KEYSER, W.Va. — The Big Blue rushing machine made its latest stop at Tornado Alley Friday, and it churned out its best performance of the season.
Allegany scored 35 unanswered points against Keyser and racked up 508 rushing yards on 52 carries. The game was won with a dominating line performance on both sides of the football.
Jackson Resh accumulated 211 yards and four touchdowns, Khiante Bible went over 100 yards and scored twice, Aidyn Mckenzie just missed 100 yards and No. 4 Allegany galloped to a 49-14 drubbing of Keyser on Friday at Alumni and Friends Field at Tornado Alley.
“Since Oakdale, we kind of asked our line to look at the men in the mirror. I think a lot of them responded,” Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. “Rusty (Kitzmiller), coach (Aaron) Kline, coach Marty (Swarner), they’re really pushing them hard. They just keep getting better week by week.”
Allegany improved to 3-4 with the victory, its second straight and third in four games after an 0-3 start. Keyser fell to 3-4 with its second defeat in a row.
Friday marked the 109th meeting between the rivals, and the Campers now lead the series 74-33-2 after their sixth win in eight tries against the Golden Tornado.
While Allegany’s collection of talented backs, which now runs five deep with Kane Williams and Amanni Blowe back from injury, gets the bulk of the headlines, the Campers’ line and front six defensively were the story.
“We told the kids, their defensive line is pretty good. They fire off the ball, they fly up the field, so we have to get a hat on a hat,” Keyser head coach Derek Stephen said.
“That was one thing we didn’t do consistently, and it showed. We’d have a play where we’d get five or six, and then we’d have another play where we get tackled in the backfield. That’s one thing we have to shore up.”
Lucas Bahrenburg, Sully Watkins, Cane Green, William Barb and Devin Tinnen created gaping holes that allowed the Campers to average 9.8 yards per carry and convert 20 first downs on the ground.
Its defensive front of Tinnen and Blowe at the tackles, and Caden Keiper and Rylen Ellsworth on the ends, as well as Williams and Resh at inside linebacker, held Keyser to just 39 rushing yards in the first half and 3.9 yards per carry overall — much of which was gained in garbage time.
“You have two students of the game in Kane and Jackson in the middle,” Hansel said. “Amanni in the middle, those three are All-Area type of players. They really control it, and Devin Tinnen’s growth this year has been phenomenal. He makes some really great plays.”
Allegany’s much-maligned secondary forced Keyser into a 2 for 10 day for 27 yards and a pair of interceptions — both hauled in by Sebastian Stewart.
And its passing attack offensively was a perfect 1 for 1 with a 15-yard touchdown by Stewart to Bible in the third period to cap a 35-0 Allegany scoring run.
The Campers forced three turnovers, with Tinnen also recovering a fumble.
It didn’t start well for Allegany. After a disastrous first 1:09, the Campers commanded the rest of the half to lead 20-7 at the break.
The Campers fumbled the opening handoff to give Keyser the ball with just 18 yards to go for six.
Four players later, Grayson Lambka rumbled into the end zone from eight yards out for a 7-0 Keyser lead with 10:51 left in the first quarter.
Resh scored a 10-yard touchdown with 5:59 left in the first to level the score after a period, and he found six on runs of six and 23 yards with 9:42 and 5:24 remaining, respectively, in the second quarter.
After converting on its first short field, Keyser was stifled by the Allegany defense, ending the half with an interception by Stewart, three punts and a turnover on downs.
Bible scored twice in the third quarter, once on a 31-yard scamper (7:09) and again on a 15-yard reception (3:40) to make it 42-14 Allegany entering the fourth.
Bible finished with 116 yards on 13 carries, and Mckenzie added 96 yards on seven totes. Williams had four rushes for 46 yards.
Resh found paydirt from 15 yards out with 11:20 left in the contest, and Blowe got in on the action with a 21-yard TD run with 7:01 remaining.
Keyser’s lone touchdown of the second half was scored on a one-yard run by Cole Holland with 1:23 on the third-quarter clock.
Dominik Crawford was Keyser’s leading rusher with 43 yards on four carries. Holland had 10 rushes for 32 yards, Lambka rushed it eight times for 31 yards, and Addison Brafford toted the rock 11 times for 30 yards.
Keyser entered the week No. 17 in the Class AAA playoff standings, and its postseason hopes are on life support. The Tornado’s game at Moorefield (3-4) next Friday is a must-win game.
The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 33-7 rout of East Hardy in the Hardy Bowl.
“There’s nothing we can do about this game,” Stephen said. “We just have to learn from this game and learn from our mistakes to move on to next week.”
Allegany turns to a matchup with conference rival Northern (3-4), which lost a heartbreaker to Mountain Ridge at home 21-20 in overtime Friday.
The Campers hope Northern is just the latest victim in the way of their vaunted rushing attack.
“It’s Phil Carr, he’s going to get the absolute best out of those kids,” Hansel said of Northern. “They’ll be ready for us. They like to play hard-nosed football, and that’s what we like to do.
“It’s a huge game for us in the playoff picture. It’s a huge game for us keeping momentum.”