PARKERSBURG — Four passing touchdowns and two on the ground from quarterback Brandon Penn lifted the Parkersburg South Patriots over visiting Greenbrier East in a 42-10 triumph Friday at the Erickson All-Sports Facility. It was Senior Night, and appropriately, the Patriots’ seniors stepped up when they were most needed for the unbeaten squad. Penn, like a lot of Patriot skill players, got off to a slower start than head coach Nathan Tanner wanted, but blown coverage from a Greenbrier East cornerback left Dylan Day streaking down the right sideline. Penn fired a strike to Day, as Day raced in for a 63-yard score to make it 14-3 with five minutes to go in the first half. Coincidentally enough, it was Day who intercepted a Kyle King pass in the end zone on the first Spartan drive of the game. Up to that point, GEHS was driving down the field following Penn’s first score, as King fired a pass at the 22-yard line that found Day’s outstretched hands. “I don’t usually play defense, but I’ll do my job when I get in there,” Day said of the opportunity to shine on the opposite side of the ball. “He just threw it right to me, and I went up and got it. I feel like we can go all the way. We’ve just got to clean up little things, like penalties. If we get that stuff cleaned up, I think we can go all the way.” More defensive pressure from the likes of Jeff Tucker and Sam Schuler forced King’s hand, as the third Spartan drive ended at an interception for Nathan Bentz at the South 9. Bending but not breaking was a hallmark of this contest for the Patriots, and three points allowed after 206 yards surrendered was what helped the offense along. After giving up 31 points in last week’s game in Morgantown, the defense stepped up. That was exactly what coach Tanner wanted to see out of his squad. “It just speaks to the character of our kids, I think,” Tanner said of the defense’s ability to only give up ten points. “We preach finishing, and we practice with red zone defense. We do a pursuit drill where we put the ball inside the 30, and we can’t let the ball-carrier past the goal line. I think more than anything, it’s just the mentality. Our kids do a good job of digging their feet in and getting the job done.” On this Senior Night, a pair of juniors also came to play in a big way. Jake Hogsett found the end zone on two of Penn’s throws and Levi Rice also got the job done with a 34-yard touchdown grab to put the game out of reach at 21-3 with 1:18 left in the first half. Penn’s senior season to remember keeps rolling along, as he got back to business as usual after throwing only his third interception of the year off a tipped ball into the hands of Greenbrier East’s Braden Bragg on the team’s third offensive drive. His next pass happened to be the long touchdown throw to Day, as he proved he could bounce back at a moment’s notice. A challenge in Wheeling waits for South, as Wheeling Park hopes to be the team responsible for spoiling PSHS’s perfect season, but Penn says his team is just getting started at 8-0. “Yeah, we definitely can (finish the year out strongly),” Penn said. “As you can see, we had a lot of mistakes in this game, and we still finished with 42 points. We’re barely scratching the surface of what we can do. I say we can go all the way. We’ve just got to keep grinding and do our thing, until it’s all over.”