Aug. 28 at Morgantown game

Morgantown Uses Big Plays To Beat Visiting Big Reds By 44-7

      Game Statistics

MORGANTOWN - Just as they did a year ago the Morgantown Mohigans used a bevy of big plays to beat the visiting Parkersburg Big Reds here Thursday night by a 44-7 score.

The Mohigans scored six touchdowns and five of them were of the long distance variety, covering 38, 53, 67, 70 and 77 yards as four different players managed to elude the would-be Parkersburg tacklers.

Ranked number four in the pre-season polls, Morgantown piled up 510 yards on just 39 plays in building a 30-0 halftime margin and then coasting to victory in a game which saw the clock run non-stop for the last quarter and a half.

Quarterback Maddox Twigg led the way with 226 yards passing and two touchdowns while also rushing for 76 yards on just six carries including a 67 yard scamper early in the game to start the scoring. Carter Cooper caught a 53 yard scoring pass and also broke off a 77 yard TD scamper. Jayden Smalls caught just two passes for Morgantown but they went for 100 yards including a 70 yard reception.

The Big Reds had an early bright spot with an interception by Sylas Cheuvront who would also score his team's only touchdown late in the game. Ethan Jones ran for 91 yards in seven carries for PHS.

PHS will host Spring Valley next Friday.

Score by Quarters  1    2   3  4 Total

Parkersburg             0    0   0 7   7

Morgantown             20 10 14 0 44

Qtr Time Scoring play

1st 08:21 MORG - Maddox Twigg 67 yd run (Clifton Shreves kick), 3-80 1:01

01:18 MORG - Jayden Smalls 70 yd pass from Maddox Twigg (Clifton Shreves kick), 4-84 1:48

00:02 MORG - Carter Cooper 77 yd run (Clifton Shreves kick failed), 1-77 1:06

2nd 04:29 MORG - Isaiah Thompson 38 yd run (Clifton Shreves kick), 4-48 1:02

00:02 MORG - Clifton Shreves 31 yd field goal, 7-15 2:31

3rd 08:33 MORG - Carter Cooper 53 yd pass from Maddox Twigg (Clifton Shreves kick), 4-72 1:57

04:37 MORG - Isaiah Thompson 1 yd run (Clifton Shreves kick), 5-50 2:44

4th 04:27 PHS - Sylas Cheuvront 13 yd run (Cole Sisk kick), 12-32 11:54

..........PHS     MORG

FIRST DOWNS                                    12        17

RUSHES-YARDS (NET)                      20-64   22-255

PASSING YDS (NET)                          159      255

Passes Att-Comp-Int                           34-15-1 17-12-1

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS       54-223 39-510

Fumble Returns-Yards                           0-0       0-0

Punt Returns-Yards                              0-0       1-3

Kickoff Returns-Yards                           8-78     2-38

Interception Returns-Yards                  1-17     1-0

Punts (Number-Avg)                            4-41.0 1-45.0

Fumbles-Lost                                       0-0       0-0

Penalties-Yards                                    16-105 7-60

Possession Time                                  13:58   25:44

Third-Down Conversions                      4 of 13 2 of 4

Fourth-Down Conversions                    2 of 6   0 of 0

Red-Zone Scores-Chances                   0-2       2-2

Sacks By: Number-Yards                      1-7       0-0

RUSHING: Parkersburg-Sylas Cheuvront 6-31; Alex Greer 5-22; Ethan Jones 8-15; Tyler Cameron 1-minus

4. Morgantown-Isaiah Thompson 10-89; Carter Cooper 2-77; Maddox Twigg 6-76; Nathan Ely 1-10; Carsin

Lawhun 2-4; Matthew Hennige 1-minus 1.

PASSING: Parkersburg-Alex Greer 7-17-1-85; Tyler Cameron 8-17-0-74. Morgantown-Maddox Twigg

10-15-1-226; Matthew Hennige 2-2-0-29.

RECEIVING: Parkersburg-Brady Thorn 4-54; Tytan Parsons 3-35; Braxton Kupfner 2-32; Hunter Leavitt

2-19; Cole Sisk 1-9; Sylas Cheuvront 1-7; Devin Widman 1-5; Ethan Jones 1-minus 2. Morgantown-Carter

Cooper 7-100; Jayden Smalls 3-126; Brenden McCutcheon 1-23; Gabriel Fuller 1-6.

