Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth
WAVERLY — If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
Wheelersburg held true to that statement Friday evening.
Desperately in search of a signature win, the Pirates relied heavily on their run game in a conference matchup with Waverly, rushing for 321 yards as a team on the evening.
All six of Wheelersburg’s touchdowns came on the ground — four to the name of quarterback Braylon Rucker — as the Pirates fought their way to a 42-12 win against the Tigers, keeping their perfect SOC II campaign intact.
“The game plan was to come in here and play the physical kind of football that we’ve been playing since the beginning of the year. We’ve had a gauntlet of a schedule and we’ve been battling through that,” Pirates head coach Rob Woodward said. “Braylon Rucker did a great job managing the game. He made some nice short passes when we rolled him out at different times. And then using his feet and being able to hit those holes when we needed him to … He made some plays tonight.
CREDIT: Renee Nemeth/SOSA
Waverly started the night with possession and quickly marched down the field. The Tigers advanced all the way to Wheelersburg’s 25-yard line, but a holding penalty pushed them back. The Pirates’ defense then forced a turnover on downs, setting up its offense at its own 35.
From there, the Pirates (4-4, 4-0 SOC II) went on the first of many methodical drives on the evening. Pounding the rock, ‘Burg made it to the two-yard line before Braylon Rucker called his own number to put his team up 7-0 — an advantage that stood until the second quarter.
Despite the early blow, things still looked promising for Waverly (5-3, 3-2 SOC II) late in the first half.
The Tigers’ defense stopped Wheelersburg in its tracks after a fourth down sack via Hunter Hauck. Setting up shop at its own 37, Waverly’s offense returned the favor. Mason Kelly found Mason Pollard over the middle for a 29-yard gain, and back-to-back carries from Sabastian Billasano put the Tigers at the five-yard line.
Kelly and Pollard connected from that spot to finish the drive with a score. However, a missed PAT kept a 7-6 lead for the Pirates intact with 10:38 left.
Still, Waverly had momentum and wanted to keep it on its side. To do this, the Tigers attempted an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, and recovered it to keep possession.
Looking to continue to create momentum, Waverly moved the ball into the red zone once more. However, the Tigers let the opportunity to take a lead slip right out of their hands, fumbling the ball away to ‘Burg at the 12-yard line with 7:38 left.
After such a costly mistake, Wheelersburg made sure it took advantage.
The Pirates went on to kill over six minutes of game time on the ensuing drive, once again staying true to their ground game. After his team worked its way to Waverly’s 11-yard line, Rucker did it himself for a second time, finding the end zone to extend the lead to 14-6 going into the break.
“That’s a case of recognizing what your role is, and how you orchestrate that from a quarterback’s perspective. If you could have given a touchdown to every offensive lineman down there, you would have because they created those big gaps,” Woodward said. “[Rucker] has set those opportunities up for his teammates to run with his fakes, and that sets him up with his ability to get some of those big runs, as well.”
“We knew we were the bigger, stronger team. The game plan was to come in and run the ball, so we weren’t expecting much in the air,” Rucker added. “The offensive line did a great job at making holes. They practiced that all week.”
Looking for a spark, Waverly again attempted an onside kick coming out of the break. This time, however, Wheelersburg came prepared.
Ison Emnett recovered the kick and returned it into enemy territory, setting the Pirates up at the 31. From there, ‘Burg once again turned to its beloved running attack, setting up Elijah Brown to take it in from three yards out at the 8:47 mark, making it a 21-6 ball game.
It was all Pirates from that point on.
After Waverly’s next drive resulted in a punt, the Pirates again went on a long, methodical, run-heavy drive. The 82-yard drive was capped with Rucker’s third rushing score of the evening, pushing his way in from the two-yard line to make it a 28-6 advantage with 2:53 left in the third.
Though Waverly showed signs of life in the fourth, by way of a Mason Kelly 12-yard rushing touchdown, the Tigers still had no answer to Wheelersburg’s ground game. With five minutes left, Ison Emnett found pay dirt from five yards out to extend the lead to 35-12.
Then, Wheelersburg’s Xavier Miller picked off a pass in Waverly territory on the following drive. Not wanting to give an inch, the Pirates continued to punch the ball down Waverly’s throat on the ground.
Rucker again found his way into the end zone as the signal caller got his fourth touchdown of the night with a 13-yard scramble, capping off a 42-12 victory for the Pirates to keep them unbeaten against SOC II competition.
“We’ve had a physical football schedule throughout this entire year. We’ve had to work and try to stay physical against some of our opponents, and we weren’t at the level we needed to be at to beat some of those teams,” Woodward said. “But it continued to harden us and work us, and our guys have never quit. They’ve continued to fight. Hats off to Waverly, they were running the football against us. We wanted to make sure they didn’t get the ball downfield against us, and I thought we were able to negate that.”
With two weeks left in the regular season, both teams look to make their final pushes towards the postseason. Waverly will try to rebound with a trip to Northwest in Week 9. Meanwhile, Wheelersburg looks to take care of Minford at Ed Miller Stadium, which would clinch at least a share of an SOC II title.
“One week at a time. It’s another SOC game that we’re going to be focused on doing the things we need to do to try and make ourselves better,” Woodward said. “We’ll control what we can control and go from there.”
“We set our goals at the beginning of the year. Our number one team goal is always to win the SOC,” Wheelersburg’s Landon Evans said. “Anytime we play an SOC team, we have to show out and prepare as if we were playing the best team on our schedule. We know that they’re going to give us their best game and try to knock us off.”
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