Eight days ago, the Athens Bulldogs were winless and had their home field destroyed by a tornado. Now, they've won two games in a row and have the momentum to match the larger field on which they're playing.
With Ohio University's Peden Stadium playing host, Parkersburg South's defense had no answer for running back DeVon Sharp as the Bulldogs (2-3) defeated the Patriots (3-2) 22-7.
Sharp rushed for 189 yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns and accounted for almost two-thirds of Athens' total offense.
We had the ability to move a couple of guys to the defensive side of the ball
which frees DeVon up to be a one-sided player Athens coach Ryan Adams said. That really revved his engines up. He's a beast.
Adams credited the offensive line for creating the holes for Sharp to run through.
We're finally coming together and gelling a little bit on the offensive line he said.
Mitch Rider led a tenacious Athens defense that harassed the Patriots' backfield all evening and forced three turnovers.
(The defense) was fantastic. More than anything I think they're believing in each other
Adams said. When you get 11 pistons firing
you have a pretty smooth running machine.
After stopping Parkersburg South on fourth down on the Patriots opening drive, Athens took control of the game's tempo.
The Bulldogs used an eight play, 64-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead on a three-yard touchdown run by Sharp toward the end of the first quarter.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs possessed the ball for almost 10 minutes. Consistent runs by Sharp and Chris Russell wore down the Patriot defense.
Last week's tornado that destroyed Basil Rutter Field left the Bulldogs homeless. But the Bulldogs beat Chillicothe 19-10 last week and Wednesday received confirmation that they could use Peden Stadium for the rest of the season.
It appears the season might be turning around for Adams and his players.
We've got a lot of emotionally charged kids
we've got a community that emotional charged as well
Adams said. Between that and losing our field
obviously our boys came ready to play tonight.
Athens quarterback Trey Harris completed six of eight passes for 63 yards and led Athens' option attack all night.
Parkersburg South scored a late touchdown and then recovered an onside kick, but four consecutive incomplete passes with about a minute to play iced the game for Athens.
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