Defense, physical play steers Pirates past Pointers in regional quarterfinal

SOUTH POINT — After a sluggish start, the Wheelersburg Pirates got their offense rolling from the second quarter on and their defense turned in another stellar performance to help beat the South Point Pointers 44-0 in the Ohio Division 5 regional quarterfinal at Alumni Stadium on Friday night.

The Pirates will advance to the regional semifinals where they will face top-seeded Ironton at Tanks Memorial Stadium next Friday night. The last time the two teams faced off was in the 2025 regular season, where the Pirates stunned the Tigers 24-15 at Ed Miller Stadium.

Wheelersburg's win also spoiled a history making-season for the Pointers, as they accomplished an array of achievements this fall. Some of those accomplishments included the Pointers clinching their first Ohio Valley Conference title since 2008 and earning their first-ever home playoff game.

"Coach Chad Johnson and our defensive staff has really got our guys playing the right position and coming off the ball," said Wheelersburg coach Rob Woodward. "But I think our strength and condition and physicality is really helping us at this point of the year."

The physicality worked, as the Pirates held the Pointers to 62 yards on the ground and the offense churned out 230 yards on 24 rushing attempts.

Wheelersburg's ground attack was spearheaded by Canaan Arthur with 11 carries for 113 yards and two scores. The other half of the Pirates' rushing duo was Jay King, who racked up 75 yards on just 6 carries and scored once.

In the early going, the game played out the way South Point wanted.

The Pointers were able to force the Pirates to punt on their first drive and got a huge break on special teams when Ezra Young's second punt hit a Pirate and Kegan Weber fell on the ball at the Pirate 39.

But the Pointers (9-2) couldn't capitalize on the opportunity as a penalty drove them backwards and then a fake punt was snuffed out by the Pirates.

Wheelersburg (9-3) would drive as far as the South Point 23, but the Pointers would make a fourth down stop when Landon Vance was able to prevent Xavier Miller from making a catch to keep the drive alive and give the ball back to South Point.

"Hats off to South Point, they've had a great season. They put us in a couple of situations that we had to counter, but that's something we've dealt with the entire year," said Woodward.

But the Pointers couldn't move the ball again and were forced to punt it away again, allowing the Pirates a short field with the ball at the Wheelersburg 44 to begin the next drive.

On the third play of the drive, Arthur broke through contact by three defenders and burned a 47-yard trail behind him to pay dirt to put the Pirates ahead. Gabe Campbell added the extra point to make it 7-0 at the 7:48 mark of the second quarter.

The Pirate defense would pick off the first of four passes on the ensuing possession, as Graer Woodward would go up and make a leaping grab along the sideline for the first takeaway by the Pirate defense.

Three plays later, Jay King took a toss sweep to his right and followed a convoy of blockers virtually untouched into the end zone to double up the Pirates lead at 14-0.

After forcing another punt, the Pirates would go back to work from midfield and execute a 2-minute drive.

First, Doerr hit King down the middle for 20 yards to begin the drive. Then Doerr completed consecutive passes of 6 and 20-yards to Woddward to put the Pirates knocking on the door at the Pointer 4.

Then on the next play, Arthur plowed in behind his offensive line to make it 21-0 with 1:08 before halftime.

In the second half, the Pirates would begin to pour it on.

Luke Kouns would tip a pass to himself and return it 39 yards to the one. On the next play, Kouns would get a chance to finish what he started, and nosed his way across for the final yard to make it 28-0 to begin the third.

Campbell would tack on a 33-yard field goal midway through the quarter to balloon Wheelersburg's lead to 31-0.

The Pointers would finally get the big offensive play they'd been missing all night long.

Austin McFann would dump off a middle screen pass to Vance — and much like he had done all season long — Vance would weave in and out of traffic for an explosive 43 yard gain to the Pirate 15.

Vance would also make two tough carries to convert a first down inside the Pirate 5. But a fumble on the very next play would allow the Pirates to recover the ball and keep the shutout.

The Pirates would go one to tack on two more scores, including a 55-yard bomb by Doerr to Woodward. Then Logan Whitt capped off the night by weaving across the field to the front pylon for a 19-yard TD run to round out the final score.

Wheelersburg 0 21 10 13 = 44

South Point 0 0 0 0 = 0

Second Quarter

Wh — Canaan Arthur 47 run (Gabe Campbell kick), 7:48.

Wh — Jay King 17 run (Gabe Campbell kick), 4:16.

Wh — Canaan Arthur 4 run (Gabe Campbell kick), 0:00.

Third Quarter

Wh — Luke Kouns 1 run (Gabe Campbell kick), 7:53.

Wh — Gabe Campbell 33 field goal, 5:38.

Fourth Quarter

Wh — Graer Woodward 55 pass from Jack Doerr (kick no good), 10:07.

Wh — Logan Whitt 19 run (Gabe Campbell kick), 4:00.

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            Wh SP

First downs 10 8

Rushes-yards 24-230 30-62

Passing yards 110 68

Total yards 340 130

Cmp-Att-Int 7-11-0 6-17-4

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1

Penalties-yards 4-35 7-60

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Wheelersburg: Logan Whitt 3-34 TD, Canaan Arthur 11-113 2-TD, Jay King 6-75 TD, Luke Kouns 1-1 TD, Jack Doerr 2-3, Owen Wilburn 1-4; South Point: Landon Vance 14-47, Robert Napier 8-26, Ethan Hunt 3-0, Ezra Young 1-0, Austin McFann 3-minus 11, Team 1-minus 9.

PASSING—Wheelersburg: Jack Doerr 7-11-0 110 TD; South Point: Ethan Hunt 5-10-1 11, Austin McFann 2-8-3 57;

RECEIVING—Wheelersburg: Canaan Arthur 1-minus 1, Jay King 1-20, Graer Woodward 3-81 TD, Xavier Miller 1-5, Brew Hanzel 2-5; South Point: Landon Vance 3-48, Davon Lewis 2-11, Robert Napier 1-minus 5, Elyjah Patterson 1-14.

MISSED FIELD GOAL—None.