MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Jefferson had momentum and a chance to get even late in the first half.
Trailing Spring Mills 14-6, the Cougars were faced with third-and-goal from the 2. An incomplete pass, followed by an illegal substitution penalty, then created fourth-and-goal at the 7. On that play, quarterback Harrison Garrett was dragged down behind the line of scrimmage.
Ultimately, that allowed Class AAAA No. 6 Spring Mills to take an eight-point lead into halftime, and the Cardinals then seized complete control throughout the third quarter, scoring 21 unanswered points to start the second half and pulling away from the No. 7 Cougars for a 49-19 victory in the season opener for both squads at SMHS.
“That was critical to get the stop and come out in the third quarter and score. Those are things that good teams do,” Spring Mills coach Marcus Law said.
On the opening series of the second half, Spring Mills quarterback Chaz Milburn connected with wideout DJ Mayer for a 59-yard touchdown. The third of Taoufik Tchagbadao’s seven point-after kicks enabled the Cardinals to lead 21-6 — their largest advantage up to that point.
After JHS went three-and-out and Kheelan Curry returned the ensuing punt 28 yards to the Cougars’ 32, the Cardinals added to their lead when Milburn connected with Noah Reed on a 10-yard swing pass for a TD at the 8:36 mark of the third.
“I’m happy with him, because he is more of a downhill running back, and all three of our guys really are,” Law said. “But for him to look the ball in, catch it and score, that’s big for that kid, because he’s dropped plenty of those in practice.”
The Cardinals made it three touchdowns on as many third-quarter possessions when Chris Williams scored on a 2-yard run with 3:39 left in the frame.
Although Jefferson answered with a 1-yard TD run from Braylon Young-Holmes that was largely set up by Garrett’s 48-yard pass to Carson Oehlerking, the Cougars’ deficit was 35-12 through three quarters.
“It’s kind of a tale of two halves,” Jefferson coach Craig Hunter said. “If we get the score late in the first half there, we have the momentum going into half and it’s maybe even tied. Instead, they get the momentum because they get the stop. It’s mistakes. I get it’s Game 1 and we have a lot of new kids out there, but a lot of penalties and missed assignments. As coaches, we have to make sure we get them back on track. The schedule doesn’t get any easier. We have to go to Morgantown next week, so we have to put this in the past and move forward.”
Reed’s 1-yard TD run on the next possession enabled the Cardinals to gain a 30-point edge, and the teams traded touchdowns down the stretch, with Anderson Roberts scoring first for JHS on a 16-yard run, before Reed reached the end zone for the third time in the second half via a 6-yard run with 3:19 remaining.
“I’ll give the credit to the kids,” Law said. “We put together a game plan, but for the guys to come out and execute the way they did and stay true to what we want to do is all on them. Even taking it one step further, we have a new starting quarterback and a new starting running back that took all summer and spring to get used to our system and they’ve bought into what we’re looking to do. That’s a credit to those guys. For our offensive line, which we had issues with last year with ACL injuries, having these guys execute the way they did and come out healthy makes me smile a little bit.”
Missed opportunities plagued Jefferson throughout, including on the opening series, which stalled on downs just outside the red zone after the visitors had been inside the Cardinals’ 20.
Williams broke free for a 35-yard touchdown run on Spring Mills’ second series to make it 7-0, and though the Cardinals’ next series ended with a 21-yard field goal attempt being blocked, they doubled their lead soon after when Garrett was sacked and fumbled, and Nolan Forrest came up with the recovery and a 14-yard return to the end zone.
“We had to be able to handle the pressure Spring Mills was bringing, and sometimes it got to us and shook us up a little bit,” Hunter said.
Despite the costly miscue on Garrett’s first series behind center, Jefferson moved the ball much better with him at quarterback after three straight scoreless series to start while Young-Holmes was the signal-caller.
Garrett connected with Keith Hessler on a 31-yard pass on fourth-and-11 just before the midway point of the second quarter, and the quarterback kept it himself for a 2-yard touchdown run on the next play to get Jefferson on the scoreboard.
A failed point-after kick left the Cougars with an eight-point deficit — one they had a chance to further cut into on their next possession before it ended on downs in the red zone, which proved to be a turning point.
“That was big,” Law said.
SMHS finished with 379 total yards, 195 of which came on the ground.
Williams had 19 carries for 129 yards and Milburn completed 9-of-16 passes for 157 yards. Mayer led all plays with 104 receiving yards on four catches.
JHS had 270 total yards, 145 of which were passing.
Garrett was 11-for-26 and threw for 137 yards, while Oehlerking caught five passes for 90 yards in defeat.