the first drive of the game when they led 7-0.
Pendleton hauled in 13 catches for 201 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Chesapeake would then go on to dominate the run game as Donald Richendollar carried them to victory. The senior QB rushed a game high 31 times for 179 yards and five rushing touchdowns.
His most crucial runs came in the fourth quarter when the Panthers marched down the field their last two possessions of the game for touchdowns and the win, 49-38.
Next Friday, Chesapeake will host Ironton while Portsmouth visits Coal Grove.
Chesapeake 7 21 7 14 = 49
Portsmouth 7 17 7 7 = 38
First Quarter
PHS— Reade Pendleton, 20 yard pass from Drew Roe (Joel Browning kick) 7:35
CHS— Ben Bragg, 25-yard run (Trey Wascavage kick) 4:59
Second Quarter
CHS— Donald Richendollar, 4-yard run (Trey Wascavage kick) 11:55
PHS— Reade Pendleton, 11-yard pass from Drew Roe (Joel Browning kick) 8:36
CHS— Donald Richendollar, 14-yard run (Trey Wascavage kick) 5:08
PHS— Amare Johnson, 21-yard run (Joel Bowling kick) 3:40
CHS— Donald Richendollar, 23 yard run (Trey Wascavage kick) 1:42
PHS— Joel Browning, 18 yard field goal 0:45
Third Quarter
CHS— Thomas Sentz, 22-yard pass from Donald Richendollar (Trey Wascavage kick) 4:47
PHS— Mylan Brown, 12-yard pass from Drew Roe (Joel Browning kick good) 2:53
Fourth Quarter
PHS— Reade Pendleton, 62 yard pass from Drew Roe (Joel Browning kick) 11:46
CHS— Donald Richendollar, 13-yard run (Trey Wascavage kick) 7:36
CHS— Donald Richendollar, 2 yard run (Trey Wascavage kick) 1:56
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RUSHING — Chesapeake: Donald Richendollar 31-179 5TD, Ben Bragg 14-99 TD, Ian Hicks 8-66, Levi Best 4-38, Marcus Burnside 4-24, Dilen Caldwell 4-22; Portsmouth: Amare Johnson 10-47 TD, Drew Roe 9-42.
PASSING — Chesapeake: Donald Richendollar 3-9-1-37 TD; Portsmouth: Drew Roe 24-32-1-362 4TD.
RECIEVING— Chesapeake: Thomas Sentz 3-37 TD; Portsmouth: Reade Pendleton 13-201 3TD, Amare Johnson 3-48, Michael Duncan 3-47, Chris Duff 1-31, Mylan Brown 3-29 TD, Omarian Martin 1-4.