Balanced attack leads 'Burg past Portsmouth, 63-0

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WHEELERSBURG — In their run to the 2025 OHSAA Division V State Championship Game, the Wheelersburg Pirates' defense was, in a word, opportunistic with the amount of takeaways that it forced en route to its first state championship appearance in eight years, owning as large as a plus-25 margin in takeaways following its state semifinal victory over Youngstown Cardinal Mooney.

So it was only fitting that the Pirates started the 2026 season in the same manner.

Rob Woodward's crew scored on each of its first eight offensive drives, turned two of the three takeaways that it forced in Friday's official resumption of its rivalry series against Portsmouth into touchdowns, and posted 549 yards of total offense while holding the Trojans to 142 in Wheelersburg's 63-0 victory over Portsmouth Friday evening at Ed Miller Stadium.

The contest marked the first regular season meeting between the two programs in a decade, when the Pirates and Trojans met on Sept. 9, 2016 in Wheelersburg.

Neither team, with the exception of a 2023 OHSAA Division V Regional Semifinal playoff meeting that the Pirates won by a 34-0 margin, had met since under Friday's contest.

Wheelersburg has now won 27 of the 38 meetings between the two programs since the duo first played one another in 1973. Both programs will be conference rivals for the first time next fall when Portsmouth joins the SOC III in 2027.

With eight different players ultimately being on the passing or receiving end of a touchdown connection or touting the rock for a score, Woodward was happy with the Pirates' readiness in its reps.

It showed in an opening half where Wheelersburg tallied 392 yards en route to ultimately tallying 549 overall for the game on 45 plays.

"We had a lot of guys touch the football from an offensive perspective," Woodward said. "I talked to them at halftime and after the game about how proud I was that so many guys contributed, not just carrying the football, catching the football or throwing the football, but blocking out on the perimeter or out on the line and being able to rotate different guys in and being able to utilize them in different situations."

Newly-minted starting quarterback Jack Doerr showed little rust in his performance on Friday.

The junior multi-sport athlete, who himself isn't shy on moxie, completed 10 out of his 11 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns to three different Wheelersburg players.

Each of Doerr's first nine passes were all successful completions, including a touchdown pass to Jonah Collier for 21 yards that ended the first quarter scoring and a strike to Xavier Miller for 44 yards to being the second quarter scoring as well.

By the time Doerr's second pass went for six, Wheelersburg already held a 28-0 lead with 11:51 to play in the second quarter. Doerr would find Graham Hanes for a strike over the middle that Hanes took down the right side for a 52-yard touchdown, which gave Wheelersburg a 49-0 lead en route to capping the first half scoring and Doerr's play for the evening.

"Jack did a great job (on Friday)," Woodward said. "He really kicked things off with his consistency and his ability to make passes where he needed them to be. He had good reads within the offense. I thought that our running backs ran extremely hard. They had great blocking too, and the backs didn't go down on first contact, so that was great to see."

Doerr's backup, Graer Woodward, went 2-for-2 for 36 yards. Woodward found fellow teammate Lane Williams for a 21-yard strike on fourth-and-12 to push the Pirates' lead to 56-0 after a touchdown run by Woodward on fourth-and-two was called back for holding.

Stephen Hall scored twice on runs of one and seven yards in the opening half, while Logan Whitt added in touchdown totes of five and 20 yards in the first and second halves to account for two touchdown runs himself.

Canaan Arthur was also a standout running the football, and led Wheelersburg with 97 yards on five carries while showing a great blend of power and speed, while Brady Music ran for 54 yards on four handoffs.

"A number of guys touched the football and got what they needed to get done, done," Woodward said. "We took care of the football and didn't turn it over any. That's huge for us. It's great way to start things."

Miller also got things rolling in the right direction himself.

The senior ultimately tallied 134 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns as a result of not only his 44-yard pass reception from Doerr in the second quarter by a 49-yard punt return in the first frame following a Portsmouth three-and-out. Miller also had a 69-yard punt return for a score that was called back due to a block in the back.

Taking over holding duties for the recently graduated Brycen Longfellow, Miller was paramount in helping senior kicker, wide receiver and defensive back Cameron Conn connect on each of his nine extra points for the evening.