INTERCEPTIONS: Parkersburg-Sylas Cheuvront 1-17. Morgantown-Lockett,Zaiiden 1-0.

FUMBLES: Parkersburg-None. Morgantown-None.

Parkersburg (0-1) vs. Morgantown (1-0)

Date: Aug. 28 • Site: Morgantown • Stadium: Pony Lewis Stadium

Kickoff time: 7:00 • End of Game: 9:41 • Total elapsed time: 2:41

By Greg Carey

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Class AAAA No. 4 Morgantown faced adversity early into Thursday’s WVSSAC Kickoff Classic against Parkersburg.

How the Mohigans handled it went a long way toward ensuring they cruised by the Big Reds, 44-7, in the season opener for both teams from Pony Lewis Field at J.W. Ruby Stadium.

On the Mohigans’ second play from scrimmage, quarterback Maddox Twigg’s pass was intercepted by the Big Reds’ Sylas Cheuvront, who returned it 19 yards to the MHS 26-yard line.

Four plays later, the Big Reds faced fourth-and-2 from, and Morgantown’s Carter Cooper came off the edge to bring down Ethan Jones for a 1-yard loss.

That was as close as PHS came to playing with a lead.

Twigg broke off a 67-yard touchdown run that saw him reverse fields and break out into the open, and Clifton Shreves followed with his first of five point-after kicks to give Morgantown a 7-0 lead 3:40 into the matchup.

“You don’t ever want to throw an interception, but it kind of worked in our favor that we had to face adversity right off the bat,” Mohigans’ head coach Sean Biser said. “It tested our quarterback and tested our defense. They did their job and then he came back in and did an excellent job. We talk about adversity all the time and when it hits, how to handle it.”

PHS then put together perhaps its best series against the Morgantown starting defense, only to have Alex Greer’s fourth-and-3 pass fall incomplete at the Mohigans’ 16. It marked Greer’s first incompletion on his sixth attempt.

Four plays later, Twigg found Jayden Smalls streaking behind the Parkersburg secondary for a 70-yard touchdown repletion, allowing the home team to double its lead.

“You’re always amped up Game 1 and we make a big play early and our guys were fired up. We go from such a huge high and then don’t capitalize on that opportunity, and they turned around and made a big play of their own,” PHS head coach Matt Kimes said. “That’s when I felt like the wind came out of our sails. We have to learn as a team to keep that same mentality — can’t get too high or too low and the most important play is the next play. Once the momentum got away from us tonight, we never could get it back.”

Following a Parkersburg three-and-out, Cooper outran the Big Red defense for a 77-yard touchdown on the final play of the opening quarter, leaving MHS with a 20-0 advantage through the opening period.

Zaiiden Lockett’s interception of a Greer pass set up the only second-quarter touchdown, which was scored by Isaiah Thompson on a 38-yard run 4:29 before halftime.

Shreves connected on a 30-yard field goal on the final play of the opening half, sending Morgantown to the intermission with a 30-0 advantage.

Through two quarters, MHS had a 360-120 edge in total yardage. Hoping to be more balanced and less run dominant, the Mohigans were exactly that as Twigg hit on 7-of-14 passes for 141 yards in the first half.

“We have more that we didn’t show tonight. We took what they were giving us and went with that,” Biser said. “It definitely opens up our offense and with the guys we have, it suits our personnel.”

The Big Reds went three-and-out on their opening second-half series and Morgantown scored its fifth touchdown on Twigg’s 58-yard pass to Cooper.

A 2-yard touchdown run from Thompson with 4:21 to play in the third quarter made it 44-0 and created a running clock.

Cheuvront prevented Parkersburg from being shutout by ripping off a 13-yard touchdown run with 5:27 remaining in the contest.

Twigg finished 10-for-15 with 226 yards. “I feel very protected and confident with those guys in front of me,” Twigg said. “Can’t really complain or ask for anymore out of them.”

Smalls had 134 receiving yards on three catches and Cooper caught seven passes for 92 yards.