PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — As Morgantown senior Ty Konchesky left the visitors’ locker room at All-Erickson Sports Facility on Friday night, he tried to hold his head high. As he spoke, though, you could tell he sounded defeated.
“People have just lost their heart for the game,” Konchesky said. “It’s like they don’t want it anymore.”
Its hard to blame Konchesky for feeling that way; his team was routed 35-7 by Parkersburg South on Friday, handing the Mohigans their third-straight loss. Along the way, they’ve been outscored 79-14 and have managed just two touchdowns in their past 13 quarters of action.
“When we play a good team, its like we can’t overcome that step of adversity,” Konchesky said. “We get down, and everyone quits.”
outh picked apart MHS with a vicious power spread offense, forcing the ball down its throat as it picked up 233 yards of offense on the ground. At times, it seemed as if MHS was defenseless against the Patriots’ attack.
“It’s tough. They run that power read, and they do a good job of selling fakes and running the scheme,” MHS coach Matt Lacy said. “We had difficulty playing that.”
South tactfully and methodically wore down the Mohigans’ defense with long, brutal possessions, and exposed holes in the MHS defense drive after drive.
“It just takes it out of you,” Konchesky said. “That power read is hard to defend. It just takes one person to mess up and they were finding that person.”
It’s the type of offensive attack that is frustrating for a coach, but for Lacy, it was expected. It was “textbook Parkersburg South,” as he likes to call it.
“If you go back three years and watch their film, they’re running the same system. These kids have been running the same stuff for years and they’re good at it,” he said. “That helps with their efficiency. They’re really good at just grinding on you and grinding on you.”
The loss marks the fifth of the year for MHS, and severely threatens its playoff hopes. The Mohigans entered just outside the top 16 of the WVSSAC Class AAA playoff rankings at No. 17, and the loss surely won’t help matters.
With MHS facing dire straits, it helps further drive home the point Konchesky made — MHS isn’t playing like a team that wants to win and the opportunities to get it fixed are dwindling.
“We have to find our extra gear. It’s where your heart is — do you even want to play, or not? We have to find kids that want to play.” Konchesky said.
“We need to humble a senior; make them work for something. Make them find their heart.”
