Burg posts five defensive takeaways in 44-0 D-V, R19 Quarterfinal win over SP

SOUTH POINT — During Wheelersburg’s run to the 2025 OHSAA Division V state football final, a key feature in the Pirates’ success was takeaways.

In a Division IV Region 19 quarterfinal matchup with South Point on Friday, Wheelersburg forced five turnovers while committing only one and scoring 30 points off those takeaways in the Pirates’ 44-0 win at Alumni Stadium.

Wheelersburg’s continued progression, from an offense that scored 31 points in a span of 15 minutes between the second and third quarters, to a defense that held South Point to 125 yards, continues to impress 19th-year coach Rob Woodward, even as he shared accolades with South Point coach Brian Wroten.

“They’ve done the best that they could with those guys, and put them in some situations out there where they’re playing good football and flying around,” Woodward said of the Pointers. “They got us stopped in some situations, and we had to counter that and get ourselves back as we’ve been working throughout this entire year. That’s what I’m so proud of our team about — the growth that they’ve shown in game situations or throughout the season. They’ve just developed and worked and are playing their best football. They’re understanding how to be coached, how to adjust themselves with that, and that’s just great to see as a coach.”

South Point hung with Wheelersburg for the first 15 minutes, but the Pirates’ depth and ball-hawking proved to be too much to overcome.

But with nine wins, its first Ohio Valley Conference championship in 20 years and an explosive offense that produced 30 or more points in all nine of its victories, the Pointers have laid a foundation that can be built upon going forward.

“Wheelersburg’s just a really good football program,” Wroten said. “They have really good kids and a really good coaching staff. This is Year 1 for us. We’re trying to build a program. They have a program. We had a good football team. We need to be able to build a program. We have to get more kids involved. Wheelersburg understands what their offensive and defensive schemes are. It’s being talked about and taught at the middle school level and on down. They’re teaching concepts and terminologies that carries on all throughout their careers. In middle school, they run the same things. They’ve got a lot of alignment. This is hopefully just the beginning where we want to build a program, not just a one-off football team.”

The Pirates capitalized on a second-quarter Pointers punt to open the scoring.

Facing a third-and-1, Wheelersburg junior running back Canaan Arthur ran off right tackle, shed two South Point defenders and outraced the defense for a 47-yard touchdown tote to give the Pirates a 7-0 lead with 7:47 to play in the first half.

Wheelersburg sophomore linebacker Graer Woodward made a tiptoe grab on the sideline for an interception on the ensuring Pointers drive to give the Pirates the ball.

It took only four plays from there for Wheelersburg to score again as Jay King busted loose off of the right side and sprinted into the end zone from 17 yards away to put the Pirates in front 14-0 with 4:16 to play in the second quarter.

Arthur finished with 111 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries, while King posted 84 yards and a touchdown on six totes.

After another South Point punt, Wheelersburg junior quarterback Jack Doerr led the Pirates on a surgical drive, going 3 for 4 for 46 yards before a 4-yard dash to the end zone by Arthur, and with 1:08 remaining in the half, Wheelersburg led 21-0.

Doerr finished 7 of 12 for 95 yards and a touchdown.

The most significant blow to South Point’s chances came on the final drive of the opening half.

On the first play of that final drive, quarterback Ethan Hunt was knocked out of the game on a hit by Wheelersburg junior linebacker Brew Hanzel.

“I didn’t see it, but the best that Ethan could describe it to me was that he kind of got him up under the chin with the helmet,” Wroten said. “It’s hard to see that for a senior. Ethan dealt with a high ankle sprain all year long, finally got healthy late in the season, but for the entire year, he toughed it out with grit until the end.”

Three plays into South Point’s opening series of the second half, Wheelersburg senior linebacker Luke Kouns returned an interception 35 yards to the South Point 1, then finished off the one-play, five-second series by scoring on a 1-yard run on the next play.

King intercepted the next Pointers pass, setting up a 36-yard field goal by Gabe Campbell that began the running clock.

Pointers backup QB Austin McFann found Landon Vance for a 43-yard reception on a screen that helped South Point advance to the Wheelersburg 4, but a fumbled snap allowed the Pirates to recover at the 7.

Wheelersburg pounced as King ran for 42 yards on the second play of the next drive, setting up a 45-yard dot from Doerr to Graer Woodward to cap a three-play, 93-yard drive and put Wheelersburg ahead 37-0 with 10:04 to play.

Wheelersburg sophomore Graham Hanes then intercepted a McFann pass to set up classmate Logan Whitt for the final score, a 16-yard touchdown run.

“Defense was flying to the football, linebackers and the defensive line,” Rob Woodward said. “They’re just playing at a heightened level — good, physical football that we needed to see. We made a couple of great plays with (Hunt) in there and made plays on balls that we needed to, and South Point put their guys in the positions that they needed to to make plays, but our guys were in the right spots that they needed to be in to make the plays that they needed to in turn.”

With the victory, Wheelersburg (9-3) turns its attention to Ironton (11-0) on Friday, Nov. 14 at Tanks Memorial Stadium.

“We’ve got to show how we’ve grown, developed and gotten better this year,” Rob Woodward said. “This is the stage that we’ve wanted to be at this time of the year. Our guys are going to work and prepare to be ready for that.”

South Point (9-2) now looks ahead to Year 2 of the Wroten Era — and the potential to possibly build something that has sustainability for years to come.

For now, however, self-reflection on a successful campaign is important for the man who turned taking his vacation days on Saturdays from his primary job at Big Sandy Superstore to semi-pro football coaching into his present job as South Point’s coach and athletic director — a job that Wroten believes is his calling. He credited his assistant coaches, which included Jamie Rice, Tim Aldridge, Wesley Hall, Fred Craft and Joe Suttles, among others, for helping to create the environment that helped the Pointers enjoy a nine-win campaign, calling them “good men who are positive role models in these kids’ lives.”

“One of the coolest things that I have ever experienced is we went to play Eastern Pike,” Wroten said. “One of the best ballgames you could watch. We kick a field goal to win the ballgame. After we come off the field, I walk off the field, and Chris Mathes, our superintendent, comes up and bear-hugs me, saying, ‘Coach! They never quit! They never quit!’ We go walking out, and it was at Piketon, and the bleachers are set up to where you are walking underneath them. There were 100 people clapping as our kids were walking by. It looked like something out of a movie. I’ll never forget that. I never thought I’d be a part of something like that. God’s definitely played a part in my journey here.”