Pirates can't capitalize on chances, fall to Ironmen

WHEELERSBURG — Potential scoring drives were at a premium on Friday. Only a few were executed and ended in points.

Unfortunately for the Wheelersburg Pirates, they were only able to capitalize on their opportunities once while the Jackson Ironmen executed twice in a hard-fought 14-3 win.

The defenses dominated as Wheelersburg had 143 total yards with just 57 rushing and 86 passing while Jackson ran for 202 yards and a meager 10 yards passing.

After forcing a Jackson punt to start the game, Wheelersburg drove to the 7-yard line. But a couple of false start penalties stalled the drive and forced Cameron Conn to kick a 24-yard field goal with just 1:21 on the first quarter clock.

In the second quarter, a failed fake punt pass attempt on fourth down by the Pirates gave Jackson the ball at the Wheelersburg 48-yard line.

Jackson (2-1) drove deep into Pirates’ territory and C.J. Crabtree hit Hunter Long with a 10-yard scoring pass that capped the 9-play drive and gave the Ironmen the lead for good with 7:42 left in the half. Tanner Jenkins kicked the conversion and it was 7-3.

The pass to Long was the only Jackson pass completion.

The Pirates (1-2) had a drive in the third quarter that spilled into the fourth quarter only to stall early in the quarter. The Pirates attempted a 45-yard field goal by Conn that had the distance but sailed to the right.

With the ball at the 20-yard line, Jackson put together a time consuming 12-play scoring drive in the fourth quarter that ended on a 5-yard run by Israel Schindler. Jenkins kicked the point after and it was 14-3 with 5:00 to play.

Wheelersburg got the ball at its own 38-yard line, but sacks by Tate Rosler and Dyllon Ross created a fourth down and long. The Pirates final attempt to get the first down failed and Jackson took over the ball at the Wheelersburg 45-yard line.

The Ironmen drove to the 11-yard line with under a minute to play and then just ran out the clock.

Ashton Seymour ran 15 times for 74 yards, Schindler 10 times for 73 yards and a touchdown, and Rosler had 13 carries for 51 yards to pace the Jackson ground game.

Pirates’ quarterback Jack Doerr was 12of 14 but just 86 yards. Canaan Arthur was the top rusher with 27 yards on 5 attempts. Conn caught 3 passes for 41 yards.

Next Friday, Wheelersburg visits Northwest in a Southern Ohio Conference game while Jackson will host Western Brown.

Jackson 0 7 0 7 = 14

Wheelersburg 3 0 0 0 = 3

First Quarter

Wh — Cameron Conn 24 field goal, 1:21

Second Quarter

Ja — Hunter Long 10 pass from C.J. Crabtree (Tanner Jenkins kick) 7:42

Fourth Quarter

Ja — Israel Schindler 5 run (Tanner Jenkins kick) 5:00

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            Jax Wh

Rushes-yards 45-202 22-57

Passing yards 10 86

Total yards 212 143

Cmp-Att-Int 1-2-0 12-14-0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Jackson: Ashton Seymour 15-74, Israel Schindler 10-73 TD, Tate Rosler 13-51, Hunter Long 2-4, Eli Crabtree 5-0; Wheelersburg: Canaan Arthur 5-27, Brady Music 3-15, Stephen Hall 7-13, Cameron Conn 2-9, Jack Doerr 4-minus 3, Xavier Miller 1-minus 4.

PASSING—Jackson: Eli Crabtree 1-2-0 10 TD; Wheelersburg: Jack Doerr 12-14-0 86, Cameron Conn 0-1-0.

RECEIVING—Jackson: Hunter Long 1-10 TD; Wheelersburg: Cameron Conn 3-41 Xavier Miller 6-24, Brycen Montavon 1-11, Stephen Hall 1-7, Brady Music 1-3.

MISSED FIELD GOAL—Cameron Conn, Wheelersburg, 45 (WR).