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By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
The final score - Wirt 67, Calhoun 18 - pretty well tells it all.
But in the search for the rest of the story, and the details, a closer look at Friday night's home finale for the 1-8 Red Devils may be needed.
Wirt is 8-1 and the No. 4 ranked Class A team in the state and the Tigers played like it in the first half as they scored 48 unanswered points before allowing the Red Devils to get on the board right before intermission.
Before Cory Metz caught a 57-yard scoring pass from Logan Moore to give Calhoun its first points of the night Wirt already had three touchdowns from John Nemeth, two from Aaron Orr and one each from Dalton Brindo and Nickolas Alt.
Nemeth was the Red Devils' main nemesis in the first half as he caught three touchdown passes from Taylor Campbell, scoring from 61, 45 and 27 yards.
He also came just a yard short of adding one more when he was stopped at the one on a 20 yard pitch and catch with Campbell. Overall, the 6-1 senior had four receptions for 163 yards and the aforementioned three scores ⦠all in the first half as the Tigers did not play their starters after intermission.
Orr was the beneficiary of Nemeth's near touchdown on the 20-yard reception as his one-yard run gave the Tigers a 28-0 first quarter lead.
Orr then scored on a four yard run midway through the second quarter to put Wirt up 35-0.
Brindo, the Tigers' all-state back who was actually held in check by the Calhoun defense, had Wirt's next touchdown on a four yard run but a botched extra point - seemingly Wirt's only miscue in the first half - left the score at 41-0.
The Tigers' defense then got into the act when Alt picked off a Calhoun pass - one of four Wirt would intercept - and returned it 80 yards for a score with the extra point making it 48-0.
In the second half Calhoun's varsity went against the Wirt subs for a while and scored two long touchdowns - a 70-yard run by Metz, who celebrated senior night with two scores - and a 60-yard pass from Moore to freshman Kirkland Allen.
But the Wirt subs were able to play on a fairly even basis with the Red Devils as Jacob Linville, Cole Linder and Cody Ferguson had second half touchdowns to set the final score.
Calhoun will take a week off before closing the season with a road trip to Moorefield while Wirt goes quickly into a tough road contest at 7-1 Roane County, the fourth-ranked Class AA team. | 
