WHEELING — Wheeling Park’s defense had some demons to exorcise after giving up nearly 700 yards to Steubenville (Ohio) in a 69-28 defeat last week.
Mission accomplished Friday as the Patriots turned in a dominant performance against Morgantown for a 34-14 win that was not as close as the final score would suggest.
“Our defensive guys and our defensive coaches weren’t happy about last week,” Park coach Chris Daugherty said. “They rallied the troops. They played a physical game (against Steubenville) and then had to return and play another physical game.”
Park (4-2) held Morgantown (3-2) off the scoreboard in the first half, limiting the Mohigans’ offense to just 64 yards before halftime.
“They did a great job and (Morgantown) is a good, physical football team with one loss,” Daugherty said. “I was really happy with the way they played.
“We were able to get them into predictable down and distances and know what they would have to do. Overall, I couldn’t be happier with our kids.”
On offense, the Patriots cruised up and down the field on the arm of quarterback Brett Phillips. The senior was slinging it all over the field, completing 17-of-19 passes for 208 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone.
“We went out tonight and just executed,” Phillips said. “Everyone did their job and we had very few mistakes. Everything just came together (Friday).
“We know we’re better than what happened last week. We came out and proved it a little bit (Friday). We’ve got more work to do but we’re excited to keep going for the rest of the season.”
As always, big-play wide receiver Jerrae Hawkins drew a lot of attention from Morgantown’s defenders, leaving the rest of Park’s receiving corps free to do damage. Phillips connected with five different receivers throughout the game, all of whom made at least four receptions.
“A lot of kids touched the ball,” Daugherty said. “Jerrae has a lot to do with that. Even when Jerrae doesn’t touch the ball, he affects the game…Jerrae’s always going to make plays, but I keep saying that if (opponents) double- and triple-team Jerrae, there’s other kids that can make plays.”
“Tank (Hawkins) is an amazing player, but we’ve got a lot of players around, a lot of good wide outs,” Phillips added. “We can spread the ball around and we can share it and a lot of teams don’t have that. That makes our group special because I can throw it to anybody and feel confident that they’re going to make a play for me.”
Stepping up for the Patriots Friday was sophomore Jameson Maynard, getting his first real playing time with the varsity offense. Maynard made four receptions for 60 yards and three touchdowns.
Maynard scored the first touchdown of the game on a four-yard screen pass from Phillips in the first quarter. Phillips then hit Mykel Davis for a 32-yard touchdown in the second quarter before Maynard came back and scored again when Phillips extended a play to his right and floated a ball perfectly for a 35-yard connection.
“All year long, we kind of thought once he gets an opportunity, he’s going to make people know his name and he did that (Friday),” Daugherty said of Maynard.
Park led 20-0 at halftime and, after a scoreless third quarter, 27-0 one play into the fourth when Maynard scored his third touchdown of the game from 16 yards.
Morgantown finally got on the board when Maddox Bowers found Herman DeProspero. for a 26-yard touchdown. After stopping the Patriots on downs on their next possession, the Mohigans scored again on a five-yard run by Caleb Nutter to put themselves back in the game down just 27-14.
The Mohigans failed to recover an onside kick, but they did force Park to punt with four minutes left.
With the ball at its own 10, Morgantown could not get anything going, however, and Bowers was sacked on a fourth down by Charlie DiSaia, setting up a one-yard rushing score for Hawkins on a backwards pass seconds later for the 34-14 final.
Phillips finished a stellar 25-of-31 for 288 yards and four touchdowns. He was also the team’s leading rusher with 45 yards.
Hawkins caught six passes for 97 yards. Davis (4-60), Maynard (4-60) and Keohn Stephens (7-47) were also heavily involved.
DiSaia and Miquan Macklin both had sacks for Park and Kam Shanley picked off a pass from Bowers in the final seconds.
Marcus Ullom led Morgantown with 70 rushing yards while Bowser threw for 108 with a touchdown and an interception.
Wheeling Park will host Musselman next Friday before enjoying a bye the following week.
“We feel like our schedule is up there as one of the toughest in the valley and toughest in the state,” Daugherty said. “To be 4-2 right now, we’re going to take that and we’ll be pretty happy with it.”
Box score
MHS 0 0 0 14—14
Park 7 13 0 14—34
SCORING SUMMARY
WP — Maynard pass 4 from Phillips (Forget kick)
WP — Davis pass 32 from Phillips (kick miss)
WP — Maynard pass 35 from Phillips (Forget kick)
WP — Maynard pass 16 from Phillips (Seals kick)
M — DeProspero pass 26 from Bowers (Stire kick)
M — Nutter run 5 (Stire kick)
WP — Hawkins run 1 (Forget kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Morgantown 31-117-td (Nutter 11-41-td; Mallett 2-12; Washington 1-0; Ullom 12-70; Marlin 1-5; Bowers 2-(-17); Powell 2-6). Wheeling Park 22-60-td; Lydick 5-12; Phillips 8-45; Brothers 3-(-1) Washington 2-1; Hawkins 4-3-td).
PASSING: Morgantown 12-22 180-td-int (all Bowers). Wheeling Park 25-31 288-4td (all Phillips).
RECEIVING: Morgantown 12-108-td (Powell 5-29; Keir 3-32; King 1-8; Nutter 1-15; DeProspero 1-20-td). Wheeling Park 25-288-4td (Hawkins 6-97; Lydick 4-24; Stephens 7-47; Davis 4-60-td; Maynard 4-60-3td).
— Story by Cody Nespor
