North Central: SSAC October Classic features MoHawk Bowl

Class AAA No. 13 Morgantown (4-5) at No. 2 University (9-0)

Morgantown has struggled down the stretch, having lost back-to-back games to Riverside and John Marshall. But the Mohigans still have a good chance at the playoffs — win or lose in the MoHawk Bowl.

“It’s still there,” said Morgantown coach Matt Lacy of a playoff spot. “We can reach it but we have to refocus coming off back-to-back losses. We showed we could do it last year, losing back to back and still getting into the playoffs.

“This game couldn’t come at a better time for us,” Lacy continued. “We are banged up but the kids don’t need any extra motivation because it is University.”

The timing is not good on the injury front for MHS. Among the players out for this game is leading rusher Ty Konchesky who had his season come to an end due to a knee injury.

Konchesky leads the team with 790 yards and nine rushing touchdowns. He is also the second leading tackler on the team with 51 stops from his linebacker position. Junior lineman Jaden Wolfley is also out for the season with a foot injury.

Friday’s MoHawk Bowl between Morgantown and University has been tabbed as the 2017 WVSSAC October Classic and will have live video streaming at the MetroNews Channel of WVMetroNews.com

“We’ve had some guys move around and really help out because they are versatile,” said Lacy. “We’ve had Marcellus Marshall slide over and play a couple of positions on the offensive line. Javohn Moore has played multiple positions. Alajuan Robinson has moved from receiver and is now one of our primary ball carriers.”

Among healthy players, the senior Robinson leads the team with 535 yards rushing and eight touchdowns coming into the MoHawk Bowl. Robinson is also the second leading receiver.

“They are playing for the ‘perfect’ season,” Lacy said. “We have an opportunity to spoil that. It adds a little motivation. But the most important thing is us. We can get to the .500 mark for the season and still get into the playoffs.”

University is seeking its first 10-0 regular season since 1999.

“Our season will not be defined by one game,” said head coach John Kelley. “Certainly, we want to go 10-0 but we’ve calculated that win or lose we will still finish second or third for the playoffs.”

The potential for a perfect regular season means a lot for a group of University seniors that played on a 2-8 team just two seasons ago.

University is facing rival Morgantown, looking for its first perfect regular season since 1999.

“It means more to them and it means more to me,” Kelley said. “We knew we were going to take a major hit (in 2015). We prepared for that. I thought we were a little ahead of schedule last year with an 8-2 team, but we all expected it to come together this year and it has so far.”

The players anticipate having a great time on the field.

“No matter what anyone says this is the biggest game of the year,” said University junior receiver and defensive back Amir Richardson. “This is the most anticipated game of the year. This is the one you think about at Christmas. This is the one you think about in the spring and in the summer. It’s finally here as this season has just flown by.”

The Hawks have dominated defensively of late as they come into the MoHawk Bowl with 30 sacks on the season. Lineman Hayden Starcher, Dalton McDaniels and Ben Gribble have 18 1/2 sacks between them.

Offensively, senior Robert Sanders has taken over as the primary ball carrier as he has rolled up 389 of his team high 582 yards in the last three weeks.

The Hawks have spread out the wealth in the passing game as well as six different receivers have caught at least one touchdown pass. Senior quarterback Clay Bailey has already set career highs with 121 completions, 1.696 yards and 19 touchdowns.

 

Class A No. 1 South Harrison (8-0) at No. 2 East Hardy (8-0)

Senior standout Freddy Canary stood out with 318 yards and four touchdowns as South Harrison took over the top spot in the MetroNews Power Rankings with a 43-15 win over defending Class A champ St. Marys last week. Both Canary and South Harrison coach Brad Jett were quick to share the credit.

“The offensive line and (blocking back) Cam Barnette opened some big holes,” Canary said. “They’ve really worked hard and all (the running backs) have to do is hit the holes.”

“It goes back to our offensive line,” said South Harrison coach Brad Jett. “We live and die by our front seven offensively and defensively. We’re being able to run both ways, right and left, and it’s great.”

Canary is having the most fun watching his team come together.

“We’ve all played together since we were little and this is the most we’ve worked together,” Canary said. “I felt that if we fixed our mistakes from last year we could really have success.

“We just fight and we don’t let down,” Canary continued. “We’ve learned that lesson from year’s past. This is a very tough stretch and we’re not through it yet with East Hardy and Liberty coming up.”

Like South Harrison, East Hardy is on a mission. The last two losses for the Cougars have come in the state championship 2015 and 2016 state championship games. The Cougars are 8-0 and coming off a bye week from last week.

 

Class AA No. 9 Lincoln (6-2) at Philip Barbour (6-2)

Philip Barbour will try and run its winning streak to five as it hosts Lincoln.

“We’ve had a couple of bad years and these kids are really hungry,” said Philip Barbour coach Russ Collett. “We started the year just hoping to win one game. But we’ve built on that and we are starting to do some really fun things now.”

Philip Barbour had lost 24 consecutive games coming into the 2017 season.

“When we got a little bit of success they started to want it so bad,” Collett said. “Many of the wins we’ve had, we’ve actually come from behind so you can tell how this group has really grown up.”

The Colts offense has averaged 34 points per game during this winning streak.

“We’ve managed to run the ball despite being undersized on the offensive line,” Collett said. “We’ve had very simple rules for the lineman to help them get angles and to know where to attack. Now our quarterback Damien Gonzalez is starting to get some confidence and has come on to where we can have a bit of a throwing threat.”

Lincoln extended its winning streak to five with a thrilling 45-44 win over Elkins last week. Kobie Carpenter connected with Colten Hovermale for a 44-yard touchdown. Carpenter then ran in the two point conversion with 34 seconds to go for the win.

 

North Marion (5-3) at Class AA No. 15 Robert C. Byrd (5-3)

The Eagles played their way back into the playoff mix with a dominating performance in a 48-14 win over previously unbeaten Liberty last week. RCB backs Ghovan Davidson and Malcolm Johnson combined for 429 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. The Eagles had 586 total yards as it won its third straight game.

North Marion has lost two of its last three including a 30-28 setback at the hands of Braxton County last week.

 

Class AAA No. 7 Liberty (7-1) at Lewis County (1-8)

Liberty will try and shake its first loss of the season — a 48-14 setback at the hands of  Robert C. Byrd last week. Running back Broderick Lantz was one of the bright spots with 131 yards on the ground.

The Mountaineers will work the next two weeks to try and improve their playoff seeding as they were paired with eventual champ Mingo Central in the first round last year.

Liberty has clinched its third consecutive winning season as it looks to get to the playoffs for the second year in a row.

 

Notre Dame (2-8) at No. 16 Clay-Battelle (6-2)

The Cee-Bees had their best defensive effort of the season last week holding Conotton Valley to 58 yards of total offense and scoring a defensive touchdown.

Gunner Brummage returned an interception for a score. On offense, Travis Dille went over the 1,000 yard rushing mark for the season as he had 167 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

Clay-Battelle gets Notre Dame at home this week before closing with highly ranked Madonna at home next week.

 

Preston (1-7) at Buckhannon-Upshur (3-5)

Preston will close the season with back to back road games at Buckhannon and at Musselman during the final two weeks of the season.

16 football playing seniors were honored at halftime of last week’s home loss to University.

“They’re a good group of kids and they’ve been good leaders,” Preston coach Jonathan Tennant said following last week’s game. “They’ve been in some tough situations and I’m really proud with how they’ve responded.”

Buckhannon is struggling offensively having scored just one touchdown in the last two weeks. The Buccaneers have lost to University and Brooke during that span. The Bucs get their final home game this week prior to closing the season with a rivalry game at Elklins next week.

 

Other games:

East Fairmont at Braxton County

Elkins at Grafton

Gilmer County at Parkersburg Catholic





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