The Piedmont Wildcats football team took a road trip to Stillwater on Halloween night and played a game that turned into a second half nightmare.
Piedmont lost a district game 49-7 to the Stillwater Pioneers Thursday night.
The Wildcats won the coin toss and elected to take the ball first. Stillwater used six down linemen to stop the run.
Stillwater took the lead in the first quarter, but the Wildcats answered quickly then, and the game was tied early in the second quarter, 7-7.
Quarterback Grayson May took advantage of the defensive scheme, hitting Carter Hainrihar on a screen pass to advance into the Pioneers’ territory at the 48-yard line. DreAndre Bruton picked up 8-yareds on a pitch sweep, and Piedmont showed that if the Pioneers stuffed the run, they had other ways to get around the down linemen.
After a defensive offsides penalty, and short gain by Fuston, a false start stymied the offense’s opening drive. A screen pass on a fourth down and five yards to go failed, and Stillwater took over on downs.
Stillwater senior running back Shayden Green picked up yardage on three long runs into the Piedmont red zone. But at the 12-yard line a fumble by Stillwater’s Deakon Jones was recovered by Piedmont’s Mikah Rocco.
The Stillwater defensive line kept Jayden Fuston in check in the first quarter. Piedmont’s Ethan Burns punted from the end zone, and Stillwater had the ball back at the 46. Deakon Jones caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mason Schubert.
The Piedmont offense bounced back. Bruton and Hainrihar picked up first downs, and a face-mask penalty helped the Wildcats return to Pioneers’ territory at the end of the first quarter.
A 2-yard touchdown run from Grayson May and an extra point from Noah Ward tied the score early in the second quarter.
Stillwater’s Deakon Jones caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Schubert with 5:45 to go in the second quarter.
A 24-yard touchdown strike from Schubert to David Thomas gave the Pioneers a 20-7 lead at the end of the half. The extra point failed.
To start the second half, the Wildcats tried an onside kick that failed. Despite the good field position for the Pioneers, a 15-yard penalty for a block in the back put Stillwater in a third and 17-yards to go situation. It was easily made up by Shayden Green, however. Green continued gashing the Piedmont defense. A holding penalty on Stillwater pushed the ball back to the Piedmont 24-yard line. From there, Green was stuffed by the Wildcats defense. But Deakon Jones caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Schubert on the next play. The two-point conversion was good, and the Pioneers were in control 28-7.
Piedmont’s next offensive possession was a three-and-out and a punt from the goal line. Piedmont’s defense had their best stand of the night and Stillwater turned the ball over on downs with 4:35 left in the third quarter, when May fumbled trying to make a handoff and the ball was recovered by Stillwater. Shayden Green had a 4-yard rushing touchdown on the Pioneers’ next possession. The score was 35-7 with the extra point being good.
Stillwater’s David Thomas caught his second touchdown pass from Schubert with 11:14 left in the fourth quarter and the extra point was good. The Pioneers’ lead extended to 42-7.
A 35-yard touchdown run by Stillwater’s running back Kyle Stokes, and an extra point made it 49-7 with 5:38 to go in the game.
May was taken out of the game late in the fourth and backup sophomore Jordin Holman took snaps under center, fumbling three of them and recovering all three himself on his one possession. The Wildcats punted on fourth down with 9-yards to go.
Stillwater improved their record to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in Class 6A-2 District 1.
The Wildcats dropped to 5-4 overall, and 3-3 in the district.
Read the Piedmont-Surrey Gazette for full coverage of the game and follow piedmontnewsonline.com for live updates.
