KINGWOOD — Make no mistake, this was a very rough week for Preston High School.
Terroristic threats disrupted and canceled classes and practices and put students and families in the community on edge, so when PHS coach Mark Deep talked to his banged-up, undermanned, and incompletely prepared team before Friday night’s home game with powerful Fairmont Senior, he had a simple request.
“I told them they had to battle on every play, that the community needed them to give all they had,” he said, “and we did that.”
While the result – a dominant 48-3 victory for the talented, experienced Polar Bears – was perhaps unsurprising, the game featured several outstanding individual plays and overall team-building effort by the Knights.
Led by their outstanding senior quarterback Brody Whitehair, Fairmont Senior (3-0) quickly took a 7-0 lead on their first possession when Whitehair patiently waited for wide receiver Trea Cumberlage to clear the safety, then fired a bullet to the back of the endzone. But the Knights (0-3) immediately responded when quarterback Slaton Manko found speedy newcomer Craig Schmidle free down the left sideline for a 51-yard bomb. Unfortunately, the 10-play drive ended when FS corner Rudy Carrillo highpointed Manko’s corner fade pass in the endzone for an interception.
Undaunted, the Knights’ defense turned in a spectacular tip-drill play on the Polar Bears’ next drive when safety Cole Turner deflected a long pass into the air that was gathered in by a diving Seldyn Greaser. However, that was one of the very few mistakes that Whitehair committed all night, as he proceeded to engineer five consecutive touchdown drives before the end of the first half, including one scrambling seven-yard scoring run and four TD passes.
Preston had a golden opportunity midway through the second quarter to put up six when a long Manko-to-Schmidle connection, followed by a designed quarterback draw, gave the Knights 1st-and-goal from the two. But a muffed snap and continuous pressure from the Polar Bear defensive line forced PHS to settle for Turner’s 23-yard field goal.
Up 41-3 to begin the third quarter, FSHS coach Nick Bartic gave Whitehair and his starters one final series, and Whitehair capped his ultra-efficient night with his second TD hook-up with Cannon Dinger on a crossing route. An extra-aggressive block on the extra point ignited a multi-player scuffle that resulted in three ejections, but cooler heads finally prevailed, and the game proceeded without incident until the final buzzer.
Afterward, Deep discussed the game and his team’s performance, starting with the dust-up.
“Look, we don’t ever promote or condone fighting,” he insisted, “but we aren’t going to be bullied or intimidated either. That just happens in football sometimes. But I liked the way we protected each other and stood up for each other. Football is about family, and you protect your own.
“We were down several guys due to injury and the threats,” he continued, “and I completely support every parent’s decision regarding their child. So, we were definitely disadvantaged up front, and it showed on both sides of the ball. But we never quit battling, and they went out there and made some plays, and I’m proud of the way we never quit. If we keep believing and playing hard for each other, we can give ourselves chances to win, and that’s all you can do.”
The Knights travel to Robert C. Byrd next Friday.
BY MARK SCHRAF/For The Dominion Post
BOX SCORE
Fairmont Senior 48, Preston 3
Fairmont Senior (3-0) 21 20 7 0 – 48
Preston (0-3) 0 3 0 0 – 3
FS Trea Cumberlage 28 pass from Brody Whitehair (Cam Peschl kick)
FS Chris Wilson 2 run (Peschl kick)
FS Brock Martin 19 pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
FS Cannon Dinger 16 pass from Whitehair (Sam Flower kick)
FS Whitehair 7 run (Peschl kick)
PHS Cole Turner 23 FG
FS Cumberlage 14 pass from Whitehair (kick missed)
FS C. Dinger 7 pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
PASSING
FS – Whitehair 12-14-1 190 5TD.
PHS – Slaton Manko 6-18-1 127, Ethan Likens 1-1-0 6, Total 7-19-1 123.
RUSHING
FS – Damani Johnson 2-20, Whitehair 6-39 TD, Wilson 3-45 TD, Jordan Wagner 2-8, Christian Hrapchak 1-2, Trenton Moore 2-44, Grayson Dinger 1-12, Dominick Trotta 2-(-8) Total 19-162 2TD.
PHS- Manko 8-0, Likens 11-2, Cody Smith 5-(-4) Total 24-(-2).
RECEIVING
FS – Martin 3-37 TD, Cumberlage 3-61 TD, C. Dinger 5-87 2TD, Johnson 1-5.
PHS – Craig Schmidle 2-91, Smith 4-28, Likens 1-4
INTERCEPTIONS
FS – Rudy Carrillo
PHS- Seldyn Greaser
