It was a battle back and forth in the first half of the Junior Hardy Bowl before the Yellow Jackets swarmed together to oust Potomac Valley League defending champion East Hardy Early Middle School 34-20 at Yellow Jacket Field last Wednesday to earn a berth in the PVL Championship game.
Moorefield Middle School (5-2) overcame the obstacles this season to be in the title game tonight facing Tucker Valley Middle School in Parsons.
“I expected it to be close. I think we made a lot of mental mistakes that kept them in the ball game, but I knew we were going to be fine in the second half. I’ve talked about adversity all year To me a good football team is one that can look adversity in the face and prevail. We’ve never really been in an adversity situation and they proved to be a good team tonight. At the beginning of the season, nobody thought we would be in the championship game including myself. This was supposed to be our rebuilding year, but we made it. We got better each week. I want a piece of Tucker Valley,” Moorefield Middle Football coach Eric Linville remarked.[private]
On the opening kickoff, the Yellow Jackets fumbled the ball and EHEMS recovered at the MMS 38-yard line.
EHEMS’s Deamien Dellinger was tackled for a three yard loss by Yellow Jacket defenders Ethan Eye and Adam Landes.
Dellinger gained six yards and was brought down by Landes before a delay of game penalty.
A pitch from Dellinger to Brandon Jones was made and a pass attempt went awry leading to a punt.
The punt resulted in a turnover as the ball came down off the shoulder of MMS returner Santana Ramirez and the Cougars fumble recovery was made by Nate Smith at the Yellow Jackets six-yard line.
Dellinger was tackled by MMS’s Axton Runions on a three yard run, then Dellinger was stopped for a one yard loss by Landes and Alex Miller.
Smith caught a four yard touchdown pass from Dellinger to put EHEMS (4-3) up 6-0 at the 4:44 mark as the two-point conversion attempt was intercepted by Landes.
The Yellow Jackets started their drive on their own 31-yard line with Landes rushing nine yards prior to being tackled by EHEMS’s Justin Parker.
Runions picked up six yards along with a first down and was tackled by Dellinger.
Runions garnered a dozen yards on the ground into EHEMS territory at the 42-yard line where Parker and Dellinger led a pride of Cougars for the stop.
Landes made two carries for the Yellow Jackets reaching the 31-yard line.
MMS tied the game at 6-all on a 23-yard touchdown run by Runions at the 2:24 mark as the conversion came up short.
The Yellow Jackets were penalized for illegal touching on an onside kick as EHEMS started at the MMS 49-yard line.
Dellinger made carries of one and two yards with stops by MMS’s Michael Cost.
There was an offensive holding call before the Cougars threw an incomplete pass on third down resulting in a punt with 40 seconds to go in the first quarter.
EHEMS’s Eli Mathias made a tackle for a nine yard loss pushing the Yellow Jackets back to the 20-yard line to end the frame.
A holding call was made on MMS to begin the second quarter, then Runions rushed ten yards to return to the 20-yard line.
Landes made a spinning escape in the backfield, but was caught by Dellinger two yards shy of the line of scrimmage.
Facing fourth down and 21 yards, Moorefield Middle sent the punting team on the field and was assessed a violation as the punter had lost his mouthpiece.
Despite a timeout, the punter was required to sit out one play and the Yellow Jackets went with a running play as Runions took the ball and didn’t reach the first down marker with tackle by EHEMS’s Brandon Jones and Tanner Whetzel.
The Cougars took over possession at the MMS 28-yard line with 6:10 remaining in the first half.
Seven seconds later, EHEMS’s Nate Smith scored on a 28-yard touchdown reception juggling and securing the ball off a deflection and Dellinger made a dive into the corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion to put the Cougars ahead 14-6.
“I thought we gave good effort. There were some mental mistakes at the start of the game and they jumped on top of us. Offensively in the first half we did very well moving the ball and offensively in the second half we didn’t have the ball nearly as much. Moorefield played ball control in the second half and didn’t give us the chance to score,” EHEMS Football coach Adam Simmons noted.
MMS began at the 38-yard line and Runions broke free from some tackle attempts on a 19-yard run to the EHEMS 43-yard line before being hauled down by Jones.
Landes answered the call with a 43-yard touchdown run and Runions added the two-point conversion as the Yellow Jackets tied EHEMS at 14-all with 5:25 left in the second quarter.
MMS’s Alex Miller made a clothesline style tackle on EHEMS kick returner Brandon Jones at the 36-yard line.
Dellinger made a carry for six yards before being stopped for no gain by Landes and Trace Pope.
