By Sean McNamara
SPENCER – In a battle of the top two teams in the Class AA WVSSAC playoff rankings Friday, the No. 1 North Marion Huskies found enough big plays on both sides of the ball to defeat the Roane County Raiders, 47-26, in Spencer to improve to 8-1 on the season.
Roane County (8-1) came into the contest with 21 consecutive regular-season victories, with its last regular-season loss coming to Doddridge County in October 2021 and its last loss overall coming in the 2022 state quarterfinals at home against North Marion.
The Raiders came into Friday’s contest following a top-10 shutout win over Mingo Central, with the most points it had surrendered all season coming in a 35-20 win over Shady Spring in the season opener.
North Marion, too, came into Friday’s game riding high after a top-10 win following a 21-14 home victory over Herbert Hoover a week ago at home.
It was the Raiders who came out firing to start, receiving the opening kickoff and going on a 14-play drive that lasted nearly seven minutes, ending with a Lane Watson 1-yard TD run.
North Marion answered quickly in two plays with a 49-yard touchdown run by Aaron Hoffman cutting the deficit to 7-6 after a missed PAT.
Any momentum the Huskies could have grabbed from that moment was quickly snatched away as Brandon Richardson, who rushed for 94 yards in the game and went over 1,000 yards on the season, took the ensuing kickoff back 89 yards for a touchdown, putting the Raiders up 13-6 after the missed PAT.
Now down by a touchdown, the North Marion Huskies used several big offensive plays and a key fourth-down stop in Raider territory to snatch the lead back for good.
The first score came on a Casey Minor 3-yard touchdown run, with the second coming on a Landon Frey 44-yard touchdown reception from Minor.
After the first quarter, the scoreboard read North Marion 19 Roane County 13.
“I thought we felt really confident early offensively,” NM coach Daran Hays said. “We knew it was going to take us a minute to get our grounding defensively. It’s just such a different scheme than what you’re used to seeing on a week-to-week basis.”
The second quarter was all Huskies with Minor scoring on a 2-yard TD run with 9:08 to go in the period and the second coming with 8 seconds left in the quarter on a Minor 3-yard TD pass to Brock Martin, making the score 31-13 at halftime.
To open the third quarter, North Marion wasted little time as Minor connected with Martin on a 44-yard TD strike to extend the lead to 39-13 after Minor ran in the two-point conversion.
Roane County was not interested in rolling over, however, as consecutive drives, with an NMHS fumble in between, ended with quarterback Jacob Greathouse throwing touchdown passes of 61 and 73 yards, respectively, to Watson to cut the deficit to 39-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
As his team saw a 26-point lead quickly narrowed to 13, Hays advised his team to calm down, execute their assignments and play smart football to close out the win.
“We haven’t been able to close one all year, and that’s disappointing,” Hays said. “Starting back to the East (Fairmont) game, we haven’t been able to put two halves together. We’re either slow starters and finish or we’re kind of dwindling away.”
North Marion got its rhythm back early in the fourth as Minor scored his third rushing TD of the night on a 2-yard run with 7:24 to play to make the score 47-26 and seal the victory.
In the win, North Marion outgained Roane County 527-259 in total yards with Hoffman, who also eclipsed 1,000 yards on the season, leading the game in total yards from scrimmage with 181 rushing yards on 16 carries.
Minor completed 11-of-19 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns to go along with 58 rushing yards and three scores.
Frey was Minor’s top target with five catches for 100 yards and score while Martin caught four passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
As North Marion looks to secure the top overall seed in Class AA heading into the postseason, it will take on Liberty (Harrison) in the final game.
“They’re going to play extremely inspired football, because of what the situation is with their school and the consolidation rumors,” Hays said. “There’s not a better man to lead them than AJ Harmon is. He’s an absolute superstar to be able to lead the kids through this storm. My heart goes out to them, but we’re going to have to play them and we’re going to have to execute.”
For Roane County, which closes the 2023 regular season with a road game at Oak Glen, Watson recorded 29 rushing and 136 receiving yards while accounting for all three offensive touchdowns.
Greathouse completed 4-of-8 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns while Richardson rushed for a team-best 94 yards on 12 carries.
NORTH MARION 47 ROANE COUNTY 26
NM;RC
First Downs; 20;10
Rushing Yards; 289;122
Passing Yards: 238;137
Total Yards; 527;259
Passing; 11-19-0;4-9-0
Fumbles; 2;1
Fumbles Lost; 1;0
Penalties; 2-10;4-27
Individual Stats
Rushing: NM: Aaron Hoffman 16-181 1 TD, Casey Minor 13-58 3 TD, Trevor Mullett 7-30, Cole Morris 2-20, Blake Johnson 2-0. Totals: 40-289. RC: Brandon Richardson 12-94, Lane Watson 13-29 1 TD, Clay Walker 4-14, Cobun Cottrell 1-3, Jacob Greathouse 4-(-11), Team 1-(-7). Totals: 35-122.
Passing: NM: Casey Minor 11-19-0 238 yards 2 TD. RC: Jacob Greathouse 4-8-0 137 yards 2 TD. Lane Watson 0-1-0.
Receiving: NM: Landon Frey 5-100 1 TD, Brock Martin 4-92 2 TD, Jeff Cowger 1-40, Dylan Higgins 1-6. RC: Lane Watson 3-136 2 TD, Brandon Richardson 1-1.
NM;;19;12;8;8;;47
RC;;13;0;13;0;;26
Scoring Plays
First Quarter
RC – Lane Watson 1-yard run (Cobun Cottrell kick)
NM – Aaron Hoffman 49-yard run (kick failed)
RC – Brandon Richardson 89-yard kickoff return (kick failed)
NM – Casey Minor 3-yard run (Brady Anderson kick)
NM – Landon Frey 44-yard pass from Minor (kick failed)
Second Quarter
NM – Minor 2-yard run (run failed)
NM – Brock Martin 3-yard pass from Minor (pass failed)
Third Quarter
NM – Martin 44-yard pass from Minor (Minor run)
RC – Watson 61-yard pass from Jacob Greathouse (Cottrell kick)
RC – Watson 73-yard pass from Greathouse (pass failed)
Fourth Quarter
NM – Minor 2-yard run (Frey catch from Minor)
