Panthers rout RV to finish strong
Published 12:00 am Sunday, October 30, 2005
CHESHIRE - Down, but not out.
The Chesapeake Panthers suffered a heartbreaking 13-12 loss last week to Rock Hill, thus costing them a fourth straight Ohio Valley Conference title.
So Panthers coach Phil Davis was worried about how his team would respond.
Worry no more.
The Panthers showed no letdown as they blasted the River Valley Raiders 60-20 Friday night.
“I was really kind of proud of them. We could have packed it in,” Davis said. “We were pretty much devastated by the loss last week. But halfway through the week they decided they wanted to finish well. We executed and the kids played hard.”
The Panthers finished the season 6-4 and second in the OVC at 4-1.
“We won a couple of close games we could have lost, and we lost a couple we could have won. It was a good year,” Davis said. “We're losing a lot of good kids.”
One of the losses will be quarterback Caleb McComas who ran twice for 85 yards and completed 2 of 4 passes for 109 yards, both touchdowns. Patrick Fernandez got his first start at fullback and ran six times for 104 yards.
The Panthers had 454 total yards including 345 on the ground.
Fernandez ran 39 yards for the first touchdown less than a minute into the game. Cody Methax kicked the firsts of six extra points.
McComas hit Brent Ransbottom on a 22-yard scoring strike three minutes later and it was 14-0.
Cory Methax ran 6 yards for a touchdown with 6:23 left in the quarter and Jeffrey Thornburg teamed up with McComas on an 87-yard scoring pass play that extended the lead to 28-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The lead grew to 41-0 on a 2-yard run by Mike Stapleton and an 85-yard gallop by McComas with 2:11 left in the half.
River Valley (1-9, 0-5) finally got on the scoreboard when Chris Edwards had a 6-yard TD run 11 seconds later that made it 41-6.
Fernandez broke loose on a 40-yard run to begin the third quarter and moments later Thornburg returned an interception 21 yards for a touchdown.
Chesapeake2813136=60
River Valley06014=20
First Quarter
Ch – Patrick Fernandez 39 run (Cody Methax kick) 11:28
Ch – Brent Ransbottom 22 pass from Caleb McComas (Cody Methax kick) 8:28
Ch – Cory Methax 6 run (Cody Methax kick) 6:23
Ch – Jeffrey Thornburg 87 pass from Caleb McComas (Cody Methax kick) 3:26
Second Quarter
Ch – Mike Stapleton 2 run (kick failed) 9:22
Ch – Caleb McComas 85 run (Cody Methax kick) 2:11
RV – Chris Edwards 6 run (run failed) 2:40
Third Quarter
Ch – Patrick Fernandez 40 run (kick failed) 8:39
Ch – Jeffrey Thornburg 21 interception return (Cody Methax kick) 8:08
Fourth Quarter
Ch – Brian Maynor 3 run (run failed) 7:24
RV – Chris Edwards 3 run (run failed) 11:21
RV – Jordan Deel 6 run (Deel run) 0:48
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ChRV
First downs1610
Rushes-yards27-34541-148
Passing yards109121
Total yards454269
Cmp-Att-Int2-4-09-16-1
Fumbles-lost1-01-1
Penalties-yards5-351-5
Punts-average0-00.04-20.0
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Individual Leaders
RUSHING – Chesapeake: Caleb McComas 2-85, Kersten Harris 1-3, Cody Methax 8-75, Cory Methax 5-64, Mike Stapleton 1-2, Patrick Fernandez 6-104, Brian Reynolds 2-12, Brian Maynor 1-3, Justin Moore 2-0; River Valley: Bryan Morrow 3-0, Chris Edwards 25-87, Scott Hunt 4-9, Ryan Henry 4-22, Tyler Canaday 4-10, Zachary Baird 3-20.
PASSING – Chesapeake: Caleb McComas 2-4-0 109; River Valley: Bryan Morrow 9-16-1 121.
RECEIVING – Chesapeake: Brent Ransbottom 1-22, Jeffrey Thornburg 1-87; River Valley: Ryan Henry 8-113, Zak Deel 1-11.