BELLAIRE — To say Saturday’s game between the Bellaire Big Reds and East Liverpool Potters was a half-game is completely incorrect. The Big Reds began a comeback with 30 seconds left in the half.
After two big penalty backs, a third goal became the charm for Bellaire near the end of the first half. Quarterback Luke Hetherington took a deep pass down the right sideline to streaming Mac Pettigrew for a 52-yard touchdown. With 31 seconds left in the second quarter, a long strike gave the Big Reds an irreplaceable lead, and Bellaire finished with a 31-14 victory on their home field.
Pettigrew had four catches for 84 yards and one score, and was a big receiver.
The two catches came on big fourth-down conversions, including a 13-yard outbreak route that moved the chains on fourth-and-10 and resulted in a Bellaire touchdown drive in the third quarter.
A 5-yard reception along the sideline barely earned a first down on fourth-and-5, again keeping the drive alive and ultimately leading to a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Pettigrew was the gas tank for the Big Reds’ offense, and running back Drew White was the engine. The senior gained 119 yards and three touchdowns on 28 totes for Bellaire. He also recorded a sack on defense.
Hetherington also finished with 46 yards rushing and had gains of 12, 13, and 25 yards on Hetherington’s designed QB runs that rolled out after feigning a handoff, during which his offensive line blocked a screen pass. He burst downfield as if he were going to do it.
“We’re always going to run the ball.” Bellaire head coach Mark Bonner said. “We have good runners and our offensive line is really good. People are going to have to shut down our running game throughout the game.”
Bellaire entered the first half with a 12-7 lead on Pettigrew’s long touchdown catch, but outscored the Potters 19-7 in the second half.
The Big Reds ran more effectively in the second half while shutting down East Liverpool’s running attack, with the Potters rushing for 123 yards in the first half and four yards in the second half.
Belair also intercepted East twice in the second half, giving Hetherington and Raekwon Pettigrew picks each. The Big Reds held the Potters to less than 50% of their passes.
As Bellaire’s own signal caller, Hetherington went 5-of-10 for 95 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. He connected with Mac Pettigrew in the second quarter, then connected with Jason Lemley for an 11-yard score in the fourth, sealing the Big Reds’ final score.
“I think we have some really good players who played really well.” Bonnard said. “We had some guys play through injuries today. I think our quarterback improved a lot in this game, that was one of the big things. He had an unlucky pick that made the game close, but… , then came back and made some big plays for us. I felt like he improved a lot today.”
East Liverpool took an early lead Saturday, scoring on a fumble recovery in the end zone. Potters quarterback Gavin Wright raced into the end zone, but the ball spilled and was recovered by Trent Davis for the sixth time.
Davis had 39 rushing yards and a score, while Wright had 13 rushing yards for 81 yards and also threw for 99 yards.
East Liverpool became more aggressive with their passes late in the game, and Bellaire’s defense made 10 errors in the second half to prevent a comeback.
“Their coach is doing a great job. He’s building that program there. They’re going to be great.” Bonnard said of East Liverpool: “As for today, I was happy to finally be able to stop the quarterback. He had some big runs in the first half, but we finally stopped him.”
“I think they executed their game plan very well, but we didn’t play well. We had bad combinations.” East Liverpool head coach Paul Cusick said: “Hats off to them. They played really well. They’re very basic offensively, but they executed it really well. Bottom line, they did a really good job.”
White scored the first of his three touchdowns at 3:32 of the second quarter after the Potters took a 7-0 lead, and after a failed two-point conversion, White scored the first of his three touchdowns for the very methodical Big Reds. A drive cut the lead to 7-6.
Pettigrew’s score gave Bellaire the lead going into halftime, and White scored on runs of 21 and 3 yards in the second half to put the Potters even further behind.
East Liverpool’s Julius Jones returned an interception 50 yards for a pick-six in the third, giving the Potters their only score of the second half.
All of the Big Reds’ interceptions came in the fourth quarter, including when Re’Quon Pettigrew got caught in his own end zone 2:33 into the game, which ended East’s last attempt in vain.
Bellaire improved to .500 with the win and will rest at 4-4 until the next game against Union Local (5-3). East Liverpool (5-3) travels to Oak Glen (1-6) for its next game.