Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

BIDWELL — The inscription on comedian W.C. Fields’ tombstone is rumored to read, “All Things Considered, I’d Rather Be In Philadelphia.”

Chesapeake Panthers’ coach Andy Clark has similar but better feelings about his place in the standings after his young, injury-plagued team beat the River Valley Raiders 28-16 Friday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

“Despite all the injuries, I’m pretty proud of the kids. They’re young and they were 0-5 coming into the game and could have laid down, but they kept playing,” said Clark.

The Panthers came into the game riddled by injuries and then lost three-year starting tackle Mack McMillian for the season when he suffered a broken leg in the first half.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been through anything like this in my 11 years of coaching,” said Clark. “But the kids played hard tonight. A lot of times you don’t get that out of sophomores.”

Chesapeake racked up 242 yards rushing and added 82 passing for 322 total yards.

Chad Meadows ran 20 times for 120 yards and Maccoy Brown had 65 yards on 17 carries to lead the ground game. Austin Oldaker was 4-of-4 passing for 82 yards.

River Valley (1-5, 0-1) managed only 58 yards rushing but quarterback Dayton Hardway was 15 of 38 for 257 yards.

“We didn’t have that many sacks, but we did a good job pressuring the quarterback and forcing him into bad throws,” said Clark.

The Panthers (1-5, 1-0) opened the game with a 64-yard, 15-play drive capped by Meadows’ 3-yard run. Wesley Stephens kicked the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

After a Raiders’ punt, Chesapeake went 63 yards in eight plays with Meadows getting his second 3-yard scoring run and it was 14-0 with 10:19 left in the half.

The Raiders answered on the first play following the kickoff as Hardway teamed up with Austin Bradley on a 79-yard touchdown pass to trail 14-7.

But Chesapeake put together an 82-yard, 7-play drive that culminated on a 1-yard run by Oldaker with just 38 seconds left in the half for a 21-7 lead.

River Valley cut the deficit to 21-14 on an 8-yard scoring pass from Hardway to Kirk Morrow.

The Panthers then had a goal line stand that led to a safety as the Raiders were within 21-16 with 39 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Chesapeake opened up some breathing room when Oldaker hit Andrew Saunders with an 8-yard scoring pass on fourth down. The touchdown capped a 48-yard, 9-play drive.

“We called a timeout to set up the play and Austin made a nice decision,” said Clark.

The game ended with another goal line stand. River Valley had a first-and-goal at the 2-yard line, but three straight incomplete passes and a sack by Brown on fourth down ended the game.

Chesapeake 7 14 0 7 = 28

River Valley 0 7 9 0 = 16

First Quarter

Ch — Chad Meadows 3 run (Wesley Stephens kick) 3:24

Second Quarter

Ch — Chad Meadows 3 run (Wesley Stephens kick) 10:19

RV — Austin Bradley 79 pass from Dayton Hardway (Devin McDonald kick) 10:01

Ch — Austin Oldaker 1 run (Wesley Stephens kick) 0:38

Third Quarter

RV — Kirk Morrow 8 pass from Dayton Hardway (Devin McDonald kick) 10:04

RV — Safety 0:39

Fourth Quarter

Ch — Andrew Saunders 8 pass from Austin Oldaker (Wesley Stephens kick) 2:07

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Ch RV

First downs 19 15

Rushes-yards 50-242 23-58

Passing yards 82 257

Total yards 322 315

Cmp-Att-Int 4-4-0 15-38-0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 9-55 6-52

Punts-average 2-23.0 1-24.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Chesapeake: Chad Meadows 20-120, Maccoy Brown 17-65, Nate Smith 8-40, Austin Oldaker 4-13, Casey McComas 1-4; River Valley: Justin Arrowood 14-60, Austin Bradley 1-15, Kirk Morrow 1-2, Dayton Hardway 7-minus 19.

PASSING—Chesapeake: Austin Oldaker 4-4-0 82; River Valley: Dayton Hardway 15-38-0 257.

RECEIVING—Chesapeake: Andrew Saunders 2-38, Chad Meadows 1-32, Brad Meadows 1-12; River Valley: Kirk Morrow 9-107, Dustin Bickers 3-57, Austin Bradley 1-79, Mark Wray 1-11, Justin Arrowood 1-3.