PM Overwhelms Page, 31-14

Ball Control Offense, Strong Defense Propel Blues

Except for a few concerning blemishes on the stat line, Parry McCluer played a near perfect football game last Friday night.

For a half, the Blues looked dominant, and the defense was stout throughout. That allowed PM to overcome a second half marred with penalties and fumbles to score a 31-14 victory over Page County in Shenandoah.

“Our game scheme worked well,” said PM head coach Jeremiah Brockenbrough, noting the week of delayed practices because of the heat and having to play Friday’s game without a game clock, which was out due to a storm just before game time. “We just have to clean up some of the penalties we had Friday night; in big ball games, that’s going to cost you. I’m not disappointed in any way. I thought our kids played hard after so much uncertainty all week long.”

Possessions were limited in the contest between two ballcontrol teams, but the PM offense clicked on all cylinders as the Blues scored all three times they had the ball in the first half.

After taking the opening kickoff, a squib kick that went out of bounds, the Blues set up shop at midfield. Eleven plays later, Parry McCluer had the first score of the game. Thomas Conner did the honors from a yard away, and when he ran in the two-point conversion, the Blues had an 8-0 lead.

The host Panthers countered with a drive of their own, moving all the way to the PM 45yard line. But that drive stalled after a holding penalty and two straight fumbles, and after the ensuing punt, the Blues started their next scoring drive at their own 17-yard line.

It turned out to be the best drive of the young season, though the Blues did have to overcome a holding penalty and unsportsmanlike conduct violation along the way. PM turned that holding call into a first down when Parker Snider sprinted for 15 yards and a first down at the 50-yard line. Brody Coleman ran the Blues to the Page Couty nine when the 15-yard penalty was incurred. But three plays later, quarterback Quentin Rosser found Michael Fleming behind the Page County defense for an 18-yard TD pass on fourth-and-15, the second fourth-down conversion of the march for the Blues and the first career touchdown pass for the PM quarterback. Conner once again ran in the two-point try, and the Blues upped their lead to 16-0.

The third scoring drive was not nearly as long, but just as dramatic. After the PM defense forced a three-and-out, the Blues began at the Page County 43. It took just one play to find the end zone again. Snider took a toss to the right side, and when he found nothing there, he reversed field for an open lane to the end zone. Conner’s 2-point run gave Parry McCluer the 24-0 halftime lead. “When we got the ball to start the game, I felt like we had to wear them down,” Brockenbrough said. “I think we’re doing what we’re supposed to up front. We changed up a few things in our blocking scheme at game time and stayed between the tackles.”

Parker once again led the Blues in rushing, finishing the game with 117 yards on 18 carries, while Coleman chipped in with 71 yards on 13 tries. Rosser completed two of four passes for 38 yards and the touchdown. As a team, the Blues piled up 254 yards rushing.

Meanwhile, though Page County did mount a couple of long drives in the game, the Blues all but shut down the Panther run-heavy offense. The Panthers ran the ball 41 times in the contest for only 110 yards, an average of just 2.7 yards per attempt, and at the same time the Parry McCluer defense held Page to a mere 3-for-11 on third down attempts.

“I thought [the defense] played well,” noted Brockenbrough. “We knew we could bend but we couldn’t break. They can push the ball around. We just couldn’t give up a big play, and we didn’t do that.”

The opening drive of the third quarter was a good example of bend-but-don’tbreak for the PM defense. The Panthers ran the first 16 plays of the second half, driving all the way to the Parry Mc-Cluer 8-yard line. They got no further, however, as the Blues recorded tackles for loss on the last two plays of the march.

Parry McCluer gave the ball right back with a fumble, which followed a holding penalty, one of 10 violations in the game for the Blues, but once again the defense came up big. This time, Rosser intercepted a pass at the 4-yard line to end that threat.

Page County finally found the scoreboard midway through the second half with a 24-yard run, but that was it for the Panther offense. The other score came on an 80-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter.

By then it was too little, too late, however, as the Blues put the game away by answering Page County’s first score. Thank to Conner’s 19-yard run, the Blues kept the ensuing drive alive on fourth-and-two at the Page County 30. Three plays later Coleman scored from the eight, and when Snider booted the extra-point kick, the Blues upped their lead to 31-6.

“That is what we’ve been trying to install for the last four years,” Brockenbrough said. “Somebody is going to break something; somebody is going to score, but we’ve got to get back to what we do and let that go. In the last three years, if somebody did that to us, we’d go three and out and be fighting for our lives. To get the ball back and go straight down the field, put together a three or four minute drive and put one in the house, that showed our character and our ability to stay calm and cool.”

After two straight road games to start the season, the Blues open a stretch of three straight home games when they entertain longtime rival James River this Friday night. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m., and Brockenbrough knows that the old rivalry is going to provide a real test.

“This week will be a different type of challenge; James River is a pretty good football team,” said the PM coach. “Playing James River at home is a big game, and it’s going to be no small task. We have to control the line of scrimmage, and our linebackers have to tattoo that fullback all night long.”