Things get weird, as No. 1 UHS runs past Fairmont Senior, 56-14
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FAIRMONT - If Eric Snyder coaches for another 20 years, the University High football coach may never find himself in a more bizarre ballgame than what he witnessed Friday night.
The top-ranked Hawks walked out of East-West Stadium with a 56-14 victory against Fairmont Senior. UHS (5-0) piled up plenty of impressive stats along the way, including four touchdown passes from quarterback Harrison Helbig and 320 combined rushing yards from Brody Kehler and Jaedyn Katchur.
As it turned out, none of that really mattered. Instead, the game will be remembered for multiple back-and-forth personal fouls by both teams.
University High star receiver Hayden George was ejected with 1:44 remaining in the third quarter after being whistled for a personal foul and - unless UHS wins an appeal - he will have to miss next week's game against Linsly.
There was one unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, too, and after one play in the fourth quarter went beyond the sideline and turned into a shoving match between players, Fairmont Senior principal Jim Green became a focus of the game.
He walked toward the Hawks' sideline, but remained on the field, and began talking with the UHS coaching staff while the game was going on.
"I'm not exactly sure what he was upset about or what was said when he first came over. I have to get the full story on that," Snyder said. "I felt like he was asking me to do something that I'm not allowed to do. I was able to get our assistant principal over there and then the officials stepped in."
The exchange lasted only a couple of minutes, but Green was told by the referees to leave the sideline. He complied, walked toward the back of the end zone and the game resumed.
"It was the weirdest game I've ever been involved in," said Helbig, who completed 17 of 20 passes for 239 yards to go with his four touchdowns. "There were a lot of flags and a lot of unsportsmanlike penalties and a lot of trash talking.
"The trash talking was going on the whole game and it kind of boiled over into the second half."
As for George, he was ejected after getting into a shoving match in the middle of the field. Offsetting personal fouls were charged to both players, but a referee confirmed George was ejected for throwing a punch.
Per the rules, game officials will have to file a report and UHS will have an opportunity for the play to be reviewed. If the call is upheld, George will have to miss next week's game.
"After we get the written report, we'll have to take a look at it to see if we'll fight it and see if he's able to come back for the following game," Snyder said. "We'll have to wait for the report, but if it does come down the way we expect it will, we will appeal."
The game itself was rather interesting, too. Fairmont Senior played without star quarterback Anthony Smith, who is dealing with a knee injury. In his place, the Polar Bears (1-4) went to a direct-snap look with Elijah Holmes and Christian Hrapchak.
Fairmont Senior completed just one pass in the game, but Holmes and Hrapchak combined for 209 rushing yards on 47 attempts.
The Hawks went a different direction. They needed only 13 plays on their first four scoring possessions in the first half. Those drives took up all of a combined two minutes, 39 seconds, as UHS took a 28-14 halftime lead.
"That's impressive. I'll be impressed by that," Snyder said. "That's our goal. We don't want to mess around. Our offense has one job and that's the get the ball and go score. We're not asking them to slow down. We like the fast tempo."
Helbig will enter the second half of the regular season with 21 TD passes on the season and George had two touchdown grabs prior to his ejection. Kyle Weaver also had 91 yards receiving on three catches, while Kehler and Katchur averaged a combined 14.5 yards per carry.
"We have eight or nine really solid weapons," Helbig said. "You can't stop them all, so someone is going to be open, and someone is going to make a play."
Box score
UHS 14 14 7 21 - 56
FS 7 7 0 0 - 14
SCORING SUMMARY
UHS-Hayden George 12 pass from Harrison Helbig (Brady Goodenow kick)
FS-Christian Hrapchak 1 run (Benjamin Smith kick)
UHS-George 40 pass from Helbig (Goodenow kick)
UHS-Brody Kehler 1 run (Goodenow kick)
UHS-Kyle Weaver 27 pass from Helbig (Goodenow kick)
FS-Elijah Holmes 21 run (Smith kick)
UHS-Evan Toler 15 pass from Helbig (Goodenow kick)
UHS-Jaedyn Katchur 18 run (Goodenow kick)
UHS-Kehler 45 run (Goodenow kick)
UHS-Katchur 75 run (Goodenow kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: University-Kehler 15-171 2 TD, Katchur 7-149 2 TD, Helbig 7-13. Fairmont Senior-Holmes 22-100 TD, Hrapchak 25-109 TD, Ryder Moran 1-21, Charles Armstrong 1-20, Joel Willey 2-17, Team 2-(-8).
PASSING: University-Helbig 17-20 239 4 TD. Holmes 1-1 7. Hrapchak 0-1-1 0, Landon Luchuck 0-1 0.
RECEIVING: University-George 5-70 2 TD, Weaver 3-91 TD, Branden Custer 4-33, Toler 1-15 TD, Colton Lawless 2-6, Kehler 1-14, Kaleil Lewis 1-10.