Prep Football: Good To The Last Drop

Three straight weeks at Taylor Field, three straight wins for Harrisburg. The Bulldogs opened SIRR Ohio play Friday night with a 43-13 home win over West Frankfort which gave the club its third consecutive win since suffering a season opening setback at Mount Carmel. The victory also gave HHS its eighth straight win in the series against the Redbirds (0-4, 0-1).

Senior Tylor Marler continued his fast pace to the season on the ground, racking up 200 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Marler even provided some fireworks on special teams with a 92-yard kickoff return for a score.

"I was really happy we came out and jumped on them early," said Harrisburg coach Al Way. "That's something we haven't been doing. We've always done something to stop ourselves, sputter, so to get that 14-point lead was big."

West Frankfort quarterback Hunter Pulley pulled the Redbirds to within a touchdown at 14-6 with his one-yard scamper midway though the second quarter before Marler answered with his return score.

A little over three minutes later, HHS added to its advantage when kicker Reece Owen booted a 21-yard field goal which gave the Bulldogs (3-1, 1-0) a 23-6 lead heading into halftime.

"Overall our execution was decent. We had two straight series at the end of the half where we could've scored," said Way. "So we kind of sputtered for two series there where we maybe could've gotten two more touchdowns. But we got a field goal out of one of those drives, but overall I'm happy. We got a good team effort."

Out of the break, fullback Kane Carrigan was able to get in on the fun with a pair of second half rushing touchdowns from 19 and five yards, respectively.

Senior Aaron Stephens also added a fourth quarter run from 20 yards out.

Carrigan finished with 37 yards on seven touches while Stephens ran four times for 21 yards. HHS accumulated just shy of 300 yards on the ground against a Redbird defense that sometimes put 10 or all 11 defenders in the box.

Bulldog quarterback Noah Vallette completed three passes to three different receivers and finished with 66 yards through the air.

"When teams do different things against you, you have to adjust and we threw it well enough that we hurt them, but I thought Noah threw the ball well. I was really unhappy with our series in the spread, but for the most part, we executed fairly well."

Jason Speaks caught four balls for 47 yards for Frankfort. Pulley passed for 83 yards and ran for 53 more.

Defensively, Harrisburg again won the turnover battle, thanks to fumble recoveries from Jordan Gould and Blake Drue.

After the conference opening win on Cancer Awareness and Pink Out Night, Harrisburg hits the road for two straight, including in Week 5 at Massac County.

"You have to win the games you are supposed to win," said Way. "If we are going to have a winning season, you have to win those games because we know the big guys are down the line. We know Herrin and Murphysboro, and we've got to go to Benton and to Carbondale so you have to win when the opportunity is there."

West Frankfort will host Benton in Week 5 in a Saturday matinee.

West Frankfort 0 6 0 7 - 13

Harrisburg 14 9 7 13 -43

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

HBG - Marler 32 run (Owen kick), 10:09

HBG - Marler 8 run (Owen kick), 3:43

Second Quarter

WF- Pulley 1 run (kick failed), 5:49

HBG- Marler 92 kick return (kick failed), 5:37

HBG - Owen 21 field goal, 2:14

Third Quarter

HBG- Carrigan 19 run (Owen kick), 3:52

Fourth Quarter

HBG - Carrigan 5 run (kick failed), 11:48

HBG- Stephens 20 run (Drone kick), 10:31

WF- Tomanovich 3 run (Centore kick), 4:35

Team Statistics

WF HBG

First Downs 17 16

Total Net Yards 274 353

Rushes-Yards 47-191 37-287

Passing 83 66

Comp-Att-Int 6-23-0 3-7-0

Penalties-Yards 6-45 3-20

Fumbles Lost 2 1

Individual Statistics

Rushing- WF: Pulley 16-53, Tomanovich 13-59, Beery 8-28, Brewster 4-30, Sailliez 6-21. HBG: Tylor Marler 16-200 Kane Carrigan 7-37, Noah Vallette 3-16, Aaron Stephens 4-21, Matt Upchurch 3-15, Austin Hefner 1-(-4), Isaiah Saulsberry 1-(-1), Corbin Crim-Harbison 2-3.

Passing- WF: Pulley 6-23-0 83. HBG: Noah Vallette 3-7-0 66.

Receiving- WF: Spears 4-47, Beery 1-30, Sailliez 1-6. HBG: Corbin Crim-Harbison 1-23, Tyler Lightner 1-29, Aaron Stephens 1-14.