Defense flexes muscle again as Pirates roll to SOC title, undefeated season

WHEELERSBURG — There are a lot of reasons the Wheelersburg Pirates went unbeaten this season, but a big reason was the defense.

The Pirates’ defense was on display again on Friday as Wheelersburg completed a 10-0 season and another Southern Ohio Conference 2 championship by rolling past the Portsmouth West Senators 49-12.

While the offense racked up 402 total yards, the defense limited West to 125 total yards including a mere 22 yards rushing on 28 attempts. The Pirates shut down 1,000-yard rusher Anthony Bishop who had just 3 net yards running on 7 carries.

Wheelersburg quarterback Braylon Rucker was 12 of 18 passing for 217 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also ran 7 times for 72 yards and two scores.

Elijah Brown ran 10 times for 81 yards while Brady Doss caught 6 passes for 128 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Senators’ quarterback Brody Hall was 9 of 19 for 103 yards with a touchdown and 2 interceptions.

Wheelersburg took a 14-6 first quarter lead on a 15-yard scoring pass to Brady Doss and a 29-yard touchdown strike to Xavier Miller sandwiched around a 2-yard run by Hall for a West touchdown.

The lead cut to 14-12 at the 10:23 mark of the second quarter on a 29-yard scoring pass from Hall to Gunnar Shonkwiler.

But Doss caught touchdown passes of 53 and 19 yards from Rucker who added a 4-yard scoring run himself with just 8 seconds left in the half to make it 35-12.

Wheelersburg capped the scoring with a 28-yard scoring strike to Doss and then Rucker got free on a 28-yard scoring run with 3:25 left in the quarter that set up the running clock over the last 29 minutes and 9 seconds of the game.

The Pirates (10-0, 6-0) won the SOC title for the third straight year and their 38th SOC title all-time. The Pirates last unbeaten regular season came in 2017. That team went 15-0 and won the Division 5 state crown.

Wheelersburg is the Division 5 Region 19 first place finisher and will make its 37th playoff appearance in two weeks after getting a bye week next Friday.

West (5-5, 4-2) qualified for the playoffs in Division 6.

West 6 6 0 0 = 12

Wheelersburg 14 21 14 0 = 49

First Quarter

Wh— Brady Doss, 15-yard pass from Braylon Rucker (Cooper Heimbach kick), 9:47 

PW—Brody Hall, 2-yard run (kick blocked), 6:33

Wh— Xavier Miller, 29-yard pass from Braylon Rucker (Cooper Heimbach kick), 2:13

Second Quarter

PW — Gunnar Shonkwiler 29 pass from Brody Hall (pass failed), 10:23.

Wh — Brady Doss 53 pass from Braylon Rucker (Cooper Heimbach kick), 3:59.

Wh — Brady Doss 19 pass from Braylon Rucker (Cooper Heimbach kick), 1:14.

Wh — Braylon Rucker 4 run (Cooper Heimbach kick), 0:08.

Third Quarter

Wh— Brady Doss 28 pass from Braylon Rucker (Cooper Heimbach kick), 9:09.

Wh— Braylon Rucker 29 run (Cooper Heimbach kick), 3:25.

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Team Statistics

PW Wh

First Downs 10 19

Rushes-yards 28-22 23-185 

Passing yards 103 217

Total yards 125 402

Cmp-Att-Int. 9-19-2 12-18-0

Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 7-41 9-67

Punts-Ave. 4-32 1-39

Time of Possession 11:33 24:46

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING — West: Westyn Ratcliff 6-17, Braden Adkins 2-8, Anthony Bishop 7-3, Brody Hall 6-0 TD, Bo Wroten 1-3, Sawyer Staggs 5-(-7) Ryder McCormick 1-(-2); Wheelersburg: Elijah Brown 10-81, Braylon Rucker 7-72 2TD, Stephen Hall 6-32 

PASSING —West: Brody Hall 9-19-2-103 TD; Wheelersburg: Braylon Rucker 12-18-0-217 5TD

RECEIVING— West: Braden Adkins 4-53, Anthony Bishop 2-15, Gunnar Shonkwiler 1-29 TD, Bo Wroten 1-6, Cristian Quirasco 1-0; Wheelersburg: Brady Doss 6-128 4TD, Kenyon Evans 3-34, Xavier Miller 2-47 TD, Hunter Bivens 1-8.