Staff writer
After a long drought in the win column, Peabody-Burns High School earned a much-awaited victory Friday night in the 2010-11 home opener. The Warriors defeated the Wakefield Bombers, 45-14. The team record is now 1-1 and will travel next week to Canton-Galva.
The Warriors opened the contest on defense. The opening series for the opponent went nowhere with stops by Derek Price, Brody Kyle, Spencer Moffett, Lucas Larsen, and Storm Pickens. PBHS forced a punt on fourth and six at the Bomber 33-yard line. The punt set up the Warrior offense at their own 13-yard line.
A Wakefield encroachment flag moved the ball five yards on first down. Pickens had a big run on the next down to take the offense to the Warrior 37. A quarterback keeper by Hunter Pickens moved the ball six yards but the drive stalled with a tackle in the backfield and an incomplete pass. PBHS punted the ball and Wakefield offense started at their own nine-yard line.
PBHS defense again stopped the Bombers on the next series with defensive plays by Kyle, Price, Clint Jones, Larsen, and Abe Eldridge. Wakefield punted and Price returned the ball to the Bomber 34-yard line.
PBHS lost 21 yards on the next series before a completed pass from Hunter Pickens to Price set up a first and goal at the four-yard line. First and second down penalty flags moved the line of scrimmage back to the Wakefield 17. Two more negative yards backed up the team again on first down. After a pass attempt to put the ball in the end zone on second down, Hunter Pickens found Price for the third down score. The run conversion was stopped by the Bombers but PBHS took the 6-0 lead with 3:35 on the clock in the first.
A Kyle sack on the next Bomber offensive series was followed by a Moffett tackle and stripped the ball. Larsen came up with the fumble and PBHS offense set up at the Bomber nine-yard line.
Hunter Pickens ran the ball on first and goal at the nine to advance to the Wakefield four-yard line. PBHS found the end zone on third down with a three-yard run to the left side by Storm Pickens. No extra points were added but PBHS took the 12-0 lead with under a minute left in the first quarter.
A Gillet tackle stopped the kick-off return at the Warrior 23. Wakefield scored on a first down run of the series and tacked on a two-point conversion. With less than 25 seconds left in the first period, the Bombers cut the Warrior lead to four, 12-8.
Storm Pickens fielded the next kick-off and returned the ball to midfield. On first and 15, Hunter Pickens again found Price and the PBHS squad ran out the first quarter clock at the Bomber nine-yard line.
The Warriors did put a third down pass into the end zone but an interference call forced the PBHS defense back onto the field at the Wakefield 16-yard line.
The defense again did the job with plays by Kyle, Larsen, Gillet, Trevor Foth, and Storm Pickens. PBHS forced the Bombers to turn over the ball on downs at the Warrior 31.
The next scoring drive for the Warriors included runs by Storm and Hunter Pickens. Price caught a pass at the three-yard line to set up a running touchdown by Storm Pickens with 4:23 left in the half.
A pass intercepted by Hunter Pickens on the next Bomber drive gave the Warrior offense one last shot before the half, but the series ended with a punt by Eldridge.
Wakefield offense had one more possession but Warrior defense stopped the drive. PBHS led 18-8 at the half.
With less than a minute off the clock in the third quarter, quarterback Hunter Pickens took the ball at midfield. Bouncing from the middle to the right side of the end zone, he went in for the score. The two point conversion was successful and the Warriors took the 26-8 advantage early in the half.
PBHS defense had no trouble controlling the Wakefield squad for the remainder of the contest. Price, Trevor Hatton, Moffett, Kyle, Eldridge, Brent Jones, Larsen, Clint Jones, Daniel Martinez, Foth, Storm Pickens and Joseph Lopez, Austin Savage, and Jacob Gillet recorded second-half defensive plays.
Two more scores came from the PBHS offense in the 3rd quarter. Hunter Pickens had a rushing touchdown from midfield to make the score 32-8. Storm Pickens had a rushing touchdown from the Bomber 19 to give the Warriors the 38-8 lead.
Warrior offense had one more score in the game with a fourth quarter quarterback keeper from the Wakefield 12-yard line. Hunter Pickens ran to the right of the end zone for six and Gillet added a kick. PBHS led 45-8 with 6:03 left in the contest.
With just seconds left in the game, the Bombers cut into the Warrior lead with a pass play for a touchdown.
PBHS took a knee on the final down of the game and the Warriors defeated the Bombers, 45-14.
Storm Pickens had 124 yards on 20 carries. He scored three rushing touchdowns. Hunter Pickens had 130 yards on 17 carries. He scored three rushing touchdowns. Eldridge had two carries for seven yards and Price had two carries for eight yards. Hunter Pickens was seven for 14 in the passing game for 123 yards. Price caught five passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.
Kyle led the defense with nine tackles. Price, Eldridge, and Larsen each had 7.5. Storm Pickens had 5.5 tackles and Brent Jones had three. Foth had 2.5 tackles and Clint Jones and Martinez each had 1.5. Gillet had one tackle and Lopez, Hatton, Hunter Pickens, and Savage each had .5 tackles.