SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Morgantown found the end zone three times in the first and third quarters en route to a 50-0 win at South Charleston in the WVSSAC Kickoff Classic Presented by the Health Plan.
The Mohigans scored on their first three possessions of the game to build a 22-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Even though the MHS offense stalled out in the second quarter, Morgantown cruised to their most lopsided win since 2018.
“I wasn’t happy offensively. But I was pleased with our special teams and very pleased with our defense,” said Morgantown head coach Sean Biser. “We’ve got a lot to clean up so we will have to go back and watch that. But overall, it was a good performance coming out of the gate.”
Caleb Nutter opened the scoring for the Mohigans with a 1-yard touchdown tote on MHS’ opening drive. Maddox Bowers tossed touchdown passes to Dakoma Neal [14 yards] and Jacob Keir [45 yards] to build a 22-0 lead after the first quarter. The Mohigans kept that 22-point cushion into halftime.
“We were trying to throw the ball more and open up a little bit. We ran it early on just to get them comfortable. But then we saw some things we tried to exploit a little bit. It was successful and helped open the game up for us.”
Bobby Powell received the opening kickoff of the second half and rumbled 81 yards to extend Morgantown’s lead to 29-0. Later in the third, Nutter blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for MHS’ second special teams touchdown of the quarter.
“That was huge because I didn’t think our offense was playing well in the second quarter. So to put 14 points on the board and not have to take the field, that’s huge. We do a great job, Coach [Sammy] Lusk does a great job with our special teams and all of our coaches do. They all buy into it. Hopefully that can be a strength for us this year.”
Nutter scored his third touchdown of the game on a 9-yard run late in the third quarter.
Morgantown posted their first shutout in six seasons.
“I just thought they played with great effort. They ran to the ball well and they gang tackled. Obviously, we had a few misalignments here and there. But overall, I thought they played well and we had a nice pass rush.”
MHS will host 2021 Class AAA semifinalist Bridgeport next Friday in the home opener for the Mohigans.
“We better be ready to try to control the line of scrimmage because I know that those guys are going to be controlling the line of scrimmage. There’s no surprise what we are going to get. It is going to be a physical game. They are going to run it right at us. We’ve got to be able to withstand that. We have a lot of work to do this week.”