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Shadyside Dominates In Return Of Playoff Football To Fleming Field

By NICK HENTHORN 5 min read

SHADYSIDE -- Friday marked the return of playoff football to Fleming Field for the first time since 2021, and what a return it was.

No. 5 Shadyside dispatched No. 12 South Gallia 41-6 before their home crowd to advance in the OHSAA Division VII Region 27 tournament.

"It feels great," Shadyside head coach Mike Kernik said after the game. "I’m so happy for our kids. They have worked their butts off all year. This is one of their huge goals. Get to the postseason-- deserve to be in the postseason-- and for them to perform and come out and do what they did tonight, I couldn’t be happier for them. I’m just so proud of them."

The Tigers-- who donned their old-school 'Shadyside Casketmakers' jerseys Friday for the second time this season, the other a victory over Southern on Aug. 28-- enjoyed an explosive offense which produced six plays of 30+ yards, and a stifling defense which held the run-first Rebels to 175 yards on 39 totes.

Shadyside started fast on Friday. On just the second play of the game, running back Colt Cook took a carry, applied a stiff arm to the first defender he'd meet, then wrapped around the edge and up the sideline for a 61-yard touchdown run which had the Tigers off and running on their home field.

"Huge," Kernik said of the play. "That gives you all kinds of momentum. He’s been a great runner for us all year. We got behind that and just continued through the whole game. I’m proud of him."

The Tigers regained possession just before quarter's end after Bryce Sloan corralled a tip-drill interception to put his team's offense back on the field on their own 45 yard-line with one second left in the quarter.

Shadyside made the most of that second-- quarterback Jayden Johnson launching a 54-yard pass that Michael Hendershot reeled in at the goalline, spotted down at the one yard-line.

Kolton Wallace punched in the score on the first play of the second quarter.

Johnson's long toss to Hendershot was his longest pass of the game, but the senior also hooked up with Logan Cather for a pair of touchdowns in Friday's game-- a 51-yard throw down the sideline where Cather was impossibly wide open, and a 33-yard throw into the end zone where the exact opposite was true; blanketed by a defender, Cather had to make a leaping contested grab for the score.

Johnson ended with 153 yards passing and his pair of touchdown throws, completing six of seven pass attempts. The duel threat also ran for 51 yards.

"We’ve leaned on his running a lot this year, leaned on that the whole year," Kernik said of his quarterback. "But when you’re able to spread things out and spread the defense out and back them up, that opens the run even more. Throwing the ball like we did tonight is going to open up the run even more."

Cather's first touchdown reception was set up by a fumbled South Gallia kickoff return, recovered by Colt Cook. The score made it a 21-0 ballgame, and Cook rushed 11 yards to the pylon a few minutes later to bring the score to 27-0.

South Gallia scored their lone touchdown of the game next, a nine-yard run by Lincoln Saber with two minutes 'till halftime.

"They did okay," Kernik said of his team's run defense. "A lot of times it’s tough against that misdirection, the way they’re doing it. You got to read your guards. You got to stay home. You got to stay disciplined. It’s tough to do that but the score shows we did a pretty good job of holding them. Some things we got to tighten up on, but I’m proud of them."

Dario DeFelice and Dom Forgacs both had multiple TFLs on defense for Shadyside.

Shadyside wasn't done scoring in the first half though, with Ace Nelson returning the ensuing kickoff all the way down to the Rebels' 10 yard-line.

Wallace finished the short drive with his second one-yard touchdown run of the game.

Cather's 33-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter was the lone score of the second half.

The return of playoff football to Shadyside meant a lot to Kernik and his team.

"Last night we had a parade, we had a pep rally up here," Kernik said. "It was an hour-long thing and it was wonderful. The whole town came out. The whole loop was filled with everybody in the community, people sitting in the bleachers, just a great atmosphere. And it just adds to everything that goes on in this town.

"I’m so proud of our entire town. I’m proud of our kids. I’m just happy."

Shadyside will move on to the next round, where they will travel to face No. 4 Reedsville Eastern next Friday.

Shadyside 41, South Gallia 6

South Gall 0 6 0 0 - 6

Shadyside 7 27 7 0 - 41

S-Cook 61 run (Ramsay kick)

S-Wallace 1 run (Ramsay kick)

S-Cather 51 pass from Johnson (Ramsay kick)

S-Cook 11 run (kick missed)

SG-Saber 9 run (run failed)

S-Wallace 1 run (Ramsay kick)

S-Cather 33 pass from Johnson (Ramsay kick)

RUSHING: Shadyside 24-237-4tds (Johnson 10-51; Cook 6-116-2tds; Allensworth 5-61; Wallace 2-2-2tds; Ongley 1-10). South Gallia 39-175-1td (Mooney 11-52; Swindler 11-45; Sanders 10-52; Saber 3-14-1td; Frazee 2-4; Stover 1-7; Sizemore 1-1).

PASSING: Shadyside 9-11-193-2tds (Johnson 6-7-153-2tds; Ongley 3-4-40). South Gallia 2-8-51-1int (all by Clary).

RECEIVING: Shadyside 9-193-2tds (Cather 3-93-2tds; Hendershot 2-50; Sloan 2-19; Dobson 1-18; Klug 1-16; Ongley 1-(-1)). South Gallia 2-51 (Frazee 1-27; Stover 1-24).

FIRST DOWNS: Shadyside 15, South Gallia 11

PENALTIES: Shadyside 5-50; South Gallia 10-84

FUMBLES: Shadyside 0-0; South Gallia 2-2

Starting at /week.