Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PROCTORVILLE — The Chesapeake Panthers were a model of efficiency.

Chesapeake had five possessions in Friday’s Ohio Valley Conference rivalry with the Fairland Dragons and the Panthers scored touchdowns on each occasion.

A key for the Panthers was no turnovers, something that pleased head coach Andy Clark.

“Ball security has been a problem and that wasn’t an issue. You can’t give up possessions because those are scoring opportunities,” said Clark.

“We only had the ball five times, but we scored all five times. We didn’t run a lot of plays, but we executed and made a lot of big plays.”

Time of possession was misleading. Fairland had the ball for 35 plays in the first half to 10 for Chesapeake. However, the Panthers led 14-0.

Those numbers were almost reversed in the second half as the Panthers pulled away and improved to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the OVC.

Chesapeake had 302 total yards with 287 coming on the ground. J.W. Bartrum led the attack with nine carries for 119 yards and two touchdowns.

Maccoy Brown had 64 yards on 13 carries and a score while Ty Wilcoxon got 64 yards on 10 tries.

Fairland (0-7, 0-4) was limited to 64 yards rushing and had 145 yards passing — 26 coming on a fake punt.

“Other than the coverage bust, I wasn’t too upset. We had some big plays we gave up that we have to correct, but to hold them to six points in that kind of weather when it’s muddy and people are slipping and sliding, that’s not bad,” said Clark.

Fairland began the game with a 15-play drive to the Chesapeake 22 before turning the ball over on downs.

Chesapeake snapped the scoreless tie with a 65-yard jaunt by Bartrum on the first play of the second quarter. Wesley Stephens’ conversion kick made it 7-0.

The Dragons also drove from their own 34 to the Panthers’ 4-yard line in the second quarter before the 13-play drive fizzled.

The Panthers responded with another quick scoring drive capped by Brown’s 4-yard touchdown run with 7:10 left in the half and it was 14-0.

Chesapeake came out in the third quarter and went up 21-0 as Casey McComas hit Will Scott with a 15-yard scoring pass at the 7:28 mark.

The defense provided the next score as the Panthers’ Jacob Johnson tackled a running back in the end zone for a safety with 4:52 on the clock to make it 23-0.

McComas ran 7 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter as the lead grew to 29-0.

Fairland then answered with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Joel Lambiotte to Austin Christian with 8:51 left and it was 29-6.

The Panthers tacked on an insurance score as Bartrum ran 13 yards on a keeper with 27 seconds left.

Lambiotte was 7-of-15 for 119 yards and a touchdown. He was intercepted once.

Next Friday, Chesapeake visits Portsmouth and Fairland travels to Coal Grove.

Chesapeake 0 14 9 13 = 36

Fairland 0 0 0 6 = 6

Second Quarter

Ch — J.W. Bartrum 65 run (Wesley Stephens kick) 11:52

Ch — Maccoy Brown 4 run (Wesley Stephens kick) 7:10

Third Quarter

Ch — Will Scott 15 pass from Casey McComas (Wesley Stephens kick) 7:28

Ch — Safety (Jacob Johnson tackled runner in end zone) 4:52

Fourth Quarter

Ch — Casey McComas 7 run (kick failed) 11:55

Fa — Austin Christian 35 pass from Joel Lambiotte (run failed) 8:51

Ch — J.W. Bartrum 13 run (Wesley Stephens kick) 0:27

——

Ch Fa

First downs 14 9

Rushes-yards 40-287 29-64

Passing yards 15 145

Total yards 302 204

Cmp-Att-Int 1-1-0 8-16-1

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 2-10 4-30

Punts-average 0-00.0 0-00.0

——

Individual Leaders

RUSHING —Chesapeake: Will Scott 2-9, Casey McComas 6-31 TD, J.W. Bartrum 9-119 2-TD, Ty Wilcoxon 10-64, Maccoy Brown 13-64 TD; Fairland: Sidney Tucker 8-29, Keedrick Cunningham 7-15, Collin Damron 9-15, Joel Lambiotte 5-5.

PASSING — Chesapeake: Casey McComas 1-1-0 20 TD; Fairland: Joel Lambiotte 7-15-1 119 TD, Trey Nester 1-1-0 26.

RECEIVING — Chesapeake: Will Scott 1-15 TD; Fairland: Collin Damron 2-45, Trey Nester 1-7, Greg Keeney 1-22, Austin Christian 3-58 TD, Cameron Brogan 1-13.