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Bath breaks bank on Blues
By Geoff Cox • Staff Writer
 | | Dillon Perdue grabs an interception against the Blues and turns upfield for return yardage. The Chargers picked off three Blues' passes on the night with Dillon Fry having the other two. |
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BUENA VISTA — Good things came in pairs for the Bath County Chargers Friday night. Jim King kicked two field goals, Michael Robertson threw two touchdowns to Ryan Newmarker, and Dillon Fry picked off two Parry Mc- Cluer passes and scored twice as the Chargers blew past the Blues 34-18 on a chilly and muddy football evening.
The field was soaked from a heavy Thursday rain and the Blues' plan was to stop the Charger running game. After two drives up the field, the middle was mud, and the Blues' plan was working.
But the Charger defense had plans of its own. Varying from the stand-up 3-5-3, Bath defenders, led by linebacker J.P. Plecker, terrorized the Blues' backfield, stuffed the Parry McCluer running game, and pressured quarterback Josh Woody.
The first quarter became a battle of slippery short drives with both teams running the ball and the clock. Bath gained the upper hand on a deep punt by King and a flag for blocking in the back on the Blues. Backed deep in its own territory, Parry McCluer couldn't break its own 30-yard line, and punted away.
 | | Bath receiver Ryan Newmarker makes the catch and heads down the sideline for a touchdown. Newmarker caught his second and third touchdowns of the year on 18 and 14-yard passes from quarterback Michael Robertson. The Blues focused on run defense forcing the Chargers to pass for 207 yards instead. |
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With excellent field position on the BC 45, after a 15- yard return by Xavier Smothers, the Chargers began the first scoring drive of the night.
Quarterback Michael Robertson went to the air for a nine-yard catch by Fry, and a 23-yard reception by King put the ball on the Blues' 20. The drive stalled and King kicked a 30-yard field goal that slid over the crossbar with slightly over a minute left in the first quarter giving Bath a 3-0 lead.
King's kickoff was caught at the five-yard line and no sooner than the Blues return man headed upfield he was met in the midsection by a flying Plecker at the 12-yard line.
 | | The Charger defense fills the blocks on a short yardage try by the Blues. A combination of the stand up defense mixed with down linemen schemes kept the Parry McCluer offense off-balance and quick reads by Bath kept the Blues off the board until the fourth quarter. This Friday the multiple option defense should set some traps for the Pendleton County Wildcats. |
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Fired up, the Charger defense got to business. After gaining some breathing room out to the 25-yard line, the Blues began to recede, beginning with a penalty flag for delay of game.
Plecker snared Blues running back Brian Tolley for a four-yard loss and backed Parry McCluer up to their own 11-yard line facing third-and-seventeen.
Woody dropped back to pass and it was Plecker again bursting into the Blues' backfield, this time accompanied by Dillon Perdue, and forcing Woody to throw a hurried pass.
The ball bounced off the receiver and into the hands of Fry who tucked it under his arm and streaked into the end zone untouched. King kicked the extra point and less than two minutes into the second quarter Bath held a 10-0 advantage.
 | | Charger Matt O'Conner hauls in a 21-yard pass by Jim King. Bath ran an option pass from wideout King and caught the Blues by surprise for a big gain. "We have one trick play," said Charger coach Will Fields. "We've used it." |
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The Bath defense kept the pressure on as the Blues tried to get back into the game. No such luck. A second Charger interception, this time by senior Dillon Perdue, ended the Blues best attempt at scoring at the Charger 35-yard line.
Following two short runs, Robertson tiptoed out of a tackle and threw a line to lanky receiver Robbie Ailstock. Ailstock leapt and easily caught the pass for a 26-yard gain and Bath was in business.
Back to back receptions by Matt O'Conner came next as the clock neared halftime. The first was a 14-yard grab from Robertson while the second was off a trick pitch pass from King for 21 yards.
On second-and-three from the 18, Robertson nailed Newmarker for a touchdown with 31 seconds left, and Bath led 17-0 as the horn sounded.
 | | J.P. Plecker (left) and Dillon Perdue put pressure on Parry McCluer quarterback Josh Woody. Woody escaped the sack on the play but threw an interception to Dillon Fry that Fry returned 16-yards for Bath's first touchdown. |
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The Blues best attempt to get back into the game came on a fumble by Fry on the BC 39 to open the half, and went on a five-yard Woody sack by Plecker, Perdue, and Jeremiah Pauley on third and 10. King broke up a fourthand 15 pass attempt on the BC 28 and the Charger offense went back to work.
Fry galloped for 12 yards and King caught a 16-yard pass to near midfield. After a hold on Bath, Robertson baited a blitzing Blues defense and dumped a screen pass off to a waiting Perdue.
Perdue high-tailed it 43-yards before he was brought down at the Blues 19. A couple of incomplete passes later Fields gave the green light for King to kick a 40 yard field goal. He did with ease and the ensuing sequence of events mirrored the first half.
Following the kickoff, Fry intercepted his second pass of the evening and returned the ball to the 18-yard line. Newmarker snatched a pass from two Blues defenders on the next play and King converted the PAT to put Bath comfortably ahead, 27-0, with five minutes to go in the third.
On the Chargers' next possession they set the cruise control, churning up yards and the clock at a relaxing pace, until Fry crossed the goal line on a two-yard run with five seconds left before the fourth quarter.
Up 34-0, Fields sent the Chargers with white uniforms into the game to get muddied up. The uniforms got dirty quickly and so did the game. Parry McCluer avoided the skunk with two late touchdowns, the last with 23 seconds left.
"They (BC) passed the ball and found some gaps," said Blues coach Rad Patterson. "They did a good job of executing and we didn't."
Fields said the Blues did a decent job containing the run option (Bath gained 89 yard on 29 carries) and Robertson did a good job making them pay with his arm.
"Michael did a nice job," he said. "I'd say we were fairly efficient."
"We played out of the short field a couple of times," he added, giving a nod toward the aggressive Charger defense, especially that of Plecker.
"He knows one thing," Fields said. "Chase the football. He's one of the reasons we play the stand-up defense."
Plecker had nine tackles and half a sack on the night.
The Chargers go to 4-3 on the year with the win, a perfect 2-0 in the Pioneer with what might as well be the district championship game at home against James River next Friday.
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