Ravenous (adj) – very eager or greedy for food, satisfaction, or gratification.
The Cougars were on a mountainous adventure for a two-week hiatus building up quite a ravenous appetite for a Homecoming meal chewing up Clear Spring 50-12 last Thursday.
Class A No. 5 East Hardy remained undefeated at 4-0 after the two bye weeks.
“We are good coming out of a bye week. But two bye weeks, I think that is tough for any team to manage your expectations, but manage focus more so,” East Hardy coach Devon Orndorff remarked.
“We expected some rust but we didn’t see much tonight. We don’t seem to be a very vocal team. We’ve come to accept that. That is OK as long as the energy is there in our play. We saw some big explosive plays early, some adversity too. And we worked through all those things tonight.”
East Hardy’s defense made its presence known prowling on the field from the start forcing two third down and long situations with key tackles led by Dayton Dove, Mason Wilkins and Brinn Childers, but the Blazers managed to get out of danger to move the chains.
However, third time wasn’t the charm for a turnover on downs with a stop for loss by Nick Roomsburg at the Cougars 42.
Micah Ludwig converted third down for East Hardy on a pass from Trevor Roof spanning 13 yards to get inside Blazers territory.
East Hardy’s Nehemiah Graham added four yards on the ground, then an aerial connection by Ludwig moved the chains again.
After a touchdown negating penalty, the Cougars went back to air mail from Roof to Brinn Childers for a 36-yard touchdown strike and Mason Wilkins added the kick for a 7-0 lead with six minutes left in the opening stanza.
Wilkins and Micah Ludwig made defensive stops to force a Blazers punt.
The Cougars scored in eight plays on the ensuing possession.
The series was highlighted by a 16-yard Roof scramble to midfield, an 18-yard catch by Childers and another 20-yard shuttle play to Childers into the red zone.
Graham rushed down inside the one yard line on a diving play covering 15 yards.
Roof capped off the drive with a touchdown keeper and Wilkins PAT created a 14-0 lead at 2:44.
Clear Spring converted fourth down on a keeper beyond midfield and notched another first down at the 28-yard line to conclude the first quarter.
The Blazers elected to go-for-it on fourth down and the pass attempt was deflected and landed in the hands of defensive end Nick Roomsburg, who broke free from a Clear Spring grasp and started rumbling down the gridiron for a 77-yard pick six interception touchdown with Graham providing protection and encouragement along the way to extend the lead to 21-nil at 11:09 in the second stanza (PAT good).
“I was just running for my life. I threw my hand up and didn’t even think I was going to touch the ball and looked up and the ball was landing in my hands and Nehemiah was right there beside me. I didn’t look back and kept running. My teammate Mason Wilkins called it out saying this was my play. [Hiatus] We were tired just sitting around for two weeks and were ready to play. We have been strong coming out of bye weeks and have been for many years. Tonight we were functioning well at a high level, but still have some small things to clean up,” East Hardy defensive end Nick Roomsburg stated.
“I am pleased with it. It generates a lot of momentum. I am proud of him. It is not often a big man gets to find the end zone. He followed his rules and reaped the rewards,” Coach Orndorff noted.
Both teams traded fumbles on offense, then Clear Spring picked up two first downs getting beyond midfield before a turnover on downs as the result of tackles from Krystian Byrum, Roomsburg, Angelo Loulis and Hayden Baker with a final deflection by Roof.
Roof picked up a first down in Blazers territory on a criss-cross move down the field, then a personal foul late hit out of bounds on a huge run by Graham had the Cougars pouncing to the 14.
Two plays later, Roof scored from 14 yards out and Wilkins added the kick for a 28-0 advantage at 5:49.
East Hardy’s Ryan Harman and Roomsburg made big tackles along with a shoelace stop by Micah Ludwig led to a Blazers punt.
Graham moved the chains in Blazers domain with time winding down in the first half.
Clear Spring would collect two sacks forcing a fourth down with a minute and change to go, but the Cougars escaped the setback with a 23-yard catch by Graham inside the red zone at the 12.
Roof found Childers for a touchdown strike with 43 seconds remaining and Roof notched the conversion for a 36-0 halftime lead.
Paylynn Rexrode was named the 2026 East Hardy Homecoming Queen during the halftime festivities.
East Hardy opened the second half in Blazers territory at the 41-yard line with a huge return by Dayton Dove.
The Cougars needed just nine plays to hit pay dirt which included a personal foul putting the ball on the five.
Childers garnered a five yard touchdown catch on third down and Wilkins PAT boosted the lead to 43-0 at 9:39.
The Cougars put the JV defense in the game.
Clear Spring backpedalled with penalties before East Hardy’s Elijah Ludwig made an interception.
The Cougars had a remarkable deflected pass touchdown by Byrum negated on a penalty and the series looked to cease with a punt, however, a roughing the kicker personal foul gave new life to the East Hardy possession entering the final stanza.
Dove ended the third quarter with a 33-yard catch reaching the red zone plowing ahead and forced out of bounds with a late hit unsportsmanlike penalty added.
Roof reached the end zone from three yards up the middle, but was immediately tossed out of the end zone like a rag doll by the Blazers for another unsportsmanlike penalty with the score standing at 50-nil with 9:30 left.
Clear Spring added two touchdowns, but not enough to dig out of the hole as East Hardy celebrated the homecoming 50-12 win.
“We’ve got a tough slate coming up with Double-A teams Moorefield and Petersburg and Single-A Cameron. So we’ve got a long row to hoe here. We’ve got to keep that focus, just stay hungry. It is one week at a time. We can’t go 9-0 right now. We can’t go 6-0 right now. We’ve just got to focus on 5-0,” Coach Orndorff concluded.
The Cougars travel to Tygarts Valley this Friday and visit Moorefield for the Hardy Bowl on October 16.
