WELLSBURG — As the final whistle sounded Friday night at Paul Billiard Field, Morgantown senior Ty Konchesky knew his team had ended a three-week search.
“This is the team we’ve been looking for this year,” he said.
Konchesky racked up 93 yards and two touchdowns as the Mohigans (2-2) obliterated OVAC rival Brooke (0-3), 63-6.
MHS outgained the Bruins, 502-128, in yardage, with 384 coming on the ground behind a dynamic rushing attack that saw nine different players carry the ball. MHS recorded 16 first downs and scored on eight of 11 drives during the contest.
“We have to be able to blow teams off the ball,” Konchesky said. “We still took some plays off, but we can work on that.”
The smashmouth performance comes just a week following a lackluster loss to Fort Hill (Md.) that raised questions about the Mohigans’ toughness in the trenches and offensive firepower. Now, it appears those concerns are moot.
“We knew our backs were up against the wall,” Konchesky said. “We took the full week to learn some new stuff and get crisp at what we’re good at, and we just tried to focus up.”
Morgantown coach Matt Lacy cited a major shift in the energy and focus from the previous week as a large factor in the huge win.
“We talked about the kids having a business-like mentality coming up here, and they did that,” he said. “Last week they were tee-heeing too much on the bus, and I let it go and let them do it their way.
“This week, we talked about more structure on the bus ride up, and they did a fabulous job responding. As we turned onto Route 2 there coming off the pike, we just made sure they were focused in and ready to go.”
Lacy emphasized to his team entering the game that two early losses don’t make-or-break a season — a lesson that appears to have sunk in.
“That’s what we told the kids coming out of those two losses — everything that we want to accomplish is still in sight,” he said “But as we look ahead, there are no easy outs — everyone is going to bring their A-game, and we have to continue to bring ours.”
Konchesky said that the previous losses served as a wake-up call for the unit, but Friday’s win demonstrated what he and his teammates can bring to the table.
“It was an eye-opener, losing two games in a row we thought we should have won,” he said. “This win shows how good we are; that we can play with anyone in the state. This is what you can expect from here on out.”
MHS returns to home next Friday as it hosts Linsly. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
