COAL GROVE — Air Hornets?

The conventional ground game is still in the Coal Grove offense, but quarterback Evan Ferguson has added a passing dimension that the Hornets’ nor their opponents have seen.

Ferguson completed 8-of-11 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns to spark the Hornets to a 50-27 Ohio Valley Conference win over the Chesapeake Panthers Friday.

Coal Grove (5-1, 1-0) had 414 total yards with another 181 coming on the ground. Ferguson led the ground game with nine carries for 74 yards and Frank Delawder had 63 yards on nine attempts with two touchdowns.

“We kept our composure and made some good adjustments at the half,” said Hornets’ coach Dave Lucas. “We got the ball to our playmakers and they made the plays to get us going.”

Chesapeake (1-5, 0-1) finished with 326 total yards including 289 on the ground. Gabriel Freyre had 155 yards on 19 carries and Peter Hintz added 73 yards on 13 attempts.

“We played pretty hard. Gabe ran the ball really well and the kids blocked well. We had some mental errors on defense that allowed their guys to get open and we hurt ourselves with fumbles,” said Panthers coach Phil Davis.

“But give them credit. (Ferguson) threw the ball on target and their receivers made some really nice catches.”

The Panthers had four fumbles and lost three.

Coal Grove drove 52 yards on its first possession with Oakie Haynes finishing off the drive by running the final 4 yards. Haynes also ran for the conversion and it was 8-0.

But Chesapeake answered with a 5-play, 67-yard drive capped by Freyre’s 3-yard run to cut the deficit to 8-6 at the 7:45 mark. Freyre had a 39-yard run to key the drive.

The Hornets came back with a 6-play drive highlighted by a 26-yard pass to Aaron Dickess. Ferguson and Dickess hooked up again for 9 yards and the touchdown and Ferguson’s conversion run pushed the lead to 16-6.

Neither team scored in the second quarter, but on the first play of the second half Hintz broke loose on a 61-yard scoring run. Colton Lindsey threw to Brandon Noble for the conversion and Chesapeake trailed just 16-14.

Chesapeake’s defense held, but the Panthers fumbled the ball at the 20 and the Hornets recovered. On the next play, Delawder had a 20-yard touchdown run and also added the extra points to make it 24-14.

Ferguson went to the air once again and found Boo Woods on a 47-yard scoring strike. Ferguson had a 14-yard run to spark the drive as the lead went to 30-14.

The next Hornets’ drive was highlighted by a 30-yard pass to Dickess and a 28-yard toss to Haynes. Ferguson did the scoring honors with a 13-yard gallop and Dickess’ conversion kick made it 37-14.

Delawder got his second touchdown of the game on an 11-yard run with 8:14 left and it was 43-14.

Freyre returned the kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown and Trent Saunders’ conversion kick made it 43-21.

The Panthers’ excitement didn’t last long as Ferguson hit Haynes on a 50-yard bomb on the Hornets’ first play after the kickoff and the lead was 50-21.

Noble caught a 15-yard pass from Lindsey with 1:02 left to set the final score.

Chesapeake 6 0 8 13 = 27

Coal Grove 16 0 14 20 = 50

First Quarter

CG — Oakie Haynes 4 run (Haynes run) 9:31

Ch — Gabriel Freyre 3 run (run failed) 7:45

CG — Aaron Dickess 9 pass from Evan Ferguson (Ferguson run). 4:51

Third Quarter

Ch — Peter Hintz 61 run (Brandon Noble pass from Colton Lindsey) 11:42

CG — Frank Delawder 20 run (Delawder run) 9:15

CG — Boo Woods 47 pass from Evan Ferguson (run failed) 2:27

Fourth Quarter

CG — Evan Ferguson 13 run (Aaron Dickess kick) 10:52

CG — Frank Delawder 11 run (kick failed) 8:14

Ch — Gabriel Freyre 81 kickoff return (Trent Saunders kick) 8:00

CG — Oakie Haynes 50 pass from Evan Ferguson (Aaron Dickess kick) 7:39

Ch — Brandon Noble 15 pass from Colton Lindsey (run failed) 1:02

——

Ch CG

First downs 13 13

Rushes-yards 36-289 31-182

Passing yards 37 232

Total yards 326 414

Cmp-Att-Int 5-6-0 8-11-0

Fumbles-lost 4-3 0-0

Penalties-yards 4-27 8-70

Punts-average 3-29.6 3-35.0

——

Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Chesapeake: Colton Lindsey 10-39, Gabriel Freyre 19-155, Peter Hintz 13-73, Trey West 4-22. Coal Grove: Evan Ferguson 9-74, Frank Delawder 9-63, Oakie Haynes 4-0, Boo Woods 4-16, Dion Cunningham 1-10, Greg Bender 2-11, Joe Colley 1-2, Rye Goodwin 1-6.

PASSING—Chesapeake: Colton Lindsey 5-6-0 37. Coal Grove: Evan Ferguson 8-11-0 232.

RECEIVING—Chesapeake: Brandon Noble 2-21, Peter Hintz 2-2, Gabriel Freyre 1-14. Coal Grove: Oakie Haynes 3-108, Aaron Dickess 3-68, Boo Woods 1-47, Shawn Morrison 1-9.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.