Page County puts up 430 yards of offense, 200-yard performance by Pettit
By Randy Arrington
SHENANDOAH, Sept. 19 — The Page County Panthers gave their homecoming crowd a show on Friday night at Buddy Comer Stadium. Despite starting the season at 0-3, the Panthers were still averaging around 300 yards of offense per game, and they put up 430 yards against Harrisonburg in a 44-20 victory.
“We’ve been struggling…and it’s hard sometimes to just keep your guys engaged, but I thought, especially the second half, we came out and showed what we’re about,” PCHS head coach James May said after the big non-district win. “We ran the football down the field like we like to…I don’t know if you have the stats on the pass attempts, we don’t do a whole lot of that…but we were able to keep things going our way.”
The Panthers did not make a single pass attempt on Friday night, but they didn’t need to as they leaned on their two-headed wildcat style of offense behind junior speedster Braxton Pettit and short-yardage sophomore Logan Richards. Pettit posted 123 yards against East Rockingham a week ago and recorded 203 yards on 19 carries (10.7 ypc) and three touchdowns against Harrisonburg. The track star broke loose around the end for touchdown runs of 44, 30 and 36 yards on Friday night. Richards added 109 yards on 21 carries (5.2 ypc) and a touchdown. The running back duo combined for 312 of the team’s 430 rushing yards on the night and four of six touchdowns.
“Pettit’s kind of a new guy. He’s obviously having some success in track. He finished second in the hurdles in the state this year…so we lean on him for the speed. And Richards is a natural football player, he’s a lifelong football guy,” Coach May told PVN. “They understand what we’re doing, and you’re talking about a sophomore and a junior, so we’re in pretty good shape.”
Page County also got some tough yards from big #40, senior Joshua Knott, who put up 44 yards and a touchdown on just four carries (11 ypc), including a 27-yard scamper around the end.
“I like the mentality of Joshua Knott,” Coach May said after the homecoming game. “He’s a senior that’s been on some football teams with not-so-great attitudes, and the 0-3s were getting to him, but he’s shown that he wants to be a winner tonight.”
Harrisonburg leaned on the running of senior Joel Friebe-Makinto, who carried the ball 16 times for 76 yards (4.75 ypc) and a touchdown. He got some help from fellow senior Fernando Rodriguez, who had 30 yards and a touchdown on eight carries, and senior Jerone Crawford, who posted 13 yards on six carries. The Blue Streaks’ senior quarterback Edwin Martinez went 5-for-15 through the air for 54 yards. Overall, Harrisonburg was held to only 183 yards of total offense.
Coach May said the Panthers’ defense really came together on Friday night, after giving up 147 points in the first three weeks.
“We really swarmed to the ball. It wasn’t just one guy trying to make the tackle. We were hustling around and getting hats to the ball, and when contact was made we had three or four guys involved,” he said. “We really preached it and went back to the basics, and I’m really proud of our kids tonight.”
The Blue Streaks looked good on their first drive, marching 45 yards down the field on a 12-play drive that consumed 7:42 off the clock. Rodriguez ran in the first score from 4 yards out to give Harrisonburg a 7-0 lead. Page answered right back with its own 10-play drive covering 53 yards in 4:18, and the Panthers took over the lead when Richards ran into the end zone from 5 yards out and added a two-point conversion. The home team lead 8-7 with 11:53 left in the first half.
Harrisonburg went three-and-out on its next possession, but when Page fumbled the punt — the only turnover of the game for either team — the Blue Steaks would gain an extra possession in the first half. However, the visitors lost five yards and turned the ball over on downs. Five plays later Page was in the end zone for a second time after a 44-yard breakaway run by Pettit. Richards again added the two-point conversion, and the Panthers went up 16-7.
The Blue Streaks then put together another scoring drive on seven plays that went 52 yards in 3:06. Martinez crossed the goal line from 2 yards out and brought the score to 16-14. Page’s final drive of the first half went 10 plays and covered 60 yards, but they would run out of time in the red zone and go to halftime with a two-point lead.
The Panthers then scored on their opening drive of the second half in just six plays. Pettit registered his second touchdown from 30 yards out, and Page went up 24-14. The home team would go on to score on its next three possessions with Pettit recording his third TD on a 36-yard run, junior Daniel Gibson scoring on a 19-yard run, and Knott rambling in from 1 yard out.
During that span, Harrisonburg posted one score as they went 60 yards in six plays, ending with a 7-yard touchdown run by Friebe-Makinto. The Blue Streaks turned the ball over on downs during their four other second-half possessions. Page County took a knee in victory formation with 34 seconds on the clock to close out a 44-20 homecoming victory.
Harrisonburg’s slowed-down offense won the time of possession by almost four minutes over Page, and the Blue Streaks never turned the ball over. Page was penalized eight times, while Harrisonburg drew six flags.
After being outscored 75-0 in its first two games, Harrisonburg (0-3) hopes to build some momentum off a better performance at Page. The Blue Streaks will host East Rockingham at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26.
Page County (1-3) also hopes to build some momentum after gaining its first win of the season. The Panthers will begin its Bull Run District schedule next Friday as they host the Generals of Stonewall Jackson at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26 at Buddy Comer Stadium.
“We were down here late in the first half and we had a penalty, and [penalties] kind of killed us offensively… If we don’t do well [offensively], I feel we kill ourselves…we’re averaging close to 300 yards a game, and that’s great for us here,” Coach May said on Friday night. “We still need to work on defense…we’re getting ready to get into the district and we know Strasburg, Central and those guys… we’ve gotta step up our defense if we want to compete.”
For schedules, rosters and results, check the Bull Run District website.
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