St. Clairsville Falls To West Branch
Photo by Nick Henthorn St. Clairsville's Hunter Orum falls forward on a rushing attempt Friday during the Red Devils' home game against West Branch.
Photo by Nick Henthorn St. Clairsville's Hunter Orum falls forward on a rushing attempt Friday during the Red Devils' home game against West Branch.
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Coming into their week one game against West Branch, St. Clairsville head coach Brett McLean said that the visiting Warriors were "loaded," and would be a big challenge. Indeed, the Warriors were locked-in for their visit to Red Devil Stadium on Friday night, where West Branch defeated St. Clairsville 37-6 to deal the Red Devils a season-opening defeat.
It wasn't as much an explosion as a sustained burn for West Branch, who led 7-0 after the first quarter, 23-0 at halftime, and 30-0 after the third quarter.
If there was a deciding quarter, it was the second frame, where St. Clairsville lost a fumble, suffered a safety out of the back of the end zone, and fell victim to a pair of rushing touchdowns from All-Ohio quarterback and Youngstown State commit Grady Hirst, including a 26-yard sweep, West Branch's longest scoring play of the game.
The Warriors did not need many long explosive plays Friday. The visitors chewed up yardage on the ground, rushing 36 times for 229 yards and five touchdowns as a team. Besides Hirst's 26-yard dash, West Branch scored on runs of four yards, four yards, six yards and one yard.
St. Clairsville, meanwhile, also did not come up with many explosives on offense, but couldn't match the Warriors' efficiency. St. C. rushed 31 times for 96 yards, and had three plays for more than 10 yards, none more than 15, until quarterback Brody Clifford connected on a deep steak to Jackson Mercer for a 32-yard touchdown pass with 1:21 left in the contest.
Clifford, who entered the game at quarterback for the second half, went 5-7 through the air for 50 yards and the touchdown. Mercer finished with three catches for 34 yards to end as the Red Devils' leading receiver.
Luke Schafer started the game at QB for St. C., going 4-7 for 27 yards through the air.
Hunter Orum led St. Clairsville with 38 yards on 10 carries. Kale Fisher also got five carries for 17 yards.
St. Clairsville converted two of nine third-down attempts on Friday, and failed on a fourth-down try too.
Hirst finished with 114 rushing yards and two scores, also passing for 92 yards, going 7-11 through the air. Landon Coffee, a highly recruited 6-6 tight end and defensive lineman, had 47 receiving yards on a pair of catches.
Dalton Neff and Jeremy Tharp each had tackles for loss on defense for St. Clairsville.
West Branch first got on the board Friday after a one-yard touchdown dive from Damon Edwards, capping off an 83-yard touchdown drive with 1:28 left in the first quarter.
Hirst's 26-yard touchdown run and a 4-yard touchdown run with 3:18 to play before halftime sandwiched St. Clairsville's safety. Faced with a fourth-down from their own 15 yard-line, the snap for a punt was too high, bouncing into the Red Devil's end zone and nearly being recovered for six by West Branch, though the first Warrior to the ball was ruled out of bounds before securing the ball to give the visitors two points with 4:44 in the second quarter.
Gavin Marshall's four-yard touchdown run made it 30-0 with 7:35 on the clock in the third quarter, and Edwards scored once again on a six-yard punch early in the fourth quarter.
St. Clairsville will look to rebound with another home game next Friday, facing Belmont County foe Union Local at Red Devil Stadium for a 7:30 kickoff. The Jets defeated Warren 34-0 on the road Friday.