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Friday, Oct. 13 – Led by three rushing touchdowns from junior running back Jackson Brockenbrough, the Parry McCluer High School football team cruised to a 45-12 home win over Pioneer District rival Craig County on Friday night at Bobby Williams Field in Buena Vista.
With the victory, the Fighting Blues (5-2 overall, 1-1 district) bounced back from a 56-21 setback in their district opener a week earlier at Narrows.
After forcing a turnover on downs from the Rockets (2-4, 0-2), the Blues scored on their first drive when Brockenbrough used his speed and agility to make a 40-yard run to the end zone less than four minutes into the game. A two-point conversion run by JJ Jones put PM up 8-0.
On the first play of their next drive, the Rockets fumbled the ball, and Brockenbrough recovered it at the Craig 9-yard line. He then made a 4-yard run before running for a 5-yard TD, and a two-point conversion run by Zavion Dunn extended PM’s lead to 16-0 with 7:39 left in the first quarter.
Brockenbrough scored his third TD on a 10-yard run two minutes into the second quarter to extend the Blues’ lead to 22-0. On the Blues’ next drive, a 29-yard pass from PM sophomore quarterback Nathan Glass to Landon Catlett set up Jones for an 11-yard TD run with 4:46 left in the half, and a two-point conversion run by Dunn stretched PM’s lead to 30-0.
The Rockets fumbled the ball on their next drive, and PM defensive end Zack Mook recovered the ball at the Craig 37-yard line. Glass then made a 13-yard pass to Catlett and, after an 11-yard run by Brockenbrough, Glass made a 13-yard TD pass to Catlett. A two-point conversion run by Glass extended PM’s lead to 38-0 with 2:07 left in the first half.
At halftime, the Blues honored the members of their 10th PM Hall of Fame class, along with the Blues’ 1983 state championship football team and their cheerleaders. The inductees, who will be formally inducted at a banquet at the PM gym on Saturday night at 6 p.m., are Landon Camper, Joey Clark, Adam Gilbert, Donnie Stinnett and Terry Vest Smyth.
For almost the entire second half, the teams played with a running clock because the Blues’ lead was 35 points or more.
PM’s lone TD of the second half came just over four minutes in. After Jones intercepted Craig quarterback Jaycob Wolfe and returned the ball to the Craig 19-yard line, Dunn ran it from there to the end zone. Braden Conley then converted his only extra-point kick of the game to make it 45-0.
With the large lead, the Blues put in a lot of their reserves, as well as junior varsity players, but the Rockets kept battling and finally got on the scoreboard when Wolfe ran for a 6-yard TD with 4:53 left in the game. Following a defensive stop, Craig scored again when Wolfe made a 48-yard TD pass to Joshua Craft with 1:12 left.
The Blues will step out of district action to play host to Altavista (5-2) for their homecoming game next Friday at 7 p.m.
For the full story, photos and stats from the Blues’ win over Craig, with a prediction for next week, please see our Oct. 18 newspaper.
