Musketeers go ground to pick up key district win over Lions

LLOYD — Federal Express once had a slogan once that read "Go air. Go ground. Go football."

Greenup County decided to settle for going ground on Thursday night and the Musketeer offense rolled up nearly 300 rushing yards to beat the Boyd County Lions 44-33 in a key District 6 battle at The Farm.

While most would assume the rushing success came from the rushing duo of quarterback Jasper Davis and running back Ashur Wireman, who combined for 36 carries for 273 yards. Much of the ground game success fell on the shoulders of the Greenup offensive line.

Which was something Greenup coach Travis Jones certainly pointed out afterwards.

"We've got confidence that we're going to be able to run the ball against anybody we play. Our offensive line coach Nevan Johnson has done a phenomenal job. We did a complete change on offense from what we've done the past five years. They've really bought in and that's a big thing that we're able to run the ball."

In the early going, the defense was able to make an early statement, forcing Boyd to punt on their first two possessions of the night and the result was two touchdown drives by the Musketeers.

The first score came when Collin Melvin bulldozed his way in from a yard out. Then Wireman slashed his way in on the first play of the second quarter to make it 14-0.

Lions coach Evan Ferguson felt those initial possessions had thrown his team out of sync and had them playing catch up all night.

"I talked in our pregame that we can't get to where we are one dimensional and forced to throw the ball and play catch up. That's what we did last week and we did again tonight."

Cam May came up with the first big play for Boyd when he fielded the ensuing kickoff. May made a reverse move to find a lane up the far sideline, shook off a tackler and went 73 yards before being taken down at the Greenup 11.

Three plays later, Manning handed the ball off to Sexton and the junior back negotiated the last 5 yards to put the Lions on the board. Conner Davis added the extra point to make it 14-7 with 10:03 showing on the clock.

It would be the closest the Lions would get the rest of the way, as Greenup would go back to work on their next possession and score again.

The drive would see Davis and Wireman share the rushing attempts, and Davis would complete two passes on the drive — both to Eric Campbell. The final completion by Davis would be on a bootleg and Eric Campbell would push his way over a defender near the goal line and into the end zone to extend Greenup's lead out to 21-7.

Another three-and-out by Boyd would pave the way for one of the more exciting plays of the night from freshman Kayden Taylor.

The kick would be partially blocked by Campbell and the ball would line drive right at Taylor at the Boyd 42. Taylor would pick the ball up and go back the other way — make a man miss at about the 20 — and race his way in for a touchdown.

Boyd would follow up with their best drive of the night, going 68 yards in 7 plays to cut into the deficit.

Manning would rip off a big 14-yard run to move the chains early. Then Manning would connect with May on consecutive pass plays for 5 and 26 yards to put the Lions at the Greenup 15.

Then Manning would take a keeper and bounce to the outside and go the rest of the way to make it 28-14 with just 54 seconds before halftime.

Greenup would add to their lead one more time before halftime, thanks in part to two big completions by Davis to Landry Lewis for 33 yards and Campbell for another 8 to get deep into Boyd territory.

Carter Nunley would nail a 30-yard field goal at the horn to send the Musketeers into the locker room with a commanding 31-14 lead.

In the third, the Lions defense would come up with a takeaway when a fumbled exchange on the handoff allowed Weston Turner to dive on the ball.

The turnover turned into points for Boyd and Manning had the honors of front flipping his way into the end zone from a yard out to make it 31-21 at the 7:23 mark of the third.

But any momentum that Boyd seemed to have, Davis, Wireman and the Greenup offensive line would take all of that away to close out the quarter.

"We came out and fumbled out of halftime. If we go down and score to begin the second half, it might've been different," said Jones. "We couldn't quite close the door at times in that third quarter, but we finally did and got the win."

Greenup went on to add two more scores in the third to build up their lead.

Nolan Clarkson who highpoint a pass from Davis for a 23-yard TD toss. Then Wireman would cap off a 6-play drive with his second rushing score of the night to push the Musketeers lead to 44-21.

Boyd would put together two more scoring drives to close out the game and set the final score.

First, a 35-yard pass to Charles Smith at the end of the third frame. Then Sexton scored on a 12-yard dash with 39 seconds remaining.

The win was also important for Greenup after suffering a couple of tough losses, especially last week's game to Ashland.

Despite the loss, Ferguson was proud of his teams' no quit effort the whole night, but still acknowledged that they still need to find ways to get over the hump.

"One thing I'll say is we didn't quit. It's a total team game and we have to pick each other up. So we have to find a way to get some stops and find a way to get scores. Because every time you don't score or make stops, it's just another chance for the other team to do it.

On the flip side, Jones was glad to be able to get a win ahead of their bye week as they prepare for their final stretch of big games in district play.

"We're looking for a big signature win against an Ashland or Johnson Central and we get that opportunity after our bye week when we go to Johnson Central. We're going into that bye week, which is kind of a weird week being a Thursday game and then a long lay off. But we need it to recover, rest and take a little time away before we dial it back in to get ready for the Golden Eagles."

The Musketeers (5-2) will hit the road on Oct. 16 to play Johnson Central. Boyd County (4-2) will be back on the road next week when they meet Ashland in the Battle for the Barrel.

Boyd County 0 14 13 6 = 33

Greenup County 7 24 13 0 = 44

First Quarter

GC — Collin Melvin 1 run (Carter Nunley kick), 4:41.

Second Quarter

GC — Ashur Wireman 5 run (Carter Nunley kick), 11:53.

BC — Blake Sexton 5 run (Conner Davis kick), 10:03.

GC — Eric Campbell 13 pass from Jasper Davis (Carter Nunley kick), 5:04.

GC — Kayden Taylor 42 punt return (Carter Nunley kick), 2:19.

BC — Jace Manning 15 run (Conner Davis kick), 0:54.

GC — Carter Nunley 30 field goal, 0:00.

Third Quarter

BC — Jace Manning 1 run (Conner Davis kick), 7:23.

GC — Nolan Clarkson 23 pass from Jasper Davis (Carter Nunley kick), 5:53.

GC — Ashur Wireman 2 run (kick blocked), 1:12.

BC — Charles Smith 35 pass from Jace Manning (run failed), 0:39.

Fourth Quarter

BC — Blake Sexton 12 run (kick no good), 0:57.

———

BC GC

First downs 16 19

Rushes-yards 26-134 39-295

Passing yards 151 129

Total yards 285 424

Cmp-Att-Int 12-23-0 9-14-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 6-40.5 5-55

Punts-average 3-25.0 1-35.0

———

Individual Leaders

RUSHING – Boyd County: Blake Sexton 11-50 2-TD, Weston Turner 1-1, Jace Manning 14-87 2-TD; Greenup County: Jasper Davis 12-183, Eric Campbell 1-5, Ashur Wireman 24-90 2-TD, Collin Melvin 2-17 TD.

PASSING – Boyd County: Jace Manning 12-23-0 151 TD; Greenup County: Jasper Davis 9-14-0 129 2-TD.

RECEIVING – Boyd County: Cameron May 6-45, Joe Opell 2-29, Connor Davis 2-15, Charles Smith 2-74 TD; Greenup County: Nolan Clarkson 2-32 TD, Eric Campbell 5-61 TD, Ashur Wireman 1-3, Landry Lewis 1-33.

MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.