Paul Boggs: West's Bishop is king for night
Sep. 22—Previous
West junior running back Mason Parker (2)
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
West senior Jeffery Bishop (18)
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
West senior quarterback Cole Tipton (13) and junior offensive lineman Kade Woods (65)
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
West senior Trevor Fike (1) chases down Waverly quarterback Mason Kelly during Saturday night's Southern Ohio Conference Division II football game at Waverly's Raidiger Field.
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
West junior running back Mason Parker (2)
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
West senior Jeffery Bishop (18)
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
West senior quarterback Cole Tipton (13) and junior offensive lineman Kade Woods (65)
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
West senior Trevor Fike (1) chases down Waverly quarterback Mason Kelly during Saturday night's Southern Ohio Conference Division II football game at Waverly's Raidiger Field.
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
West junior running back Mason Parker (2)
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
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West senior Jeffery Bishop (18)
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
WAVERLY — Simply put, West senior Jeffery Bishop was king for a night.
That's because the Senators' standout all-purpose performer, pretty much in the clutch, was a one-man wrecking crew against the Waverly Tigers on Saturday night —on defense, offense and special teams.
He did just about everything except drive the Senators' team bus from West Portsmouth, or perhaps sell some popcorn at the concession stand.
Bishop returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown, made a 26-yard touchdown reception, had a critical fumble recovery, and perhaps most impressive of all, intercepted Waverly quarterback Mason Kelly four second-half times.
In fact, that fourth and final interception occurred with a fateful 16 seconds remaining —and was made in the end zone to preserve the Senators' thrilling 24-21 Southern Ohio Conference Division II triumph at Waverly's Raidiger Field.
Oh, and Bishop —covering against Waverly standout wideout in junior Kody Swords —did defend seven total passes, and made eight tackles including one for loss.
But Bishop saved his best defensive play for last, as a pair of Kelly completions to Swords in a span of 20-some seconds moved the Tigers from the Senator 48-yard line all the way to the West 12.
However, on the final Tiger snap, Bishop guarded Swords again —and this time stepped in front of him in the end zone, making his amazingly fourth and final interception.
"He (Swords) is a good ballplayer and I knew he was the quarterback's favorite receiver, so I just watched film on him and saw what steps he took. I just took advantage of what I knew," said Bishop. "We knew they were going to throw the ball, try to take shots to him and take shots deep, but I didn't let that get in my head and I just kept on playing."
The Senators still held the 24-21 lead, and took the victory formation for the final play — successfully opening defense of their SOC II championship, which they won for the first time last season since 2008.
West won for the fourth consecutive contest to move to 4-1 —its only blemish being a heartbreaking 32-29 season-opening loss against Fairland on the game's final play.
The Waverly win lifted the Senators (7.900 computer points average) to the seventh spot in the Ohio High School Athletic Association's official Division V Region 19 computer ratings, which were released on Tuesday for the first time in 2023 —and which will continue to do so until the final release on Sunday, Oct. 22.
Fairland (7.9455), for what it's worth, sits sixth in the opening Region 19 ratings —and by less than one full point over the Senators.
The loss left the Division IV Tigers at 3-2 —and at 1-1 in the SOC II, as Waverly won the league last in 2020.
And while football is indeed a team sport, as West's Jack Holbrook kicked a 31-yard field goal almost eight minutes into the opening quarter and made all three of his extra-point attempts, the night truly belonged to Bishop.
"To be honest with you, that's one of the best individual efforts I've seen on a football field for one night. It was just unbelievable the way that Jeffery stepped up and made big plays when we needed them," said West third-year head coach Todd Gilliland. "Our offense was struggling, we didn't move the ball like we wanted to, and we put our defense in a lot of bad situations. But man, did Jeffery make some big plays. Those just weren't easy picks either. They were high-level plays where he has to go up to get the ball, cut in a front of a receiver and take the ball away from a receiver. I can't be more proud of him. We talk about all the time that if you think you're a big-time player, in the big games is when you have to step up. And he did tonight. We've had other guys do it in other situations, but tonight was just his night."
