Craig Snaps PM’s Four-Game Winning Streak
When the rains decided to shower down on New Castle last Friday night, Craig County decided to pour it on as well.
The homestanding Rockets unleashed fullback Noah Paxton and scored four touchdowns after intermission to blow open a close game and roll to a 45-13 victory over Parry McCluer in a showdown between the top two football teams in the Pioneer District.
“We got beat at our own game Friday night,” said PM head coach Jeremiah Brockenbrough. “They beat us up front; our guys lost composure and weren’t able to handle adversity very well.”
The Rockets (6-0 overall, 2-0 district), who employed the big play all night long, struck first with one of those long runs. After the Blues (6-2, 1-1) were forced to punt on the opening possession of the contest, Craig County’s Dreydin Smith raced 69 yards for the opening score. Later in the half, Paxton found the end zone from 12 yards out, and after the missed extra-point kick, Craig County had a 13-0 lead with 11:01 remaining in the second quarter.
After PM’s second drive ended on downs at the Craig County 23-yard line, the Blues finally cracked the scoreboard with another long drive. Quarterback Quentin Rosser completed two of his four passes during the march, including an 18-yard strike to fullback Thomas Conner on fourth-and-five to keep the drive alive. Parker Snider then bulled his way in from three yards out, and when Rosser booted the extrapoint, the Blues cut their deficit to 13-7.
“It easily could have been a [tie] game at half,” said the PM coach. “We didn’t do a good job of moving them around early on, and then we came out at half and gave up a big play.”
After intermission, it was all Craig County. Paxton raced 69 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the third quarter, and his successful two-point run pushed the Rocket lead to 21-7. He added another TD, a 20-yard sprint, and two-point try with 4:58 remaining in the period to up the Craig County advantage to 29-7.
Paxton was not done there, however. The senior added two more TDs in the fourth period, one from 56 yards and another from 39 for the final margin.
For the game, Paxton carried the ball on 24 of Craig County’s 36 plays. He finished the contest with 317 yards rushing and five scores. As a team, the Rockets ground out 425 rushing yards and did not attempt a pass.
“We stopped the fancy stuff,” Brockenbrough said of defending Craig County’s single-wing offense, “but we couldn’t stop up the gut.”
Meanwhile, the Blues could muster little offense, particularly after halftime. PM did score again when Snider tallied a 13-yard TD run, but that was about it for the Blues. In the final two quarters, PM mustered only 44 yards of total offense and were whistled for seven penalties for 55 yards.
“Their front five gave us a really hard time,” Brockenbrough said. “They shut down the middle. We should have been able to get the edge, but we weren’t getting the blocking we had been getting in weeks past.”
Snider enjoyed a good night on both sides of the football, rushing for 102 yards and two TDs on 19 carries to go along with 16 total tackles. Outside of that, however, the Blues could not get much going. Leading rusher Brody Coleman was held to just 13 yards on 12 carries, and PM managed only 163 yards as a team as Rosser completed 4-of-10 passes for 56 yards.
“I think it was a good thing for us Friday night,” Brockenbrough explained. “We bounced back really well after we lost to James River. I think this is one of those things we will benefit from. We have to move forward and think about Bath County. We didn’t play our best game, and we have to get back to the drawing board first thing Monday.”
The Blues get this Friday night off for the bye week. PM will return to action next Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. at Bath County (4-3, 1-0).
“We’re going to have a good week of practice,” said Brockenbrough. “We going to build them up and get it set back.”
PM 0 7 6 0 13 CC 7 6 16 16 45 First Quarter CC – D. Smith 69 run (kick good) Second Quarter CC – Paxton 12 run (kick failed) PM – Snider 3 run (Rosser kick) Third Quarter CC – Paxton 69 run (Paxton run) CC – Paxton 20 run (Paxton run) PM – Snider 13 run (run failed) Fourth Quarter CC – Paxton 56 run (D. Smith run) CC – Paxton 39 run (Paxton run) PM CC
Rushes-yards 38-109 35-425 Passing yards 54 0 Comp-Att-Int 5-11-0 None
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – PM, Snider 19-102, Coleman 12-13, Conner 2-3, Rosser 5-(-9). CC, Paxton 24-317, D. Smith 6-106, B. Smith 4-8, Team 1-(-6).
PASSING – PM, Rosser 4-10-0 56, Smals 1-1-0 (-2). CC, none.
RECEIVING –PM, Coleman 2-38, Snider 2-(-2), Conner 1-18. CC, none.
