RACHEL – On a Friday evening filled with offensive fireworks at Roy Michael Field, North Marion and Preston combined for 80 points and 994 yards, as the Huskies scored on eight of 10 possessions in a 54-26 win.
“We did what we had to do,” North Marion coach Daran Hays said after the game. “You can’t predict your payday. We had some guys out. We played all night with Speedy (Jacob Freels), who is a big player for us. I thought we did some really good things offensively. We did a much better job in the air, even though we weren’t air dominant.”
Led by 165 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries from Brian Poindexter, 104 yards and two touchdowns on six carries from Cole Morris and 99 yards and a touchdown on five carries from Toby Michael, the Huskies ran the ball 42 times for 516 yards in the win. Combined with 87 yards passing on 5-of-8 attempts from Morris, North Marion ran 50 offensive plays for 603 yards.
Preston also found success offensively, led by quarterback Slaton Manko who completed 17-of-35 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns with his top target, Aiden Schmidl, catching six passes for 79 yards. Led by 80 yards and a score from Aiden Strawser, the Knights rushed for 149 yards on 31 carries, bringing their offensive total to 391 total yards on 66 plays.
“Quarterback play was solid,” Preston coach Mark Deep said. “I thought our receivers did a heck of a job from Aiden Schmidl to Kaleb Stone to Kash Jenkins, and I’m probably missing a couple. They all had really good games for us. We need that to continue, but we need to get the defense fixed.”
Throughout Friday’s game at Woodcutter Stadium, the Huskies honored the five schools that came together in 1979 to form North Marion – Barrackville, Fairview, Farmington, Monongah and Mannington. The Huskies wore special uniforms in reverence to their previous community schools Friday, with their traditional black uniforms featuring the colors of their predecessors accenting various aspects of the design.
“I think the biggest thing for me is that a lot of the alumni from those five schools don’t feel like they have a home,” Hays said. “They always have a home here, and we want them to know that.”
In their commemorative uniforms, the Huskies came out red hot, scoring touchdowns on four of their five possessions in the opening two quarters, with the lone non-scoring drive coming just before halftime.
Sophomore Poindexter got the scoring started for the home team on a 6-yard run halfway through the opening period, giving NMHS a 7-0 lead following a Cooper Williams PAT.
With the score still 7-0 early in the second, the Huskies extended their lead to 14-0 after a Blake Edgell 11-yard run and a Williams kick.
The Knights answered back on their ensuing drive as Manko uncorked a deep ball down the left side, finding sophomore Malik Powell with a 43-yard touchdown, bringing the score to 14-7 after a Brady Taylor point after.
With the game back within one score, Edgell found the end zone again, this time from 7 yards away to bring the lead back to 14 points.
After forcing a three-and-out for Preston, a Powell punt was blocked by North Marion’s Cyrus Collins – his second in as many games – giving the Huskies a short field they would cash in moments later on a 20-yard TD strike from Cole Morris giving the home squad a 28-7 lead at the break.
Despite being down by 21 points at halftime, the Knights had success moving the ball throughout the opening half, gaining 170 yards of offense in the first 24 minutes and twice getting inside the NMHS 15. Both of those deep trips into Husky territory, however, came up empty for the visitors with each resulting in turnovers on downs.
“We left plays out there in the first half,” Deep said. “We just have to take the opportunity when it comes to us and take advantage of those opportunities that we missed. We missed quite a few.”
To open the second half, Preston recovered its own kickoff, setting up a short field. Once again the Husky defense stood tall forcing a turnover on downs at the NMHS 21, giving the home team the ball back.
“We blocked a punt, and that’s huge, but then we give a turnover away coming out of the half,” Hays said. “That was just kind of a mental error and blunder. I just didn’t feel like we were focused at all tonight. That might start with me. Maybe I did a bad job managing some of the hoopla. It was really important to me and really important to our guys.”
With possession on the 21, North Marion took a single play to score as Morris raced 79 yards for a score, extending the advantage to 34-7.
Manko and the Knights once again went to the air on their next possession as the senior signal caller hit his second deep TD pass, finding Kaleb Stone from 42 yards out to bring the score to 34-13 early in the third.
On the ensuing drive, North Marion once again found a one-play TD drive as Poindexter found the end zone from 70 yards out for his second score of the night and a 40-13 lead.
After a Manko to Schmidle 35-yard pass set up the Knights deep in Husky territory, Manko raced in from a yard out for his first rushing TD of the evening, making the score 40-20 less than halfway through the third quarter.
Morris and the Huskies answered with an 11-yard TD run on the next drive, and the two teams went into the final period with NMHS leading, 47-20.
NMHS’s Toby Michael opened the fourth quarter with a 4-yard touchdown run and Preston’s Aiden Strawser scored on a 58-yard TD run to end the scoring on the evening.
Now boasting a 2-0 record, the Huskies will prepare to host Philip Barbour in Week 3, and Hays and his squad know that the Colts will bring a tough test to Rachel.
“They got athletes and they can throw it, too,” Hays said of the Colts. “They’ll formation us to death if it’s anything like last year. We have to be better lining up, we have to be less confused on defense, we have to execute on special teams and we have to cut out the penalties.”
Next up for the Knights will be a road trip to Fairmont Senior, their third road game in a row to start the season, and Deep hopes to see his defense tighten up moving forward.
“We just have to get better on the defensive side of the ball – 100 times better,” Deep said. “I’ll take it 100 percent. That’s on me. We need to get better on that end.”
— Story by Sean McNamara
BOX SCORE
North Marion 7 21 19 7 — 54
Preston 0 7 13 6 — 26
SCORING SUMMARY
NM – Brian Poindexter 6-yard run (Cooper Williams kick)
NM – Blake Edgell 11-yard run (Williams kick)
PHS – Malik Powell 43-yard pass from Slaton Manko (Brady Taylor kick)
NM – Edgell 7-yard run (Williams kick)
NM – Karter Parson 20-yard pass from Cole Morris (Williams kick)
NM – Cole Morris 79-yard run (kick failed)
PHS – Kaleb Stone 42-yard pass from Manko (kick failed)
NM – Poindexter 70-yard run (pass failed)
PHS – Manko 1-yard run (Taylor kick)
NM – Morris 11-yard run (Williams kick)
NM – Toby Michael 4-yard run (Williams kick)
PHS – Aiden Strawser 58-yard run (kick failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: NM — Brian Poindexter 11-165, Cole Morris 6-104, Toby Michael 5-99, Cyrus Collins 7-84, Blake Edgell 6-46, Landyn Stemple 1-4, Aiden Poster 2-13, Nick Smith 2-1, Isaiah Carpenter 1-1, Owen Kennedy 1-(-1) Total 42-516. PHS — Aiden Strawser 6-80, Slaton Manko 18-51, Jake Kilkenny 5-16, Kaleb Stone 2-2 Total 31-149.
PASSING: NM — Cole Morris 5-8 87 yards. PHS — Slaton Manko 17-35 242 yards.
RECEIVING: NM — Karter Parson 4-60, Blake Johnson 1-27. PHS — Aiden Schmidl 6-79, Kash Jenkins 4-52, Kaleb Stone 3-51, Malik Powell 1-43, Aiden Strawser 3-17.
