KINGWOOD, W.Va. — There wasn’t much of a secret to Preston’s struggles in its 32-0 loss to North Marion on Friday night — five turnovers are hard to overcome.
The Knights threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles in the first half alone, followed by another interception in the third quarter. The struggles in the first half fortunately did not come back to bite PHS with a 6-0 score heading into the locker room, but missed opportunities offensively put the Knights behind the 8-ball and they couldn’t recover.
“It’s very frustrating because we played with them and they’re the preseason (Class AA) No. 10 team in the state,” Preston coach Jonathan Tennant said. “We were right there with them at 6-0 at halftime. We drove the ball down there on the first drive and fumbled at the 3-yard line. You just can’t beat good teams like that.
“Like I told them, you can beat one team but you can’t beat two — ourselves and them.”
PHS relied heavily on running back Jacob Townsend, especially early. The senior finished with 80 yards on 25 carries, but drives were continuously stymied by takeaways by the Huskies.
However, PHS’s (0-1) defense was able to hold in the first half outside of one drive, despite continuously being put in bad spots. North Marion’s (1-0) only touchdown was a 21-yard pass from quarterback Brody Hall to receiver Tariq Miller in the second quarter.
“The offense has to be more consistent up front and we have to make better decisions with the ball, but I’m happy with how our defense played in the first half,” Tennant said.
On the other side, Huskies coach Daran Hays wasn’t thrilled with his team’s missed opportunities in the first half, but Hall was able to settle in in the third quarter, and the offensive finally came to fruition on a long touchdown pass to tight end Garrett Conaway.
The PHS linebackers got sucked in on a play-fake to the running back, which allowed Conaway to sneak right through the middle for a 48-yard score. The Huskies later scored on another long touchdown to the tight end, this one to Harley Sickles.
“Those guys that we have are big and athletic, and they can run a little bit,” Hays said. “They are really tough to guard in man coverage-type of situations, especially when there’s no safety in the middle of the field. When we’re going in the run game, too, we can get those guys in space and they’re big targets that are hard to miss.”
Hall finished with 237 passing yards and two touchdown passes, while running back Hunter Kuhn had 53 rushing yards and a score to lead the Huskies.
For Preston, quarterback Trevor Thomas went 3 of 11 for 32 yards and three interceptions. Townsend let the Knights in total offense with 87 yards. Total, PHS had 138 yards of total offense.
The Knights will travel to John Marshall on Sept. 11 to take on the Monarchs, while North Marion will host Fairmont Senior.
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North Marion 0 6 13 13 – 32
Preston 0 0 0 0 – 0
SCORING SUMMARY
NMHS – Brody Hall 21 pass to Tariq Miller (kick no good), 6-0
NMHS – Hall 48 pass to Garrett Conaway (conversion no good), 12-0
NMHS – Hall 46 pass to Harley Sickles (Malachi Funkhouser kick), 19-0
NMHS – Hunter Kuhn 4 run (Funkhouser kick), 26-0
NMHS – Isaiah Singley 21 run (conversion no good), 32-0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
NMHS – Hall 10-50; Miller 1-0; Lemley 8-25; Kuhn 11-53 TD; Sigley 3-27 TD; Hess 3-13. Totals: 36-168 2 TD; PHS – Townsend 25-80; Layton 1-1; Lewis 1-6; Gibbs 1-(-3); Thomas 5-10; #27 2-4; Loudermilk 1-8. Totals: 36-106.
PASSING
NMHS — Hall 12-17-1 237 2 TD; PHS — Thomas 3-11-3 32.
RECEIVING
NMHS – Miller 4-73; Conaway 3-60 TD; Malnick 1-27; Reed 1-5; Sickles 1-46 TD; Tobin 1-26. Totals: 12-237 2 TD; PHS – Townsend 1-7; #80 1-8; Lewis 1-17.
