MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Facing fourth-and-long and a running clock with possession at the Morgantown 40-yard line inside the final 20 seconds in the MoHawk Bowl, University dialed up a trick play installed just days before the game. And despite some initial apprehension from head coach Eric Snyder, the play called without the benefit of a timeout worked to perfection.
A halfback option pass from Brody Kehler to Hayden George with five seconds remaining allowed University to take the MoHawk Bowl and complete the program’s sixth perfect regular season, 20-13. Snyder credited offensive coordinator Dustin Lawless with installing the play in practice this week and putting it in place at the perfect time.
WAJR/MetroNews TV broadcast interview from Kyle Wiggs with University head coach Eric Snyder following UHS’ 20-13 win over Morgantown in the MoHawk Bowl: #wvprepfb https://t.co/b8FkXw1wsx
— MetroNews Sports (@MetroNewsSports) October 31, 2026
“It didn’t do great at all in practice. We were wondering, hey, can Brody do this? [Lawless] had total faith in him doing it, so much so that I asked him to kill the play and he doubled down on it and it came back,” Snyder said. “So give a lot of credit to Coach Lawless having faith in his athletes right there to be able to get the job done. There was great execution by everyone up front and great sells by the receivers to be able to execute that fully.”
Morgantown (7-2) was unable to answer on their final play from scrimmage, giving the Hawks their first victory in the series since 2022.
The Mohigans jumped out to a 10-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Aidan Petsko’s 29-yard field goal represented the only points in the opening frame. A Maddox Twigg 3-yard touchdown run stretched the MHS lead to reach double digits. However, UHS found the end zone in the final minute of the first half. Harrison Helbig’s 8-yard touchdown toss to Jaedyn Katchur with 40 seconds left brought the Hawks within four points at the break, 10-6.
Petsko’s 30-yard field goal early in the third allowed Morgantown to build a 13-6 lead. It appeared the Mohigans were set to retake a two-score lead late in the third until the UHS defense forced a fumble that was recovered by Michael McKenzie at the UHS 3-yard line.
“We had a big stop there with the turnover. And we had full faith in our offense being able to get the ball down the field from that point too. We made slight adjustments on the offensive line. We had some guys that played with a lot of guts tonight. They emptied the tank like we told them to do.”
The Hawks drew even with eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter when Helbig scored on a 1-yard run, tying the score at 13.
University enters an off-week while the Mohigans will visit Musselman in Week 11.
“We’ve got some key pieces that we have to make sure we get right before this playoff run,” Snyder said. “Next week, we’ve got to make sure we get better at some of the fundamentals of the game and make sure this comes out right on the other end starting in round one of the playoffs.”