Roane County’s Skylar Delk (24) gets up off the ground after a run during a high school football game against Doddridge County Friday in Spencer.
(Photo by Josh Hughes)
SPENCER –Statement made for Roane County.
A slow start offensively didn’t last long as Class AA’s No. 2 Raiders ran past visiting Doddridge County, 26-6.
Roane relied on its biggest strength, as Class A’s No. 3 Bulldogs faced a constant stream of runs. Brandon Hileman’s interception of Skyler Delk was the home team’s biggest misstep, as RCHS bounced back en route to its first 8-0 start in school history.
Briar Begler (18 carries, 95 yards) got the scoring started with a 10-yard jaunt midway through the opening quarter to make it 6-0. The score stayed that way for a bit, until Delk (18carries, 134 yards) bulldozed his way in from a yard out with 28 seconds left in the half.
On the opening play from scrimmage in the second half, Delk scored from 51 yards away to help bring the score to 20-0.
Needing a response, Doddridge County went on a five-minute drive culminating in a 4-yard Bryce McKinney touchdown run. However, the Raiders looked to deliver the dagger. With 18 seconds left in the third, Delk notched another scored from a yard away to make it 26-6.
In the way of stats, Roane had a big night defensively. Colton Paxton racked up a game-high 13 tackles, and Brandon Richardson was everywhere as well. In addition to recording 10 tackles, he provided a pair of lengthy kick returns to set the team up in good field position. He also forced and recovered a fumble. On his team’s victory, RCHS head coach Paul Burdette noted his team’s effort, but Roane’s expectations are clear. One plus was how Roane playoff experience from a year ago helped them in situations like this.
“I think a big thing is the experience and the maturation we have on our football team,” he said. “We lost a big game at Doddridge last year, but that taught us how to play in big games. We go to Nicholas and get a big win there, and then we go to Independence and took them to the wire, so that experience in big games and situations like that is really going to help us down the stretch. Let’s just continue to focus on being 1-0 and keep doing the things we’ve been doing and doing them right.”
On the loss, Doddridge County (7-1) head coach Bobby Burnside is gearing up his team for a high-leverage matchup with Williamstown next Friday. Both teams are coming off losses, and a second-straight defeat would be a big blow.
“What’s the message? Back to work,” Burnside said. “We’re going to show up and play. We’ve got the next week. We’ve got the postseason. So we’re just going to go back to work to try and improve on things. We know the next team. We know who they are. We saw them twice last year, and they’re a very good team, so there are definitely going to be a lot of challenges.”
Contact Josh Hughes at jhughes@newsandsentinel.com