SHENANDOAH JUNCTION — Morgantown enjoyed the end of quarters Friday night against Jefferson.
Turnovers, too.
The Mohigans scored a touchdown on the final play of the first quarter, added a field goal with 1.5 seconds left in the first half and forced four turnovers on the way to a runaway 38-7 victory over Jefferson.
Morgantown improved to 2-0 and Jefferson fell to 0-2, with both defeats coming at Cougar Stadium.
Morgantown did just enough to score in taking a 17-0 halftime lead and poured it on in the second half behind talented sophomore quarterback Maddox Twigg, as the Cougars couldn’t snap Twigg in the first quarter or in the second half.
“I think we’re just scratching the surface with him,” Morgantown coach Sean Biser said.
The sophomore signal caller ran eight times, mostly on quarterback draws, for 70 yards and capped the Mohigans’ initial scoring drive with a dancing, 18-yard touchdown run.
He also escaped a sack on fourth down and eluded Jefferson defenders, much like he had most of the quarter.
“We were running a passing play there, and I couldn’t see my receiver,” Twigg said, “but I got away, then cut back, split a couple of guys and saw the end zone and beat a couple of guys to get there.”
Then Jefferson fumbled the first snap after the kickoff, and the Mohigans covered 30 yards for a touchdown in a drive lasting 3 minutes, 42 seconds.
Jefferson began the second quarter by covering 79 yards to Morgantown’s 1-yard line, converting a pair of fourth downs before they went backward from an illegal block, and Spanish exchange student Antonio Roca Marti saw his 31-yard field goal sail wide left with 54 seconds left.
Jefferson coach Craig Hunter couldn’t put his finger on why Jefferson is having trouble closing.
“We can’t leave it at the 5,” Hunter said. “When we get the opportunity to score, we need to power it in.”
Morgantown, looking to kill the clock, it seemed, used a 63-yard run by Isaiah Thompson to set up Clifton Shreves’ 31-yard field goal with 1.5 seconds left.
“We just put that (play) in,” Biser said of Thompson’s run. “We just wanted to run the ball; if we broke a big play, either way was OK with me.”
Jefferson thought it was OK, though.
“That could’ve been a momentum-killer,” Jefferson coach Craig Hunter said, “but we came out after halftime and scored a touchdown.
“We gotta get better at goal-line situations.”
Jefferson scored a 1-yard touchdown on fourth down by Trevon Ledbetter to open the third quarter, a rare time Jefferson scored from inside the 5-yard line.
Jefferson lost its final scoring opportunity when Ryan Weant’s fourth-down pass into traffic fell incomplete from the 6-yard line after a delay of game pushed the Cougars back from the 1 in the fourth quarter.
Twigg had already taken over, though, scoring from 1 and 45 yards, the latter touchdown romp on a quarterback counter, and threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Carter Carter, making the score 31-7 with 1:13 left in the third quarter.
In total, Twigg rushed for 132 yards on 14 carries. Through the air, Twigg completed 6 of 10 passes for 108 yards.
Thompson added 105 yards on 12 carries, and Morgantown managed 382 yards of total offense.
The Cougars, who visit Sherando (Va.) next week, finished with 215 yards of total offense.
Weant, who left the game for a time with a first-half injury, completed 11 of 23 passes for 128 yards and was intercepted twice.
Jackson Rockwell completed a 10-yard pass and caught four passes for 53 yards. Tony Allen caught six passes for 55 yards.
“I thought we had better rhythm today (compared to last week),” Hunter said. “We gotta keep pulling together and stop putting ourselves in a hole.”
Morgantown returns home next week to take on winless Hedgesville. The Eagles lost to Washington 36-20 in Charles Town on Friday.
Biser is delighted he has Twigg running his offense.
“He’s pretty good,” Biser said. “He does a lot of things right. He’s a great athlete and has a lot of maturity.”
— Story by Rick Kozlowski
