MORGANTOWN — Scrolling across the statewide high school football scoreboard last Friday, almost every scenario that could go wrong for University High to get into the playoffs went wrong.
The Hawks went into the final week of the regular season on a bye and sat 14th in the WVSSAC playoff ratings, so their points total was locked in. They were ahead of Greenbrier East, Hurricane, George Washington and Spring Mills, the only teams mathematically able to catch them.
Greenbrier East beat Riverside and Hurricane beat St. Albans, which pushed UHS to the brink at No. 16, but G.W. and Spring Mills were each heavy underdogs in their games.
The Patriots were blown out by Capital, but the Cardinals pulled the upset against Hedgesville and the win earned Spring Mills enough points to leap into the postseason, pushing UHS (5-5) out at No. 17.
It was the first time the Hawks missed the playoffs since 2015.
“It was really sudden and we felt pretty confident last week,” head coach John Kelley said. “We had a good week of practice, but these things developed and Spring Mills pulling the upset was a killer. We also got zero help with bonus points because Parkersburg South lost to Parkersburg and Brooke lost to Princeton.
“I thought for sure we’d get in somewhere between 14-16 and I felt bad because we told the kids we were almost positive we’d get in.”
The season wasn’t without its positives, though. Wide receiver Evan Parow led the state in receiving yards and touchdowns with 68 catches for 1,154 yards and 19 scores. Quarterback Logan Holgorsen, who unexpectedly transferred in from Morgantown last January and filled a major void, put up huge numbers despite only playing eight games with 2,041 yards and 26 touchdown passes.
Receiver and West Virginia commit Amir Richardson didn’t put up the numbers he did in 2017, but that was because defenses keyed in on him on the outside, which helped Parow have the season he did.
But in the trenches is where Kelley was worried his team’s weakness would be during the summer, and unfortunately, that’s what held the Hawks back.
UHS lost 18 seniors from the 2017 team that went undefeated in the regular season and won 11 games, but there was going to be a youth movement and there were a lot of growing pains this year. Two sophomores and a freshman started along the offensive line, which isn’t an ideal situation for any team.
But Kelley pinpointed another reason why there were struggles up front. During the Mohawk Bowl, assistant coach Bob Antion mentioned to Kelley that it was obvious the Mohigans, after a 4-6 season last year, got in the weight room and showed improvement.
That’s something the Hawks did not do.
“I’ll be honest, this group did not hit the weight room as hard as it should have and I knew it would come back to bite us, and it did,” Kelley said. “On a good day, we still had less than 10 kids. We have kids who play multiple sports, which I have no problem with, but you have to have everybody in there. Those kids have to want to dedicate themselves to it.
“If they do, then we’ll be a much better football team.”
As for Kelley’s future, finishing his 32nd season as the Hawks’ head coach, he will make the decision later whether or not he’ll be back for his 33rd.
“I’m still in good health and still want to do it, I’ll just have to wait and see if the kids have the want to get better,” he said.
