PARKERSBURG - It doesn't happen often and hadn't yet in 2015, but Point Pleasant finally found itself being tested on Friday night.
This time at least, the Big Blacks came up with all the right answers and got them from some unlikely places.
Clinging to a one-point lead, the Point Pleasant defense turned away three Parkersburg South drives deep into its territory in the second half and sophomore quarterback Cason Payne came up with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Tannor Hill on a fourth-and-10 as the Big Blacks survived 27-20 at Erickson All-Sports Facility.
"We need it," Point coach David Darst said of the close win. "This is going to make us rethink a few things and how we're going to handle stuff. Offensively, I can't wait to watch film. We're pretty much a well-oiled machine at times and they kept taking away the power game and we went to the outside and we just didn't block them very well."
The Big Blacks (6-0), No. 3 in this week's Gazette-Mail poll, entered Friday averaging over 64 points per game thanks to its vaunted ground game led by Cody Mitchell and Grant Safford.
But after a big first quarter put Point up 21-6, No. 8 South stymied the Point attack in clawing its way back into the game.
After South struck on the second play from scrimmage on a 70-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Garrett Gilkeson to Cole Day, Point scored on three straight drives with Mitchell sandwiching scoring runs of 2 and 17 yards around a 23-yard Safford romp.
That gave Point a 21-6 lead, but after Mitchell ran for 125 yards on 10 carries in the first quarter, he and the Point offense met some serious South resistance and in the second the tide began to turn.
Gilkeson engineered a 10-play, 65-yard drive across the first and second quarters, capped by a JT Kemp 3-yard run to get South to within 21-13.
Then the defense got into the act as Josh Wolfe picked off an errant screen pass from Mitchell and raced 43 yards to the end zone to make the score 21-20.
The Big Blacks offense could suddenly find no traction as it was limited to 25 yards on 13 plays in the period, and the one-point margin stuck heading into halftime.
"I was impressed with them," Darst said. "We were rolling pretty good all year long. [After the first quarter] I thought this was going to be a 50-40 game and it just seemed like that interception took our momentum away for a while."
The struggles continued in the third as the Big Blacks ran only six plays compared to 18 for the Patriots (3-2), who had their opportunities but couldn't cash in.
South started the second half by recovering a pooch kick and drove to the Point 22-yard line before turning it over on downs.
After a three-and-out, South drove from its own 3-yard line down to the Point 23, but a 2-yard loss and a false-start penalty led to another turnover on downs at the 30.
The Patriots forced yet another three-and-out and South marched from its 28 to the Point 18 before a questionable call turned the game into Point's favor.
Gilkeson hit Nicholas Sanders on a 17-yard pass to the goal line, but Sanders was immediately hit by Mitchell and the ball hit the turf.
It looked like Sanders never had possession, but Point pounced on the ball at its own 1-yard line and was awarded a turnover with 11:03 remaining.
South coach Mike Eddy disagreed with the call, but even after his team's second narrow loss of the season (the Patriots lost 23-20 in overtime to Morgantown), he was still optimistic about his team.
"Penalties got to us, some of them were ours and some of them weren't, but that's how it goes," Eddy said. "Our kids just kind of settled in. We had a week off last week, it was a big hyped game, and I think it took us a bit to settle into our groove and after that we played well."
Payne entered midway through the third quarter to try and revitalize the stagnant Point offense by running a wing-T with Mitchell and Safford in the backfield.
It finally paid dividends. On the ensuing drive - a potentially season-defining march - the Big Blacks went 99 yards on 14 plays, burning 6:59 off the clock and coming up with six points on Payne's big throw.
"That was a lot of pressure," Payne said. "This is a very big statement win. This is going to propel us into the rest of our season and into the playoffs."
South had one last shot but penalties put the Patriots in a hole and the drive never made it past midfield.
Mitchell picked up one more first down with a 20-yard run and Point was able to kneel the clock out.
Gilkeson finished with 244 yards on 15-of=28 passing and also ran for 99 yards on 16 carries. Day (four catches) and Cody Boggs each finished with 105 yards receiving.
Mitchell tallied 195 yards on 23 rushes with Safford contributing 109 yards on 18 carries.