SPRING MILLS — Morgantown High’s football team was amped up Friday night for their road trip to Spring Mills, whether it was the 2 1/2 hour drive across the north side of the state or an unexpected, unusual sauna session that set their minds straight for a 21-0 shutout of No. 6 Spring Mills, an uncharacteristic loss for the Cardinals.
“Our AC broke on the way here,” Morgantown coach Sean Biser said. “It was like 85 degrees on the bus driving down here.”
Biser said it was a breath of fresh air — quite literally — stepping off the charter bus into cooler temperatures.
“It was a good game,” Biser said. “They’re a heck of a team, a heck of a program; their coaches do a great job, they’ve got athletes, and I thought our kids responded. I thought they played really well and played hard. They were resilient.”
The No. 1 Mohigans (5-0) started relatively slow, the first drive a four-and-out deep in their own territory. But it didn’t take long for the spark to ignite the team’s fire, as Maddox Twigg snagged an interception on a fourth-and-nine attempt across the middle of the field for a 75-yard pick-six, getting Morgantown on the board before the first quarter was halfway over.
“Our kids kept playing, and that’s what we coach them to do,” Biser said.
Things would gloss over into a defensive battle through the remainder of the first stanza, though Morgantown found some more momentum, ending in a turnover on a failed field goal attempt. Before the half ended, Morgantown would add another score behind a 23-yard sprint from Isaiah Thompson, pushing the Mohigans up 14-0 at the half.
For Spring Mills (3-2), penalties would be a massive burden. After reaching the red zone and fighting into prime territory, Tavon Jones powered through the line for the Cardinals’ first score — until whistles cut short the celebration within the Cardinals ranks, as the officials flagged the hosts for holding. The second attempt to find pay dirt failed, and Spring Mills was still trying to claw out of a two-score deficit.
A second errant penalty allowed Morgantown to hang another touchdown on the Cardinals, as a defender clipped Clifton Shreves on his second field goal attempt of the night — this one good, despite the contact — which gave Twigg room to punch in from 4 yards out, capping the Mohigans’ scoring for the night.
“At times we shot ourselves in the foot,” Spring Mills coach Marcus Law said. “At times, we were moving the ball up and down the field and then something happened, and we took a couple of steps back. We couldn’t finish. That’s been a tell all year; you have to be able to finish in the red zone, especially when you’re playing top-tier teams like that. There’s just no excuse.”
That final rushing touchdown was a great way for Twigg to end the night, however. Sitting out most of the second quarter after what looked like a minor leg injury, he returned in the third, and, though ginger on what appeared to be his right leg, trusted in Thompson and quick routes to wear down the Cardinals until he could deliver the dagger.
“I think he’s fine,” Biser said of Twigg. “We kept him out and he was a little stiff and sore but he obviously came back in. We’ll get him treated up and he’ll be fine.
“He’s the dude. That’s what he does. That’s what you do when you’re that guy, and he’s that guy.”
Despite the shutout, Law praised his defense, saying they mentally stayed in the game despite plenty of adversity.
“They played their butts off, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “Any time they’re on point like that, we’re always in a football game.”
Moving forward, Law said he’ll be reviewing his playbook and fixing some of what was exposed against Morgantown. He’ll also take the time to get his players healthy, a list that grew quite a bit Friday night.
“Opportunity to get it again against Washington, so we can try to fix some of those things and get some guys healthy,” he said. “Everything stems from offense for me. We have to figure out how to not hold. A couple of those calls in there, I don’t know, man, but we need to have the mentality to finish the drive. We’ve got to do a better job at decision making … getting the ball out of our hands and understanding what the defense is doing to us.
“That’s where it’s at. You’ve got a Washington team that’s going to be hungry, but it’s a chance to rebound at home. … the offense isn’t broken, we just have to finish.”
— Story by Andrew Spellman
BOX SCORE
Morgantown 7 7 7 0 — 21
Spring Mills 0 0 0 0 — 0
SCORING SUMMARY
MHS — Twigg 75 interception return (Clifton Shreves kick)
MHS — Thompson 23 run (Shreves kick)
MHS — Twigg 4 run (Shreves kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Morgantown — Thompson 19-123 TD, Twigg 6-10 TD, Lockett 1-6, Tolliver 1-4, Cooper 1-minus-9, Hennige 2-(-18). Spring Mills — Sanders 8-30, T. Jones 7-23, Butts 2-2, Curry 1-(-6), Swartz 2-(-13).
PASSING: Morgantown — Twigg 6-9 67. Spring Mills — Swartz 18-26-2 132, Curry 0-1.
RECEIVING: Morgantown — Young 1-38, Cooper 5-29. Spring Mills — Anderson 5-38, Curry 3-31, Mayer 2-24, J.Jones 3-24, Wipf 4-17, Bokwe 1-(-2).
