MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It wasn’t just that University was beaten 69-15 by Morgantown last season.
The manner in which the Hawks lost that day stood out to their veteran coach John Kelley, who hadn’t forgotten about it leading up to the renewal of the Mohawk Bowl on Friday at Mylan Pharmaceuticals Stadium.
“Last year we were intimidated by them and our kids were even afraid of them,” Kelley recalled.
UHS was determined not to let history repeat itself.
The Hawks got a 65-yard touchdown pass from Chase Edwards to Jaeden Hammack on the first play from scrimmage and responded to the Mohigans’ third-quarter rally by scoring 28 unanswered points in 8:13 to remain unbeaten with a 49-14 victory.
“We were going to come out and smack them in the mouth and see what they had,” Kelley said. “That opening play put a little seed of doubt in them and we germinated for the rest of the game.”
With the win, the No. 5 Hawks moved to within one win of completing an unbeaten regular season, which they’ll have an opportunity to wrap up next week when they welcome Oak Hill.
After Hammack hauled in the long TD reception on the first play, UHS forced a three-and-out and started its second series at the Morgantown 5-yard line thanks to a Daminn Cunnigham 51-yard punt return.
Colin McBee then scored his first of three rushing touchdowns and four total TDs on a 2-yard run, allowing UHS to hold a 14-0 lead at the 9:09 mark of the opening quarter, despite running only three plays.
“We gave up big plays and dug ourselves a hole early on,” MHS coach Sean Biser said.
The score stayed that way until UHS put together an eight play, 72-yard drive and got another 2-yard run by McBee for a 21-0 advantage 8:41 before halftime. Three plays prior to McBee’s second touchdown run, Edwards found Donald Brandel for a 34-yard pass to the Mohigans’ 3.
“He’s an old school, western Pennsylvania fullback type kid,” Kelley said of McBee. “You’re not going to get him unless he gets 2 or 3 yards and then he’ll break one. A lot of that goes to our offensive line and for the first time, we dominated their defensive line. It wasn’t like that in the past, but tonight was our night.”
While the Hawks limited Morgantown (4-5) to three first downs in the opening half, the No. 14 Mohigans got back in the game on the first play of the second half when Bobby Powell returned the kickoff 85 yards to the end zone.
MHS then forced a three-and-out, and three plays later, Peyton Johnson got to the edge on a 79-yard touchdown run that made it a one possession game only 3:17 into the third quarter.
“We gave up one play where they caught us in a double end blitz and they got outside,” Kelley said of the only points his defense allowed.
But the Hawks answered with an important scoring drive, and Edwards connected with Elija Jackson on a 41-yard TD pass, with Jackson doing the bulk of the damage after the catch to help his team regain its two-touchdown lead at the 6:36 mark of the third.
University’s Daniel Henderson came up with a critical fumble recovery on the Mohigans’ first play of their ensuing series, allowing the Hawks to start at the MHS 30.
Six plays later, McBee provided his third 2-yard rushing touchdown, stretching the UHS lead to 35-14.
“We put the ball on the ground,” Biser said. “You can’t put the ball on the ground like that and give them a short field. That took our momentum right away.”
The Hawks’ Turner McKenzie then pounced on a squib kick, and despite Luke Hudson taking over at quarterback for an injured Edwards, University drove 45 yards and got a 1-yard TD run on a direct snap to Kolton Burns for a 42-14 lead 14 seconds into the fourth period.
McBee returned a Jarrett Lawrence fumble 25 yards for the game’s final TD with 10:23 left.
Kelley has doubts about Edwards’ availability against the Red Devils.
“He got hit in the head and he’s had previous concussions,” Kelley said. “They just said, ‘let’s not take a chance.’ I knew as long as we could get somebody to hand it off to Colin, we’d be alright.”