SETH – 14th rated Greenbrier West beat #11 Sherman 38-8 on Friday night, the Cavaliers’ first road win over a top 16-rated team since the 2017 season. The Cavaliers dominated the Tide on the ground, with Ty Nickell having his signature “game of the season” to-date. Nickell churned out career-highs of 269 yards and four rushing touchdowns in the victory. As a team, the Cavaliers ground out 463 yards in the win. With two weeks left in the regular season, the win was a huge shot in the arm for West’s improving playoff hopes.
The Cavaliers have been great out of the gate this season, especially when given a short field to work with. Nickell put Greenbrier West in favorable field position to start the game when he returned the opening kickoff to the West 45-yard line. The Cavaliers went to work immediately by mixing short passes to Kadin Parker and Chase McClung with runs by Nickell and Cole Vandall. Nickell carried the Cavaliers to two first downs on the drive and gave West an apparent first and goal at the 6-yard line with his third carry of the series. A holding call, the first flag of many on the night, backed the Cavaliers up to the Tide 16-yard line. Vandall recouped the penalty yardage on two inside runs to get West back inside the ten-yard line, but a dead-ball foul backed the Cavaliers up for a second time. On first down from the Tide 23, Vandall zipped a pass to McClung in the left flat. McClung got blocks from Parker and Tucker Lilly as he shot down the sideline, making a nice move to avoid two tacklers at the five-yard line for the first Cavalier score of the night. The conversion pass failed for a 6-0 Greenbrier West lead.
A three-and-out series for Sherman followed. McClung returned the Tide punt to the Cavalier 41-yard line to put West in good starting field position for a second time. A short Nickell run was followed by a McClung 30-yard grab from Vandall. The reception came on the identical play he had scored on in West’s first drive. From the Tide 23-yard line, Nickell burst through a hole over the left side and met Sherman linebacker C.J. Winnell at the 15-yard line. Nickell bulldozed Winnell into the Zontini Field turf and trotted into the endzone for a 12-0 Cavalier advantage. It was a sign of things to come.
Down two scores, the Tide tried once again to get their offense going. Winnell carried Sherman to a first down, but the drive quickly stalled at the West 49-yard line, forcing the Tide to punt the ball away. Sherman would get a reprieve of sorts, though, on the ensuing Cavalier possession. Senior defensive lineman Travis Cooper found himself in the right place at the right time on a Cavalier screen pass and intercepted Vandall, returning the ball to the Cavalier 30-yard line. It would be Sherman’s best starting position of the evening. Colby Buzzard carried for a seven-yard gain and the Tide grew impatient. Timothy Hager took a shot at the endzone but overthrew Dalton Rollo on second down, and the Cavaliers squashed Winnell on both third and fourth down to kill the Tide rally as quickly as it began.
Greenbrier West would make Sherman pay for the missed opportunity. Nickell got it started with two carries followed by a Tide offsides call and a Parker run to the Cavalier 44-yard line. From there, Nickell took over, receiving the handoff to the left and squaring his shoulders to the goal line. Winnell wouldn’t get another shot at Nickell this time though as Cavalier senior Joey Terry would seal him off before he could get into position to attempt a tackle. Winnell, showing his frustration, ripped Terry’s helmet off as Nickell ran by him for a 56-yard touchdown. Nickell would tack on the conversion run for good measure and a 20-0 Cavalier lead with 10:09 remaining in the second quarter.
Showing desperation to get something going offensively, Sherman came out in a hurry throwing the football. Unfortunately for the Tide, Hager couldn’t find any open receivers. Hager was chased from the pocket on first down and threw incomplete into the Tide sideline. On second down, he floated a deep pass on the Cavalier side but the receiver had cut the pass route off. Hager’s pass fell incomplete. On third down, Hager tried to lay a pass out to Andrew Simpson in front of the Sherman bench, but his sideline throw was too strong, and the Tide was forced to punt.
As he had done on the previous possession, Nickell victimized the Sherman defense quickly. Taking the handoff from left to right, Nickell hit the line and cut hard back to his left. Nickell split the Tide linebackers and headed down the Sherman sideline. Rollo, who was spun around at the Cavalier 35-yard line, turned and gave chase. Getting as close as he could at the Sherman 10-yard line, Rollo gave Nickell a shove but couldn’t get him out of bounds. The 80-yard touchdown run was Nickell’s third score of the first half. It was Nickell’s sixth scoring run of over fifty yards this season. The conversion pass would fail, and the Cavaliers led 26-0 less than a minute after their last score.
Sherman wouldn’t keep the ball any longer on their next drive. Hager zipped a throw across the middle that was incomplete, but a roughing the passer call on West advanced the ball to midfield. On first down, Winnell bounced to the outside and thought he’d found some daylight. Winnell slipped inside of McClung on a cutback, but McClung stripped the ball from Winnell’s grasp and Vandall recovered for the Cavaliers. Nothing was going well for the Tide, and it was about to get worse.
