MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — There is a famous quote by Mark Twain that says – “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog”.
The Point Pleasant Big Blacks showed a lot of fight against the much bigger Morgantown Mohigans but came up short in the first round of the AAA playoffs, falling 49-28 at Pony Lewis Field in Morgantown High School.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our kids” said Head Coach Dave Darst. “Not a lot of people gave us a chance to be in this football game and we were able to play a great second half and put ourselves in position to make it a one possession ball game. We just could not get one more stop.”
The Big Blacks – making their fifth straight playoff appearance – were able to use a quick passing attack that kept the Mohigans on their heels. Sophomore quarterback Aden Yates continued his stellar sophomore season – completing 19 of 31 passes – both believed to be Point Pleasant records – for 177 yards and three more touchdown passes.
The running attack that had picked up steam toward the end of the season struggled on Saturday afternoon. Leading rusher Marquez Griffin was only able to amass 56 yards on 9 carries and one score.
The leading receiver on the day was the leading receiver for the season – junior Chase Walton. Walton caught 7 passes for 70 yards on the day and another touchdown reception as well. Junior tight end Brycen Reymond also caught two touchdown passes.
“Offensively, we played a great ball game. Aden had one of the best days you can ask for throwing the football and he had a lot of kids who made some great catches. We just could not get the running game going with their size.”
The first half of the game proved to be the difference in the game. Despite some offensive production, Point was only able to score one touchdown. The Morgantown power running game proved to be too much for the much smaller Big Blacks defensive front, as the Mohigans put up 35 first half points.
The Big Blacks were able to put the ball in the end-zone three times in the third quarter and put pressure on the Mohigans entering the 4th quarter. Morgantown led 42-28 entering the last quarter before eventually scoring one last touchdown to put the game away.
Despite the loss, it was a positive step ahead for the Red and Black in their first season back in the AAA classification. The Big Blacks had been using more and more young kids in starting roles as the season progressed, which will assuredly help next season.
“We had a lot of kids grow up today. They weren’t afraid of a much bigger team and that is going to carry over to our offseason programs.”
The Big Blacks officially end the season with an 8-3 record and will say goodbye to the following seniors: Tylun Campbell (captain), Andrew Williamson (captain), Hunter Bellamy (captain), Dakota Jeffers (captain), Victor Mertin, Jacob Gardner, Anthony Perry, Marquez Griffin, Conner Templeton, Zach Coe, Les Schwarz, Kodi Stranahan, Jared Smith, Bobby McKown, Jon Massile, Alex Sheets, and Eric Freeman
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