West sophomore running back Anthony Bishop (18) rushed for 260 yards and four touchdowns on a massive 39 carries, as his game-winning 24-yard touchdown run lifted the host Senators to a 35-28 victory over Waverly.

Courtesy of Joey Shupert

WEST PORTSMOUTH — Simply put on Friday night, Waverly was unable to stop West’s running avalanche, while West wasn’t able to exactly slow down the visiting Tigers’ air raid.

But, in a contest contrast in styles, something had to eventually — and finally — give, and it indeed did on the game’s final play.

With West cliffhanging to a touchdown lead, the Tigers miraculously found themselves at the Senator 3-yard-line —with a precarious beyond words .1 seconds on the game clock remaining.

Two of the Tigers’ three senior “Masons” —quarterback Mason Kelly to wideout Mason Sparks —incredibly connected on a Hail Mary pass of sorts, for 42 yards to right near the goal line.

Waverly went for the touchdown of course on the final snap, but rather than Kelly roll and complete a pass for a potential tie or Tiger win, the Tigers’ Kage Alexander attempted a halfback pass on the rollout.

Alexander aimed and fired into the end zone, but his pass fell incomplete —and the Senators somehow, and someway, held on for a thrilling 35-28 Southern Ohio Conference Division II victory at The Rock.

Todd Gilliland has been the West head football coach for four years now, and guided the Senators to back-to-back seasons of at least eight wins —including 11 in 2022 and the outright SOC II championship.

He has been involved in the Senator program for seven seasons total.

But, he said Friday night’s comeback battle — of which West trailed 21-14 and 28-21 — ranks right up there with some of the top triumphs he has experienced on the West side.

“That was a great win for our program and our team. We’ve had some big wins since I’ve been here, but that’s close up there as one of those top few. Just the way our kids battled. Waverly was 3-1 and had beaten some pretty good teams. It was just a night in which we had to just claw, fight and scratch,” said Gilliland. “We could drive the ball eight minutes and put one in the end zone, then they would have the ball what seemed like only 30 seconds and scored. We were just in a fight the entire night.”

Until the very end, and on the final Tiger possession.

The five-play series started at the Waverly 43, as an incomplete pass with good West coverage preceded second down —in which Kelly’s deep pass was almost intercepted at the Senator 17.

From there, Kelly completed a pass to fellow senior Mason Pollard for a dozen yards, as Kelly’s downfield desperation heave somehow found Sparks’ hands at the West three.

But the fact that .1 seconds still showed made the entire Rock faithful nervous, as a general consensus thought Kelly would look to throw —and not any other Tiger

On the game’s second snap, the Tigers showed that halfback pass look with Alexander, but he ran it instead —and the Senators surrounded him for a one-yard loss near midfield.

On the final play, and out of a timeout to boot, Alexander rolled right, looked ahead, pump faked — and his pass which was somewhat back across his body ended up incomplete.

West’s Braden Adkins (11) and Brody Hall (12) celebrate following the Senators’ opening touchdown in West’s 35-28 Southern Ohio Conference Division II football victory over visiting Waverly on Friday night.

Courtesy of Joey Shupert

The Senators stormed the field in celebration, but the end result brought relief to Gilliland.

“We actually expected something like that. We were kind of ready for it. Not exactly what play, but we were expecting some type of rollout. That kind of turned into the type of play it was. We kind of got a guy in his (Alexander) face, which made his throw not just easy,” said the coach. “You never know with their skilled guys. The ball goes in the air and they make a play, just like they did on the play before to get down there. But it was a huge play and a huge situation for us.”

Waverly veteran coach Chris Crabtree commented on the decision to try the halfback pass — for the potential tie and win.

Had that play resulted in a touchdown, Crabtree said his Tigers were going for the two-point conversion —and the road ‘W’.

“We have a couple of plays we like to run in certain situations, and our thought was that play was going to be there. Unfortunately, they got a little bit of pressure early. We had a couple of different options on that, and I think both of them were probably open. Kage (Alexander) is a first-year player, and we put him in a situation,” said Crabtree. “I thought he performed as well as he could and he did what he needed to do, and I think at one point he might have been able to run the ball in. It’s one of those things where we had the opportunities, but we just didn’t get it done.”

Who has gotten it done in the past three weeks you ask?

The Senators.

With the win, which was now the Division VI program’s third consecutive, West raised its record to 3-2 — with all three over clubs of Division IV or higher, and all three within a touchdown or less.