Besides and before the game-clincher in the end zone, Bishop's first two picks of Kelly came within exactly 18 seconds of each other in the third quarter —perhaps symbolic because Bishop's jersey number is in fact 18.
And, on the only play in between, Bishop —who caught all three of quarterback Cole Tipton's completions for 32 yards —bolstered the Senator lead to 10 points at the 5:08 mark, with a 26-yard pitch-and-catch for a touchdown.
Holbrook booted his second extra-point kick to make it 17-7.
A full dozen minutes and 10 seconds later, with five minutes remaining, Bishop made his third interception of Kelly —and with West leading 24-21 at that juncture.
"He just played perfect technique," said Gilliland. "He just played all-around, especially from a defensive standpoint, as good as you can."
That offset Tipton's interception by the Tigers' Lane Bear, and between the Senators' fourth and fifth three-and-out and punt possessions including the third and fourth for the second half alone, Bishop made a fumble recovery of Waverly's Jase Hurd —at the two-minute mark and with the Tigers driving into West territory.
West junior running back Mason Parker (2)
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
Mason Parker, who rushed for an even 100 yards on 21 West carries, forced the fumble —as the fast-paced Tigers turned the ball over six times, despite statistically outperforming the Senators.
Hurd had 124 rushing yards on 27 carries, Kelly completed 19-of-36 passes for 220 yards, and Swords caught nine passes for 125 yards with two touchdowns.
Waverly held a 19-7 advantage in first downs, ran 17 (68-51) more plays from scrimmage, outgained West by 105 (320-215) yards, and only punted twice — following three-and-outs on their opening two possessions.
"Regardless of who you are playing and how good they are or whatever, if you turn the ball as many times as we did tonight, you're not going to put yourself in a great situation to win," said Waverly head coach Chris Crabtree. "That being said, I thought we played well enough to win, and defensively, I thought we did things really well. But we didn't play clean enough offensively and didn't execute like we needed to. Our defensive guys played lights out, but come down to the last few plays, we turned the ball over and couldn't pull this one out."
Waverly didn't score early either —after falling behind 10-7 with 9:46 left before halftime.
In the second stanza alone, the Tigers had possessions of 10 plays to the Senator 24, four plays after a West lost fumble from the 29 to the 21, and five plays from the West 39 to as deep as the Senator seven.
That final five-play series, in fact, was within the final minute and three seconds.
In all three instances, as the first half ran out on Waverly with that final possession, the Tigers failed to score.
Follow that up with a third-frame series that began at midfield, and spanned 13 plays over a period of two minutes and 12 seconds —and actually, apparently, ended with a Hurd eight-yard scoring run.
However, a 15-yard chop-block penalty negated the Tigers' touchdown — as four plays later Waverly once again turned it over on downs.
"We were inside the 30 three or four times there and ultimately come up with no points," said Crabtree. "When you have penalties or you don't finish in the red zone or you turn the ball over that many times, that's troubling. If we execute and score on some of those red-zone chances, that changes the momentum and the entire complexity of the game. But that's not how it turned out for us."
Gilliland said his Senators, including first-year senior Jakob Tipton with a team-high 16 tackles, stayed with Waverly's high-octane attack as well as they could.
"That's a tough offense to play against because of the run-pass options, with the no-huddle, with the speed of it, you don't know if it's a run or a pass. But our guys did a great job of just playing disciplined and reading their keys," said the coach.
West senior Trevor Fike (1) chases down Waverly quarterback Mason Kelly during Saturday night's Southern Ohio Conference Division II football game at Waverly's Raidiger Field.
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
Aside from Hurd's 23-yard run with 8:18 remaining, and Hunter Hauck's third of three extra-point kicks that made it 24-21, the other two Tiger TDs were a pair of early-quarter connections between Kelly and Swords.
But, right after both touchdown tosses, West struck right back.
A 19-yard strike from Kelly to Swords and Hauck's first extra-point kick with 14 minutes gone by gave the Tigers their only lead, but it lasted a short-lived dozen seconds.
