Pirates play a shutout: ‘Burg defeats Minford, 42-0

Sep. 26—WHEELERSBURG — The Wheelersburg Pirates defended their home turf at Ed Miller Stadium in their Southern Ohio Conference Division II opener on Friday night — to the tune of a 42-0 shutout win over visiting Minford.

The victory gives the Pirates their 14th-straight win over Minford, and improves their overall record in the series to 62-6.

It took Wheelersburg just two plays on their first offensive series to find the end zone.

Senior Eric Lattimore took a handoff from senior quarterback Eli Jones 54 yards to the end zone to give ‘Burg a 7-0 lead with 9:16 left in the first quarter, following Connor Estep’s made extra point.

From there, it was all Pirates.

Wheelersburg coach Rob Woodward said a great week of practice and preparation for a Minford team averaging 34 points per game entering the contest helped set the tone for the shutout.

“We had a great week of preparation this week, cleaning up some things and mistakes from last week. When you play good, quality opponents, it gives you some areas you want to focus on and get better at. We did that through the week, it made for a great week of practice,” Woodward said. “Come out and we were able to execute like we did.”

In total, the Wheelersburg defense allowed just 88 total yards and five first downs to the Minford offense.

Nine of Minford’s 10 offensive drives ended with a punt — with their series just before halftime ending in a turnover on downs.

“Last week was the most undisciplined we’ve been alignment-wise defensively in certain situations. Our coaching staff did a great job of telling guys where they need to be. Best alignment we’ve had all season, and that transitions to a shutout and stopping what we felt was an explosive offense,” Woodward said.

The Pirates scored on each of their first three offensive series’ to start the game, and added another touchdown just before halftime to take a 28-0 lead into the break.

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Ethan Glover took carries of five and eight yards into the end zone following Eric Lattimore’s initial score, putting ‘Burg up 21-0 by the 11:32 mark of the second period.

Senior running back Derrick Lattimore found the end zone with 2:25 remaining in the second — on a 21-yard run which gave his Pirates a four-touchdown lead.

On the first drive of the second half, Wheelersburg needed just five plays to go 57 yards and find paydirt again — as Derrick Lattimore punched it in the end zone with a nine-yard run to put the Pirates ahead 35-0.

Eric Lattimore wasn’t done with his explosive plays after the game’s first score.

With 5:40 left in the third quarter, Lattimore took a Minford punt and made several Falcon players miss — going 75 yards for a touchdown to expand the Pirates’ lead to 42-0.

“Continued to be high energy, explosive plays that we were able to capitalize in some situations. It takes 11 guys out there. I felt like every aspect of our game was being executed at the highest level that we have this year,” Woodward said. “The misdirection that Coach (Dusty) Salyers is able to implement in our offense, able to incorporate more of our passing game. More things we want to continue developing, growing, and getting better at each week.”

With the victory, Wheelersburg improves to 4-2 — and will host Oak Hill (1-5, 0-1 SOC II) in week seven at Ed Miller Stadium.

Minford falls to 4-2, and will host West (5-1, 1-0 SOC II) in its SOC II home opener this week.

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BOX SCORE

Minford 0 0 0 0 — 0

Wheelersburg 14 14 14 0 — 42

Scoring plays

W — Eric Lattimore, 54-yard run (Connor Estep PAT good); 7-0 W 9:16 1Q

W — Ethan Glover, 5-yard run (Connor Estep PAT good); 14-0 W 4:48 1Q

W — Ethan Glover, 8-yard run (Connor Estep PAT good); 21-0 W 11:32 2Q

W — Derrick Lattimore, 21-yard run (Connor Estep PAT good); 28-0 W 2:25 2Q

W — Derrick Lattimore, 9-yard run (Connor Estep PAT good); 35-0 W 10:02 3Q

W — Eric Lattimore, 75-yard punt return (Connor Estep PAT good); 42-0 W 5:40 3Q

Team Stats

Minford

Wheelersburg

Plays

39

42

Yards (Pass-Rush)

88 (51-37)

388 (87-301)

First Downs

5

18

Turnovers

0

0

Penalties

3 for 15 yards

3 for 38 yards

Time of Possession

25:17

22:43

Individual stats

Passing: Peyton Caudill (M) 6-14 51; Eli Jones (W) 9-11 79 yards, Braylon Rucker (W) 1-2 8 yards

Rushing: Jeffrey Pica (M) 15-40, Peyton Caudill (M) 4-(-15), Tyson Kingery (M) 6-12; Derrick Lattimore (W) 8-60 2TD, Ethan Glover (W) 5-48 2TD, Eli Jones (W) 9-35, Eric Lattimore (W) 2-60 TD, Creed Warren (W) 3-58, Kenyon Evans (W) 1-3, Braylon Rucker (W) 1-37, Elijah Brown (W) 2-0

Receiving: J.D. Matiz (M) 1-5, Mason Book (M) 1-4, Tyson Kingery (M) 1-8, Jackson Shoemaker (M) 3-34; Kenyon Evans (W) 1-6, Creed Warren (W) 4-31, Landon McGraw (W) 2-11, Ethan Glover (W) 1-5, Eric Lattimore (W) 3-35

Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at jsmith@aimmediamidwest.com, or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved