By Dave Morrison
Wheeling Intelligencer
Wheeling Park’s Bryce Ingram considered the question about his injured back and summed up his feelings with a simple statement.
“I was talking to my dad before the season and he said he thought I’d be back by the fifth game of the season,” Ingram said, following the Patriots 34-16 win over Brooke. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure that I’d be back at all. I felt that way. To be back and playing again, in the fourth game of the season, is a blessing.”
To be back at a high level, after suffering a stress fracture during summer 7-on-7 camp that he thought was a pinched nerve, for which he received chiropractic care, is even more amazing.
High level?
He scored on the first play from scrimmage, a 68-yard run, against Brooke.
He was hardly done. He finished with 188 yards, on just 12 carries, and scored two more touchdowns.
For the year, in two games, Ingram has 271 yards and four touchdowns.
It has certainly made a strong stable of backs even better, and the Patriots have ridden those horses to a 4-0 start, which they will try to make 5-0 Friday when they host East Liverpool, Ohio.
Savion Johnson has been steady from the start, and leads the team with 419 yards, including 155 against Brooke.
Quarterback Zach Phillips has also been steady, completing 26 of 52 passes for 426 yards and four touchdowns. He had a touchdown pass to tight end Chalmer Moffett against the Bruins, and has run the offense with precision.
Point Pleasant (4-0) at Brooke (1-4)
Brooke’s killer schedule continues as the Bruins play host to Class AAA No. 5 Point Pleasant Friday night.
Brooke struggled in the first half against Wheeling Park, down 21-2 at the break, before battling back to cut it to 21-16 and had the ball deep in Park territory following a turnover. However, an interception killed that drive, and the Patriots, another top Class AAA team, went on to a 34-16 win.
It’s been that kind of season for Brooke, who has lost to heavyweights Morgantown, Park, University and Ohio power Steubenville.
There are bright spots, like hanging with Park and, before that, University, before falling at the end.
“It seems like we get ourselves into position, and we have a key mistake,” Brooke coach Sean Blumette said. “I’m not sure that (interception against Park) wasn’t tipped at the line of scrimmage.”
Brooke hosts Point Pleasant a week before the Knights return home to host Oak Hill in a battle of highly-ranked, and potentially undefeated, Class AAA teams.
Brooke needs to rev its run game back into shape, as it did in a win over Allderdice, when quarterback Aaron Walker ran for three scores.
Walker and Madonna transfer Nick Ossman lead the Bruins with 296 yards rushing each. Walker has five touchdowns and Ossman three.
Point Pleasant is led by RB Cody Mitchell, who has run for over 500 yards and quarterback Aden Yates, who has completed 60 percent of his passes for close to 500 yards.
John Marshall (3-1) at Musselman (2-2)
The Monarchs continue to impress, beating East Liverpool, Ohio 28-6 Friday for their third win in a row after falling to Bellaire in the season opener.
John Marshall’s defense has been a big cog in that run, giving up just 12 points and the offense has continued to hum behind sophomore quarterback Noah Martin and running back Trevor Hardesty and an ample stable of capable running backs behind them.
Musselman is led by Travon Wesco, a 6-foot-5 multi-purpose quarterback who is also one of the top basketball prospects in the talent-rich Eastern Panhandle.
Wesco has run for 471 yards on 86 carries (5.5 ypc) and 11 scores and has completed 28 of 46 passes for 472 yards and five touchdowns. He has been intercepted four times.
Musselman was off last week and brings a two-game win streak into the game.
Kiski Prep (2-2) at Wheeling Central (4-1)
Wheeling Central scored a big win Saturday night, knocking off Magnolia 27-20, when freshman Isaac Rine threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Parker Henry with 30.1 seconds remaining.
Central then blocked what would have been the game-winning field goal with 4.1 left and returned it for a touchdown as time expired.
It was a much-needed win for Central and sticks with the plan Young has for working Rine into the lineup, behind Henry, the normal starter.
“This formation gives us explosiveness,” Young said.
Rine, 5-foot-7, 150 pounds, completed four straight passes on the drive, including a crucial fourth-and-7 to Brandon Angalich to keep the drive alive.
