Beckley – Keynan Cook didn’t see as many snaps as he usually would Friday night. The standout receiver from Beckley spent most of Friday evening watching from the sidelines as the the Flying Eagles leaned heavily on their wing-t package.
Still, when he was on the field he made the most of his opportunities.
The senior wideout caught six passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns while also intercepting a pass on defense late in the fourth quarter as the Flying Eagles came up with a defensive stand on a two-point conversion attempt in overtime to beat Morgantown 28-27 at Van Meter Stadium.
“He was in there and made some plays when we needed them,” Beckley head coach Street Sarrett said of Cook. “We go from wing-t double tight to five-wide and Keynan Cook was in there and made some awesome catches. Some catches down there in the end zone. That’s highlight stuff. He’s a tough player and there’s a reason he’s going to Georgetown.”
Cook’s limited participation stemmed from the Flying Eagles largely rolling with a wing-t package that featured standout receiver Elijah Redfern at quarterback and senior quarterback Maddex McMillen as a wingback.
“We have it in our package,” Sarrett said. “We’ve always had wing-t stuff in us and we put it out there and it clicked. Maddex McMillen’s an athlete and we moved him to wing this week and you seen what he can do.”
The offense was largely effective when the Flying Eagles could get out of their own way.
It twice helped them move the ball inside the Morgantown 20, but both possessions ended in fumbles that were recovered by Morgantown.
The Mohigans opened the scoring when an interception thrown by McMillen on the third play of the game set them up near the 40. Morgantown quarterback Maddox Bowers hit running back Brodrick Washington on a wheel route out of the backfield and 40 yards later the Mohigans were on the board.
Matthew Moore put the hosts on the board with a six-yard rush in the second quarter, answered by a five-yard rush from Washington but when Cook’s number was called he answered.
Moving back to their spread package with just over a minute left in the first half, McMillen uncorked a deep pass to Cook that ricocheted off a Morgantown defender and Cook juggled it before securing it and racing into the end zone for a 48-yard score to make it a 14-13 game at the break.
“Leaders,” Sarrett said of his senior receiver-quarterback duo. “They’re true leaders and they’re team people. They don’t worry about individual stats or none of that stuff. They’re just leaders.”
“We started out running the ball a lot cause that was our game plan,” Cook said. “We planned on it all week. We’ve went full pads since last Tuesday with the Bluefield game canceled and we just ran, ran and ran and we got in shape. But me coming off the sidelines? That’s nothing to me. I just care about helping our team and that’s all it is to me.”
Morgantown retook the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter but Beckley answered with 4:07 left in regulation when McMillen and Cook were true from 20 yards. Needing a two-point conversion to tie it, Moore spun his way into the end zone to do just that.
McMillen finds Keynan Cook for the 20-yard TD with 4:07 left. Beckley goes for two to tie it and Matthew Moore powers it in. We’re tied 21-21#wvprepfb pic.twitter.com/SltCPBK2EM
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) September 25, 2021
With a chance to run the clock and march down the field the Morgantown offense couldn’t solve the Beckley defense, falling into a third-and-16 situation on its next drive. Cook was there again to make a play, intercepting Bower’s pass and returning it to the Morgantown 32.
“I was going deep and I saw him roll out,” Cook said. “I had seen it on film multiple times and I knew they all ran outs and corners when they do that so I just jumped it and he threw it right to me. I think he got hit when he threw it so it wasn’t just me on that play.”
“Our defense really stepped up tonight,” Sarrett said. “Our defensive staff did a great job and I’m gonna tell you what. I haven’t watched the film but Jay Jones played tough and showed people he’s a linebacker.”
The Flying Eagles settled for a 44-yard field goal attempt that went wide right, but held on to force overtime.
It didn’t take long to put the pressure back on the Mohigans.
The Flying Eagles took the ball first and scored on their first play from scrimmage when Moore rumbled from 20 yards out, staking the hosts to a 28-21 lead. Morgantown answered almost immediately, scoring in just two plays and electing to go for two. With Bower rolling out on the play, Redfern came up from the Beckley secondary to stop him in the backfield and seal the game.
Morgantown answers with a TD, goes for two and gets blown up. Beckley wins 28-27 #wvprepfb pic.twitter.com/vf016EQ7Et
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) September 25, 2021
“Well we were kind of depleted in the backfield,” Morgantown head coach Sean Biser explained. “We were kind of running out of backs and we figured if we had to go another offensive series we might not have enough guys in there so we just decided we were going to go for it. We called a play that had been working all night and they made a great play. Hats off to them.”
“We just told them to not let them outside,” Sarrett said of the discussion before the conversion attempt. “We stressed contain. Elijah Redfern played soft over on that side and made a big play to win the game.”
The Flying Eagles improved to 2-2 on the season and will host Princeton next Friday.
