WHEELING — Having already been stuffed cold early in the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-1 attempt, Colin McBee was already in a pretty bad mood.
“Yeah, I was pretty mad,” the University High senior running back said after leading the top-ranked Hawks to a 35-14 victory against Wheeling Park on Saturday night at Wheeling Island Stadium. “I shouldn’t have been stopped short. I should have gotten that.”
As it turns out, UHS (4-0) forced a three-and-out on the Patriots’ ensuing possession, clinging to a 28-14 lead.
UHS head coach John Kelley didn’t hesitate to give the ball right back to McBee.
“Not at all, because he’s our workhorse,” Kelley said. “He’s carried us through the first four games. Things got a little tense there, so we wanted to just keep moving the chains and Colin is our guy to do that. What a warrior.”
McBee then carried the ball eight consecutive times, taking precious minutes off the clock along the way, and sealed the game with a 1-yard touchdown run with 2:25 remaining.
Many of his runs saw him drag two and three Wheeling Park defenders for extra yardage.
“I just assumed they were going to come right back to me,” said McBee, who finished with 149 yards and two scores on 24 attempts. “I didn’t go ask for the ball again, but I wanted it. I wanted to help put the game away. I got stopped short earlier, so I was looking to make up for that.”
The Hawks took a 20-0 lead in the second quarter behind two touchdown passes from Chase Edwards and McBee’s 3-yard run and held a 26-0 advantage after Edwards threw his third TD pass of the game early in the third quarter.
Wheeling Park (1-3) came back after quarterback Brett Phillips and running back Hunter Mixon accounted for third-quarter scoring runs, following a UHS safety on defense to make it 28-14 heading into the fourth quarter.
That’s when McBee, who also had two receptions for 28 yards, and the UHS power rushing game took over after Edwards and the passing game accounted for 249 yards through the air.
“This was a signature win for us tonight,” Kelley said. “Everybody is saying we’re the No. 1 team, but we haven’t beaten anybody, well, news flash, we beat a very good team tonight. No one has believed in us, but our guys believe in us, and that’s what matters most.”
Sage Clawges had four catches for 94 yards and a TD for the Hawks and Elija Jackson had five catches for 63 yards and two touchdowns.Phillips threw for 113 yards and also rushed for 65 yards for the Patriots.
University 0 20 8 7–35
Wheeling Park 0 0 14 0 –14
SCORING SUMMARY
UHS–Sage Clawges 75 pass from Chase Edwards (John Coleman kick)
UHS–Elija Jackson 23 pass from Edwards (Coleman kick)
UHS–Colin McBee 3 run (kick failed)
UHS–Jackson 4 pass from Edwards (kick failed)
WP–Brett Phillips 17 run (Aidan Forget kick)
UHS–safety, Phillips tackled in end zone
WP–Hunter Mixon 6 run (Forget kick)
UHS–McBee 1 run (Coleman kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: University–McBee 24-149 2 TD, Daminn Cunningham 7-35, Edwards 8-29, Noah Braham 2-19. Wheeling Park–Phillips 13-65 TD, Mixon 18-60 TD.
PASSING: University–Edwards 16-25-2 249 3 TD. Wheeling Park–Phillips 7-22-1 113.
RECEIVING: University–Jackson 5-63 2 TD, Clawges 4-94 TD, Cunningham 2-30, Braham 3-34, McBee 2-28. Wheeling Park–Will James 4-66, Jerrae Hawkins 1-36, Nathan Shelek 1-6, Mixon 1-5.
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