MORGANTOWN — Morgantown head coach Sean Biser hearkens back to the old Dallas Cowboys dynasty with a little wrinkle in his offense — something he’s used for nearly a decade.
Known for his Wing-T attack, it’s a pre-snap design that has fooled opponents time and time again, and the latest victim was Parkersburg South during the Mohigans’ 21-14 win Friday night at Pony Lewis Field.
The offensive linemen appear to get set, then simultaneously — that’s the key — they drop into a set position swiftly and abruptly. The idea is to draw opponents offsides with the quick and sudden movement.
The result against the Patriots? Eight offsides calls, resulting in 40 yards in free yards for the Mohigans.
“That’s just how we start — we teach it in camp and my teams have been doing it for probably eight years now,” Biser said. “It’s been really good for us and we’ve gotten a lot of extra yardage.”
There are a variety of ways MHS (3-4) can do it, either from the two-point stance or with a hand on the ground. Sometimes, though, it can not only mess up the timing of the defense, but also the offense, getting the timing of certain plays out of whack.
“For the most part, it works really well for us,” Biser said. “We try to make that a weapon in itself.”
MHS’s offense was clicking early, as was the aforementioned offensive line. The Mohigans jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on touchdown runs from Caleb Nutter and Peyton Johnson, and Johnson added another in the second quarter to make the score 21-7 at the break.
Morgantown stalled a few times deep in Patriots’ territory, especially in the second half, and could not punch in another touchdown the rest of the game.
However, it was the MHS defense that stepped up when needed.
PSHS (3-3) scored 61 points on Woodrow Wilson earlier this season and was averaging 34 points per game coming in, but was held to just 14 against MHS. The Patriots only had 24 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Quarterback Robert Shockey had 278 yards passing — 167 on 14 catches by Cyrus Traugh — but the Mohigans limited big plays through the air. The longest was a late deep ball from Shockey to Traugh for 54 yards.
Cornerback Bobby Powell had two interceptions in the first half, bringing his season total to six through six games.
“Hopefully this is a lesson to our guys on what they’re capable of doing,” Biser said. “We had some adversity — some self-inflicted adversity — and our kids responded and answered, especially defensively. That’s what we were looking for.”
Johnson, who is getting an expanded role as the season continues, finished with 128 yards and two touchdowns to lead MHS. As a team, the Mohigans ran for 384 yards on 44 carries.
Friday was the last game of the regular season at Pony Lewis Field, as MHS will hit the road for the final three games, starting next Friday at John Marshall. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
PSHS 0 7 0 7 – 14
MHS 14 7 0 0 – 21
SCORING SUMMARY
MHS — Nutter 15 run (Gruchecky kick)
MHS — Johnson 4 run (Gruchecky kick)
PSHS — Shockey 9 run (Smith kick)
MHS — Johnson 4 run (Gruchecky kick)
PSHS — Traugh 54 pass from Shockey (Smith kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
PSHS — Shockey 13-14 TD; Cooke 7-10. Totals: 20-24 TD. MHS — Lawrence 13-66; Hoskins 6-57; Nutter 9-71 TD; Johnson 15-128 2TD; Mallet 4-51; Brooks 1-11. Totals: 44-384 3TD.
PASSING
PSHS — Shockey 30-43-2 278 TD. MHS — Lawrence 4-7 29.
RECEIVING
PSHS — Traugh 14-167 TD; Walker 6-19; Townsend 5-79; Cooke 7-24. MHS — Felton 1-14; Felton 3-15.
