10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

Morgantown holds off University to win Mohawk Bowl, 21-20

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Friday’s Mohawk Bowl at Pony Lewis Field was the ninth game this season for both Morgantown and University.

Yet to the Mohigans, who entered 5-3 overall and No. 14 in the Class AAA playoff ratings, it was so much more.

“For us, it was kind of like win or go home,” said Morgantown junior Bobby Powell, who scored a touchdown and brought in two interceptions. “We knew if we won this game we were going to clinch a playoff spot, so that’s what we were trying to do.”

Morgantown overcame an early 13-point deficit and got a 28-yard touchdown pass from Maddox Bowers to Powell on the final play of the third quarter that it ensure stood as the winning score by coming up with a timely defensive stop to prevail, 21-20.

With the win, MHS (6-3) all but assures itself of a playoff spot ahead of the regular season finale against Linsly. 

“That’s what we work for,” Morgantown head coach Sean Biser said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the kids. They’ve hung in there and we’ve had some really close games. They just keep buying and coming to work. We’re a little beat up right now, but they come to work every day trying to get better.”

The Hawks, also 6-3, are likely bound for the postseason as well and will wrap up their regular season next week at Spring Mills.

“Our kids were magnificent tonight,” UHS head coach John Kelley said. “They outplayed them in every phase and their effort was outstanding. I’m proud of them and it doesn’t get us a win, but I think we’re somebody to be contended with.”

Bowers’ TD pass to Powell came on a well designed fourth-and-6 play and Powell found himself free in the secondary before reaching the end zone.

“The safety kept jumping the first move and I knew if I hit him with a double move it was going to be an open touchdown,” Powell said.

Aiden Stire then knocked home his third point-after kick in as many tries, which proved pivotal in the outcome.

What proved to be the winning score was setup by a special teams turnover on a Mohigans’ punt that hit off a Hawks’ blocker and was recovered by Morgantown’s Hank Marlin. That allowed the home team to start at the UHS 32 with 1:28 left in the third quarter.

Just 2 minutes earlier, the Hawks converted separate fourth downs during a 13 play, 76-yard drive and took the lead on Noah Braham’s 7-yard touchdown run. That made it 19-14 UHS at the 3:47 mark of the third quarter, and the Hawks elected to try a two-point conversion in an effort to increase their lead to seven.

On the two-point play, Braham crossed the goal line on a run, but the successful conversion was negated by a Hawks’ penalty for linemen pushing the pile to aid Braham in his effort to reach the end zone. With the ball moved back to the Mohigans’ 7, Kelley had John Coleman kick an extra point, which was successful, but left the visitors with a six-point lead instead of seven.

“I’m not allowed to comment on officials, but I’ve never seen that call made in 48 years of coaching,” Kelley said. “I’m not going to dispute that it’s a call, but you can call that on every short yardage play, every buck sweep, every jet sweep they ran. Their guys did the exact same thing.”

After Powell’s touchdown catch, UHS offered a strong response. The Hawks got an 18-yard run from Luke Hudson on the third play of the ensuing drive, and later an 11-yard run from Sebastian Dalton on third-and-9 to move just outside the red zone.

Dalton’s 9-yard run on the next play put University at the MHS 15, before a false start penalty pushed the Hawks back. Dalton was then dropped for a 1-yard loss, before Hudson’s incomplete pass left UHS facing fourth-and-7 from the Morgantown 21. On that play, Hudson threw in Braham’s direction, but the pass fell incomplete, allowing the Mohigans to take over with 5:08 remaining.

“We didn’t do anything special,” Biser said. “We told them to play the way they’ve been coached to play. [Assistant coach Adam King] stayed on their case. He was hot under the collar, but they responded. That’s a good sign when a coach can coach hard like that and kids respond. It tells you they have respect and belief in what you’re doing.”

Still, Morgantown needed to move the ball to run out the clock. After picking up one first down, the Mohigans faced third-and-14 from their 27 with 2:15 left. They elected to run a play they hadn’t gone to recently and it produced a 30-yard run from AJ Thomas that helped seal the outcome.

Biser credited Bowers for Thomas’ run.

“The counter play we ran that give us the big first down was his call,” Biser said. “He said, ‘Coach it’s there’, so we ran it.”

“That was a good play call on their part,” Kelley added.

Morgantown got one more first down on its final possession, before Caleb Nutter was stopped at the line of scrimmage on fourth-and-2 from the Hawks’ 26.

That enabled University to get the ball back with 21 seconds left, and the Hawks mustered 32 yards on a pair of pass plays, but could get nothing more.

Each team lost a fumble on its first series, before the Hawks marched 68 yards on their second possession to go ahead 7-0 on Melique Lewis’ 2-yard TD run.

Three plays after going in front, the Hawks got an interception from Jaeden Hammack, who returned it 55 yards to the end zone for a 13-0 lead.

Coleman’s point-after try was blocked, however, leaving it a 13-point margin with 1:18 left in the opening quarter.

Marcus Ullom’s 25-yard TD run allowed Morgantown to cut into its deficit on the second play of the second quarter.

While Hammack came up with his second pick of the night and 14th interception of his career in the second quarter, Powell picked off two passes in that frame, the latter of which he returned 23 yards to the UHS 28 with 40 seconds left in the half.

“It was a heated game,” Powell said. “I had to make big plays for my team and that’s what I was trying to do.”

Bowers’ 18-yard pass to Broderick Washington put Morgantown on the Hawks’ 2, though it was forced to call its final timeout with 17 seconds left.

The Mohigans then tried a Nutter run up the gut, but he was stopped at the 1-yard line. Without a timeout, Morgantown hustled to the line and made the most of the final play of the half as Bowers found Washington on a 1-yard TD pass as time expired. The second of Stires’ three-point after kicks left the Mohigans with a 14-13 halftime lead.

“We were starting to yell, ‘Kill it’, and then he snapped it and got it off,” Biser said. “I was real proud of them. You get in those huddles and it’s hectic and chaotic and the big thing is they all listened. When you have 11 guys out there, they all have to listen. They did and executed it. That’s a credit to the kids.”

In addition to his two interceptions, Hammack had eight receptions for 70 yards, though seven catches came in the first half. Braham caught eight passes for 65 yards in defeat.





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