— By Sean Manning
Almost as unexpected as the green Gatorade bath Morgantown head coach Matt Lacy was doused in when the clock hit 0:00 on Friday night at Pony Lewis Field is the resurrection of the Mohigans offense over the past two games. The latest victim was University High in the Mohawk Bowl — a 55-10 drubbing at the hands of MHS.
After a month of struggling to find any semblance of a balanced offensive attack, the Mohigans seemingly cannot be stopped, scoring seven touchdowns last week against John Marshall and reaching the end zone another seven times against the Hawks. Not only did MHS reclaim the Mohawk Bowl trophy, it likely pushed itself into the postseason for the fourth-straight season.
The Mohigans (5-5) were the No. 17 seed, but beating UHS (5-5) netted them 12 points and five bonus points. “It was a must win for us and the kids did a fantastic job of putting it all together — they played well in all three phases,” Lacy said. The Mohigans jumped out to a 7-0 lead on the first possession with a Cam Rice sneak from the 1-yard line.
They added two more touchdowns before the half, but coming out of the locker room, that’s when the fireworks began. MHS scored five touchdowns in the third quarter, including three drives that last one play before the Mohigans reached the end zone. Ty Konchesky took MHS’s first offensive play of the third quarter and went 66 yards for a score.
Two possessions later, Tanner Davis went 35 yards for a touchdown, and on the next possession, Davis took it 63 yards for a touchdown. Davis and Konchesky combined for 273 yards and five touchdowns on just 19 carries. “We went back to what we were good at, which is the spread-red power offense,” Konchesky said. “It’s just been tearing people apart. The linemen were confused with what we were doing before but with this, they know what they’re doing — they don’t mess up. They were missing blocks before but now we’ve really cleaned it up.”
Taking Nick Malone, a Division-I offensive tackle committed to Pitt, and making him a flex tight end has also paid dividends. It extends the line and adds and extra blocker on the outside. It also makes the line more formidable inside with the addition of Charles Hairston. “We’re just starting to gel and have been able to play the same guys week in and week out and that’s helped us gain some confidence to get where we are,” Lacy said.
Konchesky missed last season’s Mohawk Bowl — a 38-19 Hawks win at UHS — with a torn ACL, so Friday night tasted pretty sweet, especially considering everything that was on the line. “That game was like my whole high school career built up into one, angry moment, and I just left everything I had on the field,” he said. “It means the world to us because in like 20 years, no one is going to remember that, ‘Oh, you beat Brooke that year.’ “We beat UHS in the Mohawk Bowl and that’s something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. We’ve got bragging rights and that’s something these seniors will always have.”
While both teams have a good chance to make the playoffs — an updated WVSSAC rating will be released Tuesday — they will need to wait another week to find out for sure. Neither will play in Week 11, officially a bye week.
Matt Lacy interview with Dave Wilson