Glenhayes, W.V. — #2 Tug Valley ( 3-1 ) hung on for a 48-45 victory over #9 Tolsia ( 2-2 ) in an old-fashion shootout on Friday night at Wilts Salmons Athletic Complex.
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Tug Valley jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead on a Preston May 6 yard touchdown run and a May 45 yard touchdown pass to Bryson Richardson on fourth down. Rilee White added both PAT’s. Elijah Ekers puts the Rebels on the scoreboard with a 9-yard touchdown run.
On the first play of the second quarter Tolsia cut the lead in half on a 9-yard touchdown run from Elijah Ekers and a Jase Walker extra point.
The Panthers scored three the next three touchdowns to go up 35-7 with just under four minutes left in the first half courtesy of a Richardson fumble recovery TD, a May touchdown pass to Jarren Holyfield and a touchdown strike from May to Cameron Slone.
Robert Evans raced in from 37 yards out and then found Ekers for the two-point conversion to make it 35-15 with 2:01 left in the half.
Right before halftime Greyson Golden picked off a pass in the end zone to keep the Panthers from adding to their lead.
#5 Robert Evans rolls out to his right before tucking it and running for a first down.
Early in the third quarter Evans bullied his way in for a two yard touchdown and then added the two point conversion to cut the Tug Valley lead to 35-23.
Chase Thompson fumble recovery
Tug Valley added to the lead with a Braxton Jones 4-yard TD and a White PAT to make it 42-23.
Evans connected with Bradyn Weaver for a beautiful 31-yard touchdown and Evans also added the two-point conversion to make it 42-31 with :34 seconds left in the third quarter.
After forcing a Tug Valley punt Evans connected with Golden on a short pass and he turned it into a nifty 45 yard TD and cut the lead to 42-37 with just over ten minutes left in the ballgame.
May extended the Panther lead on a 18-yard TD run and it was 48-37 with 7:04 left.
#87 Braylen Conn congratulates #12 Greyson Golden after his touchdown vs Tug Valley.
Just a couple minutes later it was Evans to Golden on a 45 yard catch and run TD and then Evans found Braylen Conn who wrestled the football away from a Panther defender for the two-point conversion and it was 48-45 with 5:10 left in the game.
Tug Valley possessed the ensuing kickoff and picked up several first downs and eventually ran out the clock to secure the victory.
Robert Evans finished 11 of 23 for 256 yards passing and 105 yards rushing.
Greyson Golden caught 5 passes for 135 yards, Bradyn Weaver 4 catches for 89 yards, Chase Thompson 1 for 24 yards and Braylen Conn 1 for 8 yards.
Tolsia holds a 15-13 advantage in the overall series between the bitter rivals.
The Rebels will travel to #3 Sherman ( 3-1 ) next Friday night.
Tug Valley ( 3-1 ) will host River View ( 1-2 ) next Friday night.
Tolsia Head Coach Matt Stanley
COACH’S COMMENTS
“… We just have to get off to a better start. Same thing happened here two weeks ago. We start slow and get behind and we can’t keep doing that and expect to be successful. We were down 22-0 two weeks ago, down 14-0 and then 35-7 tonight. Something we have to get changed and in a hurry.”
“… With that being said I’m so proud of our group of players, coaches and fans. These players are going to fight until the very end, we just have to start playing from the opening kickoff.”
“… Cameron Slone and Preston May are tough as they come and everybody knows that. They made play after play tonight. But we have two players that went stride for stride with them all night, Robert Evans is the best football player that I know. On defense he is all over the field, on offense we are in trouble without him. And if you could take any player home with you it would be Greyson Golden who is an excellent player but an even better person. Both guys were outstanding tonight.”
