ELKINS, W.Va. — With Class AAA No. 5 Elkins facing a 17-point halftime deficit in Friday’s showdown against No. 2 North Marion, Tigers’ head coach Chad Ware wasn’t sure what type of second-half response his team would showcase.
Ware could hardly have imagined what would transpire over the remaining two quarters.
The Tigers out-gained the Huskies 222-44 after halftime and scored all 34 points between the two teams in the third and fourth quarters to rally for a 41-24 victory on their home field.
“We’re so resilient,” Ware said. “We’ve had a couple games where we’ve fallen down 7-0 early and bounced back. This time, we were down 24-7, and they showed me a lot. They have some moxie and I’m awfully proud of those guys.”
The result makes it five straight victories for Elkins (6-1), while North Marion (5-1) suffered its first loss after winning each of its previous three contests by one possession and a total of 10 points.
“This is one of the weirdest groups to read,” North Marion head coach Daran Hays said. “There are times when we look like we’re not ready to play and come out firing on all cylinders. There are times that we look like we’re all jacked up. It’s hard to read. We’ve been preaching for multiple weeks that we’ve been playing down. We’ve been playing well in spots, and this spot just cost us a 17-point loss when we had a 17-point lead.”
The game began to turn in the Tigers’ favor on the opening series of the second half, which ended with North Marion quarterback Kolson Brown being intercepted by Tony Silvester on fourth-and-10.
NMHS still led by 17 at that point, but the Tigers marched 83 yards over 10 plays and made it a two-score game courtesy of Seth Robinson’s 4-yard touchdown run. Elkins tailback Jaden Hatfield had ripped off a 33-yard run earlier on the series, which was followed by quarterback Cyrus Kump’s 18-yard scamper.
Trailing by 10, the Tigers immediately regained possession after forcing a three-and-out, which combined with a 15-yard punt, allowed EHS to start at the North Marion 37.
Three plays later, Hatfield got to the edge and moved across the goal line on a 24-yard touchdown run, though Dyer Barger’s point-after attempt was no good, leaving the Huskies with a 24-20 lead with 11:22 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“We have a veteran team, went to the board and made some adjustments defensively,” Ware said. “We moved the ball a little bit in the first half and felt pretty comfortable that we could move it in the second if we got some stops.”
North Marion, however, was unable to sustain much of anything offensively in the second half, and its second straight three-and-out agin allowed Elkins to start beyond midfield — this time at the Huskies’ 41 with 10:32 to play.
Five plays later, Hatfield had his second rushing touchdown from 8 yards, and more importantly, the Tigers were on top for the first time at 27-24 with 8:21 left.
“I don’t think it was a schematic difference. I think we rested on our laurels in the first half,” Hays said.
Elkins 27, North Marion 24, 8:21 4Q
Hatfield 8-yard TD run gives Tigers their first lead.
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The Huskies picked up their only first down of the fourth quarter on the ensuing possession, but it came to an end immediately after as Brown’s third-and-5 pass fell incomplete, and that play ended with an intentional grounding penalty.
North Marion managed to stop Elkins on its next possession, and the Huskies were set to get the ball back with just inside 3 minutes remaining, but Brian Poindexter muffed the punt and it was recovered by Elkins’ Xavier Workman at the visitors’ 14-yard line.
Two plays later, Hatfield all but wrapped up his team’s win by rushing for an 11-yard touchdown to make it a 10-point margin with 2:04 remaining.
Elkins 34, North Marion 24, 2:04 4Q
Two plays after Huskies lose possession on a muffed punt, Tigers take a late two-score lead on Hatfield’s 11-yard touchdown run.
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“Our seniors were very calm at halftime,” Ware said. “They talked to our guys about settling down. It was a four-quarter game and those guys got it done.”
Workman intercepted Brown on the next possession, and Hatfield added a fourth second-half rushing score for good measure from 32 yards for the final margin.
“It’s probably the worst loss in my 18-year career,” Hays said.
It was all Huskies for most of the first half, and they gained a 7-0 lead on Poindexter’s 10-yard TD run 5:03 into the matchup.
Aiden Poster recovered a fumble on Elkins’ second series, and the Huskies upped their lead to 15 soon after when Brown connected with Colton Campbell for a 7-yard touchdown pass. Colby VanGilder threw a successful 2-point pass to Luke Haymond, who made the juggling reception with his left hand on a fake after the Huskies had lined up like they would try a PAT.
VanGilder’s interception of a Kump pass directly led to James Williams’ 26-yard field goal and an 18-0 lead, before the Tigers answered with a penalty-aided 73-yard drive that ended with Kump’s 4-yard touchdown run and the first of five successful point-after kicks from Barger to close the deficit to 18-7.
Brown’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Kucish allowed North Marion to offer an immediate response, though a failed attempt at a faked point-after try kept it 24-7 at halftime.
Elkins had all but 61 of its 274 rushing yards after halftime. Hatfield led that charge with 19 carries for 171 yards, while Robinson carried 12 times for 66 yards.
Poindexter rushed for 99 yards on 23 carries and Brown threw for 180 yards on four completions, though he was 0-for-8 in the second half.
“In the first half, our defensive line was running upfield and that’s what a zone team wants you to do,” Ware said. “In the second half, we stayed on the line of scrimmage a lot better, did a good job and really controlled the narrative up front.”