From their own 40-yard line, the Cavaliers attacked immediately. Sherman appeared to avoid disaster on first down when Vandall overthrew a wide-open Tucker Lilly at the Tide 30-yard line. Lilly had gotten 10 yards behind his defender on the play, but Vandall’s throw was a bit deeper than Lilly’s route. It was a brief respite for Sherman. On the Cavalier’s next play, Marcus Adkins displayed the Cavalier’s backfield depth. Adkins carried the ball over the left side, cut inside the tackle attempt of Ronald Estep, and coasted 60 yards for the touchdown. Winnell and Estep, the two Tide linebackers, were being demolished by the West offensive linemen. With all the room to run, the Cavaliers had scored three touchdowns in the span of 1:32 to put the game out of reach.
Sherman didn’t find any luck, though, and the Tide were unable to advance past midfield. The Cavaliers took possession at their own 13-yard line with 4:34 remaining. A 16-play drive would eat up the remaining clock in the first half, but not diminish all of the fireworks. On 3rd down from the Sherman 13-yard line, Vandall skied a pass to the left corner of the endzone as time expired. There were two Cavalier receivers in the area, and three Tide defenders. Rollo, who had two interceptions in Sherman’s win over Van last week, one-handed an interception in the endzone. After a brief pause, Rollo brought the ball out and headed up the Sherman sideline. Rollo had clear sailing for a brief moment, but the gap was quickly being closed by Nickell. Nickell met Rollo at the Tide 30-yard line with a ferocious hit that lifted the Sherman safety off his feet. The play was flagged as a personal foul giving Sherman an untimed down, but Nickell had rubber-stamped the first half. Hager’s subsequent pass was nearly picked off by McClung as the half ended and would’ve been devastating for the sinking Tide.
Sherman seemed to find their bearings during the halftime break. The Tide received the ball to start the second half and drove methodically into the West red zone. The Cavalier defense stiffened, however, and put Sherman in a bad position to convert after a third down stop. Facing a fourth and nine from the West 20, Hager tried to zip a pass across the middle to Buzzard who was running a post pattern. McClung, who has improved his coverage skills each week, played the throw beautifully and knocked the pass away to end the Tide scoring threat.
The Cavaliers went to work trying to chew up yardage and eat clock with a healthy lead in hand. Fighting numerous penalties and a pesky Tide defense, the Cavaliers put together a lengthy possession. On the eleventh play of the drive, Vandall rolled right and tried to thread the needle to McClung who was set up at the Sherman 5-yard line. Lilly, also on a route for the Cavaliers, converged on the ball with Sherman defensive back Andrew Simpson. The ball ricocheted back to Nickell who caught the pass on the rebound at the 15-yard line and carried it into the endzone for an apparent Cavalier touchdown. The Cavaliers were flagged for an ineligible lineman downfield, however, erasing the score. After a bizarre series of flags on both teams completely broke the flow of the game, and a pass interference call erased a Sherman interception, Nickell was able to score. It was the 14th play of the Cavalier drive. Nickell’s 14-yard score was his fourth of the night, a career-best, and the final score of the night for Greenbrier West.
Sherman was able to score on a 17-yard Hager run with a little over a minute left in the contest. The Cavaliers had long since removed the starting group in a game that had grown chippy. The Cavaliers were penalized an almost obscene number on the night, 15 penalties for 172 yards. Sherman accumulated 9 penalties for 63 yards on the night.
Greenbrier West improved to 6-2 on the season, completing a 4-1 road record. The Cavaliers will likely occupy the 11th spot in this week’s WVSSAC Class A ratings as they host the Midland Trail Patriots. Sherman fell to 5-3 but will remain in the top 16 with two games remaining. Nickell eclipsed the 100-yard plateau for the seventh consecutive week, had his second career 200-yard game, and set career marks for yardage and touchdowns in a game. With 1,297 yards on the season, Nickell is now 11th on the Cavaliers’ single season rushing list. If Nickell hits his season average of 162 yards per game this week, he’ll move into 8th place. Vandall had his third 100-yard passing game in the win, and Reney Cordial recorded his team-leading fourth sack. Jacob Nutter tied Nickell for the most tackles in the game with eight, four solo and four assists.
Greenbrier West 12 20 6 0 – 38
Sherman 0 0 0 8 – 8
8:37 1st – Chase McClung 23 yd pass from Cole Vandall (Pass failed)
5:34 1st – Ty Nickell 23 yd TD (Run failed)
10:09 2nd – Ty Nickell 56 yd TD (Nickell run)
9:11 2nd – Ty Nickell 80 yd TD (Pass failed)
8:37 2nd – Marcus Adkins 60 yd TD (Run failed)
1:10 3rd – Ty Nickell 14 yd TD (Kick failed)
1:30 4th – Timothy Hager 17 yd TD (Hager run)
Passing – (GW) Vandall 7-13-2-104-1, (S) Timothy Hager 0-8-0-0-0
Rushing – (GW) Nickell 18-269, 4 TD (23,56,80,14); Adkins 5-76 TD (60); Vandall 7-53; K. Parker 7-50; Lilly 4-18; Gray 1-(-3). (S) Colby Buzzard 13-56; C.J. Winnell 12-53; Hager 8-53; Andrew Simpson 1-2
Receiving – (GW) McClung 3-64 TD (23); K. Parker 3-28, Nickell 1-12
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