MORGANTOWN – The Morgantown High School football team is in the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2016 and will travel to the eastern panhandle for a matchup with the No. 2 seed Spring Mills on Black Friday at 1:30 p.m.
The Cardinals are 10-1 under head coach Marcus Law in 2024 and have been one of the top teams for most of the season. They did not allow a point to an opponent until week eight against University, with their lone defeat coming against Martinsburg on October 25, 17-12. Spring Mills has outscored its opponents 469-23.
MHS head coach Sean Biser and his staff know that the playmaking ability of Cardinals quarterback Max Anderson and his brother, Xavier, is something his team will need to minimize in the contest.
“They’re talented and have athletes across the board,” Biser said. “Offensively, they have the big-play ability and a quarterback that gets them in good situations and out of bad ones. He is a true dual-threat player who is hard to get on the ground and he makes the offense better. They’re good up front and have some good speed on defense. They are well-coached and certainly a team with playmakers throughout the roster.”
The No. 7 Mohigans will call upon their defense to continue its efforts. They haven’t allowed more than 14 points to an opponent in the last five games. Most recently, MHS held Woodrow Wilson to 10 points in a 35-10 opening-round playoff victory last week, including a scoreless second half.
“We just need to come out and do the same things we always focus on,” Biser said. “It doesn’t matter who you play; you must go out and tackle well. We need to get guys on the ground on defense and run the ball successfully on offense. That’s the name of the game when it comes to football and if we do what we are capable of and what we know we are good at, I think our defense gives us a chance to make some plays.”
MHS carried the ball 58 times for 284 yards and five touchdowns in the first round against Woodrow. Four Mohigans surpassed 50 or more yards on the ground against the Flying Eagles.
“By this point of the season, everyone knows who they are and their identity as a team,” Biser said. “It isn’t going to require anything we haven’t done before to win a game of this level. We can’t change everything we do for one opponent; that won’t work out in anyone’s favor. We certainly add a few things each week as we prepare for who we match up with, but at the end of the day, most teams know who you are by now, so it’s about going out and executing your fundamentals and doing your job.”
Biser says his defense has done well limiting big plays down the stretch, which will be key against Spring Mills’s high-powered offense.
“We can’t let them make something from nothing when our defense has a chance to make a play,” he said. “We have to win the 50/50 balls, tackle well in space, win our one-on-ones, and play for each other. If we do those things, we will give ourselves the best chance possible to win.”
