MORGANTOWN — The only thing that could slow down Parkersburg South running back Gage Wright on Friday night at Pony Lewis Field was a quick trip to the sideline to pop his knee back into place.
During the first quarter, an awkward landing forced Wright to the sideline to “just snap it back in,” he said, pointing to his right knee.
“It was all the way out to here, so we just put it back where it was supposed to be, but yeah, it’s a little sore.”
With his knee in the medically cleared position, Wright went on to rush for 257 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries as the No. 10 Patriots came back from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to beat the No. 4 Mohigans 38-34.
PSHS (5-2) outgained MHS 632-395, but it was the Mohigans (5-2) who held the advantage for most of the game.
Early, though, the ball bounced the Patriots’ way, recovering a squib kick on the opening kickoff and marching down the field for a touchdown, capped by Wright’s first score of the night.
Then on the ensuing kickoff, the same thing happened again as an MHS player couldn’t pick up the short squiber. This time, though, the MHS defense made a play as Caleb Nutter intercepted PSHS quarterback Turner Garretson.
That got the ball rolling for MHS, who scored the next two touchdowns, both by AJ Thomas, to take a 14-6 lead to halftime.
But both teams’ offenses woke up in the second half. It was punch, counter-punch until the final possession of the game.
While Wright was the star for the Patriots, Garretson also put up huge numbers in the passing game with 314 yards and three touchdowns. Dylan Fleak caught four passes for 147 yards and a score.
Garretson eventually scored the go-ahead touchdown with less than six minutes to go in the game, so they only led the first four minutes of the first quarter and the last few of the fourth, but that’s all that matters.
“That was the gameplan, run your butt off first, start breaking them down, and then hit them over the top in the third and fourth quarter. It just all opened up,” Wright said.
For MHS, it was a disastrous second half defensively.
“We didn’t play defense all night,” head coach Sean Biser said. “We still haven’t tackled 2 (Wright). Blown coverages, poor tackling, it’s a bad mix.”
The Mohigans were deep in in Patriots’ territory with less than two minutes to go, but mistakes cost them field position and eventually quarterback Maddox Bowers’ 4th-down pass in the end zone fell short.
“You get down to where you have a shootout like this and you’re driving down to score and have a crucial penalty when you’re knocking on the door, it puts you in a bad situation,” Biser said. “We have to do better than that. I’m the head coach, it’s on me, but we have to do better than that.”
Bobby Powell was the offensive star for MHS with 185 yards and a touchdown on the ground. AJ Thomas had just 30 yards on six carries, but three of those ended in the end zone for scores.
The Mohigans will travel to John Marshall next week, while PSHS will host Greenbrier East.
BY SEAN MANNING
Parkersburg South 6 0 18 14 – 38
Morgantown 7 7 20 0 – 34
SCORING SUMMARY
PSHS – Wright 2 run (conversion no good)
MHS – Thomas 13 run (Stire kick)
MHS – Thomas 2 run (Stire kick)
PSHS – Wright 8 pass from Garretson (conversion no good)
MHS – Phares 27 pass from Bowers (Stire kick)
PSHS – Wright 56 run (conversion no good)
MHS – Powell 56 run (Stire kick)
PSHS – Bartley 50 pass from Garretson (conversion no good)
MHS – Thomas 5 run (kick no good)
PSHS – Fleak 52 pass from Garretson (good conversion, Wright from Garretson)
PSHS – Garretson 10 run (conversion no good)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – PSHS: Wright 28-257 2 TD; Garretson 15-38 TD; Bartley 8-23. Totals: 51-318 3 TD. MHS: Powell 19-185 TD; Nutter 12-74; Thomas 6-30 3 TD; Phares 1-(-2); Ullom 1-2. Totals: 40-289 4 TD.
PASSING – PSHS: Garretson 18-25-2 314 3 TD. MHS: Bowers 8-15 106 TD.
RECEIVING – PSHS: Fleak 4-147 TD; Wright 5-48 TD; Forshey 4-45; Joyce 2-19; Bartley 3-55 TD. MHS: Thomas 2-28; Phares 4-60 TD; Nutter 1-4; DeProspero 1-14.
