BECKLEY -Parkersburg High saw its playoff chances dwindle here Friday night as the Big Reds fell to Woodrow Wilson, 30-22, in a hard-fought Mountain State Athletic Conference game that went to the wire.
Adam Lindamood scored all three Big Reds touchdowns on runs of 1, 1 and 28 yards. He finished the game with 166 yards on 30 carries, but even that effort wasn't enough to overcome the speed of the Flying Eagles.
Beckley's Ramon Edwards accounted for 170 rushing yards on just 11 carries including a back-breaking 80 yard TD run early in the second half that gave the Eagles a 14-7 lead.
That was the first of three Woodrow Wilson (5-3) scores in the fateful third quarter as quarterback Andrew Johnson and Cole Williams also rushed for TDs. By the time the quarter was over, the Flying Eagles led, 30-14.
But Parkersburg (4-4) didn't give up. Lindamood's 28-yard TD run with 9:34 left and quarterback Aaron Roberts' pass to Dan Fox for the two-point conversion cut the deficit to 30-22. But try as they might, the Big Reds couldn't get another scoring drive going.
Thus, in order to make the playoffs, PHS will have to win its remaining two games -South Charleston at Stadium Field on Friday, Oct. 26, and at George Washington on Nov. 2. The Big Reds are off next week.
It didn't take Woodrow Wilson long -just two minutes and two seconds to be exact - to light up the home half of the scoreboard as Johnson took the snap from center and headed upfield. He didn't stop until 9 yards later for a Flying Eagles touchdown with 9:58 left in the first quarter. Rather than kick the extra point -Beckley was making just 50 percent of its kicks -coach John Lilly decided to go for two and Brent Osborne got into the end zone for an 8-0 lead.
One had to wonder if Beckley was going to be able to run at will on the PHS defense, but little did anyone know at the time that would be the Flying Eagles' only TD of the first half.
Meanwhile, Parkersburg did some moving of the ball of its own. On its first drive, PHS got all the way to the Woodrow 35 before a fourth-down pass by quarterback Aaron Roberts fell incomplete.
With the Big Red defense able to turn Beckley away at the PHS 10, Parkersburg then went on a long march of its own, with the big play on the drive a 37-yard TD pass from Roberts to Kwame Johnson.
Johnson is playing a major role in the receiving corps now that senior Matt Santer, who has fought a pair of separated shoulders, has been declared out for the season. The pass, plus a 12-yard run by Chandler Hamilton, got PHS to within striking distance and Lindamood scored from 1 yard out with 9:09 left in the first half to cut the deficit to 8-6. Rather than go for two, the PHS coaching staff elected to go with reliable kicker Cody Roney, who drilled the extra point.
That was the last point of the half. Beckley got the ball to the PHS 4 with less than one second remaining before intermission, but the Flying Eagles were unable to complete a pass and the half ended with the home team clinging to an 8-7 lead.
