Morgantown tasked with quick reload against difficult schedule

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown is faced with replacing several key pieces from its state semifinal team from a season ago as the Mohigans enter 2017.

After 2016, the Mohigans lost their top running back, Jordan Page, and top two receivers, Camron Henderson and Ben Waibogha, to graduation.

But junior quarterback Logan Holgorsen’s July transfer to St. Frances Academy in Baltimore gave Morgantown yet another starter to replace.

“His announcement came after three weeks (of summer practices) were over and it came a little bit out of left field,” Lacy said. “But we just sold to our team what the truth is – no one guy is bigger than the team. He’s a very good football player, he was very well respected, he was a great leader and has a very good skill-set at quarterback.

“But it’s not going to change anything we do defensively or special teams,” Lacy said. “It won’t change anything in our run game. It will have an impact in our passing game, we’ve kind of pared things back a little bit. He did have a very strong arm and could get the ball down the field, stretch it a little bit more than we might now.”

Holgorsen, as a sophomore, threw for 1,355 yards and 14 touchdowns with seven interceptions in 2016.

“In hindsight, it may even make us a better football team overall, because we are concentrating more on some of the little things,” Lacy said. “We’ve also been spending more time focusing on the running game, doing some different things there that we might not have done if he was at quarterback.

Junior Aaron Alvarez and sophomore Preston Fox have both been in the mix during the preseason to replace Holgorsen at quarterback.

“Preston (Fox) can also be one of our top receivers that we have, he’s such a great athlete,” Lacy said. “He plays baseball and he can throw the ball a little bit – he can run and gives us some more options, being a running-type quarterback.

“Aaron (Alvarez) is 6-foot-3, he can see over the line and he has a nice arm,” Lacy continued. “Aaron knows the offense, he knows it and he’s studied it.”

Senior RB/WR Jayron Wilson is one of the leading returning players for Morgantown in 2017.

Senior receiver Alajuan Robinson and senior receiver/running back Jayron Wilson will both be relied upon heavily for the Mohigans as well, building a chemistry with their new QB.

“What I think we lack this year is a big, tall playmaker who could stretch the field,” Lacy said. “But we have guys like Alajuan and Jayron who can catch the ball and really do some damage in space. They have a lot of wiggle in them, can make a guy miss and take the ball 60 yards, because of their speed.”

Junior Ty Konchesky is also expected to help carry the load offensively at running back.

Morgantown won’t have much time to bring its new quarterback along, either, as the Mohigans open up the season at North Allegheny (PA) and follow that up with a home contest against Steubenville (OH).

“We have a heavy schedule this year,” Lacy said. “And we have a bunch of naysayers based on our schedule. But I wouldn’t have scheduled them if I didn’t think we were going to win – we didn’t schedule the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“We will definitely be tested come playoff time and that’s what I want for our guys – to know that we’ve gone through the fire in the regular season,” Lacy continued. “You get to that playoff time and that experience pays off. Obviously we have our work cut out for us, no doubt. But it has helped the kids buy in to our (practices and the offseason), knowing what kind of schedule we have in front of us.”

MORGANTOWN
2017 Football Schedule

1 08/25/17 7:30PM A – NORTH ALLEGHENY   
2 09/01/17 7:00PM H – STEUBENVILLE,OH H.S.    
3 09/08/17 7:00PM A – PARKERSBURG SOUTH   
4 09/15/17 7:00PM H – BROOKE HIGH SCHOOL   
5 09/22/17 7:00PM A – MARTINSBURG   
6 09/29/17 7:00PM A – MUSSELMAN   
7 10/06/17 7:30PM H – WHEELING PARK   
8 10/13/17 7:30PM H – RIVERSIDE   
9 10/20/17 7:00PM A – JOHN MARSHALL   
10 10/27/17 7:30PM A – UNIVERSITY   
 wins: 0   lost: 0   ties: 0




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