WHEELING, W.Va. — While much fuss was made about the “Area 51 raid” scheduled for Friday, there was yet another raid — this one on Wheeling Island — that caused more havoc than pranksters in Nevada could have Friday.
This “raid” was the air raid attack of Class AAA No. 7 Wheeling Park’s offense, which torched foe University to the tune of 238 yards and three touchdowns as it spanked the Hawks 42-6.
“When you have athletes like that at receiver and at quarterback throwing the ball, it’s hard to stop,” UHS cornerback Andrew Myers said. “We did everything we could in the right spots but we just had a few missteps.”
“You can’t catch lightning, and that’s the bottom line,” Hawks’ coach John Kelley said. “They were exceptional athletes, and even when we were in position, they ran right by us and got around us.”
University’s defense was overpowered and outmatched all evening, allowing 420 yards in total to the Patriots. It seemed no matter what UHS brought defensively, its opponent always had an answer.
“They’ve got more experience, more speed, more size and flat out more talent than we do,” Kelley said. “They have a great football team, and I believe they’ll be back here in December for the state championship. They just out-manned us.”
Meanwhile, the UHS offense was unable to establish any sort of rhythm, going scoreless through the first half and only finding the end zone against the Park reserves. The low point was the passing attack, which managed just three completions and 17 yards.
“It was on everyone tonight,” UHS quarterback Joseph McBee said. “Sometimes I wasn’t making the right read.”
Despite trailing 35-0 at the break, UHS came out swinging in the second, determined not to let the game get further out of hand. The Hawks outgained the Patriots 107-83 offensively in the final 32 minutes, keeping the scoring at a relatively even 7-6 tilt in favor of Park.
“We don’t quit,” Myers said. “John Marshall and Brooke, both games we were down and we came back to win. We’re not a quitting team, and we play to the final whistle.”
“We came out and we did our best,” McBee added. “It was a struggle, but when you see what our second team did out there in the second half, it shows how much we have for the future.”
