Ferry Survives Scare

By KIM APPOLLONI

August 25, 2007

Before the kickoff of Friday night’s Martins Ferry vs. Buckeye Local mutual season opener, nearly 500 former Purple Riders paraded onto the new turf to officially kick off the Riders 100th season of action on the field.

Ironically, a kick from a young man hailing from across the Atlantic Ocean helped the Riders secure a 17-14 victory.

The lone score of the first half belonged to Hermon Timmersjo, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound exchange student from Germany. The young man stepped onto the blistering turf and drilled a 22-yard field goal with 2:50 showing in the opening period for a 3-0 lead, which the Riders took into the locker room with them at halftime.

Ferry, which struggled on the ground in the opening half, went to the air during the initial drive of the third stanza. Thanks to a nifty adjustment by junior Jeremy Murray, the Riders built a 10-0 advantage.

The 5-9, 177-pounder is feared for his legs, but the talented tailback hauled in an underthrown pass by senior quarterback Derek Edwards and proceeded to race by three Panthers defenders the final 40 yards to paydirt. The nifty catch and run accounted for a 72-yard hookup for a touchdown.

“We could have folded after being down 10-0,” Buckeye Local coach Ron Poblish said. “These guys knew they were in the game and believed that we were capable of winning. They just kept on battling back. We just came up a little short, but we fought hard the entire way.”

Martins Ferry’s Dave Bruney agreed with Poblish’s assessment of both team’s effort.

“I have to commend both squads for the effort that they gave out here (Friday night),” he said. “Both teams left everything they had out on the field. We smacked each other around pretty good. Fortunately we were able to put together that last drive to win the game.”

The drive Bruney was referring to was a near flawless 64-yard victory march that began on their own 36-yard line with 5:06 to play. The Riders were facing a 14-10 deficit following a fumble recovery in the end zone by Panthers Cory Shumard for a Buckeye Local touchdown.

The 6-3 200-pound senior bulled his way through the Riders line and pounced on a loose ball for a 12-10 lead. Junior QB Bobby Supanik weaved his way for a two-point conversion and a 14-10 Panthers edge.

Buckeye Local opted to squib kick in an effort to keep the ball away from Murray, but unfortunately for Panthers fans the lead was short lived as the Riders managed a 12-play drive for the winner.

Ferry put the ball in Murray’s hands and he did not disappoint. He carried the ball seven times for 43 yards and also hauled in an 8-yard reception.

“He’s a heck of a football player,” Bruney said. “I can’t recall too many times that a team can turn the ball over five times and still come away with a win. We will certainly need to see an improvement on offense the next two weeks, I assure you we will work to get better.

“We do not win this game without our defense. We had some young guys step up and play well. We showed character on that last drive and we will look to build on that as the season progresses.”

A partially blocked punt by Shumard led to the Panthers’ initial score. Shumard’s touch allowed the Panthers to get the ball on the Riders 29. Two plays later, Stupanik found junior Charlie Nest for a touchdown toss. The extra point was blocked.

“With this type of effort every week, we will be able to compete with anyone on our schedule because of our defense,” Pobolish said. “We don’t have the luxury of a breakaway back like Murray, but we got some guys that will run hard.”

“Coach (Phil) Pest had a great defensive game plan and we kept them bottled up for most of the game, but it’s really hard to bottle up a guy like Murray for an entire game.”

The Riders managed 131 yards on the ground in 29 attempts. Murray led all rushers with 86 yards on 17 carries. Junior Rawn Driver ended the night with 27 yards on seven tries. Edwards, who had several passes dropped, completed 4 of 13 tosses for 97 yards. He was intercepted twice and had one TD throw. Senior Jon Thorman averaged 47 yards on five punts.

Buckeye amassed 156 yards on the ground via 29 totes. Junior Kevin Calhoun paced the Panthers with 73 yards on 10 carries. Danny Peddicord had 32 stripes on 13 attempts. Supanik ended with two completions in 10 tries for 38 yards and a TD.