MORGANTOWN — After scoring 28 points in the first half last week against Linsly, the Morgantown football team seemed to hit a wall offensively.
The Mohigans didn’t score a touchdown after the third quarter and escaped with a win on an overtime field goal.
That funk carried over into Friday night’s clash against No. 5 Musselman at Pony Lewis Field, being shutout in the first half and only finding the end zone once when it was all said and done, in a 13-7 loss.
Not only was the offense porous, but penalties again doomed the Mohigans (3-3), racking up over 100 yards in infractions for the second time in three weeks.
“Seven points isn’t good enough and that all falls on me,” head coach Matt Lacy said. “You have to be more disciplined and the penalties killed us tonight. That’s a direct reflection of me and this coaching staff. That’s not acceptable, but we’ll get it fixed.”
On the other sideline, Applemen coach Brian Thomas was ecstatic about his team’s defensive effort, applauding the pre-game work done by first-year defensive coordinator Wes Smith.
Total, Musselman (5-0) held Morgantown to just 228 yards.
“Credit a lot to the kids but man, credit a lot to Wes,” Thomas said. “He had the kids ready to play tonight, my gracious. [The gameplan] was to be physical and we did that.”
Musselman’s most important defensive play came with 3:43 to go in the game. The Mohigans were driving and had the ball inside the Applemen 10-yard line, but Musselman forced a fumble and recovered at their own 2.
Morgantown didn’t touch the ball again the rest of the way.
“This is one of the best rivalries in the state, and I’m not talking about it from a hatred standpoint — you look at the matchups the past five years we’ve played, it’s been some back and forth games,” Thomas said. “We knew coming in that they were a mirror image of us — physical, in-your-face and come out and knock you in the jaw.”
Musselman jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter when quarterback Leon Beard scampered on an option to the end zone from 17 yards out.
The Mohigans finally answered in the third quarter on a Ty Konchesky 29-yard run. Konchesky was far from the Mohigans’ problem offensively, finishing with 116 yards.
The Applemen scored their go-ahead touchdown on an un-timed down at the end of the third quarter when Beard flipped the ball out to Ethan Wilson for a 21-yard score.
Morgantown’s defense performed well, forcing three turnovers of its own — an interception by Kirk Black and two fumble recoveries. The Mohigans held the Applemen to 272 yards.
Even Morgantown’s offense had its moments, but it was constantly one step forward and two steps back.
“Sometimes we have 10 guys do the right thing and one doesn’t. It’s a team game, and it takes 11 doing it. We have to find ways to consistently move the ball — we’d get a big play, run the same one again and it would be a 3-yard loss.
“Those are things we have to fix.”
The Mohigans will hit the road next week at Wheeling Park while Musselman will host Hedgesville.
Musselman 7 0 6 0 – 13
Morgantown 0 0 7 0 – 7
SCORING SUMMARY
MuHS — Leon Beard 17 run (Luke Barger kick)
MoHS — Ty Konchesky 29 run (John McConnell kick)
MuHS — Ethan Wilson 21 pass from Beard (kick no good)
RUSHING
MuHS — Sebastian Oldham 10-84; Beard 10-15 TD; Blake Hartman 17-58; Wilson 2-14. Total: 39-171 TD. MoHS — Konchesky 20-116 TD; Cam Rice 13-55; Tanner Davis 3-13; Jace Whetsell 2-6. Totals: 38-190 TD.
PASSING
MuHS — Beard 6-14-1 101 TD. MoHS — C. Rice 5-14-1 38.
RECEIVING
MuHS — Wilson 4-28 TD; Kegan Teets 1-30; Hartman 1-17. Totals: 6-101 TD. MoHS — Kaden Rice 2-9; Whetsell 1-2; Konchesky 2-27. Totals: 5-38.
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