The Tigers are Division IV, while Hillsboro (27-21) and Chillicothe (18-17) from the Frontier Athletic Conference are Division III.

As a result, the Senators have vaulted to the fourth-place spot — in Tuesday’s latest release of the weekly Ohio High School Athletic Association football computer ratings for Division VI and Region 24.

West was outscored 75-7 in its opening two weeks —to Ohio Valley Conference leaders Fairland (34-0) and Portsmouth (41-7).

The outcome also marked West’s third win in a row over Waverly, as the Senators opened SOC II play —while the Tigers fell to 3-2 and 1-1 in the division.

“We started this season 0-2 and just struggled. We were at a point where the kids could have just taken it, and we could have struggled through the season and won a couple of games here and there. But these kids knew after those first two games, that’s not who we were or are,” said Gilliland. “We’re just getting better each week.”

In last season’s epic encounter at Raidiger Field in Waverly, Jeffery Bishop —brother of Senator sophomore standout running back Anthony Bishop — had one of the all-around greatest games in Senator history, and was the primary reason why West won 24-21.

On Friday night, the younger Bishop more than filled in admirably for an injured Mason Parker —who played linebacker on the game’s opening possession, as Waverly went three-and-out and punted for the game’s only punt.

Parker then carried on the first two Senator scrimmage plays —for 10 and eight yards — but never played again, appearing after halftime on the Senator sideline in street clothes and on crutches for a knee injury.

But Bishop picked up the slack and then some, as the run-oriented offensive Senators attempted just two first-half passes —with Brody Hall completing both for 29 yards.

West quarterback Brody Hall (12)

Courtesy of Joey Shupert

Bishop blew up for the final four Senator touchdowns —short runs of four, two and one yard, before his 24-yard burst broke the 28-28 tie with 38 seconds remaining.

Drew Dettwiller was a perfect 5-of-5 on extra-point kicks, as his last made it 35-28 —good enough for the first West lead, since its others at 7-0 and 14-7.

That drive spanned 70 yards in a dozen plays —devouring five minutes and 48 seconds off the fourth-quarter clock.

The first four Senator scoring marches lasted 13 plays and 96 yards and five-and-a-half minutes, eight plays and 75 yards in three-and-a-half minutes, 12 plays and 72 yards and five-and-a-half minutes, and 12 plays and 61 yards in 20 seconds shy of six full minutes.

Bishop bolted loose on the final West play —for 24 yards to paydirt.

That gave him a career-high in carries with a hefty 39, and a career-high in rushing yardage with a massive 260.

He had exactly 130 yards in each half —with 16 attempts in the opening half and 23 more in the second.

But Bishop wasn’t alone —as junior fullback Bo Wroten went for 77 yards on 14 totes, and sophomore Braden Adkins added 120 yards on 12 carries.

West sophomore Braden Adkins (11)

Courtesy of Joey Shupert

In total, that’s 475 rushing yards on 67 carries, as the Senators amassed 32 first downs to the Tigers’ 18.

Adkins ran in from 13 yards out to make it 7-0 with Dettwiller’s first extra point, as Bishop’s four-yard run and Dettwiller’s second PAT made it 14-7 —only two minutes and 43 seconds into the second stanza.

Bishop then twice tied the game with Dettwiller PATs —at 21-21 with 4:24 left in the third, and at 28-28 with eight-and-a-half minutes left to play.

“Our offensive line, that’s one of the best games they’ve played since I’ve been here. I’m willing to say we rushed for close to 500 yards,” said Gilliland. “Guys like Anthony Bishop stepped up and carried the load, and Braden Adkins stepped up and carried the load. That’s two sophomores carrying the football in a huge SOC game. Then Bo Wroten played well too. We didn’t punt. We stopped ourselves those two first-half drives, or otherwise we maybe aren’t in this situation going down to the final play.”

The Senators actually gave away two first-half scores — twice losing fumbles inside the red zone at the 12 and 17.

Waverly’s Pollard first scored two TDs on jet sweeps —from one and three yards for the 7-7 and 14-14 ties, given Hunter Hauck kicking the extra points.

A Kelly to Pollard post pass for a 28-yard scoring strike put the Tigers ahead —at 21-14 with a minute and 47 seconds left before halftime.

Almost a full quarter later, with 2:19 left in the third frame, Kelly connected with Pollard again —on almost the same deep post route, but once again into the end zone.

