WHEELING, W. Va. — Steven Mitchell wanted the ball, boy did he ever.
The good ones usually do right after fouling up and after the Wheeling Park senior tailback fumbled a scoring chance away late in the third quarter, he came right back to close the door on Morgantown High.
“Yeah, I was a little ticked off at myself after the fumble,” Mitchell said after the Patriots’ 41-20 at Wheeling Island Stadium. “I came back out on our next drive with a little bit of an attitude.”
Truthfully, Mitchell ran with ability and an attitude for most of the game, finishing with 209 yards and three touchdowns on 31 attempts.
“Thirty-one carries, wow,” he said. “Not tired. I’m ready for more.”
“He ran hard and Wheeling Park has a great team,” added MHS head coach Sean Biser. “They’re big up front and they have a lot of great athletes. They’re going to be hard to beat for anyone.”
Except late in the third quarter, with the Patriots (5-1) holding a 34-14 lead, Mitchell fumbled at the MHS 27. The Mohigans (0-2) turned that into a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to close within 14 points.
Mitchell made sure the game didn’t get any closer.
Wheeling Park’s next possession lasted seven plays, all of them handoffs to Mitchell, who had something to prove. He sealed the game with a 5-yard touchdown run with 5:39 remaining in the game.
“It wasn’t designed for me to only get the ball that drive,” he said. “That’s just sort of how things worked out. I’m thankful the coaches came right back to me and gave me the the chance to make up for that mistake.”
Meanwhile, the Mohigans, who were forced to sit out the first five weeks of the season due to COVID-19 restrictions in Monongalia County, found themselves on the wrong end of some costly mistakes, especially on special teams.
It began when Wheeling Park’s Torrence Walker returned the game’s opening kickoff 71 yards for a score, but MHS also set up the Patriots with a short field in the second quarter after a 1-yard punt that was shanked and then allowed a fourth-down conversion on a fake punt when Wheeling Park kicker Andrew Glass simply took off and ran for eight yards.
“I was just as shocked as anybody when he took off with it,” Wheeling Park coach Chris Daugherty said. “Maybe me and his mother were as shocked as anyone, but he did a nice job on that play.”
“We also got hit with about five facemask penalties on two possessions,” added Biser. “Special teams were good for us last week, but struggled tonight. These are mistakes you would call Game 1 mistakes, which it kind of is for us. We’ve still got to get better. I thought we were much better than we were last week (against Musselman), but obviously we still have to get better.”
Cam Rice started at quarterback for MHS, after playing running back last week. Rice rushed for 67 yards and a TD, but also threw an interception at the 1-yard line near the end of the second quarter and also had a fumbled exchange on a handoff that was another turnover in the second quarter.
The Mohigans, who travel to Parkersburg South next Friday, rushed for 285 yards as a team, but were forced to play from behind most of the game. Caden Biser led MHS with 89 yards on 15 carries and scored on a 24-yard run late in the third quarter. Marquis Mauney gave the Mohigans a spark in the first quarter with a 61-yard interception return to tie the game, 7-7, but Wheeling Park scored 24 straight points for a 31-7 halftime lead.
“I was impressed with how hard Morgantown kept playing,” Mitchell said. “They didn’t quit. I think once they begin to gain some more experience and get used to playing a little more, they’ll have some good things happen.”
Morgantown 7 0 7 6 — 20
Wheeling Park 10 21 3 7 — 41
SCORING SUMMARY
WP–Torrence Walker 71 kick return (Andrew Glass kick)
MHS–Marquis Mauney 61 interception return (Jack Grueshecky kick)
WP– Glass 33 field goal
WP–Shaheed Jackson 2 pass from Beau Heller (Glass kick)
WP–Steven Mitchell 2 run (Glass kick)
WP–Mitchell 4 run (Glass kick)
WP–Glass 31 field goal
MHS–Caden Biser 24 run (Grueshecky kick)
MHS–Cam Rice 1 run (run failed)
WP–Mitchell 5 run (Glass kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Morgantown–Biser 15-89 TD, Rice 11-67 TD, Daven Elridge 11-66, Deondre Crudup 8-50, Zach Brennan 2-16, Team 2-(-3). Wheeling Park–Mitchell 31-209 3 TD, Brandon Mundy 4-26, Brett Phillips 1-10, Glass 1-8, Sincere Sinclair 1-9, Jackson 1-3.
PASSING: Morgantown–Rice 1-5-1 24. Wheeling Park–Heller 12-18-1 98 TD.
RECEIVING: Morgantown–Mauney 1-24. Wheeling Park–Sinclair 5-30, Jackson 3-14 TD, Mitchell 1-25, Carson Namack 2-20, Walker 1-9.
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