The Cougars slashed through the frigid temperatures clawing the Warriors for four fumble recoveries and the offense put Pocahontas County on ice with six touchdowns culminating in a 40-7 victory in Dunmore last Friday.
“It’s not just about the points, it is what we saw schematically from the Shadyside game film that we needed to clean up and we definitely improved on those. That’s where we are going to hang our hat tonight. We are just going to move forward week to week. We are going to continue to improve baby step by baby step, until we reach our ultimate goal as the ultimate form of ourselves,” East Hardy Football coach Devon Orndorff remarked.
“I think our flow tonight came from the loss we had last week. You’re never happy with a loss, but it does humble you and help set your perspectives. I think we were humbled and we were hungry again. When this team is a hungry team and we’re not happy where we are at and we strive for progress, then we are real dangerous. This is what we have talked about, not just Christian [Dove], but all those seniors have been on point all week with their leadership and in the drills during practice. It has been real crisp and you can tell that they want to get better and tonight it showed.”
East Hardy executed the opening kickoff, then the Warriors first play from scrimmage at the 34-yard line went chaotic as the Cougars defensive [private]lineman Dale Hockman ripped the ball out and the fumble was smothered up by linebacker Alex Miller with the turnover putting the possession at the 36-yard line at 11:49.
A pass from Christian Dove to Brayden Ritchie moved the ball four yards for the Cougars on the initial sequence, then Miller rushed for a touchdown with a distance of seven yards to the 25-yard line and Pocahontas County’s Keaton Baldwin accounted for both tackles.
After an incompletion, Dove notched five yards on the ground and Andrew Tharp sliced around the gridiron for another first down inside the red zone at the 14-yard line converting a third down.
Two plays later, Dove dashed to the outside and tiptoed along the sideline reaching into the corner of the end zone for the touchdown before being shoved out of play at the 8:47 mark and the two-point conversion attempt fell short despite overcoming a low snap as East Hardy went up 6-nil.
The second Pocahontas County possession lasted a smidgeon longer going one minute and 45 seconds for a three and out punting series as Erik Flynn, Dayton Miller, Ritchie and Dove made stops for the Cougars.
East Hardy needed just over three minutes spanning 84 yards to secure the second touchdown of the contest and a 13-0 advantage at the 3:43 mark.
A pass interference call on second down moved the chains at the 30-yard line, then Dove added nine yards on the ground and Miller picked up another first down with an eight yard carry to the 47.
After an errant throw was a bit too high for Ritchie, East Hardy’s Mason Miller notched a nine yard run and the offensive line helped push the Warriors surrounding Miller on the next rushing play for a first down at the 36.
Dove connected with Lang for a 36-yard touchdown strike at 3:43 and Lang garnered the extra point.
Pocahontas County’s Cash Keating spun away from an initial tackle before being brought down by East Hardy’s Mario Combs and Gabe Henderson on second down at the 42-yard line during a 13 yard first down play.
Keating took the handoff again and the ball was knocked loose with the Cougars’ Dove getting up from the pile with the ball, but the Warriors were given the possession.
East Hardy’s Flynn and Matthew Harman made stops for minimal gain to force a Pocahontas County punt, but the Warriors attempted a fake punt with Baldwin having the ball stripped on a tackle by Alex Miller and Mason Miller scooped the ball up racing to the end zone for a touchdown only to have the score negated on a block in the back penalty to close out the first quarter.
The Cougars were still in excellent shape with the possession inside the red zone at the 18-yard line to commence the second stanza.
Andrew Tharp was tacked for a loss by Pocahontas County’s Frankie Burgess and Baldwin, then Alex Miller erased those negative yards to reach the 17-yard line.
On the third play of the drive, Lang snatched a 17-yard touchdown reception at the 10:40 mark and added the extra point for a 20-nil East Hardy lead.
The Warriors failed to advance the ball on the ensuing series as East Hardy’s Flynn, Hockman and Dayton Miller denied Baldwin on the first play, then Miller stuffed Blayton Loudermilk at the line of scrimmage on second down and Baldwin tried to scramble to the outside and was tracked down by Flynn for a seven yard loss leading to a punt.
Dove made a big punt return and was forced out of bounds at the Pocahontas County 14-yard line.
After an offensive infraction, East Hardy’s Alex Miller rumbled up the middle diving into the end zone for a touchdown with the Warriors trying to move the ball back over the line covertly to no avail and a personal foul was called on them for a late hit in the backfield. The score stood for the Cougars, 26-0.
East Hardy executed an onside kick and recovered the ball, but the following possession didn’t yield any points as a fourth down play was stopped in the backfield by Baldwin.
The Warriors were able to get on the scoreboard during an 11-play, three minute drive.
