Richwood wins

Richwood defeats Pendleton County 44-26 in first round of playoffs

By Jim Workman

RICHWOOD — If the Richwood Lumberjacks were looking to make a statement, they certainly didn’t waste any time in doing so.

On the first play from scrimmage, Richwood scored on a 65-yard flea flicker pass play en route to a 44-26 first-round Class A playoff victory over Pendleton County Saturday before a packed house at Dean Memorial Field.

The No. 3-rated Lumberjacks raised their unbeaten record to 11-0. They’ll host No. 6 Wirt County (9-2) next weekend in the quarterfinals. The date and time will be released from the WVSSAC office today.

The first touchdown went from quarterback Sam Tindal to a wide-open Spencer McPherson, who pulled in the ball and galloped into the end zone.

“The kids were a little nervous, so we wanted to loosen them up a little,” Richwood coach Jason Rogers explained. “We have that play in our playbook, but we haven’t run it. This was the first time. We figured we’d give it a try. We wanted to come out and let them know we’re here to play. It worked out for us.”

“We didn’t practice (that play) at all this week,” said Tindal, a junior. “Coach just told us that it might be the first play we run. I don’t think we have run it since last year. He just pulled it out of the books.”

No. 14 Pendleton (7-4) answered with a 10-play scoring drive, finished off with a 1-yard run by Dustin Redman. The point-after run attempt failed and Richwood held a 7-6 lead.

Tindal added a touchdown run and two TD passes — a 35-yarder to Dustin Brown and a 36-yarder to Seth Poston — in the first half.

“I don’t think we’ve thrown three touchdowns in the same half in the three years I’ve been here,” Rogers said. “It was there. It was open and we took advantage of it.”

Pendleton hung tough, scoring on second-quarter TD runs from Logan Mowery and quarterback Tyler Gardiner.

Richwood led 28-20 at halftime.

“After giving up 20 points in the first half, we were a little worried,” Rogers admitted. “But we held them to six in the second half and came up with a big turnover when we needed it.”

Gardiner scored again in the third quarter on a 2-yard run to cut the Lumberjacks’ advantage to 28-26.

The Wildcats were poised to take control with nine minutes remaining in the fourth.

With a first-and-goal at the Richwood 2-yard line, a potential go-ahead score was snuffed out when junior defensive back Scott Copen picked off a pass in the end zone, killing the Pendleton rally.

“It was amazing,” Rogers said. “That was huge. It was probably the play of the game.”

“It looked like we were going to go in for the go-ahead score,” Pendleton County coach Gary Smith said. “I thought we had them where we wanted them. I thought they were reeling. We got an audible that we didn’t want and the rest is history. But our kids hung in there and battled.”

With momentum fully on its side, Richwood used the final minutes to post TD runs by Tindal (1 yard) and Brown (13 yards) and then sacked Pendleton backup QB Daniel Hevener in the end zone for a safety to put an exclamation point on the fourth-quarter surge.

“I knew that we were going to pull it out,” Tindal said. “We step it up when we need to. The line always gives us good blocking. And our defense made a good stand. We should have played a little better, but I’m sure that we’ll step it up this week.”

Brown led Richwood rushers with 98 yards on just 12 carries. Tindal was close behind with 97 yards on 18 tries, while Zach Bennett added 58 yards on two carries, including a key 51-yard fourth-quarter scamper that came one play after the interception to move Richwood into Pendleton territory.

Gardiner was a workhorse for the Wildcats, gaining 146 yards on 20 carries on the ground and adding a 9-for-11 passing day for 175 yards.

“Pendleton County is tough,” Rogers said. “There’s no such thing as a bad team in the playoffs. We knew that we were going to have to come to play, and they came to play, too. It was just a good ball game.”

The Wildcats’ style of play was unlike any other opponent this season, which caused some problems.

“They did give us some trouble, but it helps us out, I think,” Rogers said. “I know that Wirt County plays about the same kind of offense. That will help us, having seen it.”

Smith still seemed a little shell-shocked minutes after the game.

“It was unbelievable,” the Wildcats’ coach said. “I’m not quite sure if I’ve ever been involved in a game like this, to be honest with you. Not a playoff game anyway.

“In the first half we gave them three bombs. We feel like our defensive backs are pretty doggone good. We have some nice skill guys. But we gave them three easy scores. It was a strange game.

“Richwood plays hard. Their quarterback is an extremely tough runner. They play with a lot of heart.”

— E-mail:

jworkman@register-herald.com

Richwood 44, Pendleton County 26

PC (7-4) 6 14 6 0 — 26

R (11-0) 14 14 0 16 — 44

First Quarter

R – Spencer McPherson 65 pass from Sam Tindal (Dustin Brown kick)

PC – Dustin Redman 1 run (run failed)

R – Brown 35 pass from Tindal (Brown kick)

Second Quarter

R – Tindal 5 run (Brown kick)

PC – Logan Mowery 6 run (Trent Moats pass from Tyler Gardiner)

PC – Gardiner 10 run (pass failed)

R – Seth Poston 36 pass from Tindal (Brown kick)

Third Quarter

PC – Gardiner 2 run (run failed)

Fourth Quarter

R – Tindal 1 run (Brown kick)

R – Brown 13 run (Brown kick)

R – Safety, Hevener tackled in end zone