By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
Plain and simple Ritchie County put a "whuppin'" on Calhoun Friday night hot and humid at Mount Zion.
But the 55-21 scoreboard "whuppin'" was much worse than the on-field whipping where the Red Devils didn't do that bad. What happened instead was that virtually everything Ritchie did worked.
An example: On a Ritchie third-and-11 the Rebels' running back is hit at the line of scrimmage and coughs up the ball. It bounces around and not one or two but three Calhoun players touch it. It continues to bounce down the field. A Rebel recovers it. After 11 yards. For a first down.
Things like that happened all night for the Rebels. Some might call it luck but some luck is when preparedness meets opportunity. Ritchie had a combination of both.
The game was actually in the win column for Ritchie before the new was off the game.
The Rebels, 2-0, scored on its third play from scrimmage when Reno Jackson broke around the end and rambled 39 yards for the touchdown. It was the first of three touchdowns the senior speedster would score.
His score with 10:47 remaining in the first put the Red Devils in a hole.
Calhoun's first offensive play put it in an even bigger hole as Ritchie's Ryder Bolin stepped in front of a Red Devil pass attempt and scampered 55 yards with the interception. A second two-point conversion made it 16-0 for the Rebels.
Calhoun fought back and made a game of it when Nathan Cosgrove broke loose and scored on a 41-yard run at the 3:51 mark.
But that was the highwater mark for the Red Devils, 1-1.
After that Darrenger Goff scored on a five-yard run. It was the first of his three touchdowns making it 22-7 at the end of the first period.
Ritchie tacked on three more touchdowns in the second quarter for a big 42-7 halftime lead and two more third quarter touchdowns made it 55-7 before the Rebels called off the dogs.
Calhoun, which never quit during the game, managed a late comeback and scored twice in the final period - once on a two-yard run by Logan Moore and once on a 22-yard pass from Moore to Cosgrove.
Cosgrove led the Calhoun ground attack with 143 yards on 17 carries while Moore had 56 yards. Cory Metz added 44 despite limited rushing attempts after getting knicked up early in the game. Lucas Wilson had 15 yards on five attempts.
Cosgrove caught three passes for 36 yards while Austin Satterfield had one reception for 15.
Calhoun had 11 first downs while Ritchie had 22.
The Red Devils return to action next Friday night with a game at Doddridge County.
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