Central Hangs On To Beat Bellaire
Watkins, Ferrera Run Knights to Victory Over Visiting Big Reds
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WHEELING -- Riley Watkins ran for 182 yards and two touchdowns, Braden McWreath caught a 35-yard go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter and the Wheeling Central Maroon Knights hung on to beat Bellaire 26-20 in front of a capacity crowd at Bishop Schmitt Field.
Central moves to a perfect 3-0 on the year while Bellaire falls to a deceptive 1-3.
"This is a tribute to our seniors, they did an unbelievable job," Central coach Mike Young said after the game. "This is a great win for us, this puts us on the right track we want to be on to get to the postseason."
The Knights received exceptional play from their two senior tailbacks Watkins and Lorenzo Ferrera. Watkins carried the ball 23 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns while Ferrera had 20 totes for 143 yards and a score of his own.
"It's a two-headed monster," Young said. "(Watkins) and Lorenzo are two of the best running backs in the state of West Virginia from single-A."
Ferrera ran for 206 yards and four scores in Central's win last week and got off to another hot start Friday. On the Knights' second drive of the game, Ferrera ran for 33 yards on the first play and capped it with a 55-yard touchdown score.
That was Ferrera's last long run of the night, however, as the Big Reds started to key in on him on every play. All that did, unfortunately for the visitors, was leave Watkins with copious amounts of running room.
"They're going to key on a great player like Lorenzo, but when you have depth and you have talent, it doesn't matter," Watkins said. "We're really confident because we have a really good (offensive) line. And not only that, we have a talented and experienced coaching staff and what that did was just open up holes."
Bellaire opened the game well, forcing a Central three-and-out and then marching down the field for a touchdown with an 11-play drive that ended with a Brayden Roth one-yard score. Central missed the extra-point on Ferrera's long touchdown and trailed 7-6.
Following a Bellaire turnover on downs, Watkins found the endzone on a 31-yard jaunt on the final play of the first quarter and the Knights took a 13-6 lead.
Big Reds quarterback Jake Heatherington later found Terrin Frazier on a dazzling throw while running to his left for a 26-yard touchdown, but the point-after was blocked, leading to a 13-13 tie.
Watkins next scored on a five-yard run but the kick was blocked again leading to a 19-13 Knight lead at the half.
Bellaire opened the second half just like it did the first, with a lengthy 12-play drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown run by Drew White for a slim 20-19 advantage.
Central responded with a lengthy drive of its own, but quarterback Payton Hildebrand was intercepted in the endzone by Bellaire's Jakob Dowling to end the threat.
That's when Central's defense came to life. The Knights forced a Bellaire three-and-out, giving their offense the ball back at their own 41-yard line with the chance to take the lead.
With Ferrera and Watkins both over 100 yard rushing at that point, the Big Reds were crowding the line of scrimmage trying to stop them. Hildebrand took full advantage of that, however, as he threw a ball 35 yards to a wide-open McWreath in the endzone to retake the lead.
"They're going to key on me and Zo and what that does is, they're going to come up and press the run," Watkins explained. "We're a run-heavy team, but what that does is they're going to come up and stack the box and it lets McWreath get open."
The Maroon Knight defense forced another Bellaire punt on the next series thanks in part to a sack of Heatherington by Deante Suggs. Central took over at its own nine-yard line looking to chew up as much of the remaining seven minutes as possible.
It looked like they weren't going to take nearly any time off when the Knights faced a third and 18 from their own 28.
Content to squeeze as much time off as possible, Central went with a direct snap to Watkins, who found a huge hole on the right side and ran for 21 yards and a fresh set of downs.
"It was huge to get that play and for Riley to get that first down," Young said. "I can't say enough how hard he ran on that play."
"That's a credit to my line," Watkins said. "Coming into this game we told them 'you guys are going to have to bury somebody.' And that's what they did, they buried every guy and I just kind of ran. I ran until I got tackled and that's a credit to the line. Our line did an amazing job."
Ferrera later converted a third and five to keep the drive moving and Bellaire did not touch the ball again until there were only 16 second left on the clock. On the Big Reds' final play, Heatherington fumbled the ball while trying to throw and the clock showed triple-zeroes on one of the most evenly-played games the Ohio Valley will see this season.
"Credit to (Bellaire) coach (Mark) Bonar and his staff, they had their kids ready," Young said. "There were a lot of good hits and a lot of good tackling and I'm just glad we were able to run the clock out towards the end."
Central finished with 327 rushing yards as a team with Ferrera and Watkins accounting for all but two of those yards. Hildebrand completed four-of-eight pass attempts for 105 yards with a touchdown and an interception. McWreath caught two passes for 87 yards and the winning score.
Bonar was not happy with how his team played down the stretch.
"We're getting no better and we aren't making a play," Bonar said. "The coaches are terrible. I'm not blaming the kids, it's the coaches."
The first-year coach declined to make any further comments.
The Big Reds certainly had their chances to win the game. Twice in the second half Bellaire's offense got the ball with the chance to put a drive together and take the lead. Both instances ended with a punt.
Bellaire also came up empty on a golden opportunity to end the first half. On two straight plays from inside the redzone, Bellaire receivers dropped passes that would have been sure touchdowns and at least tied the game at the half.
Heatherington finished 11-of-25 for 149 yards and a score. Big play threat RayRay Pettigrew was mostly kept in check as he caught five passes for 45 yards and ran three times for 30. Roth ran 16 times for 77 yards and a score while White supplemented the rushing attack with 31 yards and his own touchdown.
"They're a good team, they've lost to three good teams and three quality programs," Young said of Bellaire. "Bellaire's going to win some games for sure."
The Big Reds will try again next week with a trip to Cambridge. Wheeling Central will travel to play Shadyside.
Wheeling Central 26,
Bellaire 20
Bellaire 7 6 7 0 -- 20
WC 13 6 0 7 -- 26
B -- Roth run 1 (Heatherington kick)
WC -- Ferrera run 55 (kick miss)
WC -- Watkins run 31 (Tucker kick)
B -- Frazier pass 26 from Heatherington (kick blocked)
WC -- Watkins run 5 (kick blocked)
B -- White run 1 (Heatherington kick)
WC -- McWreath pass 35 from Hildebrand (Tucker kick)
RUSHING: Bellaire 33-155-2td (Roth 16-77-td; R. Pettigrew 3-30; White 8-31-td; Heatherington 5-9; Nauman 1-8). Wheeling Central 47-327-3td (Ferrera 20-143-td; Watkins 23-182-2td; McWreath 1-3; Martin 2-5; Hildebrand 1-(-6)).
PASSING: Bellaire 11-24 149-td (all Heatherington). Wheeling Central 4-8 105-td-int (all Hildebrand).
RECEIVING: Bellaire 11-149-td (R. Pettigrew 5-45; Dowling 1-29; Frazier 3-69-td; M. Pettigrew 2-6). Wheeling Central 4-105 (Ferrera 2-18; McWreath 2-87-td).
FIRST DOWNS: Bellaire 20. Wheeling Central 19.
FUMBLES: Bellaire 2-0. Wheeling Central 1-0.
PENALTIES: Bellaire 4-25. Wheeling Central 7-80.