MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Wheeling Park overcame a 15-point deficit with 8:57 remaining, outscoring Morgantown 21-0 down the stretch to pick up a 34-28 victory at Pony Lewis Field.
The Class AAA No. 6 Patriots went in front on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Alex Dunlevy to Steven Mitchell with 33 seconds left. On the game’s final play, Dunlevy broke up a pass in the end zone from Mohigans’ quarterback Gunner Latimore on a play that began from the Park 27-yard line, allowing the Patriots to improve to 5-1.
Morgantown fell to 1-6 and has three one possession losses.
“Anytime you come here, you know what it’s going to be like,” Park head coach Chris Daugherty said. “They’re better than their record. We show some resiliency, but at the end of the day, we’re also the team that puts ourselves in a hole. We have to quit doing that, because sooner or later we’re going to run out of gas and not going to make the plays that we need to at the end.”
Park had an adventurous trip, leaving an hour and a half later than expected and traveling on U.S. Route 250 due to traffic and construction. That pushed kickoff back one hour.
“Taking 250 through Cameron, it wasn’t a normal trip here,” Daugherty said. “We had to hurry up and get ready, but at the end of the day, we can’t make any excuses.”
Despite driving to the Mohigans’ 18 on the game’s opening series, Park turned it over on downs when Rapheal Bradley was stopped for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-2.
A few minutes later, however, the Patriots took a 6-0 lead when Kenya Robinson raced 20 yards to the end zone. The point-after try was blocked, leaving Morgantown with a six-point deficit.
The Mohigans immediately answered with a 68-yard drive capped by a 15-yard TD run from 255-pound fullback Deondre Crudup. John McConnell knocked home the point-after kick to give MHS a 7-6 lead with 2:22 to play in the opening quarter.
“We thought we could get some advantage (with Crudup) with how they were playing defensively,” MHS head coach Matt Lacy said. “We did some nice things.”
On the Mohigans’ next series, Preston Fox ran for 8 yards on fourth-and-2, before scoring on a 13-yard run to give Morgantown the 14-6 advantage 9:39 before halftime.
Park had an immediate answer in the form of Dunlevy’s 46-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell, cutting the Mohigans’ lead to one point at the 7:17 mark.
The Patriots, however, began to hurt their cause with penalties on the ensuing Morgantown possession. Three separate Park infractions aided Morgantown during a 56-yard drive that ultimately ended with Fox scoring on a 14-yard run 4:06 before the break.
Morgantown made the 21-13 lead stand at halftime and the score stayed that way after both teams punted on a pair of third quarter possessions.
Jackson Wolfe, who recovered a Dunlevy fumble in the third quarter, upped the Morgantown lead to 28-13 with 8:57 left after reaching the end zone on a 15-yard run up the gut.
“We played great for three full quarters and three-quarters of the fourth quarter,” Lacy said. “Just that last quarter of the fourth, we zapped ourselves.”
But just as it looked like the Mohigans were primed to pick up their second win, Park’s Shaheed Jackson returned the kickoff 97 yards to pay dirt. The PAT try was blocked again, leaving Morgantown on top, 28-19.
“If we had a game ball, it’d go to Shaheed,” Daugherty said.
MHS immediately went three-and-out, and Dunlevy extended a play to find Nate Hairston for a 61-yard touchdown pass, leaving the Patriots trailing 28-26 with 6:23 left.
“We have so many playmakers all over the field — it makes my job a lot easier,” Dunlevy said. “I have confidence in every single kid on this team. We’ve battled back time and time again and did it again tonight.”
Morgantown appeared to have the game all but won when Fox reached the end zone again from 15 yards away with inside of 3 minutes left, but it was negated on a penalty for a low block.
Two plays later, the snap went over the head of Fox and was recovered by the Patriots’ Zach Frye at the Mohigans’ 44 with 1:55 remaining.
Despite committing a pair of penalties on its final drive, Park got a 28-yard pass from Dunlevy to Mitchell to get into the red zone.
The winning score was a push pass from Dunlevy to Mitchell, who was in motion and produced his second TD reception of the night. Dunlevy found Jackson for a successful pass play on the 2-point conversion to provide the final margin.
“I looked at everyone in the huddle,” Dunlevy said, “and told them we’re going to go right down the field and score.”