By Ron Johnston, rjohnston@mariettatimes.com
Marietta High's faithful had little to cheer about in the Tigers' 41-14 setback to visiting Portsmouth High in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League football game at Don Drumm Stadium Friday night.
MHS senior Perry Wheeler, who was injured in the first quarter, did become the third Tiger in the school's history to rush for a career 2,000-plus yards when he gained 16 on his first carry from the line of scrimmage. At the half, he had 80 yards rushing on 13 attempts.
In the third quarter, sophomore quarterback Matt McKitrick hit senior Tyler Davis with a 26-yard scoring strike. Following that, Dustin Baker recovered a muffed Trojan punt inside the five, and the orange and black capitalized on the turnover when McKitrick plunged one yard into the end zone.
Other than that, it was all Trojans (6-3 overall, 3-2 SEOAL), who were No. 10 in the Ohio Division IV, Region 15 computer ratings going into the contest.
Marietta, the owner of a 1-8 and 0-4 record, suffered its eighth consecutive loss after opening up the season with a 59-20 win over Morgan.
Jonathan Royster ran 80 yards for a touchdown on Portsmouth's first play from scrimmage after the opening kickoff. Before the first 12 minutes expired, the Trojans tacked on two more TDs on short runs by quarterback Josh Myers to make it 20-0.
Meanwhile, Marietta was running the Rockettes offense on its first three offensive possession of the contest. One, two, three -kick.
At the start of the second period, Royster did it again when he took a Myers' handoff and raced 82 yards to paydirt, and the Trojans stretched their advantage to 27-0.
Sparked by gutty Wheeler's running about midway through the second, MHS threatened to reach the end zone for the first time in 10 quarters, but stalled and turned the ball over on downs inside the Portsmouth 10-yard line.
Just before the break, Portsmouth's Jaylon Kennedy rushed for a score, and the Trojans led 34-0.
At the half, Portsmouth had three 100-plus ground gainers in Angelo Jackson (9 carries, 105 yards), Royster (3-164), and Myers (14-163). Overall in the first two quarters of play, the Trojans rushed for 458 total yards on 30 attempts. They attempted one pass and it was incomplete.
In the first half, Wheeler, who did not play after the break, accounted for 80 of the Tigers' 86 total yards.
Marietta received the second-half kickoff, and made the most of it, scoring its first TD - on the McKitrick-to-Davis hookup - since the Jackson game on Oct. 2.
The Tigers then got another third-quarter score on McKitrick's one-yard run to reduce the deficit to 34-14.
Later, Marietta's Mitchel Gearhart pounced on a Portsmouth running back's fumble in the end zone.
Portsmouth's last touchdown of the game came when Myers passed 26 yards to Collin Staker.
Defensively for Portsmouth, London Malone and Kennedy each had an interception.
Marietta caps regular-season play against Gallia Academy at Don Drumm Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Last year, the Tigers downed the Blue Devils, 14-6.
Portsmouth plays at Western Brown.
Story from The Marietta Times 10-24-2009.