Panthers declawed
PikeView (13) vs. Midland Trail (31)
Written: Nov 07, 2013
By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
GARDNER — The Trail to .500 was guided by Ryan Wilson, right through the Mid-land.
Wilson, a junior tailback for Midland Trail, ran for 209 yards on 41 carries and three touchdowns, and the Patriots completed its season at 5-5 with a 31-13 win over PikeView on a cold Thursday night at PikeView High School.
Christian McGuire added 134 yards on 13 carries, as the Patriots rolled up 359 yards on the ground against the weary Panthers’ defense that was gashed all night by the large Midland Trail offensive line.
“It wasn’t nothing fancy, they were just coming straight at you,” PikeView head coach Bobby Wyatt said. “It is old adage football, three yards and a cloud of dust, that is the way it used to be played and we haven’t adapted to that yet.”
PikeView, which opened the season having lost 18 games in a row, made strides, finishing 3-7 in Wyatt’s second year with the Panthers.
“We are making baby steps and we are heading in the right direction,” Wyatt said. “We have just got to hit the weight room and get stronger and be able to man up against some of these teams that come at us like that.”
Midland Trail, which trailed 13-12 at the break, scored 19 second half points, with Wilson overcoming a turned ankle on a kick return late in the second quarter to roll up 99 second half yards.
“He has gotten better and better and our line has gotten better and better,” Midland Trail head coach Joe Dean said. “We were very fortunate, that is what you hope for is to play hard and we were fortunate to do that.
“This was a great game, man, it was hard....They are much improved, that is a good football team.”
Collin Carte picked off a Chris McBride pass on PikeView’s second possession of the third period, and returned it to the 18. The 5-foot-11, 192-pound Wilson carried the ball three times, putting the Patriots on top for the first time at 18-12 on a 4-yard run to paydirt.
PikeView, which was led by Hunter Moses with 117 yards rushing and 77 yards passing by Chris McBride, drove to the Midland Trail 22 on throws of 13 and 14 yards to Takota Bailey. Daniel Brown moved the ball to the eight on a nine-yard run to put the Panthers at the 8.
McBride attempted three passes, including a toss to the back of the end zone on fourth down, but the ball fell incomplete with 42 second on the third quarter clock.
“It was one of those situations where another field goal is not going to help us,” said Wyatt, whose Panthers had scored 13 first half points on two Alex Testerman field goals and a 2-yard run by Joseph Jennings. “The first play we called we under-threw and we had the receiver wide open, we just under-threw it and they jumped the second route.
“It is just one of those things, we guessed right and missed and they guessed right and it worked.”
The Patriots followed with Midland Trail’s style football, moving the ball 91 yards on 16 plays, running 9:50 off the clock, with quarterback Glen Neal scoring from the 2 for the 24-13 lead with 2:50 left in the game.
“We have been telling the kids that at Midland Trail, that is what we used to do,” Dean said. “We have a drill we do every week called 10 perfect plays and luckily we were able to execute it with a fuse tonight.”
Midland Trail scored again after PikeView turned it over on downs, with the 5-11, 217-pound McGuire breaking the grasp of would-be tacklers and rumbling 46 yards for the final touchdown of the game.
“We weren’t working on all cylinders tonight offensively and defensively we had no answer for a wedge offense,” Wyatt said. “It was just one of those things where we have got to hit the weight room and be able to withstand that pressure because those are teams that have given us the biggest trouble this year is people coming straight at us.
“We have no answer for that and we have got to figure out something to do about that in the offseason.”
PikeView took an early 6-0 on field goals from 32 and 25 yards by Testerman. Wilson scored from 11 yards to tie the score at 6-6, but the Panthers answered in a hurry, with Ryan Roberts returning the ensuing kick 88 yards to the 2. Jennings followed with a 2-yard run to pull the Panthers ahead 13-6.
Wilson nearly did the same for the Patriots, returning the ensuing kick 72 yards, but Testerman stripped the ball from Wilson at the 5. Wilson was helped off the field, but would return with a vengeance after getting his ankle taped.
“He rolled his ankle,” said Dean, whose Patriots finished 5-2 after starting the year at 0-3, “but luckily it wasn’t anything serious.”
Midland Trail was able to pull within one at the break, with McGuire rumbling 34 yards on their next possession, helping to set up a 9-yard run by Wilson to narrow the margin to 13-12.
“This is going to be a tough one to take, but my hats off to Midland,” Wyatt said. “They came in here and did what they do best, we had no answer for it.”
PikeView honored 13 seniors prior to the game, a collection of athletes that Wyatt said helped begin the resurgence of Panthers football.
“They have been through it. I appreciate them being able to stay in here and play the game and fight through the hard times,” Wyatt said. “They had some good times this year, hopefully they have been part of turning this around a little bit.”
—Contact Brian Woodson at bwoodson@bdtonline.com
at PikeView High School
Midland Trail.........................0 12 6 13 — 31
PikeView...............................3 10 0 0 — 13
Scoring
First Quarter
PV—Alex Testerman 32 field goal 7:28
Second Quarter
PV—Testerman 25 field goal 11:12
MT—Ryan Wilson 11 run (pass failed) 3:04
PV—Joseph Jennings 2 run (Testerman kick) 2:45
MT—Wilson 9 run (pass failed) :16
Third Quarter
MT—Wilson 4 run (pass failed) 4:41
Fourth Quarter
MT—Glen Neal 2 run (kick failed) 2:50
MT—Christian McGuire (Matt Skaggs kick) :57
———
Team Statistics
First Downs: MT 17; PV 12. Rush-Yards: MT 57-359; PV 30-171. Pass Yards: MT 17; PV 77. Comp-Att-Int: MT 1-4-1; PV 7-22-1. Fumbles-Lost: MT 2-2; PV 1-1. Penalty-Yards: MT 9-75; PV 2-6. Punts-Avg. MT—2-36.0; PV 2-36.0
Individual Statistics
Rushing: MT Ryan Wilson 41-209, Christian McGuire 13-134, Austin Burdette 3-4, Glen Neal 1-2; PV Hunter Moses 17-117, Joseph Jennings 7-42, Daniel Brown, 2-8, Chris McBride, 2-3, Ryan Roberts 2-1.
Passing: MT Glen Neal 1-4-1 int-17-0; PV Chris McBride 7-22-1 int-77-0.
Receiving: MT Austin Burdette 1-9; PV Takota Bailey 2-27, Bradley Flinchum 2-23, Ryan Roberts 2-16, Joseph Jennings 1-11.
Turnovers: MT Andrew Dickerson fr, Collin Carte int; PV Bradley Flinchum fr, Alex Testerman fr, Tanner Farley int.
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