MORGANTOWN – During Friday night’s regular season finale boys’ lacrosse rivalry bout between Morgantown and University High, both teams landed and absorbed some quality punches under the lights at Pony Lewis Field.
But the hosting Mohigans were the ones to connect with the knockout blow en route to a 17-6 victory over the UHS (8-6), completing an undefeated regular season and earning the top seed entering the WVSLA playoffs.
MHS (14-0) jumped out to an early advantage and shut down the Hawks’ comeback bid in the third quarter to secure the win and cap the regular season unbeaten.
Senior attacker Zion Joseph scored a game-high 7 goals, including two consecutive strikes late in the third that halted UHS’ momentum.
Fellow senior Luke Quigley netted three goals and a pair of assists.
UHS was led by junior Daniel Rogers with a pair of goals.
“I’m proud of our guys’ effort; they always keep their composure,” MHS head coach Jeremy Bennett said. “In a game like lacrosse, where goals can be scored quickly, you have to have a short-term memory. It’s a game of momentum where both teams will have runs, but we have to be the better team at the end of the day.”
Quigley opened the scoring less than 60 seconds into the game with a nice pass from Cooper Cox that set up the score. The Mohigans added four more goals in the frame, leading 5-0 heading into the second.
Nathan Ross gave MHS its 6th goal before Rogers broke the trend with a shot that was fumbled at the net as the ball rolled across the line.
But Joseph ended the half with back-to-back efforts to give MHS an 8-1 lead entering halftime.
Quigley found his second goal to begin the second half, but UHS would rally for a scoring run to cut into the lead.
Maxwell Walker got the run started midway through the third, followed by another goal three minutes later by Ethan Garbrick. Rogers then netted his second of the game, shrinking the deficit to five, 9-4.
“We didn’t quit,” UHS head coach Justin Ruble said. “This wasn’t our night, but I’m proud of the boys for their effort against a great team. They picked each other up and didn’t let anything bad happen. Again, it wasn’t our night, but they played hard until the end.”
Just when the Hawks had begun to truly take flight, Joseph took the wind out from under their wings with another pair of quick scores that swelled the lead back to seven, 11-4.
MHS wouldn’t look back from there, closing the game in the final frame to finish the regular season 14-0.
“It means a lot for this group,” Bennett said. “When the season ended last year, we lost a great group of guys and had some shoes to fill in a sense, and we knew this group could do it. It’s been a team effort all season, and they’ve really bought into everything we’ve told them.”
Morgantown will host Fairmont Senior in the opening round of the WVSLA playoffs on Wednesday night at Pony Lewis Field. UHS will travel to Martinsburg with time and date to be determined.
