Wheeling Park’s Keohn Stephens Jr. skies for a touchdown catch deep down the field against the Brooke Bruins on Friday night during the Patriots’ 61-6 Homecoming win. Stephens Jr. went for 160 yards and three touchdowns.
Patriots quarterback Aiden Davis accounted for eight touchdowns against the rival Bruins, throwing for 343 yards and seven scores while adding a 33-yard rushing touchdown in the victory.
“It feels great to get out there and win with the guys,” Davis said. “I put the ball where it needed to be and the receivers made the plays. My line did a great job protecting me, I took a few shots running around, but that’s football, it’s what it is. Everybody made great plays.”
“It was definitely huge to come back and get a home win. It was a great atmosphere for Homecoming, I think we turned up the intensity for today and hit them from the start.”
It took two minutes for Wheeling Park to get on the board Friday, Davis throwing down the sideline to Keohn Stephens Jr., who’s defender had stumbled behind him, for a 67-yard catch-and-run.
It was the first of three trips to the end zone for Stephens Jr., bringing his total to seven on the year. Stephens beat the defense on a go-route, an in-breaking route and an out-breaking route for his trio of touchdowns, adding up to a well-rounded day of 160 yards and three scores.
“Beginning of the game, I told my quarterback that if he trusts me, I got him,” Stephens Jr. said. “He trusted me, and we made it happen.”
“We’ve been working all summer and all season to build up to this point. It’s nothing new, we’ve been working on it all year.”
Davis threw a 60-yard score to Brennan Wack off a play action pass and a 15-yard touchdown to Jameson Maynard on a wide receiver screen to put Park ahead 20-0 after the opening quarter.
“[Brooke’s] playing good football,” Wheeling Park head coach Chris Daugherty said. “We knew we were going to have to play well. I didn’t think that we were going to start the way we did, coming off a big win last week. I was hoping that we wouldn’t start this game slow, but the kids rose to the occasion.
“I think the kids were upset with- and I know I was- with the way we played last time we were in our home facility. We’ve been on the road for three weeks. Playing pretty good ball, but it’s been in different stadiums. I think it was important for the guys to show up, it’s a rivalry game, it’s Homecoming, it’s a night they were excited for.”
Aiden Davis continued to spread the ball around in the second quarter, hooking up with Mykel Davis for a 20-yard touchdown two minutes into the second quarter, firing a 21-yard score to Stephens Jr. halfway through the quarter, and lobbing a long bomb to Stephens Jr. on a corner route for a 56-yard score with under three minutes to play in the half.
Wheeling Park led 40-0 at halftime.
While the offense piled up the points, the defense was equally as effective, holding Brooke without a first down in the first two quarters.
The Patriots effectively put a cap on different misdirection run attempts by the Bruins throughout Friday, and got interceptions from Isaac Sands and Brock Hinebaugh, solo tackles for loss by Trey Kocher and Jordan Beasley, and fumble recoveries by Cameron Dietrich and Jameson Maynard.
“Our defense has played very well all year,” Daugherty said. “Steubenville stresses you out a little bit, they do some really good things, but other than that game, our defense has played some really good ball. Especially in the last three weeks, when you watch us- our offense has grown, so people want to talk about our offense, but really our defense has set the anchor for this team.
“They’re the ones who have allowed us to grow offensively because we’re getting a lot of touches because we’re getting people off the field.”
Maynard stood out on the stat sheet in all phases- three catches for 32 yards and a touchdown along with key blocks out of the backfield on run plays, a fumble recovery on defense, and multiple 10+ yard punt returns on special teams.
“He’s the heartbeat of the team,” Daugherty said of Maynard. “We don’t take him off the field. He accounts for a lot of our running touchdowns, his blocking, and we’re getting him involved in the passing game, definitely in the last three weeks. He’s got great hands, that’s why he’s returning punts for us, because he makes the catch. And defensively he’s always around the ball.
“He’s played great, and without Jay-mo we’d be in a lot of trouble. He’s an important part of our football team.”
Sands pulled his interception on the second play of the half to give possession to the Patriots, and Aiden Davis ran for a 33-yard touchdown less than a minute later on a broken play after slipping an unblocked blitzer off the edge.
Davis delivered a ball to Jared Marsh on a screen play in the third quarter as well to bring his touchdown total to eight on the day.
“That’s a heck of a night when you account for eight touchdowns,” Daugherty said. “AD’s just getting better and better. I think he’s really falling into what we want him to do and he’s executing that. He’s making plays, and the last two weeks he’s made big plays with his feet. If that really starts to come, look out, because it’s tough to defend all of that.”
With Wheeling Park ahead 54-0, both teams put in their reserves for the final portion of the third quarter and all the fourth.
During that time, Park’s Channing Biery scored a seven-yard rushing touchdown, and Brooke’s Ethan Fisher ran for a 30-yard score.
For Brooke, Fisher led the team in rushing, picking up runs of 30 and 31 yards late in the game. The sophomore finished with 69 yards on the ground, and completed two of three passes for 14 yards.
Wheeling Park’s top rusher was Amare Johnson, who ran for 61 yards.
Kaylee Davis was named Homecoming Queen at halftime.