A couple highlights for Pocahontas County on this series came in the air including Haiden Gladwell making an 11-yard reception to reach the 40-yard line on second down and was tackled by East Hardy’s Dawson Price.
Facing third down after a tackle by Ritchie, Baldwin found Burgess for a 15-yard conversion pass to the Cougars 41-yard line.
Gladwell created another third down conversion catching a pass at the 29-yard line with a stop by Dayton Miller.
Three plays later, Pocahontas County’s Cash Keating recorded a 14-yard touchdown run at the 3:35 mark and the extra point was good for a 26-7 score.
East Hardy started at the 30-yard line and Dove elected to throw for a deep pass towards Lang and the Warriors defender collided with Lang facing him prior to the ball’s arrival causing a pass interference to his disbelief, but that penalty was offset by an illegal player downfield as the down was repeated with Dove scrambling for a loss.
Mason Miller caught a pass for seven yards eluding one defender in the process, then Tharp caught a pass and was hurt on the tackle as a holding call was being assessed simultaneously.
After another deep pass went awry, the Cougars punted the ball and there was a fumble on the return as Mason Miller made the recovery at the 40-yard line.
Another illegal receiver penalty backed up the Cougars, then Price made a catch for four yards and a timeout was called with one minute to go in the first half.
The Cougars faced third down and 15 with a catch made by Tharp on his return, but it wasn’t enough to move the chains after another timeout as a punt followed with 38 seconds remaining.
There was an offensive holding call on the Warriors and a timeout was called, then an errant pass occurred.
Gladwell rushed for 22 yards for Pocahontas County to reach the 47-yard line with a tackle by Mason Miller and a timeout was called with 12 seconds to go.
Mason Miller made a crushing hit during an incomplete pass and the Warriors last play of the first half was a reception by Jacob Davis for only six more yards as East Hardy carried a 26-7 lead into intermission.
The Cougars ate over four minutes off the clock to begin the third quarter and capped off the drive with a Dove to Lang touchdown reception as Lang sliced across the field for the 29-yard strike at the 8:26 mark and Dale Hockman notched the extra point to bolster the advantage to 33-7.
An 11-yard first down catch by Gladwell moved Pocahontas County to the 44-yard line, then a defensive face mask helped the Warriors cross midfield prior to East Hardy’s Erik Flynn garnering a sack.
East Hardy’s Dayton Miller notched a tackle for no gain on Gladwell, then Mason Miller and Riley Mongold caught Gladwell on the next play trying to cut back across the line on a catch leading to a punt to the ten yard line.
A spinning move by Alex Miller created a nine yard run and breathing room for the Cougars, then Dove picked up a first down at the 21-yard line.
Facing third down, Dove located Ritchie for a 28-yard reception into the Warriors territory at the 43-yard line.
“It was super important to get this win, because you don’t want to lose two in a row and we made sure we would get the win on the road. We scored some points and that was our main focus after last week’s loss,” East Hardy senior quarterback Christian Dove stated.
“I think the line stepped up and made some big improvements today. We ran the ball a lot better, so I am excited to see what happens next. Defense is East Hardy Football, that’s why we always have a really good scheme and good coaches. We always play hard, that’s what it is. All of us have a drive and we are always working harder. No one takes a play off and that’s the main thing.”
East Hardy backup quarterback Mason Miller refused to be pulled down during a strong battle for 19 yards and a first down at the 24-yard line.
Miller broke free from the grasp of one Warriors defender to commandeer another first down, but a penalty called it back and one last carry closed the third quarter at the 23-yard line.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, East Hardy’s Mason Miller garnered a first down at the nine yard line.
It took just two more plays for the Cougars to find the end zone as Alex Miller punched the ball in for the touchdown from one yard out at the 8:59 mark and Dale Hockman’s extra point put East Hardy up 40-7.
East Hardy seniors Christian Dove, Alex Miller and Andrew Tharp had fun on the sidelines grabbing the headsets to act as assistant coaches delegating plays on the field and calling off a punt alert when a first down was obtained.
After a punt by the Warriors, East Hardy ran out the remaining five minutes of the game on carries by Damian Iman and Damien Dellinger.
East Hardy thawed out the field for the 40-7 victory and improved to 3-1 overall.
Dove went 11-of-18 with 147 passing yards plus three touchdowns and one rushing score for the Cougars.
All three of Lang’s receptions resulted in touchdowns for a total of 82 yards.
Alex Miller rushed 16 times for 86 yards with two touchdowns.
The Warriors were led by Baldwin with 10-of-16 passes for 80 yards and Keating added 41 yards on the ground with the lone touchdown.[/private]
The pandemic caused the cancellation of this Friday’s contest against Tucker County, but the Cougars were trying to add Tolsia as the opponent as of press time.
The game scheduled at Trinity Christian has been moved to October 16.