This was from 36 yards away, as the series lasted just two full minutes —and put the Tigers back in front 28-21.

Kelly completed 14-of-23 passes for 281 yards —with Pollard pulling in seven receptions for 171, and Sparks another six for an even 100.

Cade Carroll rushed for 76 yards on 13 carries.

“I thought offensively we played well enough to win this game, but we didn’t get the stops we needed to,” said Crabtree. “We went out there and those guys laid it on the line. The three ‘Masons’ (Mason Kelly, Mason Pollard and Mason Sparks) made plenty of plays, and even Cade Carroll had some nice runs for us. Like I said, offensively we played well enough to win, we just couldn’t stop their run. We couldn’t stop them on offense and they couldn’t stop us on offense. And honestly, we left some points out there.”

At two junctures in fact the Senators turned the Tigers over on downs —early in the third quarter and late in the fourth.

Waverly went for and successfully recovered an onside kick to open the second half, but gave it back to West following six plays —and driving as deep as the Senator 11.

With the 28-28 tie, Waverly moved eight plays between the 30s in two minutes and four seconds, but the Senators stuffed Kelly on the quarterback sneak at the West 30 —with six-and-a-half minutes left.

West senior defensive lineman Kade Woods (65) chases Waverly quarterback Mason Kelly (9) during Friday night’s Southern Ohio Conference Division II football game at West High School.

Courtesy of Joey Shupert

From there, West crafted its final scoring drive —and made the defensive play on the final halfback pass.

“That fourth-and-one where we got that stop on the quarterback, our guys just bowed their necks back and made a play. That stop was so big. But we kept saying all night to our defense to just give our offense one chance. Get a stop, give us one chance and make a play,” said Gilliland. “We had guys in positions at times, but their skilled dudes are just great ballplayers. The quarterback is great and their wide receivers are good. You can’t just focus on one of them.”

But all it took was for finally, at long last, something to give in West’s favor for Friday night.

“Just that toughness that we showed,” said Gilliland. “We just fought. I’m so proud of the way those guys played tonight.”

* * *

Waverly 7 14 7 0— 28

West 7 7 7 14 —35

West — Braden Adkins, 13-yard run (Drew Dettwiller kick), 4:47, 1st (7-0 West)

Wave — Mason Pollard, 1-yard run (Hunter Hauck kick), :58, 1st (7-7 tie)

West — Anthony Bishop, 4-yard run (Drew Dettwiller kick), 9:17, 2nd (14-7 West)

Wave — Mason Pollard, 3-yard run (Hunter Hauck kick), 8:15, 2nd (14-14 tie)

Wave — Mason Pollard, 28-yard pass from Mason Kelly (Hunter Hauck kick), 1:47, 2nd (21-14 Wave)

West — Anthony Bishop, 2-yard run (Drew Dettwiller kick), 4:24, 3rd (21-21 tie)

Wave — Mason Pollard, 36-yard pass from Mason Kelly (Hunter Hauck kick), 2:19, 3rd (28-21 Wave)

West — Anthony Bishop, 1-yard run (Drew Dettwiller kick), 8:31, 4th (28-28 tie)

West — Anthony Bishop, 24-yard run (Drew Dettwiller kick), :38, 4th (35-28 West)

Team Statistics

Wave West

First Downs 18 32

Scrimmage plays 51 69

Rushes-yards 28-116 67-475

Passing yards 281 29

Total yards 397 504

Cmp-Att-Int. 14-23-0 2-2-0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-2

Penalties-yards 7-39 6-25

Punts-Ave. 1-49 0-0

Individual Leaders

RUSHING — Waverly: Cade Carroll 13-76, Mason Kelly 7-32, Kage Alexander 2-7, Mason Pollard 2-4 2TD, Sabastian Billasano 2-0, Team 2-(-3); West: Anthony Bishop 39-260 4TD, Bo Wroten 14-77, Braden Adkins 12-120 TD, Mason Parker 2-18

PASSING — Waverly: Mason Kelly 14-22-0-281 2TD, Kage Alexander 0-1-0-0; West: Brody Hall 2-2-0-29

RECEIVING — Waverly: Mason Pollard 7-171 2TD, Mason Sparks 6-100, Sawyer Myers 1-10; West: Logan Wolfenbarker 1-19, Braden Adkins 1-10

Reach Paul Boggs by email at [email protected], or on X @paulboggssports © 2024 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved