COAL GROVE — A ground-and-pound football game turned into a shootout on the scoreboard — as the Coal Grove Hornets defeated visiting Valley 50-34 in a week-two non-league contest on Friday night at Coal Grove’s Patterson Field.

Holding a 28-27 lead entering the fourth quarter, Coal Grove (2-0) outscored Valley 22-7 in the final period to earn the 16-point victory.

The Hornets and Indians combined for 635 yards on the ground in the game — 376 for Coal Grove and 259 for Valley.

Coal Grove’s Chase Hall was the game’s leading rusher, carrying the ball 31 times for 216 yards and five touchdowns in the win.

Steven Simpson also crossed the 100-yard mark for the Hornets, totaling 116 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown.

Valley freshman Gabe McNeil ran for 141 yards on eight carries with a touchdown as the Indians’ leading ballcarrier.

Valley senior quarterback George Arnett threw for 225 yards and a touchdown, while running for 102 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the contest.

One of McNeil’s runs was a 61-yard TD dash, which with Colton Buckle’s second extra-point kick of the opening half, made it 20-14 in favor of the Hornets at halftime.

The Indians’ largest leads, though, were only one-point edges —at 7-6 and 21-20.

Valley’s Jaekyn Ridout returned a kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown to make it 44-34 with three minutes and 40 seconds remaining, but Simpson responded 43 seconds later with 45-yard run to make it 50-34.

The Hornets, thanks to Hall’s third two-point conversion run, held their largest lead at 44-27 —with four minutes to go.

Buckle booted four of five extra-point kicks for Valley, as his only miss was actually blocked —following a 49-yard touchdown connection between Arnett and Ridout with 3:49 left in the third.

That made it 28-27, but 16 straight Coal Grove fourth-quarter points put some separation between the Hornets and their guests.

Both teams punted only once, but the Hornets held a 2-1 advantage in total time of possession.

Valley (0-2) will travel to Piketon in week three, seeking its first win of the season.

* * *

Valley 7 7 13 7 — 34

Coal Grove 12 8 8 22 —50

CG — Chase Hall, 1-yard run (kick failed), 7:14, 1st (6-0 CG)

V — George Arnett, 4-yard run (Colton Buckle kick), 3:26, 1st (7-6 V)

CG — Gavin Gipson, 30-yard pass from Whyatt Mannon (run failed), :26, 1st (12-7 CG)

CG – Chase Hall, 16-yard run (Chase Hall run), 3:33, 2nd (20-7 CG)

V — Gabe McNeil, 61-yard run (Colton Buckle kick), 2:27, 2nd (20-14 CG)

V — George Arnett, 1-yard run (Colton Buckle kick), 8:08, 3rd (21-20 V)

CG — Chase Hall, 7-yard run (Chase Hall run), 4:49, 3rd (28-21 CG)

V — Jaekyn Ridout, 49-yard pass from George Arnett (kick blocked), 3:49, 3rd (28-27 CG)

CG — Chase Hall, 6-yard run (Kaden Murphy run), 10:09, 4th (36-27 CG)

CG — Chase Hall, 18-yard run (Chase Hall run), 3:56, 4th (44-27 CG)

V — Jaekyn Ridout, 86-yard kickoff return (Colton Buckle kick), 3:40, 4th (44-34 CG)

CG — Steven Simpson, 45 -yard run (pass failed), 2:57, 4th (50-34 CG)

——

Team Statistics

V CG

First downs 24 26

Scrimmage plays 55 58

Rushes-yards 30-259 54-376

Passing yards 225 94

Total yards 484 470

Cmp-Att-Int. 16-25-1 4-4-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 7-45 3-18

Punts-Ave. 1-48 1-42

——

Individual Leaders

RUSHING —Valley: George Arnett 16-102 2TD, Gabe McNeil 8-141 TD, Colton Buckle 6-16; Coal Grove: Chase Hall 31-216 5TD, Steve Simpson 13-116 TD, Kaden Murphy 6-48, Gavin Gipson 2-6, Whyatt Mannon 1-(-7), Team 1-(-3)

PASSING — Valley: George Arnett 16-25-1-225 TD; Coal Grove: Whyatt Mannon 4-4-0-94 TD

RECEIVING —Valley: Hunter Edwards 3-70, Jaekyn Ridout 3-59 TD, Colton Buckle 5-44, Carter Nickel 3-18, Gabe McNeil 2-34; Coal Grove: Gavin Gipson 3-90 TD, Kaden Murphy 1-4

© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved