MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Friday’s Class AAA matchup between No. 4 Wheeling Park and No. 8 University figured to go down to the wire.
Thanks to a huge rally by Wheeling Park, it did.
After trailing 38-27 with 7:39 to play, the Patriots rallied with 18 unanswered points to leave Mylan Pharmaceuticals Stadium with a 45-38 victory.
Wheeling Park (3-0) remained unbeaten despite Logan Holgorsen’s five-touchdown passing night for University (2-2)
“We talked about adversity and we knew there was going to be a time where their quarterback was going to make plays,” Park coach Chris Daugherty said. “You watch them on film and there’s no way you’re stopping that. They’re going to make their plays and they made their plays tonight.
“We said we had to stay calm in the middle of that storm. When they make a play, get up and fight and go again. I was proud of the way we kept coming back.”
After Wheeling Park got a 17-yard touchdown run from quarterback Alex Dunlevy to pull to within 31-27 with 8:25 remaining, the Hawks had an immediate answer.
Holgorsen, who finished with 351 passing yards in defeat, found receiver Evan Parow for a 57-yard gain on the first play of the ensuing series. That duo hooked up again on the very next play, giving UHS a 38-27 advantage with 7:39 remaining.
“He’s just amazing,” University coach John Kelley said. “The bottom line is we can’t protect him. We might as well not even put a line out there. They had a nice game plan with the blitzes, but we didn’t have an answer for it. We have to get better pass blocking, because this kid can carve you up.”
The Patriots responded with an uptempo 13-play drive that covered 80 yards, capped off by Dunlevy’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Devaughn McWhorter. The two-point run failed, leaving the Hawks with a 38-33 lead and 3:47 remaining.
Wheeling Park had all three timeouts remaining, but when Holgorsen found Parow for an 18-yard completion on third-and-14, the Hawks were in prime position to run out the clock.
Needing just one more first down to seal the verdict, University turned the ball over when Holgorsen and running back Ben Gribble had a miscommunication on the exchange. Park’s Jermain Snodgrass recovered the fumble at the Hawks’ 41 with 2:38 to play.
“You hope something like the fumble happens, but to tell you the truth, when they got that first down, I thought, ‘there’s the football game,’” Daugherty said. “That’s why you play it and that’s why high school football is some of the best football out there. Everybody that paid to watch this game tonight got their money’s worth.”
Soon after Snodgrass’ fumble recovery, Kenya Robinson ripped off a 13-yard run on fourth-and-3. Then Steven Mitchell scored on an 11-yard touchdown run with 37 seconds remaining to put the Patriots up 39-38.
Robinson, filling in for a banged up Rapheal Bradley, rushed for 163 yards on a school-record 40 carries.
“We thought we had to stick to the run game,” Daugherty said. “We didn’t want to get out of what we knew we could do. We felt like when we had the ball, we were the only ones hurting ourselves. I’m sure he’s saying the same thing over there, but we thought we had enough time to stick to the run and we did.”
University got the ball back at its 29 with 29 seconds left, but Holgorsen was sacked twice, including the last play on which he lost a fumble that Park’s Aden Edgmon returned for a touchdown.
The Patriots got the scoring started with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Dunlevy to McWhorter, which combined with a point-after kick by Andrew Glass, left Park with a 7-0 lead.
Holgorsen’s 3-yard TD pass to Parow tied the game at 7 with 8:58 on the first quarter clock, and that duo was responsible for the game’s next touchdown on a 28-yard pass at the 4:09 mark of the first quarter.
Robinson’s 12-yard TD run tied it at 14-14 before Dunlevy’s 8-yard scoring run gave Park the lead.
But Park committed a roughing the passer penalty on a third-and-26 play that allowed University to tie the game at 21-21 on Holgorsen’s 24-yard TD pass to Amir Richardson 38 seconds before halftime.
Jonah Phares drilled a 32-yard field goal on the first series of the second half to give University a 24-21 lead with 8:40 to play in the third quarter.
The Hawks led 31-21 after Holgorsen’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Richardson late in the third quarter.
“Hats off to Park. They never quit and they stuck with their game plan,” Kelley said. “They’re bigger and stronger than us and that’s been a problem for us all year.”