ADAMS TOWNSHIP — Wyoming running back CJ Hester has had a season for the ages.
Through 12 games, the 5-11, 185-pound junior has rushed for 2,418 yards and 35 touchdowns on a whopping 333 attempts.
In all, Hester has 40 total touchdowns.
In the 2020 meeting with Clinton-Massie, Hester carried the ball 16 times for 176 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown pass.
“We’ve been changing it around,” CM linebacker Colton Trampler said. “We’re not the same defense we were in the past. I’ve been a three-year starter and we’re more aggressive, more adapting because of the changing (game) of football.”
This season, Hester has had eight games with 200 or more yards rushing. He’s totaled nine games with 3 or more rushing touchdowns.
Quaid Hauer, the Cowboys quarterback, has the next most rushing attempts on the team with 38. DJ Gray is second in rushing yards with 260.
Last season, Hester had a modest 1,121 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground.
• Clinton-Massie has met Wyoming eight times on the football field, CM head coach Dan McSurley said.
“We’ve split with them four to four,” he said. “I guess this is the rubber match.”
Wyoming was a 28-9 winner in last season’s region finale. The Falcons posted a 28-7 win in the 2017 region championship game.
The 2017 victory was the fourth for Massie, which included three straight first-round playoff wins in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
• In the other Div. IV Region 16 semifinal bracket, No. 2 Eaton faces No. 3 McNicholas.
In the other three regions in Division IV, the following semifinal matchups are:
Region 15: Bloom-Carroll vs Heath and St. Clairsville vs Byesville Meadowbrook.
Region 14: Sandusky Perkins vs Port Clinton and Clyde vs Van Wert.
Region 13: Beloit West Branch vs Perry and Glenville vs Youngstown Ursuline
• Wyoming defensive leaders are Hauer wih 84 tackles, Cole O’Gara with four turnovers (2 fumble recoveries, 2 interceptions), Joel Allen with 9 sacks, Hauer and Matty Mitchell 3 interceptions.
• Massie defensive leaders are Colton Trampler 73 tackles, Trampler and Kody Zantene 4 turnovers, Trampler 7.5 sacks, Zantene 4 interceptions.
• The Cowboys have been seriously tested just twice this season, once in the season opener against Harrison, 26-21, and again in a 24-14 win over Reading in Week 5. Since then WHS has outscored its seven opponents by a 273 to 43 margin. Clinton-Massie defeated Harrison 42-10 in Week 4.
