Walkquem Cox Scores All Five TDs As Ferry Blanks Bellaire 35-0
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MARTINS FERRY - The Walkquem Cox show took center stage Friday night at Purple Rider Stadium inside the Dave Bruney Football Complex.
Martins Ferry's junior tailback carried the ball 28 times for 287 yards, scoring touchdowns on runs of 37, 24, 35 and 18 as the No. 7 Purple Riders (10-1) posted a 35-0 shellacking of No. 10 Bellaire (6-5) in an Ohio Division V, Region 17 first-round playoff game.
In the process, the 5-11, 205-pounder eclipsed the 2,000-yard barrier for the season, joining Chad Brinker and Jeremy Murray as the only Purple Riders to achieve that milestone. He now has run for 2,154 and 32 TDs this season.
"My offensive line is the best in the nation. I'll put that on anything," Cox said of his blockers. "They work so hard and are hard-nosed. They come in and work hard every day in the weight room. Coach (Jim) Hoover, Coach (Curt) Secrist and Coach (Bryan) Mays all do a great job.
"We came out and played Martins Ferry football and that means run the ball."
The Purple Riders amassed 350 yards on 46 carries behind the play of senior center Elijah Zinn; senior RJ Welshans and junior Clayton Snyder at the guards; seniors Malachi Giles and Alex Carpino at the tackles and senior tight end Jacob Theaker, along with blocking backs freshman Aidric Mitchell; junior Jacob Ball and senior Gunner Disher.
Martins Ferry head coach Justin Kropka was all smiles when talking about his offensive line.
"Those guys are so selfless. They do all the dirty work to say and hardly ever get recognized for it. I'm so proud of the job they did tonight."
In addition to his outstanding offensive performance, Bellaire bobbled the snap on its first play from scrimmage and Cox was there to grab it out of mid-air and streak 50 yards. His two-point run made it 15-0 with less than five minutes off the clock.
"They bobbled the ball and I grabbed and took off running," Cox said of his defensive score, the fourth by the Purple Riders defense in the last two weeks. "We grabbed the momentum early and never let up."
Kropka was very proud of his team, both offensively and defensively.
"It was one of those nights where everything seemed to go our way," he said. "That first drive was very important after last week. We wanted to keep the momentum going and we drove down and scored. Then, obviously, the play of the game on defense was incredible."
As well as the Purple Riders played on offense, they were equally as effective, if not more, defensively. The Big Reds managed a mere 71 yards - 37 rushing and 31 passing - on 32 offensive snaps.
"I don’t know what to say. They whipped us and that's what football is all about," Bellaire head coach Mark Bonar said.
Kropka raved about his defense.
"Our defense was incredible and that has to go to the players," the coach allowed. "I'd like to say that we (coaches) had some great schemes, but it's all on the players. Coach Mays has been with me forever, does a fantastic job and the kids played a lot better than we did last week. We were just out of sync last week, but there were also a lot more distractions last week than this week.
"We're pretty good when we play defense like we did tonight."
Beating your rival is always tough, but to do it in back-to-back weeks is incredible.
"We've been playing football here at Martins Ferry for 120 years and this is only the second team to beat Bellaire twice in the same season," Kropka added. "The other time was in 2004 and I've been fortunate enough to be on both of those teams."
When asked about Walkquem Cox's performance, Kropka just smiled.
"What can I say? I knew when Walkquem was in the fifth grade he was going to be pretty special. He was my son (Colby's) best friend and he was always at our house. He has turned out to be everything I thought he would be."
With the victory, Martins Ferry will travel to No. 2 Barnesville (10-0) next Friday at Shamrock Stadium. The Shamrocks won a thriller, 25-21, earlier this season, stopping the Purple Riders twice inside their own 5 late in the game.
Martins Ferry 35, Bellaire 0
Bellaire 0 0 0 0 - 0
Ferry 15 13 7 0 - 35
MF-W. Cox 37 run (Theaker kick)
MF-W. Cox 50 fumble return (W. Cox run)
MF-W. Cox 24 run (Theaker kick)
MF-W. Cox 35 run (run failed)
MF-W. Cox 18 run (Theaker kick)
RUSHING: Bellaire 21-37 (Dowery 12-56, Hibbitts 1-6, Stemkowski 1-3, Masciarelli 2-2, Dippel 5-(-30). Martins Ferry 46-350-4tds (W. Cox 28-287-4tds, J. Cox 1-31, Whetstone 6-21, Johnson 8-19, Kropka 2-2)
PASSING: Bellaire 2-11-34 (all by Dippel). Martins Ferry 2-4-14 (all by Kropka)
RECEIVING: Bellaire 2-34 (Gonglik 1-22, Padgett 1-12). Martins Ferry 2-14 (J. Cox 1-7, Disher 1-7)
FIRST DOWNS: Bellaire 3. Martins Ferry 11
FUMBLES: Bellaire 2-1. Martins Ferry 2-1
PENALTIES: Bellaire 9-92. Martins Ferry 3-15