EHEMS’s Tyler Tarallo made a two-yard run before a defensive encroachment penalty was called to create a first down for the Cougars at the 49-yard line.
Dellinger lost the ball and Ethan Eye recovered the fumble for the Yellow Jackets.
It took one minute and four plays for the Yellow Jackets to reach the end zone covering 51 yards.
The first carry by Runions was just one yard with a tackle by Cougars defender Justin Parker at midfield.
Runions escaped danger for a 14-yard gain and was brought down by Parker.
Dodging tackles in a zigzag pattern helped Runions collect another first down entering the red zone on the 18-yard play reaching the 18-yard line.
Landes gave Moorefield Middle the lead on the ensuing play carrying the ball 18 yards for a touchdown with 1:28 left in the second quarter and the conversion failed with a 20-14 lead.
EHEMS started at the 37-yard line and Dellinger made a stiff arm move on Runions to gain five yards.
The Cougars tied the game at 20-all with 29 seconds remaining in the half as Hunter Shumaker made a 58-yard touchdown catch and the conversion came up short.
The Yellow Jackets weren’t content on entering the locker room without trying to find the end zone with seconds left.
MMS began the final scoring drive of the first half at the 41-yard line with a little trickery having Landes make a pass to quarterback Tyson Arnold gaining 15 yards on the play.
A 13-yard run by Landes with a stop by EHEMS’s Jesse Riffe put the Yellow Jackets at the 31-yard line with 11 seconds on the clock.
Arnold went to the air connecting with Landes for a 31-yard touchdown pass having only four seconds to spare and Ramirez made the two-point conversion catch for a 28-20 lead at halftime.
Runions made a slamming tackle on Jones to close the first half.
The Cougars started the second half at the 29-yard line with an incomplete pass, then Dellinger rushed for nine yards and grabbed a first down on a seven yard carry at the 45-yard line with a swarm of Yellow Jackets making the tackle.
Dellinger and EHEMS reached midfield where Ramirez made a tackle for MMS.
Two more carries by Dellinger moved the chains for the Cougars at the 42-yard line.
After two incompletions, Moorefield Middle’s Adam Landes made an interception at the 17-yard line.
Runions picked up a first down on an 11-yard gain, then added two more yards with stops by Whetzel and Parker.
Landes executed a reverse play for five yards, then Runions dodged tackles for a first down at the EHEMS 49-yard line.
After offsides was called on the Cougars, Runions rushed for seven yards and a first down.
EHEMS’s Brandon Jones made an open field tackle for no gain on MMS’s Ronny Greist.
Facing third down, Runions rushed 11 yards to the 21-yard line to move the chains at the close of the third quarter.
On the initial play of the fourth quarter, Landes rushed 21 yards for a touchdown to put the Yellow Jackets up 34-20 at the 7:51 mark and the conversion pass was dropped.
The Cougars started at their own 48-yard line and Dellinger notched one yard before plowing ahead on the next play for seven yards with Runions making the tackles both times.
EHEMS earned a first down at the 40-yard line on a carry by Dellinger, but on the next carry there was unsportsmanlike penalty assessed on the Cougars which included an ejection.
The Cougars fumbled the ball and Dellinger recovered, but now faced third down and 29 from the EHEMS 41-yard line.
After an incomplete pass attempt, EHEMS punted the ball with 4:40 remaining in the Junior Hardy Bowl.
MMS started at the 31-yard line and Runions was tackled by EHEMS’s Wyatt Hockman on a three yard run and timeout was called.
Runions added one more yard and was stopped by Whetzel and a pride of Cougars.
EHEMS quickly called a timeout and MMS managed one more yard with a stop by Parker.
Another timeout was called as the Cougars looked to get the ball back, then MMS had a false start and punted the ball with 3:15 to go.
EHEMS’s possession commenced at the 40-yard line and a defensive pass interference penalty moved the ball to the Yellow Jackets 45-yard line before an illegal motion penalty put the line of scrimmage at midfield.
After a catch by Smith for no gain and an incomplete pass, Runions made a sack for the Yellow Jackets on third down.
EHEMS faced fourth down and 28 with a delay of game adding to misery with 1:35 left.
Tarallo made a screen catch for about one yard, but his knee was down during the reception giving MMS possession on the turnover on downs.
After the Cougars were whistled for having too many players on the field, MMS knelt down to end the Junior Hardy Bowl with a 34-20 victory.
The Yellow Jackets look to avenge an early season loss to Tucker Valley in the PVL Championship tonight.[/private]