Pirates give no quarter to Buckeyes, roll to first regional title since 2018

COLUMBUS — It took 7 years, but it sure was worth the wait.

Strong play by both the offensive and defensive lines of Wheelersburg, and a big game from Elijah Brown proved to be the difference as the Pirates blanked the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes 41-0 on a wet Friday night to claim the Ohio Division 5 regional championship.

The Pirates' dominant performance was perfectly highlighted by their play in the trenches. Offensively, the Pirates churned out 247 yards on the ground and the defense held the Buckeyes' power attack to just 58 yards.

Afterwards, Wheelersburg coach Rob Woodward had nothing but praise for both offensive and defensive lines and was even excited to go back and replay the film.

"The defense controlled the line of scrimmage. We said that's what's going to have to happen in playoff football. Limit the turnovers, control the line of scrimmage and that's what they did."

"I'm excited to get back and watch the tape. Because I saw this and I saw that on a play, but I didn't get to see the whole play," said Woodward. "I coached offensive line early on. But coach Sutton and coach Skidmore have been working with those guys and they've done a terrific job all year."

Quarterback Braylon Rucker was all smiles afterwards after waiting for his turn to clinch a regional title.

"It feels good. We've been waiting three years to get to this point and not being able to. But to finally get here and push through is totally worth it. You know, all the work we've put in and made, It's worth something."

Wheelersburg (13-0) moves on to the state semifinals for the first time since 2018 and will now face the Youngstown Cardinal Mooney Cardinals at Westerville Central on Black Friday.

The Buckeyes finished the season as regional runner-up with a 12-1 record.

The Pirates got an early spark from Brown as he ripped off a 39-yard run on the second play from scrimmage to set the Pirates up at the 17. Then Rucker hit Hunter Bivens for another 18 yards to put them at the 7.

On 2nd-and-goal, Rucker nosed his way in on a quarterback sneak to open up the scoring. Cooper Heimbach added the extra point to make the score 7-0.

The Buckeyes (12-1) got the ball on their first possession and threatened to answer when Cameron Sullivan made a play fake on third down and hit Walker Stone down the middle of the field for a 59-yard gain to the Pirates 9.

But a costly holding penalty forced Nelsonville backwards and the Pirates held on downs when Hunter Henderson batted away a pass on fourth down to give the Pirates the ball back.

Buckeyes coach Rusty Richards felt that stop proved to be a huge momentum swing that his team never recovered from.

"They went up 7-0 and we had our chance to answer. Got the ball down there and had a penalty, and we can't have that. So that was a kick in the gut. Then we tried a safe screen later and it got picked off and things just snowballed from there."

From that point on, Wheelersburg never looked back.

In the second, a short punt set the Pirates up at midfield and they marched 53 yards in 6 plays to extend their lead.

Behind their offensive line, Brown and Rucker ripped off 17 yards runs each. Then Brown had 4-straight carries, including the final 3 yards for his first score of the night. Heimbach added the point after to make it 14-0 at the 9:13 mark of the quarter.

"What balance (Elijah) had, what drive he had. But again, he does such a great job. He's one of the hardest workers in our weight room. You see it out here on the field," said Woodward.

Brown finished the night with a game-high 155 yards rushing on 15 carries and three scores. Additionally, Rucker had 14 carries for 69 yards to go along with his score.

On Nelsonville's ensuing drive, Sullivan looked to his right and tried to hit a fast screen, but Ison Emnett was able to get one of his paws up and bat the ball into the air and Brown caught the deflection, giving the Pirates the ball at the 15.

Four plays later, Brown cashed in his turnover for a 2-yard touchdown run to balloon the lead to 21-0. The score was set up on a 15-yard burst by Stephen Hall two plays before.

The Pirates closed out the scoring in the first half with a 9-play drive that melted nearly 5 minutes off the clock and was capped off with a 50-yard field goal by Heimbach to give the Pirates a 24-0 lead going into the locker room.

At the half, the Pirates had out gained the Buckeyes in total yards to the tune of 166 to 80 and had 12 first downs to their five.

Senior Kenyon Evans commented on how he and his teammates wanted to prove to be the more physical team going into the game.

"We knew that this game was going to come down to who was the more physical team and we came out of the gate and that's what we proved. We showed we were more physical and showed it in the first quarter."

In the second half, the Pirates removed any doubt of a comeback attempt.

Brady Music added to the onslaught when he barreled his way in from 10 yards with 4:40 remaining in the third frame.

Then Heimbach put the exclamation point on the win to begin the fourth quarter with a 41-yard kick that made the final score.

The lone bright spots for Nelsonville offensively was the combination of Sullivan and Stone. The junior quarterback finished the game 6-of-18 for 105 yards. Meanwhile, Stone caught 4 passes for 89 yards.

Defensively, the Buckeyes got a big game out of defensive lineman Caeleb Layton. The senior finished his playing career with 10 total tackles — including 3 for loss — and a sack.

Nelsonville-York 0 0 0 0 = 0

Wheelersburg 7 17 14 3 = 41

First Quarter

Wh — Braylon Rucker 1 run (Cooper Heimbach kick), 9:54.

Second Quarter

Wh — Elijah Brown 2 run (Cooper Heimbach kick), 9:13.

Wh — Elijah Brown 1 run (Cooper Heimbach kick), 7:35.

Wh — Cooper Heimbach 50 field goal, 0:44.

Third Quarter

Wh — Brady Music 10 run (Cooper Heimbach kick), 4:40.

Fourth Quarter

Wh — Cooper Heimbach 41 field goal, 11:47.

———

NY Wh

First Downs 9 18

Scrimmage plays 43 58

Rushes-yards 31-58 39-247

Passing yards 105 49

Total yards 163 296

Cmp-Att-Int 6-18-1 5-5-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 4-22 6-50

Punts-Ave. 3-25 9-62

———

Individual Leaders

RUSHING — Nelsonville-York: Austin Gautier 16-40, Walker Stone 6-27, Dakota Cunningham 3-3, Cameron Sullivan 6-minus 12; Wheelersburg: Elijah Brown 15-155 3TD, Braylon Rucker 14-69 TD, Stephen Hall 6-19, Brady Music 1-10 TD, Xavier Miller 1-minus 4, Team 2-minus 2.

PASSING — Nelsonville-York: Cameron Sullivan 6-18-1-105; Wheelersburg: Braylon Rucker 5-5-0-49

RECEIVING— Nelsonville-York: Walker Stone 4-89, Alec Thompson 2-16; Wheelersburg: Kenyon Evans 2-9, Hunter Bivens 1-18, Xavier Miller 1-12, Elijah Brown 1-10