HURRICANE, W.Va. — In the opening ten minutes of their regular season finale against Martinsburg, Hurricane played nearly perfect football. The Redskins stopped three MHS drives and they scored on all three of their possessions.
And then Martinsburg happened.
The Bulldogs scored the game’s final 44 points to defeat Hurricane, 44-17. Despite learning earlier in the day that the Bulldogs were required to forfeit an earlier victory over Musselman because an ineligible player participated in the game, MHS still secured the No. 1 seed in the Class AAAA playoffs with a 9-1 record.
“We finally got our legs under us,” said Martinsburg head coach Dave Walker. “Not taking anything away from Hurricane, they’re a good football team and they came out explosive. We haven’t seen anybody like them really all year. It was a matter of us adjusting a little bit. Our guys played a little bit better. But hats off to them. They’ve got a great team.
“In the last game, we won a close one [17-12 over Spring Mills]. And in this one we had to come back.”
Hurricane quickly built a 17-0 lead with a Kylan Grace 4-yard touchdown run, a Noah Vellathiambi-to-Kno’sean Hampton 56-yard touchdown toss and a Seth Casto 25-yard field goal.
However, Martinsburg scored the last 17 points in the half to even the score. Koi Fagan scored on runs of four and one yards before a Sam Collins 24-yard field goal as time expired evened the score at 17.
On the opening possession of the third quarter, Fagan scored his third touchdown on a 6-yard tote.
“Koi Fagan is a great football player. You’re not going to see anyone better than him. He is one of the best I have ever been around and I have been around a bunch of real good ones.”
The Bulldogs put the game out of reach with three more touchdowns. Brian Dick extended the MHS lead to 31-17 on a touchdown run. Fagan connected with Kyree Bunny on a 28-yard touchdown strike and Nick Busky capped the scoring with a two-yard run.
Martinsburg (9-1) will host Parkersburg (4-6) in the opening round of the Class AAAA playoffs as the Bulldogs continue their latest state title defense.
“We’re still making a lot of mental mistakes, blown assignments and stupid penalties that we really need to clean up. But our attitude and effort is excellent. If you’ve got those two things, the other stuff you can fix.”
Hurricane (7-3) is projected as the No. 5 seed in the playoffs with an opening-round contest lined up against No. 12 University.