In week nine of the high school football season, Class AAA’s No. 1 team George Washington survived a back and forth game against No. 3 Capital, 28-24. The Patriots jumped out to the quick 14-0 lead after two first quarter touchdowns. But Capital would respond, gaining momentum off of a safety and following it up with a touchdown and two-point conversion to close the gap to 14-10.
Following a GW interception, Capital answered with another touchdown to take a 17-14 lead into the break. In the second half, GW’s Felix Mollett finished off a five play, 65-yard drive with a touchdown run to give the Patriots the 21-17 lead. Capital, meanwhile, came back once again with a 51-yard touchdown drive capped off by a Josh Sharp five yard run to take the 24-21 lead.
Forced to come from behind again, the Patriots kept their undefeated season alive with a 73-yard game winning touchdown drive to seal the 28-24 win. Overall on the night, Mollett finished the contest with 257 yards rushing and four touchdowns on 35 carries. Capital’s Keion Wright, meanwhile, finished with 106 yards rushing on 22 carries.
“The kids did a great job – they responded,” said GW head coach Steve Edwards Jr. “They responded to the pressure. They put themselves under some pressure and they were fortunate enough to play hard enough and I can’t say enough about their effort. They really did a good job – they never thought they were out of it.”
Also in Class AAA on the night, numbers 2, 4, 5 and 6 all rolled to easy victories. No. 2 Martinsburg knocked off Jefferson 56-7, No. 4 South Charleston rolled over Nitro 71-7, No. 5 Morgantown defeated John Marshall 56-31 and No. 6 University beat Preston 47-8.
No. 8 Nicholas County, meanwhile, didn’t have as easy of a time with North Marion. The Huskies scored with seconds to go in the contest to make their deficit 20-19. North Marion then went for two and the win, but came up short as the Grizzlies survived the upset.
Also, No. 10 Bridgeport handled No. 12 Logan 31-6, putting the Wildcats’ playoff hopes in jeopardy. No. 15 Parkersburg picked up a needed win over Riverside 62-28. Parkersburg quarterback Alex Ash competed 17 of 21 passes for 285 yards and four touchdowns, three of them to Jeremy Bell. Also scoring three touchdowns for Parkersburg was Allan Wasonga.
In Class AA, No. 1 Ravenswood struggled early with Clay County on the road the Red Devils struggled to put any offense together early. The Red Devils did pull away in the second half for the 58-23 win.
Also in Class AA, No. 14 Poca fell on the road at No. 6 Wayne 52-30. No. 13 Frankfort scored 24 unanswered points to defeat Washington 24-23. Meanwhile, Lincoln picked up its third win on the year, upsetting Liberty Harrison 32-23.
In Class A, No. 1 Wahama rolled over Hannan 65-0. No. 2 Meadow Bridge, meanwhile, picked up a big win over Mt. Hope 32-21. But one of the biggest games in Class A came in Putnam County as No. 6 Buffalo jumped out to a 22-7 lead over No. 4 Fayetteville. The Pirates, however, came back to tie the game up at 22 apiece with just minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The Bison prevailed in the end at home and pulled out the 30-22 win.
Also in Class A, Wheeling Central bounced back from their third loss of the year last week with a huge win over Martins Ferry, Ohio this week 10-7.
Meanwhile, it was a huge game for Madonna senior running back Connor Arlia. He passed the 1,000 yard rushing mark on the year in a 35-7 win over Toronto, Ohio. Overall, he finished with 306 yards rushing and five touchdowns on 20 carries. His touchdowns came on runs of 58 yards, 2 yards, 91 yards, 22 yards and 15 yards. After the game, he was named the WVMetroNews.com Player of the Week.
For a complete look at the scores from week number nine, you can check out the Wendy’s MetroNews High School Scoreboard.