MORGANTOWN — University High head coach John Kelley picked up his 250th career coaching victory Friday night.
It may have come with one of his more unconventional football teams.
UHS used big plays and a stiff defense to overpower John Marshall at Mylan Pharmaceuticals Stadium, including a 55-yard touchdown pass on the team’s first play of the game, with UHS quarterback Luke Hudson making the catch instead of the throw on a reverse pass.
“We only ran that play once all camp,” Kelley said.
How did it go then?
“Perfectly, because we ran it against air,” he said with a smile.
University High’s quarterback making touchdown grabs is just the tip of the iceberg in how weird this Hawks team can look.
It also features starting running back Melique Lewis, a 294-pounder who also doubles as a defensive lineman.
And kicker John Coleman just may be the most aggressive guy on the team, and his 15-yard penalty for a late hit on a kickoff just may have proved that.
And you thought kickers weren’t real football players.
“Yeah, he’s not your normal kicker,” said Hudson, who also passed for 288 yards and three touchdowns and added 64 yards rushing on four carries.
“The best way to put it is we all sort of see ourselves as athletes first. We all have our positions and roles, but we all excel with our athletic abilities, and so you see some things with our roster you don’t normally see.”
What John Marshall (0-1) saw was a ton of big plays going against it.
“We got outplayed, but the good news is it’s only the first week,” John Marshall head coach Mark Cisar said. “They have a ton of athletes and they hurt us with the big plays.”
UHS (1-0) needed just 22 plays to take a 28-0 lead at halftime. The Hawks finished with 451 yards of offense, averaging 10.7 yards per play on the night.
UHS receiver Ethan Jackson caught three passes for 127 yards and scored on receptions of 80 and 35 yards.
His 80-yarder came on University’s first play of the second half.
“Ethan is just a great wide receiver, because he’s under the radar and then suddenly he’s off on a big play,” Hudson said. “He’s really smart and knows how to read what a defense is doing.
“We have a lot of different combinations for our receivers, but Ethan is the one guy I trust to go out and run whatever route he wants. He’s that good and that smart.”
John Marshall was held to just 145 yards of offense, but the Monarchs finally got on the board with 3:50 remaining in the game when Carter Adkins burst through the left side of the line for a 6-yard scoring run.
JM quarterbacks struggled. Starter Kayden Knapp was 0 for 5 passing to start the game and his fumble in the first quarter while trying to throw the ball ended up rolling backwards into the end zone for a UHS touchdown.
Jackson Helms came in and threw for 69 yards, but was intercepted twice.
“One of the things we kept hearing about John Marshall was how big and strong they were,” Kelley said. “Well, I thought we really outplayed them up front and dominated them in the trenches. They couldn’t get much going. I was real proud of our guys for that.”
Box score
John Marshall 0 0 0 7—7
University 12 16 14 0—42
SCORING SUMMARY
UHS—Luke Hudson 55 pass from James Fortney-Garbart (kick failed)
UHS—Ryder Hastings recovered fumble in end zone (run failed)
UHS—Ethan Jackson 35 pass from Hudson (pass failed)
UHS—John Coleman 70 pass from Hudson (Coleman kick)
UHS—Coleman 32 field goal
UHS—Jackson 80 pass from Hudson (Coleman kick)
UHS—Josh Jorge 31 run (Coleman kick)
JM—Carter Adkins 6 run (Conor Fitzpatrick kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: University—Hudson 4-64, Jorge 3-38 TD, Melique Lewis 4-2, Marcos Kniska 2-4, Braiden Snyder 5-13, Kyle Weaver 1-1, Team 1-(-14). John Marshall—Maverick LeMasters 17-64, Jackson Helms 5-6, Adkins 5-17 TD, Kayden Knapp 2-1, Team 1-(-7).
PASSING: University—Hudson 10-21-1 288 3 TD, Fortney-Garbart 1-1 55 TD. John Marshall— Helms 8-15-2 69. Kayden Knapp 1-8 4.
RECEIVING: University—Jackson 3-127 2 TD, Hudson 1-55 TD, Coleman 2-75 TD, Brock Kehler 2-32, Glenn Brown 1-28, Gavin Porter 1-18, Kaleil Lewis 1-8. John Marshall—Mason Hagedorn 3-34, Kaden Burnard 2-8, Dimario White 1-5, Brady Deem 1-3, Cain Martin 1-8, Xavier Wells 1-5.
