WHEELING, W.Va. — When Jacob Rine took over at quarterback in October as a result of Curtis McGhee’s season-ending injury, there was thought that Wheeling Central’s run as Class A champion would come to an end.
Instead, Rine turned in one of the more memorable performances in program history Saturday to lead the Maroon Knights to a 38-21 win over Doddridge County in the Class A title game at Wheeling Island Stadium.
Rine completed 13-of-18 throws for 214 yards and four touchdowns, rushed for 83 yards and even made a 25-yard field goal to key the Maroon Knights (10-4) to their third consecutive Class A championship.
“I’m always going to have different guys around me that are able to make plays,” Rine said. “Every game it’s been a different guy making those plays. Tonight it hapepned to be me, but it wasn’t just me.”
Wheeling Central, the No. 10 seed, got off to the start it desired by forcing the top seed Bulldogs (13-1) to go three-and-out.
The Maroon Knights then marched 52 yards in 10 plays and took a 7-0 lead when Jordan Waterhouse scored on a 5-yard run at the 6:26 mark of the opening quarter.
Michael Horan’s recovery of a Noah Bumgardner fumble later in the opening quarter gave Central the ball back at the Bulldogs’ 46, and Rine found Payton Marling for a 17-yard TD on the third play of the ensuing drive.
“A big part of the game was them having field position the entire first half,” Doddridge County head coach Bobby Burnside said.
The Bulldogs answered with a 65-yard drive and cut its deficit in half at 14-7 when Dylan Knight reached the end zone on a 3-yard run with 8 minutes to go in the opening half.
Although the Bulldogs regained possession by forcing a turnover on downs when Central was in the red zone, they punted it back to the Maroon Knights after failing to pick up a first down.
That allowed Central to have one final first-half possession, and the Maroon Knights made the most of it when Rine tossed a 6-yard TD pass to Adam Murray 25 seconds before the intermission for a 21-7 lead.
“It was huge for them to get the score before the end of the half,” Burnside said. “That made the climb for us harder.”
Rine’s 25-yard field goal 4:02 into the second half upped the Maroon Knights’ lead to 17 points.
Doddridge, however, answered in the form of a 20-yard touchdown pass from Bumgardner to Austin Kelley to draw to within 10 with 4:04 remaining in the third.
Central then delivered a game-sealing blow when Rine found Creighton for a 62-yard touchdown pass on third-and-19 with 1:52 to play in the third.
“Jacob stepped up. Every week we added a little bit more to the package and he just produced,” Maroon Knights’ head coach Mike Young said. “He played his heart out tonight.”
Creighton hauled in his second touchdown — this one from 2 yards — to make it 38-14, before Hunter America threw a 30-yard touchdown to Griffin Devericks to cap the scoring.
“It’s hard to put into words this feeling I have right now,” Rine said. “I really don’t know how I was able to go out there and do what I did.”
Creighton finished with four catches for 77 yards and a pair of TDs, while Marling had 58 receiving yards and 40 rushing yards.
Waterhouse led the Maroon Knights’ rushing attack with 90 yards on 24 carries.
“The journey was long, but the rewards were great,” Young said. “That’s what happens when you only win six out of ten, but it ended up being great because of the competition we played. We lost to some good teams, but we got better. We beat some good teams and continued to get better and that’s the reason we’re here tonight.”
America rushed for 126 yards on 19 carries, but was kept out of the end zone.