Lumberjacks remain unbeaten by upending Summers County

By Pat Hanna

RICHWOOD — For the first time this season, Richwood’s explosive offense was held under 30 points.

Fortunately for the Lumberjacks, that statistic didn’t translate into their first loss of the campaign.

Dustin Brown ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Sam Tindal added 97 yards on the ground and threw for a score as the unbeaten and playoff-bound Lumberjacks (9-0), the state’s second-ranked Class A team, withstood a determined effort from Class AA Summers County (2-7) for a 21-15 victory Friday night.

Richwood, which had averaged 42 points in winning its first eight games, will go for the school’s first 10-0 regular season since 1953 next Friday when it hosts Gilmer County.

“They had our outside contained well,” Richwood coach Jason Rogers said. “Our defense played well and theirs did, too. Sometimes you get in a game where the offenses stalemate and you can’t get a flow going.”

Summers coach Leon Franklin was proud of his team’s effort.

“I thought the kids played a whale of a football game,” he said. “Richwood has a great team and I think they’ll do well in the playoffs.”

Summers quarterback Tanner Lilly completed 15 of 29 passes with one interception for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Seth Bower led the Bobcats on the ground with 43 yards.

Richwood was stopped twice in the first half on fourth-down plays inside the Summers 10-yard line, once from the 1, but the third time was a charm. On fourth-and-12 from the Bobcat 35, Tindal hit Jordan Kidwell on a crossing route and the senior receiver took it in to give the Lumberjacks a 7-0 lead with 55 seconds left in the first half.

Richwood made it 13-0 early in the fourth quarter when Brown broke loose on a 46-yard touchdown run, knocking over a Summers defender at the 35 and running untouched from there into the end zone.

The Bobcats, who had their own fourth-down misfortune in the third quarter when Lilly’s pass from the 20 went off the fingers of Kyle Newcom in the end zone, got on the board with 8:45 remaining when Lilly hit Briceson Huffman from 7 yards out. Lilly’s two-point conversion pass to Ryne Nahodil made it 13-8.

But Richwood came right back, driving 63 yards in 13 plays and taking more than 5 minutes off the clock for its third touchdown. Brown scored from 5 yards out and ran for the two-point conversion to make it 21-8 with 3:09 left.

“That was a good drive,” Rogers said. “We started mixing it up offensively and finally got our running game established a little bit.”

But the Bobcats weren’t finished. They drove 60 yards in only four plays, scoring on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Lilly to Bower at the 2:14 mark. Daniel Coleman’s kick made it 21-15.

The Bobcats then tried an onside kick, which was recovered by Richwood’s Tindal at midfield. The Lumberjacks then drove to the Summers 5-yard line before Tindal took a knee and the final seconds ticked off.

Summers concludes its regular season next Friday at James Monroe.