By Greg Carey
MORGANTOWN — Ahead of Friday’s Class AAA matchup between No. 4 Wheeling Park and No. 8 University, there was some thought the showdown would go down to the wire.
As the contest progressed between the evenly matched teams, it was clear those thoughts would prove true.
Despite facing a 38-27 deficit with 7:39 to play, the Patriots never panicked, instead rallying with 18 unanswered points to end the game and leave Mylan Pharmaceuticals Stadium with a 45-38 victory.
“We talked about adversity and we knew there was going to be a time where their quarterback was going to make plays,” Park coach Chris Daugherty said. “You watch them on film and there’s no way you’re stopping that. They’re going to make their plays and they made their plays tonight.
“We said we had to stay calm in the middle of that storm. When they make a play, get up and fight and go again. I was proud of the way we kept coming back.”
After Wheeling Park (3-0) got a 17-yard touchdown run from quarterback Alex Dunlevy to pull to within 31-27 with 8:25 remaining, the Hawks (2-2) had an immediate answer.
Quarterback Logan Holgorsen, who finished with 351 passing yards in defeat, found wide receiver Evan Parow for a 57-yard gain on the first play of the ensuing series. That duo hooked up again on the very next play, giving UHS a 38-27 advantage with 7:39 remaining.
“He’s just amazing,” UHS coach John Kelley said. “The bottom line is we can’t protect him. We might as well not even put a line out there. They had a nice game plan with the blitzes, but we didn’t have an answer for it.
“We have to get better pass blocking, because this kid can carve you up.”
The Patriots responded with a quick pace 13 play drive that covered 80 yards and was capped off by Dunlevy’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Devaughn McWhorter. The two-point run failed, leaving the Hawks with a 38-33 lead and 3:47 remaining.
Wheeling Park had all three of its timeouts remaining, but when Holgorsen found Parow for an 18-yard completion on third-and-14, the Hawks were in prime position to wrap up the win.
Needing just one first down to seal the verdict, University got a 3-yard run before the Patriots called their final timeout. On the next play, however, Holgorsen and running back Ben Gribble had a miscommunication on the exchange, leading to a fumble that Park’s Jermain Snodgrass recovered at the Hawks’ 41 with 2:38 to play.
“You hope something like the fumble happens, but to tell you the truth, when they got that first down, I thought, ‘there’s the football game,’ ” Daugherty said. “That’s why you play it and high school football is some of the best football out there. Everybody that paid to watch this game tonight got their money’s worth.”
Seven plays after Snodgrass’ fumble recovery, Steven Mitchell crossed the goal line for an 11-yard touchdown run, giving the Patriots a 39-38 lead with 37 seconds remaining. Four plays prior to the game-winning touchdown, Kenya Robinson ripped off a 13-yard run on fourth-and-3.
“We thought we had to stick to the run game,” Daugherty said. “We didn’t want to get out of what we knew we could do. We felt like when we had the ball, we were the only ones hurting ourselves. I’m sure he’s saying the same thing over there, but we thought we had enough time to stick to the run and we did.”
University got the ball back at its 29 with 29 seconds to play, but Holgorsen was sacked twice, including on the last play of the game during which he lost a fumble that the Patriots’ Aden Edgmon recovered and returned for a touchdown.
The Patriots got the scoring started with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Dunlevy to McWhorter, which combined with a point-after kick by Andrew Glass, left Park with a 7-0 lead.
Holgorsen’s 3-yard TD pass to Parow tied the game at 7 with 8:58 on the first quarter clock, and that duo was responsible for the game’s next touchdown on a 28-yard pass at the 4:09 mark of the first quarter.
Robinson’s 12-yard TD run pulled the Patriots even at 14 with 2:25 left in the first quarter, and Park regained its seven-point lead 4:49 before halftime on Dunlevy’s 8-yard TD run.
But Park committed a roughing the passer penalty on a third-and-26 play, allowing University to tie the game at 21 on Holgorsen’s 24-yard TD pass to Amir Richardson 38 seconds before halftime.
Jonah Phares drilled a 32-yard field goal on the first series of the second half to give University a 24-21 lead with 8:40 to play in the third quarter.
The Hawks then forced back-to-back three-and-outs and were able to hold the biggest advantage of the game at 31-21 after Holgorsen’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Richardson 28 seconds before the start of the fourth quarter.
Robinson, filling in for a banged up Rapheal Bradley, rushed for 163 yards on a school-record 40 carries.
“Hats off to Park. They never quit and they stuck with their game plan,” Kelley said. “They’re bigger and stronger than us and that’s been a problem for us all year.”
Holgorsen threw five touchdowns — three to Parow and a pair to Richardson.
