MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Max Anderson took the snap, looked left and launched a fourth-and-10 pass in the direction of teammate Chayse Shipley.
Martinsburg cornerback Mason Walley, running with Shipley step for step, helped break up a throw that otherwise could’ve left the Cardinals inside the Bulldogs’ 10-yard line with just inside 2 minutes remaining and on the verge of a victory in a matchup of teams that entered unbeaten.
Such was the margin separating Martinsburg from Spring Mills last Friday when the Bulldogs prevailed with a 17-12 victory at SMHS before an estimated crowd of nearly 8,000.
This stop from Martinsburg with Spring Mills facing fourth and 10 from the Bulldogs’ 43 with 2:03 left solidified the 17-12 win.
Cardinals were out of timeouts and never got the ball back.#wvprepfb pic.twitter.com/sa55sXG3RL
— Greg Carey (@gcarey938) October 26, 2024
“It’s why you work,” Martinsburg head coach Dave Walker said moments after his team improved to 9-0. “It was a great atmosphere and a good night. That was nice.”
Even in defeat, Spring Mills head coach Marcus Law felt a sense of pride from what the Cardinals had displayed.
“One of the things I wanted to get across was we wanted to make our fans proud. I think we did that for them and put a good product out on the field that came up just a little short,” Law said. “We talk all the time about this is a game of inches and our last play was a play of inches. We talked, too, about how we can’t let this thing roll into next week. We have to get through this because we have a very good Parkersburg South team making a long way here, and if we allow this to be our downfall then we get ourselves out of a place we worked hard to get to.”
The contest between teams separated by 8 miles was expected to be a hard-fought battle between a clash of titans and proved to be that and more.
Spring Mills entered the No. 1 team in the WVSSAC Class AAAA Playoff Ratings with a 7-0 record and yet to to allow a touchdown all season, while posting six shutouts in as many games to start the year.
Martinsburg came in at 8-0 and directly behind the Cardinals in the playoff ratings. The Bulldogs had scored 421 points and at least 42 in every game, while winning by no fewer than 30 points in any contest.
Both teams produced a touchdown on their opening series, with Bulldogs’ quarterback Koi Fagan dashing to the end zone for a 13-yard run, before Spring Mills countered in the form of Anderson’s 37-yard touchdown pass to his younger brother, Xavier Anderson.
The Bulldogs settled for a 7-6 halftime lead but soon faced their first deficit when the Cardinals again produced a touchdown on their first series of a half, this one on Anderson’s 30-yard run 3:22 into the third quarter. A failed two-point conversion left it a five-point margin and that soon became a deficit for SMHS as the Bulldogs immediately answered and regained the lead on Brian Dick’s 30-yard TD run.
“This was an amazing experience for us and a great game,” Dick said.
Sam Collins’ 36-yard field goal with time winding down in the third quarter proved to be the final scoring play, but MHS needed three separate defensive stops in the fourth quarter to hang on as its offense went three-and-out on both possessions in the final frame.
The matchup was everything that’s right about high school football — played in a frenzied atmosphere with bleachers behind both benches packed to the brim and at least several hundred others taking in the game from on our outside the track that borders Cardinal Stadium.
There was exceptional defensive play largely based around quality tackling, but also explosive offensive plays and 610 total yards between the teams (344 for Martinsburg and 266 for Spring Mills).
Let’s not forget high-level coaching and in-game adjustments to develop plans thought to give the respective teams the best opportunity to win in favor of chastising officials and nitpicking mistakes.
In the end, a program that’s won 10 of the last 14 Class AAA state championships with separate four-peats over that time found a way to come out on top and move within a Week 11 victory at Hurricane of an unbeaten regular season and the No. 1 seed in the inaugural Class AAAA postseason.
“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,” Walker said. “The fact that we were able to play a complete game and our guys dug down, I was proud of them.”
While Spring Mills suffered its first loss in what’s been the best football season in the school’s 11-year history thus far, the Cardinals also proved they can stick right with the state’s best as they came within a play or two of victory.
“This was a state championship atmosphere,” Law said. “This is what it’s all about. Martinsburg’s been in those state championships. We’ve got some guys on our team that have done it in basketball [last season], but we haven’t had a whole squad do it. We got a taste of it and we know what this is about and what it takes to get there. Last year, we made it down to Huntington, took our beatdown [in a state quarterfinal] and got a taste of it. Now we have the full feel and know the taste.”
Fagan, who doubles as a defensive back, was responsible for 195 of his team’s 320 rushing yards on a night he completed only 4-of-9 passes for 24 yards.
Max Anderson plays on the edge defensively in addition to his role as a dual-threat signal-caller, and he overcame an early defensive injury in a gutsy performance that saw him throw for 110 yards and a touchdown and rush for 62 and a score.
For two teams that had combined to secure 15 victories in convincing fashion until they squared off against each other, a four-quarter test in a game that wasn’t decided until the Cardinals’ last offensive series came to an end was a refreshing sight.
Martinsburg has since overtaken Spring Mills for the No. 1 seed in the postseason, though the Cardinals fell only one spot to No. 2.
Perhaps the Week 9 matchup was a preview of what’s on tap December 7 at University of Charleston Stadium at Laidley Field when the first 4A state champion in state history is crowned.
Fagan may have summed it up best.
“With everything that took place tonight,” he said, “I’ll never forget this game.”