Central managed to get its running game going in the second half and Henry and C.J. Burch, who started at quarterback last year when Henry was out with an injury, both went over 100 yards in the game and scored touchdowns.
Kiski (2-2) is coming of a 21-14 win over Mercersburg Academy last week.
Paden City (2-3) at Cameron (1-4)
Two teams that are seemingly going in opposite directions.
Paden City has won two straight after losing its first three games. Last week, Brandon
Cross rushed for three touchdowns in a 67-6 win over Hundred.
Cross ran for 115 yards in the game.
Cameron is coming off a 48-6 loss to top-ranked Madonna and three losses have been to teams who are, or have been, among the top 10 in Class A.
Both teams have the ability to throw the ball.
Paden City junior Zach Heasley, a three-year starter, is 60 for 104 passing for 646 yards and eight touchdowns.
Cameron junior Logan Routt has struggled lately, but has completed 30 of 93 passes on the season for 478 yards and six touchdowns.
Monroe Central (3-2) at Magnolia (2-3)
The path back to the playoffs doesn’t get any easier for the Blue Eagles, after a hard-fought 27-20 loss to Wheeling Central Saturday night at Wheeling Island Stadium.
The game was essentially a one-point loss for Magnolia The Blue Eagles sent up for Central blocked a last-second 32-yard field goal with 4.1 seconds left and returned it for a score.
It’s been that kind of year for Magnolia.
There was plenty of good news for the Blue Eagles, who saw Drew Keller put together a big game with 117 yards and a touchdown. He fueled a ground game that laid 236 yards on Central.
Quarterback Jacob Brill and Eric Smith continued to be one of the top QB-WR duos in Class A, connected four times for 105 yards.
Smith, who has not played football since his freshman year, now has 20 catches for 493 yards and four touchdowns.
Brill was 6 of 8 for 152 yards.
Magnolia’s defense came up with stop-after-stop, and limited Central to 41 yards of total offense in the first half.
“There are a lot of games left, there are a lot of points on the table, but you have to win games,” coach Mark Batton said. “But the bottom line is, you have to win games, and we have a tough road ahead.”
After Monroe Central, Magnolia faces Weir, then undefeated St. Mary’s and undefeated Steubenville Catholic.
The combined record of the teams Magnolia has lost to is 11-3 and Wheeling Central beat Linsly 26-21.
Monroe Central is coming off a 48-20 win over Fort Frye, its third win in a row after starting the season 0-2.
Madonna (4-0) at Bridgeport, Ohio (2-3)
Madonna has become the team to beat in Class A not because Ross Comis is one of the top players in the A, if not the state.
Not because they have a gigantic line, especially on the Class A level.
Not because Elliot Nero is one of the least heralded players in the Ohio Valley.
It’s because of all those factors.
No doubt, having Comis at quarterback is key. He makes the offense go, whether on the ground or in the air. He has 415 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns. He has completed 25 of 36 passes for 526 and six touchdowns. One game running. Another passing.
In a 48-6 win over Cameron last week, he went to the air, when he was 10 of 16 for 184 yards and two touchdowns.
It’s a defensive coordinator’s nightmare, because when you try to contain Comis, Nero comes through, and he has this season to the tune of 495 yards on 71 carries and four scores
Bridgeport rebounded from a three-game losing streak to beat Conotton Valley Friday, behind Bailey McGrath’s 133 yards and three touchdowns.
After Friday, Madonna will get to the meat of its schedule which includes Bishop Donahue, Notre Dame and Steubenville Catholic. Those teams are a combined 12-2.
Valley-Wetzel (2-2) at Clay Battelle (4-0)
The Lumberjacks come off a bye week traveling to the Cee-Bees, who will be playing just their second game of the season on their new home field.
Buffalo (0-5) at Tyler Consolidated (1-4)
The Silver Knights got in the win column with a 43-6 win over Calhoun, being Jacob Highley’s 121 yards and a touchdown. Jordan Baker added 101 yards as Tyler Consolidated rushed for 415 yards in the game.
Buffalo’s struggles continued with a 61-46 shootout loss to Gilmer.