By RYAN Walker

For The Ironton Tribune

COAL GROVE — Sometimes people say sequels aren’t as good as the originals. But ask the Coal Grove Hornets, and they’ll disagree with you.

Kaden Murphy accounted for 5 touchdowns, the defense made key defensive stops, and the Hornets defeated the Meigs Marauders in another shootout win 39-34 on Saturday afternoon at Lemaster Stadium.

Last season’s game saw the Hornets come back from a 24-point deficit to defeat Meigs 48-42 in Rock Springs.

This year was similar to last season as Coal Grove fell behind by 2 scores. The only difference is the game took a long time because of inclement weather and not overtime.

The contest originally kicked off on Friday night, but severe weather during halftime caused the first delay. An attempt was made to restart the game late into the night, but eventually it was halted with 10:46 remaining in the third, with both teams returning to finish it on Saturday afternoon.

Meigs (1-2) quickly jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first, as quarterback Dustin Vance threw a 53-yard touchdown strike to Griffin Hudson on the Marauders first possession. Then Vance called his own number on a designed quarterback counter and sprinted 50 yards on their second possession.

Coal Grove (2-1) responded in the second quarter by first getting a key defensive stop to halt a long Meigs drive that spanned 9-plays.

Then on the Hornets first play from scrimmage, Murphy took a handoff on a sweep towards his teams’ bench, made a cut back towards the middle of the field, and raced the 64 yards to pay dirt for Coal Grove’s first score. The two point conversion try failed and Meigs led 14-6 with 6:12 remaining before halftime.

Vance finished the game 11-of-24 for 189 yards through the air and 4 touchdown passes. He also led the Marauders in rushing with 12 carries for 94 yards to go along with his rushing score.

The Hornets got another key fourth down stop in the waning minutes of the half, as Ryland Smith tackled the Meigs receiver short of the line to gain, giving the ball back to Coal Grove with 4:25 left before halftime.

Coal Grove converted the stop into points, marching 58 yards in 11-plays to cut into the Meigs lead.

The Hornets drove to the Meigs 10 with just 6 seconds remaining after Smith spiked the ball to stop the clock. Then on the next play, Smith threw up a fade pass to Caden Turner, and the fullback came down with both feet in bounds for the score.

Murphy’s conversion run was stopped, but the Hornets had cut the deficit to 14-12 at the half.

When the teams resumed play in the third quarter, Murphy fielded the opening kickoff and managed to evade would-be tacklers and slip out of the pack for an 81-yard return and give the Hornets their first lead of the game. Turner barreled his way in for the two-point conversion to make the score 20-14.

Murphy went on to add touchdown runs of 5 and 41 yards to extend Coal Grove’s lead out to 33-14 with 1:44 remaining in the third frame.

But Meigs responded in just three plays with Vance’s second touchdown pass of the game to Jake Martin to make it a 33-20 game after three quarters.

The Mauraders recovered a fumble on Coal Grove’s next possession and proceeded to score on its next play from scrimmage, as Vance hit Landon Deweese on a screen pass, and the wideout hit the sidelines for a 78-yard score to make it 34-26 with 7:28 left.

But Murphy would burn the Marauders again, returning his second kickoff for a score. This time, Murphy went north-and-south and ran through a couple arm tackles for a 77-yard return and stretched the Hornets lead back out to 39-26.

Vance and Hudson connected again for a 49-yard touchdown strike on the following possession, cutting the score to 39-34 after Vance added the 2-point conversion run.

Meigs got one final possession and a chance to take the lead, driving as far as the Coal Grove 32.

But a pass break up from Bradon Klaiber on third down and an interception by Smith on fourth down sealed the win for the Hornets.

The Hornets will open up conference play next Friday night, as they renew the annual Little Brown Jug rivalry game against the Chesapeake Panthers.

Meigs 14 0 6 14 = 34

Coal Grove 0 12 21 6 = 39

First Quarter

Mgs — Griffin Hudson 53 pass from Dustin Vance (kick failed), 9:51.

Mgs — Dustin Vance 50 run (Dustin Vance run), 6:10.

Second Quarter

CG — Kaden Murphy 64 run (run failed), 6:12.

CG — Caden Turner 10 pass from Ryland Smith (run failed), 0:02.

Third Quarter

CG — Kaden Murphy 81 kickoff return (Caden Turner run), 11:48.

CG — Kaden Murphy 5 run (run failed), 7:08.

CG — Kaden Murphy 41 run (Case Webb kick), 1:44.

Mgs — Jake Martin 17 pass from Dustin Vance (run failed), 0:34.

Fourth Quarter

Mgs — Landon Deweese 78 pass from Dustin Vance (run failed), 7:18.

CG — Kaden Murphy 77 kickoff return (run failed), 7:08.

Mgs — Griffin Hudson 49 pass from Dustin Vance (Dustin Vance run), 6:47.

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Mgs CG

First downs 12 17

Rushes-yards 17-109 58-343

Passing yards 189 14

Total yards 298 357

Cmp-Att-Int 11-24-1 2-3-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 6-1

Penalties-yards 13-93 7-75

Punts-average 3-33.7 0-0.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Meigs: Dustin Vance 12-94 TD, Wade Howard 3-7, Griffin Hudson 2-8; Coal Grove: Kaden Murphy 29-256 3TD, Ryland Smith 10-17, Caden Turner 14-74, Bradon Klaiber 1-2, Team 4-minus 6.

PASSING–Meigs: Dustin Vance 11-24-1 189 4TD; Coal Grove: Rylan Smith 2-3-0 14 TD.

RECEIVING–Meigs: Jake Martin 3-31 TD, Landen Deweese 3-53 TD, Reed Brinegar 2-10, Wade Howard 1-minus 7, Griffen Hudson 2-102 2TD; Coal Grove: Kaden Murphy 1-4, Caden Turner 1-10 TD.