By Sean McNamara
KINGWOOD – In a battle of Class AAA Big 10 Conference foes, the North Marion Huskies went on the road to Kingwood on Friday and earned a 41-7 victory over the Knights.
With the win, North Marion improves to 2-0 on the season while the Knights fall to 0-2.
Five different players found the endzone for the Huskies on Friday as the visitors outgained Preston, 365-229 in total yards in the win.
The Huskies jumped out to a 14-0 halftime lead in Friday’s contest before putting up 20 in the third quarter and capping things off with a fourth-quarter score.
For the second-consecutive game to open the 2024 season, the Huskies employed a two-quarterback system with both Toby Michael and Cole Morris leading multiple scoring drives.
NMHS coach Daran Hays complimented the play of both quarterbacks following NMHS’s Week 1 win over East Fairmont, and senior lineman Gabe Bland echoed those comments after Friday’s victory.
“I have complete confidence. It’s great being able to have two quarterbacks on the field,” Bland said. “If one gets tired, we have the other one, because both play defense.”
Michael completed 5-of-7 passes for 56 yards to go along with 60 rushing yards, a 2-yard TD run and an interception on defense Friday while Morris completed his only passing attempt for 9 yards with 16 rushing yards, all while leading three touchdown drives.
Of North Marion’s 365 total yards Friday, 271 of them came on the ground, with senior Trevor Mullett leading the charge with 86 yards and a score on 12 carries.
“The boys gave me a great push, and I did what I do,” Mullett said, crediting the play of his offensive line for his numbers.
Mullett wasn’t alone in his praise of the NMHS offensive line, as Preston coach Mark Deep pointed to the big boys up front for the Huskies, as well.
“The offensive line is where it starts,” Deep said of North Marion’s front. “They have a good offensive line, and they’re going to get better throughout the year. We’re going to get better throughout the year. We have a lot of younger kids on our offensive line.”
Alongside Mullett in the backfield Friday was a host of Huskies, with freshman Brian Poindexter leaving his mark with 56 rushing yards and a touchdown, a 51-yard punt return touchdown and a team-high 46 yards receiving.
Rounding out the Huskies who found the end zone Friday were Brady Anderson who hauled in a 29-yard pass from Noah Hess, who threw the pass after taking a sweep handoff, as well as Karter Parson who scored on a 10-yard run.
Defensively, North Marion was able to limit the Knights (0-2) to 229 yards rushing and one score, which came on an 18-yard run from Ethan Likens in the fourth quarter.
Despite putting just the one touchdown on the board, the Knights put themselves in opportunistic situations throughout the evening, including a trick pass play on the opening drive that was dropped, and a red zone opportunity that came up empty just before the end of the first half.
“We are in position to make plays,” Deep said. “We’re just not making plays. The first play of the game was a touchdown. But we didn’t make the play. For us, the key is that we’re in position to make the plays. We’ll make them at some point.”
Key to slowing down the Knights, Mullett said, was his team’s preparation and understanding the talented players on the Preston side of the ball.
“We knew (Likens) was going to run a lot of wildcat, and we knew they liked to reach,” Mullett said. “We just watched a lot of film and were well prepared.”
One of those key players who left his mark on Friday’s game was junior quarterback Slaton Manko, who ran for a team-high 54 yards while passing for 129 yards in the loss.
“He’s a heck of a player,” Bland said of Manko. “We knew we had to keep him contained in the pocket. We knew he could throw a little bit and we knew he could scramble a little bit, too, so we had to keep him contained in the pocket and force him inside. We have trust in our linebackers to make the tackle.”
Cody Smith was Manko’s top target with four catches for 83 yards while Cole Turner caught three passes for 25 yards.
Next up for the Knights is Fairmont Senior on Friday at home, while North Marion will prepare to take on Philip Barbour.
According to Mullett, as the Huskies look to improve to 3-0, they need to continue taking things one game at a time.
“We have to just keep getting better every day,” Mullett said. “We just have to hone in on each week and worry about who we have.”
NORTH MARION 41 PRESTON 7
First Downs;;20;13
Rushing Yards;;271;100
Passing Yards;;94;;129
Total Yards;;365;229
Passing;;7-9-0;10-21-1
Fumbles;;2;0
Fumbles Lost;;0;0
Penalties;;3-30;4-40
Individual Statistics
Rushing – NMHS: Trevor Mullett 12-86 1 TD, Toby Michael 11-60 1 TD, Brain Poindexter 7-56 1 TD, Karter Parson 2-19 1 TD, Kolson Brown 2-16; Blake Edgell 1-15, Cole Morris 2-16, Cyrus Collins 2-15, TEAM 2-(-12), Totals 41-265. PHS: Slaton Manko 17-54, Ethan Likens 3-23 1 TD, Hunter Lewellen 6-23, Total 26-100.
Passing – NMHS: Toby Michael 5-7-0 56 yards, Noah Hess 1-1-0 29 yards 1 TD, Cole Morris 1-1-0 9 yards. PHS: Manko 10-21-1 129 yards.
Receiving – NMHS: Brian Poindexter 3-46, Brady Anderson 1-29 1 TD, Noah Hess 2-11, Landyn Stemple 1-8. PHS: Cody Smith 4-83, Ethan Likens 3-21, 3-25, Cole Turner 3-25.
NMHS;;7;7;20;7;;41
PHS;;0;0;0;7;;7
Scoring Plays
First Quarter
NM – Trevor Mullett 38-yard run (Brady Anderson kick)
Second Quarter
NM – Karter Parson 10-yard run (Anderson kick)
Third Quarter
NM – Toby Michael 2-yard run (Anderson kick)
NM – Anderson 29-yard pass from Noah Hess (Anderson kick)
NM – Brian Poindexter 51-yard punt return (kick blocked)
Fourth Quarter
NM – Poindexter 31-yard run (Anderson kick)
PHS – Ethan Likens 18-yard run (Cole Turner kick)
