MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Martinsburg scored in each quarter and controlled play in all three phases of the game in a 42-0 win over Spring Mills. The contest was a rematch of the first Class AAAA state championship game, won by the Bulldogs, 17-10.
MHS (7-2) had five different players score touchdowns as the Bulldogs collected their seventh consecutive victory.
“Our guys played really well on both sides of the ball. I was pleased with the team performance,” said Martinsburg head coach Dave Walker.
Boston Todd opened the scoring for the Bulldogs less than three minutes into the game on a 7-yard touchdown tote. Kingston McDonald-Gibson doubled the Martinsburg advantage later in the opening frame with a 30-yard touchdown run.
“We have come a long way in the last seven weeks. That’s our goal, to get better. We knew coming in that we had a lot of untested guys and some young guys. Those young guys have grown up. He is definitely one of them. Kingston has done a nice job. We’ve got a really good stable of guys that have really developed. I feel really good about them.”
Terrell Cofield scored on touchdown runs of 3 and 1 yards in the second quarter, giving Martinsburg a 28-0 halftime lead. The Bulldog defense allowed just two first downs before intermission.
“I think the big thing was just to play hard,” Walker said of his defense. “We preach attitude and effort all the time and I thought they came out and played really well and they did what they were supposed to do. We really didn’t do anything special. I thought it was just a matter of us coming out and executing and playing hard.”
The Bulldogs opened the third quarter with a six-minute scoring drive that was capped by a five-yard touchdown run from quarterback Brian Dick.
“I think we have done a better job just getting an identity. I think early on we really didn’t have that. We really didn’t know what we wanted to do or how we were. I think we have gotten that as far as being balanced. For our passing game, Boston Todd is really a great player. We try to get him the ball but we’ve got other guys as well. As long as we can keep it balanced with what we want to do, I feel like we’ll be pretty hard to defend.”
The Martinsburg special teams put their mark in the game midway through the fourth quarter when Michael Dillard recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for the final score of the game.
“That was good stuff. We work on that stuff all the time. We don’t get as many as we would like to. We’re close a lot. To get one tonight was pretty nice.”
Dick accounted for 136 passing yards and 68 rushing yards. McDonald-Gibson rushed for 60 yards on 10 totes.
Since falling to a pair of six-win teams in Camden, N.J. and Huntington in the first two weeks, Martinsburg has outscored their next seven opponents, 381-45.
“Probably the main thing we have done is that we have learned how to practice. We really didn’t know how to practice early with a lot of young guys, sometimes they don’t know how to practice properly. I think we have done that. We have practiced better and the result is that you are going to be more successful.”
Spring Mills fell to 4-4.
(Radio broadcast highlights from Luke Wiggs/Panhandle News Network)