MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Martinsburg’s defense was put to the test time and time again throughout Friday’s showdown at Spring Mills.
More often than not, the Bulldogs passed with flying colors, and their final stop cemented a 17-12 victory against the Cardinals in a high-level matchup of teams that entered unbeaten.
“We were tough. I was concerned and didn’t know if we’d be able to go four quarters toe-to-toe, because we really haven’t been tested like that,” Bulldogs’ head coach Dave Walker said. “The fact that we were able to play a complete game and our guys dug down, I was proud of them.”
The final points of the night came with 6 seconds left in the third quarter when Martinsburg’s Sam Collins knocked in a 36-yard field goal after the Bulldogs had been assessed consecutive pre-snap penalties.
The No. 1 Cardinals (7-1) had three possessions the rest of the way, but couldn’t get over the hump. The first ended with a punt after Spring Mills was lined up to go for it on fourth-and-1 from its own 41-yard line, before a false start set the Cardinals back further.
But Spring Mills, which recorded six straight shutouts to start this season, forced a three-and-out to immediately regain possession at its 26.
The Cardinals generated three first downs to move into Martinsburg (9-0) territory, but a pair of costly holding penalties along with an incomplete pass led to a fourth-and-15 from the MHS 42.
SMHS inserted Rylan Swartz at quarterback, and he connected with Kheelan Curry on a pass for 13 yards that amounted to a turnover on downs and Martinsburg taking over at its 29 with 5:03 left.
The No. 2 Bulldogs again went three-and-out, allowing Spring Mills to start at its 47 with 4:08 left.
The Cardinals picked up one first down, before Ace Flores sacked Max Anderson on second-and-5 to push the home team back to the Bulldogs’ 43. Anderson then threw consecutive incomplete passes, allowing Martinsburg to regain possession with 1:58 remaining. With the Cardinals out of timeouts, MHS took three knees to seal the verdict.
“The kids played hard. They’re tough,” Walker said. “They listen to the coaching staff and did what was asked of them. We made a few mistakes here and there. We have to get better, but hats off to Spring Mills. They have a really good team, which we knew they did. All the kids and coaches all know each other. It was a tough game, but a good high school football game.”
Both teams produced a touchdown on their opening series, the first of which came from Martinsburg on quarterback Koi Fagan’s 13-yard run. Utilizing tempo, the Bulldogs ran eight plays on the opening possession, which concluded with 9:51 left on the first-quarter clock.
Spring Mills countered following a 44-yard kickoff return from Keyon Mills that allowed the Cardinals to set up just past midfield. On the Cardinals’ third play from scrimmage, Anderson threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Anderson.
The point-after attempt missed off an upright, leaving the Bulldogs with an early 7-6 advantage.
While that score stood through halftime, both teams squandered a primary scoring opportunity in the second frame.
Starting from its 47 with 8:16 left in the opening half, Spring Mills got a roughing the passer penalty and Kamren Taylor’s 24-yard run to move into the red zone.
The Cardinals were ultimately faced with fourth-and-goal from the 3 and elected to keep their offense on the field, but Max Anderson was stopped 1 yard short of the goal line on a run.
“We have to finish when the defense gets us the ball,” Cardinals’ head coach Marcus Law said. “It’ll be a nightmare for me with us not being able to punch it in. But that’s the thing about the game — you go home, look at the film and try to find a way to correct it for the next time.”
Fagan then got Martinsburg off its goal line with a 28-yard run, and two plays later he accounted for a 21-yard scamper.
The Bulldogs made it to the Spring Mills 17, but with time winding down in the half, Fagan was intercepted by Chayse Shipley on a third-and-10 pass, enabling the Cardinals to trail by one at halftime.
Spring Mills scored on the opening second-half series, getting a 30-yard run from Max Anderson to go in front for the first time. Anderson’s two-point pass was caught by Mills, but he was stopped 1 yard short of the goal line, leaving the home team with a five-point lead.
Martinsburg wasted no time answering and moved 80 yards in 2:24, getting a 23-yard run from Fagan to move well into Spring Mills territory, and scoring on the next play when Brian Dick broke free for a 30-yard run.
“I saw great blocking from the o-line and I just had to beat that last safety,” Dick said.
Collins converted his second-point after kick for a 14-12 lead, and when Martinsburg got the ball back for its next series, Dick took over for Fagan at quarterback for a few plays as the starting signal-caller had his foot examined on the sideline.
“I was thinking I had to calm down a little bit,” Dick said, “and just tried to slow down and go from there.”
Fagan was back in for the fourth play of that possession, which ended with Collins’ field goal.
Fagan rushed for a game-high 195 yards on 26 carries to key Martinsburg’s 320-yard rushing output.
“It was pretty fun to get a chance to go back-to-back and play all four quarters to see if we could be battle-tested and see what our team is made of,” Fagan said. “It was great to see everyone push through the last few minutes.”
Dick added 65 yards on nine carries, while Nicholas Busky rushed for 44 yards on 12 attempts.
Max Anderson completed 8-of-20 passes for 110 yards and rushed 10 times for 62 yards.
Xavier Anderson had four receptions for 54 yards and Mills caught four passes for 56 yards.
Blake Sanders rushed for 49 yards on 17 carries and Taylor added 32 rushing yards in defeat.
“I’m not all about moral victories and things like that, but you do have to look at the positives,” Law said. “There are a lot of things we did right and some things we have to go back and fix that will get fixed.”
Martinsburg finished with a 344-266 edge in total yards.
“It’s good for us,” Walker said. “It’s a character builder.”