Pirates make KIPP walk the plank in opener

COLUMBUS — There's three phases in football you must be good at: offense, defense, and special teams.

For the Wheelersburg Pirates, they had them all covered, as they controlled all three phases and rolled to an opening night win over the KIPP Columbus Jaguars 43-8 on Friday.

The Pirates had seven different running backs carry the ball to the tune of 210 yards on the ground and accounted for 4 touchdowns, two of which came from senior Elijah Brown.

Defensively, the Pirates turned in a solid performance, coming up with 3 interceptions and limiting the KIPP offense to 168 total yards for the game.

As expected, the Pirates controlled the special teams play thanks to the leg of Cooper Heimbach, who nailed two long-range field goals and his kickoffs gave KIPP less than ideal starting position to begin drives.

The Pirate defense came up with the first big play of the game, as Brady Doss read a middle screen to the back and picked the pass off, setting offense up at the KIPP 43.

Wheelersburg (1-0) capitalized on the turnover with a x-play drive that culminated with Brown negotiating the final 4 yards for the score. Heimbach added the extra point to give the Pirates a 7-0 lead.

The defense forced a three-and-out on the Jaguars ensuing possession, setting up a punt by KIPP.

On the snap, the ball sailed over the punters' head and through the end zone for a safety, giving the Pirates a 9-0 lead and the ball on the free kick.

But the offense couldn't take advantage of the extra possession, and was forced to punt.

Early in the second and facing a 1st-and-18 situation after a holding penalty, Braylon Rucker hit Doss on a play-action pass for 16 yards. Then Rucker followed that up with a 13-yard pitch-and-catch to Kenyon Evans to set the Pirates up with first and goal.

Two plays later, Brown scored his second rushing touchdown on a cutback to the far sideline. Heimbach's extra point made the score 16-0 with 8:16 remaining in the second.

Just before halftime, KIPP (0-1) put together its best drive of the game as quarterback Timothy Jemison used both his arm and feet to lead the Jaguars to their first score.

Jemison ripped off consecutive runs 10 and 11-yards on scramble plays. Then 2 plays later, he hit Jaysen Quartey for 20-yards down to the 3 yard line.

Teshun Bosley scored on the next play. Jemison hit Malachi Anderson for the 2-point conversion pass to cut the deficit to 16-8 with 33 seconds before halftime.

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The Pirates successfully ran a 2-minute offense drill, setting up a 45-yard field goal by Heimbach to give the Pirates a 19-8 lead at the break.

Heimbach added a second field goal to begin the second half, this time the senior drilled it from 53-yards out to extend the lead to 22-8.

The Pirate special teams got into the act in an unconventional way later in the third. As an errant snap forced KIPP's punter to roll to his bench and let a desperation pass fly. But Landon McGraw was playing centerfield and intercepted the pass at the KIPP 42 and returned it to the 18.

Four plays later, Rucker threw his first passing touchdown of the season, on an 11-yard toss to Doss on a crossing pattern for the score. Heimbach's extra point split the sticks to make it 29-8.

After a fourth down stop by the defense, the Pirates punched in again, this time Stephen Hall barreled in from 5 yards out with 1:24 remaining in the third. Heimbach added another PAT to make it 36-8.

In the fourth, the scoring was capped off by a 1-yard run by Owen Wilburn to make it 43-8. Wilburn set his score up by following his blockers on a handoff and racing 50-yards to the 6.

Rucker finished the night completing 9 of his 14 passes for 105 yards to go along with his score. He also ran 8 times for 48 yards. Wilburn led all rushers with his 61 yards. Evans led the Pirates in receiving with 3 catches for 34 yards.

The Pirates will be at home next Friday against Cincinnati McNicholas.

Wheelersburg 9 10 17 7 = 43

KIPP 0 8 0 0 = 8

First Quarter

Wh — Ejliah Brown 4 run (Cooper Heimbach kick), 5:31.

Wh — Safety (bad snap and ball out of the end zone), 3:36.

Second Quarter

Wh — Ejliah Brown 10 run (Cooper Heimbach kick), 8:16.

KIPP — Teshun Bosley 3 run (Timothy Jemison to Malachi Anderson), 0:33.

Wh — Cooper Heimbach 45 field goal, 0:00.

Third Quarter

Wh — Cooper Heimbach 53 field goal, 8:01.

Wh — Braylon Rucker 11 pass to Brady Doss (Cooper Heimbach kick), 4:40.

Wh — Stephen Hall 5 run (Cooper Heimbach kick), 1:24.

Fourth Quarter

Wh — Owen Wilburn 1 run (Cooper Heimbach kick), 10:00.

———————

Wh KIPP

First downs 20 12

Rushes-yards 31-210 18-17

Passing yards 105 151

Total yards 315 168

Cmp-Att-Int 9-15-0 19-32-3

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 6-61 11-71

Time of Possession 20:06 23:12

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING — Wheelersburg: Owen Wilburn 2-61 TD, Braylon Rucker 8-48, Brady Music 3-36, Elijah Brown 10-31 2TD, Stephen Hall 5-22 TD, Cannan Arthur 2-12, Xavier Miller 1-0; KIPP: Jethro Mansa 6-21, Teshun Bosley 2-11, Timothy Jemison 10-minus 15.

PASSING — Wheelersburg: Braylon Rucker 9-14-0 105 TD, Cooper Heimbach 0-1-0 0; KIPP: Timothy Jemison 19-31-2 154, Teshun Bosley 0-1-1 0 .

RECEIVING — Wheelersburg: Kenyon Evans 3-34, Brady Doss 2-32 TD, Hunter Bivens 2-25, Xavier Miller 1-12, Jay King 1-2; KIPP: Jaysen Quartey 8-59, Malachi Anderson 3-57, Michale Earnest 5-23, Jethro Mansa 1-7, Kevin Hill 1-5.