The Bottom Line
By Bill Nestor
Sports Editor
The Lincoln Cougars picked up their first victory of the season last week to even their mark at 1-1. The cougars earned a 38-12 win over Philip Barbour. They utilized big plays, scoring on plays of 52 yards or longer on three occasions. Kobie Carpenter scored on a 52 run. Carpenter tossed a 60 yard score to Dustin Marks, and Anthony Kellar returned a kick of 86 yards for a touchdown.
Carpenter was the offensive ring leader, accounting for 401 total yards (125 rushing and 276 passing). His favorite target was Chase Riley. Riley hauled in six passes for 115 yards. Kicker, Brendin Hawkins connected on a pair of field goals against the Colts. Hawkins opened the scoring with a 24 yarder and he ended his squads scoring with a 33 yarder.
Bridgeport enacted revenge in a decisive 24-13 win at Wheeling Park. Last year weather put a hault to play during their matchup last season. The Patriots elected to pass on multiple options to finish what had been started and a tie resulted. The Indians won all three phases of the contest. J.T. Harris led all rushers with 139 yards on 30 carries. Harris also scored a pair of touchdowns on one yard runs. Kicker, Koby Kiefer was 3 of 3 on extra points and he added a 34 yard field goal. The defense was impressive, holding Wheeling Park to just six first downs and only 15 rushing yards. If you take away an 80 yard bomb, the Patriots would have wound up with a mere 122 total yards.
In an inter-county matchup, Liberty defeated Notre Dame, 42-12. The Mountaineers overcame a 12-7 deficit at the end of the first quarter. Dalton Westfall rushed for 224 yards on 24 carries in the win. Westfall also recorded a hat trick, scoring on runs of 3, 5, and 2 yards respectively. Liberty’s defense was superb, holding the Fighting Irish to 88 yards of offense.
Notre Dame was led by Ryan LaAsmar and Elijah Helseley. LaAsmar threw for 118 yards and Helseley scored both Fighting Irish touchdowns on runs of 2 and 1 yard.
Robert C. Byrd earned a 20-14 OT win over Elkins. Quarterback, Tre Junkins threw an 80 yard scoring strike to Brice Roseborough and rushed for two touchdowns, including a 7 yard game winner.
South Harrison beat Valley Wetzel 41-6. Freddy Canary had a second consecutive big game with 184 yards on the ground and five scores. Cam Barnette helped the cause by rushing for 113 yards on just 12 carries.
West Virginia University opened up its season with an impressive 26-11 win over Missouri in Morgantown this past Saturday. A solid 60,125 fans showed up in spite of the Italian Heritage Festival activities that were going on in Clarksburg.
Neither suspension, nor injury, could stop the Mounties, who appeared to be in mid-season form, which is an indication of a well prepared team.
Quarterback, Skylar Howard, showed leadership throughout. Howard re-emerged in the lineup after sustaining a rib injury in the second segment. He also controlled the tempo of the game and kept a very good Tiger defense its heels.
A star was born Saturday afternoon as running back, Justin Crawford provided a glimpse of greatness while earning a game high 101 yards and a touchdown.
The only negative was the fourth quarter where WVU was outgained 185-71 in yardage. The game was already locked up, but a strong finish might be the difference in the outcome of a game or two this season.
That will do it for now. Until next week…take care and God Bless!
