MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The deal, as experienced by the Morgantown High football team Friday night: A new coach running a new offense with a new quarterback ran into one of the state’s best teams, which is at the midpoint of its season at the same time the Mohigans were finally getting theirs started.
You might be able to guess what happened next.
No. 4 Musselman had little trouble rolling over Morgantown, cruising to a 42-9 win behind Blake Hartman’s 155 yards and four touchdowns. Nick Zamora added a pair of scores and 122 yards to propel the Applemen (4-1) to the win.
The result was hardly ideal from Morgantown’s vantage point, but in a way the result hardly mattered. After spending a month in Monongalia County’s COVID-19 purgatory, the Mohigans actually got to play football.
For a time, that was no sure thing.
Due to a flareup of cases in Mon County, Morgantown’s would-be season opener was canceled by mandate of Gov. Jim Justice the afternoon it was supposed to be played.
“Hey, we got to play a game,” said coach Sean Biser following his Morgantown debut.
Now that there’s something on film, the Mohigans can actually get to the work of improving.
“Now we know where we’re at, and now we know what we’ve got to do,” Biser said. “We had no idea what we had.”
The Mohigans definitely have something to work with in fullback Deondre Crudup, who burst into the end zone from 39 yards out in the first quarter for Morgantown’s lone touchdown.
The sturdily built Crudup showed an impressive burst for a guy who doubles as a defensive end, finishing with 93 yards on 12 carries.
“He ran the ball real well,” Biser said. “We’ve got to get some continuity off of that and build off of that. He’s a load to tackle.”
Morgantown had something to build on early, twice driving deep into Musselman territory after the Applemen took a 13-7 lead. But the Mohigans fumbled at the 29 on one possession, then came up short on fourth down on the 24 on the following possession.
“We had a lot of first-game mistakes,” Biser said. “I make no bones about it. That’s on us as coaches. Making mistakes is unacceptable, and we’ve got to work on fixing that. We’ve executed in practices. We’ve got to be able to execute in a game.
“The potential’s there. We’ve got to work on being better.”
Hartman made the Mohigans pay for not taking advantage of those drives, striking on a 49-yard touchdown run to give Musselman a two-score lead that soon snowballed.
Musselman scored 35 unanswered points until Morgantown forced a safety in the final minute of a game that had gone to a running clock.
Musselman 7 21 14 0 – 42 Morgantown 7 0 0 2 – 9
SCORING SUMMARY
MuHS — Blake Hartman 14 run (Luke Barger kick)
MoHS — Deondre Crudup 39 run (Jack Grushecky kick)
MuHS — Hartman 4 run (kick no good)
MuHS — Hartman 49 run (Nick Zamora run)
MuHS — Zamora 7 run (Barger kick)
MuHS — Zamora 31 run (Barger kick)
MuHS — Hartman 36 run (Barger kick)
MoHS — Safety
RUSHING MuHS — Hartman 17-155 4 TD; Zamora 9-122 2 TD; Hardy 8-9; Foy 2-(-2); Newlin 1-3; Miller 3-16; Carter 1-6; Hanes 2-(-2). Totals: 43-307 6 TD; MoHS — Biser 12-43; Rice 13-50; Neal 8-(-23); Crudup 12-93 TD; Brennan 1-4; Eldridge 2-7; Harman 2-5; Washington 5-35; Marlin 1-6. Totals: 56-220 TD.
PASSING MuHS — Hardy 3-3 82; MoHS — Rice 0-1; Neal 1-2 14.
RECEIVING MuHS — Zamora 2-50; Hartman 1-32; MoHS — Rhodes 1-14.
