The marquee meeting between West Liberty-Salem and West Jefferson did not disappoint Friday as the clash between state-ranked teams at Tiger Stadium came down to the final seconds.
WL-Salem, ranked 10th in the Division V state poll, scored with 23 seconds left in the game to pull out a 42-39 victory over the Roughriders, who came in ranked fourth in Division V.
“I could not be more proud of my guys,” said WL-Salem head coach Dan McGill. “They battled every single play tonight against a really talented and well-coached West Jeff team.
“Our guys gave unbelievable effort all night. We had no turnovers and not too many penalties.”
The Roughriders scored with less than four minutes to go in the game to take a 39-35 lead.
However, the Tigers responded in the final moments when Trevor Woodruff found Trenton Douthwaite for a 16-yard touchdown pass to give WL-S the lead for good.
The win gives the Tigers a major boost in computer points as West Jefferson was the top-rated team in the region in the latest ratings.
WL-S is now 7-1 overall and 2-1 in the OHC North division. The Roughriders fall to 7-1, 2-1.
Woodruff completed 22-of-31 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns. Holden Nease was key on the ground with 124 rushing yards and three scores on 20 carries.
The teams traded blows in the first half. West Jefferson went ahead 7-0 after a 40-yard touchdown run by Gabe Jones with 11:10 left to play in the opening period.
WL-Salem’s Isaiah McGill knotted the score at 7-7 with a 22-yard TD run at the 2:43 mark. Ethan Cole added the first of six extra-point kicks.
The Roughriders saw Tyler Buescher complete a 28-yard TD pass to Kyle Scott as time expired in the first quarter. That gave the visitors a 14-7 lead.
Nease evened the score at 14-14 in the second quarter with a 27-yard touchdown run.
The Tigers gained some late momentum before halftime with two scores. Woodruff threw a 4-yard TD pass to Nick Burden with 5:03 left to play in the quarter and Nease had a 17-yard TD run with 1:18 left in the half. That sent WL-Salem into halftime with a 28-20 advantage.
Jones helped West Jeff close the gap in the third quarter with a 4-yard touchdown run at the 5:42 mark. A two-point conversion attempt failed, which allowed WL-Salem to keep a 28-26 lead.
The back-and-forth scoring spilled over into the fourth quarter.
Jones raced into the end zone on a 21-yard run to push the Roughriders ahead 32-28 with 9:43 left to play in the game.
Jones had a 3-yard touchdown run that gave the Roughriders a 39-35 advantage with 3:47 left to play.
WL-Salem then came up with its clutch touchdown drive to get the game-winning score.
For the WL-Salem offense, Douthwaite finished with 81 receiving yards on six catches, Ethan Larson had 48 receiving yards on three catches and Zach Rosedale had 47 receiving yards on four catches.
Defensively for the Tigers, Nick Burden led with 8 1/2 tackles, Barik Ray had five tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack, Isaac Lee had five tackles and a sack and Christian Griffith had an interception.
Jones powered West Jefferson with 207 rushing yards on 28 carries and Buescher completed 14-of-21 passes for 236 yards.
WL-Salem travels to Northeastern on Friday for another OHC contest.