Fumbles doom Blue Devils homecoming against Pack

It’s no secret that the Ridgeview Wolfpack have one of the most explosive offenses in all of the Coalfield Sports coverage area.  What many folks are now realizing is that the Pack also have a pesky defense.  A week after causing four turnovers against the Lee High Generals, the Pack were able to create four more against the Gate City Blue Devils on Friday night.  The Pack came out of Gate City with a 35-7 victory on homecoming night at Legion Field.

The Wolfpack didn’t take long to get on the scoreboard in hostile territory.  Matthew Sexton bulldozed his way to the first points of the night.  The little engine that could was seemingly shut down for no gain. However, Sexton somehow kept chugging through a pack of Blue Devils to scamper 41 yards to the end zone.  Joe Meggison’s extra point saw the Pack take a 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.

The Devils would commit their first turnover of the evening on the ensuing possession.  Quarterback Jon Sallee fumbled the ball away.  The Wolfpack could not capitalize on the turnover however and had to punt the ball away.  The Blue Devils coughed up the football again on the possession, as running back Luke Reed gave the ball away on their own 24 yard line.  The Pack would make the Devils pay a short time later as Trenton Adkins found the endzone on a three yard carry.  With 2:14 left in the first quarter, it was Wolfpack 14, Blue Devils 0.

For the remainder of the first quarter and early second quarter, the Blue Devils began to move the football behind Reed on the ground.  The Devils would march into Wolfpack territory before turning the ball over on downs at the 40 yard line.  The Pack got on the scoreboard again with a little over six minutes remaining in the first half. This time it was quarterback Tyler O’Quin making a house call on a 25 yard scramble.

The Devils proceeded to have their best drive of the night on the following possession.  However, the ball handling skills of the team in blue would rear its ugly head again.  This time, the ball was coughed up inside the Wolfpack five yard line and recovered by CoalfieldSports.com week five defensive player of the week, Carson Sykes.  At the half, the Pack were in control 21-0.

Both offenses struggled to put anything together in the third quarter.  It wasn’t until the final two minutes of the stanza that the Pack got on the board again.  Adkins scored his second on the night carrying the ball 24 yards right up the gut of the Devil defense.  Through three quarters, the Wolfpack had things well in hand at 28-0.

Adkins would add the hat trick on his third touchdown of the evening with 10:08 remaining on a two yard plunge.  The Devils would avoid the shutout with less than two minutes remaining as Reed would score from three yards out to provide the final margin at 35-7. Leading the way for the Pack was Trenton Adkins who had 198 yards rushing with three scores.  Matthew Sexton supported the Ridgeview ground game with 63 yards on four carries with one touchdown.  Luke Reed was the shining light for the Blue Devil offense on a night in which many things went wrong.  Reed went over the century mark on the ground in the loss.

The Wolfpack head into a much needed bye week at 6-0 for the first time in school history.  The Pack are two wins away from an undefeated conference slate and the first district football championship in the young history of the program.  The struggling Devils will continue to look for answers as they go on the road to face Marion this Friday.  The Pack host John Battle for senior night on October 12 for the final home game of the 2018 regular season.

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