Conn, in his first game replacing Wheelersburg standout kicker and Marshall freshman Cooper Heimbach, rounded out a strong special teams performance by tallying a half-dozen touchbacks on the evening on kickoffs.

"We got Gabe back as a regular snapper, but Xavier's been holding and Cameron's been working," Woodward said. "He has a nice, strong leg. I was really impressed with the amount of touchbacks that he had. Cameron really helped us with the field position battle there. That's a stat, for me, that you just love to have, because that starts teams back deep. The kicking game was really spot on. Cameron has been a great addition to us. He was a weapon offensively and defensively tonight."

For Portsmouth, the struggles, considering the numbers situation, were what they were.

The Trojans' new bench boss drew up a playcall on the opening play of the game that appeared to have Portsmouth in serious business as Portsmouth quarterback Cam Williams found fellow senior wideout JJ Henderson on the game's first offensive play for what appeared to be a massive game, as Henderson caught the football on the near side hash and raced inside the Wheelersburg 25.

But as Henderson attempted to fight through several Wheelersburg tacklers, Henderson was stripped of the football. Collier ultimately pounced on the football for Wheelersburg at its own 11.

Hall then capped off a six-play, 89-yard drive with a one-yard plunge into the end zone.

The contest was never the same after that.

"We're low on numbers, and the depth becomes an issue, and you play a team like (Wheelersburg) that's physical, and the bumps, the bruises and the war of attrition starts, and you just start to find out those things and things compound," Sammons said. "Things compound. They finished well. They didn't quit. There's things to work on (Saturday morning). We'll walk through it and get ready for West."

Despite this, Sammons was pleased with how Portsmouth continued to play through matters. Fernando Poxes, who caught four passes for 34 yards, and Mekhi Berry, who caught three passes for 32 markers, were bright spots. So too was freshman wideout Trey Pendleton, who caught a 10-yard pass for a first down during a first half playcall.

Williams ultimately completed 13 of his 23 passes for 139 yards and an interception in the contest.

"None of those guys are quitters," Sammons said of the aforementioned guys. "They are team guys. They want to compete and they love competing, even in these circumstances. It's not a great situation, but it is what it is. There were some bright spots. There were some things that worked well for us. We just couldn't string enough of it together. Hat's off to them. They are a good football team."

Wheelersburg, who held Portsmouth to 142 yards on 39 offensive plays, and just 80 following the opening pass play from Williams to Henderson, was praised by Woodward for how it operated from start to finish.

"Defensively, we were flying around to the football," Woodward said. "We were repping in younger guys and Portsmouth doesn't have the guys to sub in and out of there, so they're still playing the older guys as we get toward the end of things, and they're still playing at a high level. That was good to see."

Four-year guy Austin Pettigrew was among those who was praised by Woodward for his work ethic and readiness.

Just 5-4 and 135 pounds as a freshman in 2023, Pettigrew, a guy lauded for taking every scout team repetition in practice as a senior, got his reward.

The senior, who is now 5-7, took a carry for an eight yard gain offensively and intercepted Williams' last pass of the night defensively to cap off the Wheelersburg shutout.

"Austin Pettigrew is a true testament to the fact that if you work hard, continue to do things right, and when an opportunity presents itself, you make the most of the opportunity, good things happen," Woodward said, his voice rising in pitch as he spoke. "For it to happen, for him, on Friday, was incredible. He reps in every scout play. He reps in everything just trying to get himself ready for an opportunity. He knows he's undersized, but he loves the game, and he's going to be in a backup role. He works every day and he works hard. He's simply a testament that if you do things right, good things happen."

Both the Pirates and Trojans face significant challenges for Week 2 as Wheelersburg faces a Chillicothe team led by standout junior running back Cartae Ligon, who has more than two dozen NCAA Division I scholarship offers, while Portsmouth faces West, a 19-13 winner over Fairland. The Trojans, however, have defeated the Senators each of the past two seasons.

"We've got to be hitting on all cylinders when we face them," Woodward said of Chillicothe. "We're going to their place. I'm sure they will be jacked up and ready to play us. We've just got to swarm. We've got to swarm. They've got a good running back. We've got to swarm defensively and work to get 11 hats to the football. That's something we'll be focusing on all week."

"We just got to keep going," Sammons said of Friday's result, "and reload."

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