ST. ALBANS -Just call them the road warriors.
Parkersburg High School ran its record to 3-2 here Friday night by scoring its third road win of the season, a 42-22 triumph over St. Albans in a Mountain State Athletic Conference contest at Crawford Field.
Senior running back Adam Lindamood rushed for 259 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries, the ninth highest single game rushing total in PHS history.
PHS, who entered the game without scoring a single point in the first quarter all season, continued that streak of futility as Parkersburg failed to score on either of its first two possessions.
St. Albans, meanwhile, drew first blood in its Homecoming game when Red Dragons running back Drew Kirby scored from 1 yard out with 2:32 left in the opening stanza to take a 6-0 lead. The score was set up by an 83-yard pass from Noah Reed to Dakota Kelly, who was run down inside the 5 by Big Red Dan Fox.
That score by the Red Dragons -who entered the game with a 0-4 record -seemed to give PHS a sense of urgency. Following St. Albans score, Chandler Hamilton returned the ensuing kickoff to the Big Reds 42. Although the first quarter clock expired before the Big Reds could complete the drive, that happened just three plays into the second quarter when Hamilton scored from 4 yards out to tie the contest and reliable kicker Codey Roney put Parkersburg in front, 7-6.
It looked like that might well be the halftime score but a 39-yard pass from Parkersburg quarterback Aaron Roberts to Quante Johnson, a recent transfer that played a big role during the contest, including an earlier interception that gave PHS the ball in St. Albans territory. Johnson's catch set up a 16-yard TD run by Lindamood with 2:57 left in the half that gave PHS the 14-6 lead it would enjoy at intermission.
Any thoughts St. Albans might have enjoyed of turning this into a happy Homecoming quickly were dashed in the second half. After PHS returned the opening kick to its 28, Adam Lindamood broke over the middle for a 72-yard touchdown run that gave Parkersburg a 21-6 lead just 19 seconds into the second half.
But the Red Dragons didn't fold. Instead, they needed just three minutes to score on a touchdown run by Kirby as well as a two-point conversion pass cut Parkersburg's lead to 21-14.
Then came an incredible opportunity for SA as they recovered a PHS fumble and returned it into PHS territory. That's when Adam Adam Lindamood began dominating the game. First, he sacked the St. Albans quarterback twice, forcing the Red Dragons to punt. Then, on the first play from scrimmage, he broke a 97-yard TD run with 2:21 left in the third quarter to give PHS a 28-14 lead.
Once again, St. Albans refused to fold, going on a TD march of its own as well as a two-point conversion with 9:22 to go to cut the margin to 28-22.
But Parkersburg, thanks to a failed onside kick by St. Albans, got the ball in good field position and Roberts scored from a yard out for a 35-22 lead with just over seven minutes to play. The Big Reds weren't done as Lindamood scored on the next possession for a 20-point final margin.
