PARSONS, W.Va. — Tucker County football coach A.J. App felt Friday’s game against Class A No. 4 East Hardy was a chance for the Mountain Lions to prove they belong.
Facing a Cougars’ program coming off a 10-win season and spot in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, Rapp was eager to see how his squad measured up.
The veteran Tucker County coach got just the performance he hoped for. Ethan Rosenau’s 31-yard touchdown pass to Trenton Wilfong with 4:15 remaining allowed the Mountain Lions to prolong their unbeaten start to the season with a marquee 14-13 win over the Cougars at R.H. Armstrong Memorial Field.
“Looking at East Hardy the past several years, we beat a great football team,” Rapp said. “Ethan is not known as a running quarterback, but he did a nice job when he had to get out of the pocket. He had a little pressure, felt it and I thought we could get Trenton on that. We saved it and he threw it and got it to him. He made a great touchdown catch.”
Rosenau’s TD toss to Wilfong capped a nine play, 78-yard drive that allowed TCHS to lead for good. The decisive drive began with William McCallister’s 16-yard run and also featured an 18-yard pass from Rosenau to Wilfong.
Although Rosenau’s two-point pass was intercepted after Tucker (3-0) went on top, the Mountain Lions made the lead stand with separate defensive stops down the stretch.
The first came when Blaike Adams intercepted Mason Miller with 2:22 to play, though after the Cougars (2-1) forced a three-and-out, they got the ball back at their 40 with 1:55 remaining and no timeouts.
East Hardy picked up a pair of first downs and Miller’s 8-yard pass to Dawson Price positioned the Cougars just outside the red zone.
The Cougars elected to spike the ball to stop the clock, which set up fourth-and-2 from the Mountain Lions’ 21 with 13 seconds remaining. Miller dropped back to pass, but was pressured instantly and sacked by Hayden Smith for a loss of 9 yards, sealing the outcome with 8 seconds left.
“Our guys didn’t get out of bounds as much as I’d have liked in that 2-minute drill, so we ran more clock than I anticipated,” East Hardy coach Devin Orndorff said. “But we did give ourselves a chance at the end and Tucker County came through on that last play.”
In a tightly-contested affair throughout, Wilfong intercepted an Ashton Haslacker pass on the game’s first series after the Cougars got inside the Tucker 10 and tried a trick pass play that resulted in a touchback and their first turnover.
“That’s our motto — just bend, don’t break,” Rapp said. “Protect the goal line and we did a good job with that.”
The contest stayed scoreless through the opening quarter, before EHHS got Miller’s 1-yard touchdown run and a Price point-after kick to lead 7-0 just 49 seconds into the second period.
The Cougars had a chance to add to their lead on their next possession, but Tyler Tarallo lost a fumble that allowed the Mountain Lions to start on their 19 with 6:14 left in the first half.
“They were prepared for what we like to do and made us play left-handed in some situations,” Orndorff said, “but I feel we shot ourselves in the foot way too much with turnovers.”
Three plays later, Rosenau connected with Maddox Anderson, who outraced the defense for an 81-yard touchdown. Rosenau found Daniel Bennett on a 2-point pass that proved pivotal and left the Mountain Lions with an 8-7 lead 5:26 before halftime.
“Maddox is Maddox and he has a long touchdown every game this year,” Rapp said.
Tucker made that one-point lead hold up over the remainder of the opening half.
“Leading at halftime helped us,” Rapp said. “Even though it was by one point, we believed we belonged in it.”
Anderson had a 10-yard touchdown reception negated by an illegal formation penalty on the opening sequence of the second half. It proved costly when Haslacker intercepted Rosenau on fourth-and-14, allowing the Cougars to start at their 7 at the 8:35 mark of the third quarter.
East Hardy possessed the ball for the remainder of the frame and into the fourth, utilizing 20 rushing plays to move the ball efficiently, before going back in front when Miller scampered for a 10-yard TD run on fourth-and-6. Miller was sacked on the two-point attempt, leaving East Hardy with a 13-8 lead with 11:16 left.
“I’m not completely upset with our effort tonight,” Orndorff said. “We gave good effort, adjusted to some things Tucker County did well, but it wasn’t enough.”
Haslacker came up with his second interception of the second half on the third play of the Mountain Lions’ ensuing series, but Tucker immediately forced a three-and-out to get the ball back, which led to the game-winning score.
“It was a hard thing for us to get our kids to believe we deserve to win,” Rapp said, “and I told our kids all week, ‘why not us and why not our turn?’ They battled tonight and I’m super proud of them.”