Ratliff's late punt return lifts Senators past Dragons

PROCTORVILLE — Teams can score on offense, defense and with the kicking game. All three options were used in the season opener matching the Portsmouth West Senators at the Fairland Dragons.

West scored on two running plays and a punt return while Fairland scored on a run and an interception return.

But it was the Senators who scored one more time than the Dragons as they got away with a thrilling 19-13 win.

“The defense played lights out,” said Fairland Ron Wooten in his coaching debut. “They played so hard and gave everything they had.”

The game was scoreless until late in the first half when Fairland’s Aiden Trimble picked off a pass and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown.

Yardley Gorby kicked the conversion and the Dragons led 7-0 with 3:05 on the clock.

West came out the second half and rallied to tie the game at 7-all.

The Senators took the second half kickoff and went 58 yards in seven plays capped by Anthony Bishop’s 4-yard scoring run.

Eli Blevins kicked the conversion and the game was tied with 9:16 left in the quarter.

Kylan Blake returned the kickoff to the 49-yard line and the Dragons scored on fourth-and-2 play as Xander Collins burst 43 yards to tie the game with 1:15 to play.

The conversion kick by Josh Hunt was blocked and it was tied 13-13.

After trading punts, Fairland was backed up due to an intentional grounding penalty and Weslyn Ratliff hauled in the punt and returned it 48 yards for the touchdown with just 1:59 to play. The conversion kick was missed.

The Dragons drove to the West 18-yard line. But Smith’s pass bounced into the air as the receiver and defender collided and Zane Evans intercepted for the Senators.

“We just have to clean up a play here or a play there. We work a lot on special teams. We’ll just have to work a little harder,” said Wooten, noting the Dragons blocked two kicks.

West had 296 total yards — all on the ground — as Bishop ran 17 times for 171 yards and had the two touchdowns. Ratliff had 11 carries for 60 yards and Keyser had 51 yards on 6 attempts.

Fairland had 163 total yards including 131 through the air as Smith hit 11 of 23 attempts with an interception.

Collins ran 8 times for 47 yards, Christian Bompus had 6 carries for 23 yards and Smith added 27 yards on 12 rushes.

Collins also had 47 more yards on two catches. Ford Rickard had 43 yards on 5 grabs.

Ports. West 0   0   7   13 = 19

Fairland 0  7   0   6 = 13

Second Quarter

Fa — Aiden Trimble 39 interception return (Yardley Gorby kick) 3:05

Third Quarter

PW — Anthony Bishop 4 run (Eli Blevins kick) 9:16

Fourth Quarter

PW — Anthony Bishop 51 run (kick blocked) 11:48

Fa — Xander Collins 43 pass run (kick blocked) 10:15

PW — Weslyn Ratliff 48 punt return (kick blocked) 1:59

———————

         PW    Fa

First downs  12      8

Rushes-yards 42-296 38-32

Passing yards 0 131

Total yards  296 163

Cmp-Att-Int 0-6-1 11-23-1

Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0

Penalties-yards      8-87 9-81

Punts-average       3-37.3 7-30.6

Time of possession 24:31 23:39

———————

Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Portsmouth West: Anthony Bishop 17-171 2-TD, Carter Keyser 6-51, Braden Adkins 5-10, Weslyn Ratliff 11-60; Fairland: Xander Collins 8-47, Christian Bompus 6-23, Kinyon Smith 12-minus 31, Connor Kazee 1-3.

PASSING—Portsmouth West: Carter Keyser 0-6-1; Fairland: Kinyon Smith 12-27-0 131 TD.

RECEIVING—Portsmouth West: None; Fairland: Ford Rickard 5-43, Kylan Blake 1-4, Maddox VonVille 1-28, Xander Collins 2-47 TD, Braxton Chapman 1-7, Aiden Trimble 1-2.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.