MORGANTOWN — Playoff preparation is no different than regular season preparation, according to experienced head coach Sean Biser.
His Morgantown Mohigans enter the second season as the No. 14 seed in Class AAA after clinching a playoff spot with a dominant 49-13 win on the road at Spring Mills last week.
“I’ve always approached it the same as any other week,” said Biser, who led Keyser to the playoffs 14 times when he was head coach there for 16 years. “My prep is always the same. We prep like we’re going up against the best team on our schedule.”
That truly may be the case this week as Morgantown heads on the road to face No. 3 seed Bridgeport. It’s a rematch for these two teams, which faced off against each other on Sept. 3 — a 31-20 win for the Indians.
Bridgeport clinched a 10-0 undefeated season with a 38-7 win at Lincoln last week. This is the 13th time in school history that the Indians went unbeaten in the regular season.
“They are who they are,” Biser said. “They’re a very disciplined football team. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. They’re very fundamentally sound and they’re physical. They’re going to run the ball right at you and throw in some play-action pass.”
Last week, the Bridgeport tandem of Cam Cole and Landyn Reppert had another dominant outing as Cole ran for 123 yards with two touchdowns and Reppert went for 183 and one touchdown. Cole is more of a power back while Reppert has breakaway speed. He holds two long touchdown runs of 73 and 91 yards this season.
As a team, the Indians average just under 400 yards of total offense per game.
“They run their offense really well and it’s only gotten better as the year has gone on,” Biser said. “We just got to do what we’ve been doing if we want to stop them.”
The Morgantown (5-5) defense swarmed Spring Mills last week limiting the Cardinals to just 142 yards of total offense — 62 on the ground and 110 through the air. It forced the Spring Mills quarterback to complete just 5 of 19 passes.
Offensively, Morgantown was led by Peyton Johnson’s 147 rushing yards. Caleb Nutter added 85 and Jarrett Lawrence had 56 as the team tallied 384 rushing yards.
“Our kids executed what we’ve been trying to do,” Biser said. “They did exactly what we asked them to do. It’s as simple as that.”
The Mohigans and Cardinals were delayed by nearly an hour and a half last week as a car crash caused a power outage at the Spring Mills facility. The extra time allowed Biser’s team to really focus on what was at stake. They answered the call and delivered on the field, qualifying for the postseason for the first time under Biser’s tutelage at the school.
“We had to just wait it out,” Biser said. “Our kids handled that adversity really well.”
The confidence has carried over into practice this week.
“They worked really hard this week with a good attitude,” Biser said. “They’ve given great effort in practice. I think they’re just excited to get into the playoffs.”
Morgantown has not won a playoff game since 2016. In 2017 and 2018, it faced early first-round exits. From 1995 to 2003, the Mohigans made 19 consecutive playoff appearances and have four state championships over that time period.
Biser led Keyser to the state quarterfinals eight times and finished runner-up in 2012.
This year, the Mohigans fell in their first two games and were 1-3 entering the month of October. They won three of their last four games to end the regular season on a high note.
“I haven’t worried about what anyone else thinks, I just worry about what we have to do,” Biser said. “We have a job in front of us and that’s improving this program. Getting back into the playoffs does that. We are getting things where they need to be and that’s been the sole focus.”
Kick off between Morgantown and Bridgeport is 7:30 p.m. Friday at Wayne Jamison Field on the BHS campus.
Class AAA
No. 13 Woodrow Wilson at No. 4 University, 7:30 p.m. Friday
University (10-0) completed its third unbeaten regular season under head coach John Kelley with a 63-21 win over Oak Hill last week. The Hawks were led by sophomore quarterback Luke Hudson, who passed for 294 yards and five touchdowns. Hudson replaced Chase Edwards, who is recovering from a concussion. Colin McBee had two touchdown runs and Sage Clawges had five catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns. For Woodrow Wilson, the running attack was on full display in last week’s 42-21 win against South Charleston, qualifying the Flying Eagles for the postseason for the first time since 2014. Last week, Woodrow Wilson (5-5) tallied 241 yards on the ground and rushed for 226 yards the week prior against Oak Hill. The Flying Eagles beat Morgantown in Week 5, 28-27.
Class A
No. 10 Trinity at No. 7 James Monroe, 7:30 p.m. Saturday
A 14-point outburst in the first quarter against Madonna last week propelled Trinity (7-2) into the postseason. Jaylon Hill has proven to be an effective quarterback as he went 18 of 22 for 163 yards with two touchdown passes to Carmelo Kniska. The Trinity defense has shut out three opponents this season — Southern, Hundred and Hancock. The two losses the Warriors suffered this season both happened to be from the same team — Cameron. After a Week 1 loss, James Monroe rattled off a six-game winning streak in the heart of the season. The Mavericks (7-3) are a run-heavy team with senior Grant Lively taking a bulk of the carries. Layton Dowdy and Cooper Ridgeway also provide depth in the backfield.
No. 13 Clay-Battelle at No. 4 Ritchie County, 1:30 p.m. Saturday
The stars shined for the Cee-Bees last week with a 58-0 win against Hundred. All-state candidates Carson Shriver and Drew Boczek combined for 253 yards and four touchdowns to lift Clay-Battelle (8-2) into the postseason for the first time since 2014. The junior tag-team completed the regular season with 2,931 yards and 37 touchdowns. The dominant victory was the Cee-Bees’ fourth shutout of the year. Ritchie County (9-1) has outscored opponents 442-186 this season. Its lone loss is a 2OT thriller against Doddridge County losing, 29-26, in Week 4. Last week, the Rebels handled Calhoun, 45-20. Ethan Haught leads the Rebels’ passing attack going 94 of 154 this season for 1,664 yards and 18 touchdowns.
By MATTHEW PEASLEE
TWEET @Dompostsports
