MORGANTOWN — Jarrett Lawrence had a text from head coach Sean Biser last Saturday following a heart-breaking loss at Woodrow Wilson — a message that may end up changing his entire high school career.
Lawrence was going to be the new starting quarterback for the Mohigans.
Other than a few reps as the backup quarterback in 2020, he wasn’t quite familiar with the position.
Looking to shake things up to get the ball rolling, Biser wanted Lawrence to move from wing-back, where he played the first four games of the season, to QB, replacing Maddox Bowers.
In his debut at quarterback Friday night against Musselman at Pony Lewis Field, Lawrence threw just one pass that fell incomplete, but he was electric on the ground, a staple of Biser’s Wing-T offense, finishing with 214 yards and thee touchdowns in the Mohigans’ 34-14 win.
“We just wanted a little change up to give us an extra threat in the run game, and he can throw the ball a little bit, too,” Biser said of Lawrence. “He’s done a good job for us at wing-back, and he practiced a little bit at quarterback before, but this was his first live-action tonight. If he can do this tonight, hopefully he can build on this and get better as we go.”
Morgantown (2-3) came in to the game against the Applemen (1-4) needing a win after several tough losses, but it didn’t start the way the Mohigans wanted. Musselman jumped out to an early 7-0 lead when Bayden Hartman found Ray Adames for a 26-yard touchdown.
From there, though, it was all Morgantown, thanks in large part to Lawrence and a host of running backs for the Mohigans.
They scored the next five touchdowns, all on the ground, to take a commanding 34-7 lead before the Applemen scored a lot touchdown on a Nathan La Liberte toss to Logan Shelton.
Morgantown ran 55 plays, 54 on the ground, racking up 353 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Outside of Lawrence’s 214, Peyton Johnson fell just shy of 100 yards at 94, but found the end zone twice.
The only completion on the night for Lawrence was on the final 2-point conversion to Riley Felton, who made a nice sliding catch.
In total, six different Mohigans had carries.
“It’s not just my legs — our whole backfield’s stacked with a lot of crazy athletic guys,” Lawrence said. “It’s not just me, it’s the whole backfield. If we have to and it’s there, we’ll throw it, too.”
Not to be overshadowed is Morgantown’s defense, which held the Applemen to less than a yard per carry — Musselman had 15 carries for 11 yards.
Jacob Keir had an interception in the second quarter, while Preston Harman also had a pick following a big hit from Marquis Mauney that popped the ball in the air.
For the Applemen, Adames had a stellar night, finishing with 13 catches for 143 yards and a touchdown.
The Mohigans will host Wheeling Park at 7 p.m. next Friday.
Musselman 7 0 0 7 – 14
Morgantown 6 12 0 16 – 34
SCORING SUMMARY
MuHS — Adames 26 pass from Hartman (Waddell kick)
MoHS — Lawrence 4 run (kick no good)
MoHS — Johnson 14 run (conversion no good)
MoHS — Lawrence 6 run (conversion no good)
MoHS — Johnson 1 run (Lawrence run)
MoHS — Lawrence 35 run (Felton pass from Lawrence)
MuHS — Shelton 20 pass from La Liberte (Waddell kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
MuHS — Foy 8-16; Adames 1-5; Hayslette 4-8; Hartman 2-(-18). Totals: 15-11. MoHS — Hoskins 3-11; Lawrence 26-214 3 TD; Mallett 1-(-5); Johnson 10-94 2 TD; Nutter 9-26; Brooks 5-11. Totals: 54-353 5 TD.
PASSING
MuHS — Hartman 19-34-2 149 TD; La Liberte 7-11 73 TD. MoHS — Lawrence 0-1.
RECEIVING
MuHS — Adames 13-143 TD; Hayslette 5-26; Shelton 6-62 TD; Johnson 1-4; Nave 1-7.
