All Three Phases Click For St. Clairsville In Dominant Win Over Park
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- While the St. Clairsville Red Devils hadn't gotten off to the start they wanted this season, heading into Friday's home matchup vs. Wheeling Park at 0-5, what transpired on the field at Red Devil Stadium was just what the doctor ordered-- an eye-popping 49-7 victory over the Patriots that granted St. C. their first victory of the year, while Park fell below .500 at 2-3.
"It started with having one of the best weeks of practice we’ve had in a long time," St. Clairsville head coach Brett McLean said. "You know, we’ve faced some things that were adverse, but the kids have stayed the course, and it’s hard to do that when you’re a kid. I’m so proud of the captains and seniors for staying the course to get us a good weekend and get a win. It really is the kind of medicine you need right now."
St. Clairsville scored 14 in each of the first two quarters to enter halftime ahead 28-0, and scored again midway through the third quarter to set in motion a running clock that would drastically shorten the remainder of the contest.
At the onset, though, Friday was all about special teams.
In the first half, St. Clairsville forced and recovered a fumble on a kickoff and a punt return, and gained new life after a Wheeling Park penalty on a St. Clairsville punt gave the Red Devils a first down.
"Coach [John] Kutcher pours his heart into our special teams and does great work," McLean said. "And we’re six weeks in. We talked to the kids-- we don’t have any immaturity on our team anymore. They've all played varsity football. I think you see the game slowing down a little bit for some of them, understanding what we’re trying to accomplish. It helps to have them clean and healthy for the game and we can do some things to mix it up a little bit."
Kicker and punter James Parsons, also a soccer standout, showed off a variety of punts with different arcs and rotations, and also made all six of his extra points Friday.
The other side of the coin was frustration for Wheeling Park, who multiple times in the first half found themselves marching their defense back onto the field after just having forced a fourth down.
"Early on, we were our own worst enemy," Wheeling Park head coach Chris Daugherty said. "You know, it looked like we’d get them off the field, and we'd do something to put them back on the field. We'd get another stop, and then put them back on the field.
"We’re just not good enough to make those types of mistakes and keep giving the ball back to people. And credit to St. Clairsville. They did a lot of good things tonight. I expected nothing but that. They were backed up in a corner, and their kids were ready to play. They were well-coached."
St. Clairsville made their extra opportunities count, putting the pedal to the metal while Wheeling Park struggled to get out of the box. Hunter Orum started the game's scoring with a 10-yard touchdown run with seven minutes to play in the first quarter, and following a Wheeling Park turnover on downs on a mistimed fourth-down snap, Dalton Neff caught a 17-yard touchdown over the middle with 2:30 in the opening frame to put St. C. ahead 14-0.
In the second quarter, Jaxon Starks ripped off the Red Devils' biggest play of the night, a 47-yard touchdown reception on a screen pass that Starks took to the house, and Ian McLean punched in a two-yard touchdown with just under three minutes to play before the half.
Orum, Elijah Hill and Brody Moe each scored short rushing touchdowns in the second half as four different Red Devils scored on the ground Friday.
"I think our kids are, they complement each other and they don’t care who scores," McLean said. "We all get credit for that. I think they just complemented each other well. Coach [Eric] Gay did an excellent job balancing the offense. Our offensive line performed really well. Coach [Kevin] Sacco does an outstanding job with them. I thought our coaches were dialed in, thought our kids were dialed in, and that’s the 'together' philosophy that we got to live by."
Sophomore quarterback Brody Clifford turned in a strong performance for St. C., completing 10 of 15 passes for 160 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Both he and Wheeling Park quarterback Jay Bordas threw interceptions on back-to-back drives late in the second quarter. St. Clairsville's Jackson Mercer came down with the pick for St. C., just for Wheeling Park's Maddox Richards to come down with a takeaway on the following possession.
Wheeling Park got on the board in the third quarter, Bordas throwing a 38-yard touchdown to Liam Wetzel, who had a good day Friday, hauling in five passes for 101 yards and Park's lone score.
Jaxon Starks was St. C.'s leading receiver with 62 yards and a touchdown; Ian McLean had 60 receiving yards of his own.
"I thought we played well in all three phases," Coach McLean said. "We had some special teams plays that were huge. It created turnovers. We answered by getting in the end zone, and then our defense answered by getting stops. When we got ahead they didn’t let them get a little life to them and bring them back into it. We kept the momentum pretty much in our corner, and that’s what you got to do to win."
"We’ve got to find where we were two, three weeks ago because we weren’t a bad football team," Daugherty said. "Right now, we’ve got to get back to taking care of the little things and making sure those things are done and, and let the big things come."
St. Clairsville (1-5) remains home for their next game against Bellaire on Oct. 2. Wheeling Park (2-3) returns home to face Morgantown the same day.
St. Clairsville 49, Wheeling Park 7
St. Clairsville 14 14 14 7 - 49
Wheeling Pk 0 0 0 7 - 7
SC-Orum 10 run (Parsons kick)
SC-Neff 17 pass from Clifford (Parsons kick)
SC-Starks 47 pass from Clifford (Parsons kick)
SC-McLean 2 run (Parsons kick)
SC-Orum 1 run (Parsons kick)
SC-Hill 4 run (Parsons kick)
WP-Wetzel 38 pass from Bordas (Tipton kick)
SC-Moe 6 run (kick)
RUSHING: St. Clairsville 30-147-5td (Orum 9-45-2tds; Clifford 7-15; McLean 4-10-td; Hill 4-22-td; Moe 3-22-td; Sickler 2-1; Mercer 1-32). Wheeling Park 21-50 (Miller 12-32; Bordas 6-(-10); Burton-Jackson 2-13; Taylor 1-15).
PASSING: St. Clairsville 10-15-160-2tds-int (all by Clifford). Wheeling Park 9-17-136-td-int (all by Bordas).
RECEIVING: St. Clairsville 10-160-2tds (McLean 5-60; Starks 2-62-td; Neff 1-17-td; Mercer 1-13; Orum 1-9). Wheeling Park 9-136-td (Wetzel 5-101-td; Wilson 2-23; Justice 1-5; Heatherington 1-7).
FIRST DOWNS: St. Clairsville 19, Wheeling Park 10
FUMBLES-LOST: St. Clairsville 1-0, Wheeling Park 3-2
PENALTIES-YARDS: St. Clairsville 4-40, Wheeling Park 3-15