That's because Bishop ran the ensuing kickoff back, and Holbrook's PAT kick put the Senators back ahead at 10-7.
"I couldn't have done it without my teammates giving me some really solid blocks to run up the middle and beat everybody to the end zone," said Bishop. "That was a big game-changer for us."
So too was Cole Tipton's 48-yard QB-keeper jaunt, which made it 24-14 only a minute and 54 seconds into the fourth quarter —and occurring only 13 tics after Kelly and Swords hooked up from 42 yards out.
West senior quarterback Cole Tipton (13) and junior offensive lineman Kade Woods (65)
Courtesy of Joey Shupert
"Those two scores were big, because that keeps Waverly from getting that momentum that they normally get and keep. If we went another three-and-out, that momentum just keeps rolling for them. Jeffery returning that kickoff back, that sucked the air out of them real quick. Those were key plays in this game," said Gilliland. "Even if takes us longer to score, they are still feeling that confidence and momentum. By it happening so fast, that's big for us to be able to do that."
Hurd had his 23-yard TD run only two minutes later, but Bishop's final two interceptions —sandwiched around his fumble recovery —kept the Tigers from seizing the lead again.
In the end, of course, it's a hard-earned team victory.
But Bishop, on Saturday night, was truly king —a knight in shining Senator armor even, who ultimately checkmated Kelly and the Tigers.
"It does feel great. We knew Waverly was a good team, but once it comes to SOC time, everyone is locked in," said Bishop. "It just feels great to be 1-0 this week and still defending our Gold Ball from last year."
Gilliland concurred, as the Senators play host to another 1-0 SOC II team on Friday night —the 3-1 Minford Falcons.
"It's a great way to start off the league, but that's a hard game to start your league schedule off with," he said. "But we've had this mantra since I've taken over to just be 1-0 this week."
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West 3 7 7 7 — 24
Waverly 0 7 0 14— 21
West— Jack Holbrook, 31-yard field goal, 4:07, 1st (3-0 West)
Waverly—Kody Swords, 19-yard pass from Mason Kelly (Hunter Hauck kick), 9:58, 2nd (7-3 Waverly)
West —Jeffery Bishop, 89-yard kickoff return (Jack Holbrook kick), 9:46, 2nd (10-7 West)
West —Jeffery Bishop, 26-yard pass from Cole Tipton (Jack Holbrook kick), 5:08, 3rd (17-7 West)
Waverly— Kody Swords, 42-yard pass from Mason Kelly (Hunter Hauck kick), 10:19, 4th (17-14 West)
West— Cole Tipton, 48-yard run (Jack Holbrook kick), 10:06, 4th (24-14 West)
Waverly— Jase Hurd, 23-yard run (Hunter Hauck kick), 8:18, 4th (24-21 West)
Team Statistics
West Waverly
First downs 7 19
Scrimmage plays 51 68
Rushes-yards 42-183 32-100
Passing yards 32 220
Total yards 215 320
Cmp-Att-Int. 3-9-1 19-36-4
Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-2
Penalties-yards 13-110 8-60
Punts-Ave. 6-22.5 2-39.5
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Individual Leaders
RUSHING —West: Mason Parker 21-100, Cole Tipton 11-72 TD, Jeffery Bishop 5-6, Hayden Lore 3-5, Team 2-0; Waverly: Jase Hurd 27-124 TD, Creed Smith 2-(-1), Quinton Hurd 1-1, Mason Kelly 1-(-8), Team 1-(-16),
PASSING — West: Cole Tipton 3-9-1 32 TD; Waverly: Mason Kelly 19-36-4-220 2TD
RECEIVING—West: Jeffery Bishop 3-32 TD; Waverly: Kody Swords 9-125 2TD, Tanner Nichols 3-40, Mason Pollard 2-25, Jase Hurd 2-18, Mason Sparks 1-12, Quinton Hurd 1-1, Lane Bear 1-(-1)
Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at pboggs@aimmediamidwest.com, or on X @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
