By Sean McNamara
RACHEL – The Class AAA No. 5 North Marion Huskies faced a tough test Friday against the Elkins Tigers, pulling out a 22-20 victory in just their second one-score game of the 2024 season.
North Marion trailed the Class AAA No. 7 Tigers (5-2), 20-16 at the half, giving up 207 yards through the first two quarters before pitching a shutout in the second half and limiting Elkins to 79 total yards over the final two periods.
“We didn’t make a single schematic change defensively,” NMHS coach Daran Hays said of his team’s turnaround at the half. “But a couple of our guys got their first ‘bad cop’ from me. I’ve been good cop for a while.”
The Tigers and Huskies came into Friday’s game with different mindsets as the visitors from Elkins (5-2) wanted to grind out the clock with sustained drives and first downs, while the home team wanted to play uptempo and move the ball quickly.
For Elkins, that strategy was centered around senior Nick Bowers, who ran the ball 36 times for 211 yards and three touchdowns.
North Marion was more balanced in its offensive attack, rushing for 184 yards and passing for 139 yards in the win.
Elkins got off the mat first in the opening quarter, forcing a NMHS turnover on downs the opening possession before taking over and going on an 11-play drive that culminated with a Bowers 3-yard TD run. After a Lucas D’Angelo PAT, the Tigers led 7-0.
The Huskies answered quickly on their next possession as Cole Morris scored on a 7-yard run on the first play of the second half, and following a Toby Michael 2-point conversion, the Huskies led, 8-7.
Following a missed field goal on the ensuing Elkins possession, the Huskies showcased their uptempo mentality, taking just four plays to score with a Brian Poindexter 3-yard TD run capping the drive, which was punctuated by two Morris-to-Karter Parson passes for 69 yards.
The Huskies once again went for 2, with Parson catching a pass from Morris to put NMHS up, 16-7.
After an unsuccessful onside kick, the Tigers needed just one play as Bowers scampered 47 yards to the house, to narrow the lead to 16-14 following D’Angelo’s PAT.
A pair of tackles for loss by Elkins’ Devin Hulver stalled the North Marion drive, forcing a short punt and giving the Tigers good field position.
Elkins ran the clock nearly all the way to halftime before Bowers found the end zone for the third time, and, after a failed 2-point conversion, Elkins took a 20-16 lead into the halftime locker room.
In the second half, the North Marion defense tightened up, keeping the Tigers out of the end zone the rest of the way by forcing two Elkins turnovers on downs, a punt, and an interception, which was picked off by Brady Anderson.
“They made some good adjustments defensively, and I didn’t think we a good job on the backside of our plays maintaining our blocks,” Elkins coach Chad Ware said. “I thought we allowed them to scrape off and come down the line. I thought our kids battled and played a heck of a game. They came in here and believed they could win and give everything they had.”
“I’m really proud of (Gavin) Floyd and (Logan) Gump,” Hays said. “Those are guys we rely heavily on, and I thought they were non-factors in the first half defensively. They came out and really dominated the line of scrimmage in the second half.”
While the defense tightened up, the offense was able to take the lead in the third quarter on a 38-yard TD run by Michael to give the Huskies a 22-20 advantage they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way.
To seal the victory, the Huskies put their uptempo play aside and grinded out a sustained final drive to force Elkins to use its timeouts and run enough time off the clock and earned the win.
“Credit to our kids for responding,” Hays said. “We have to clean up the penalties and negatives. They only drives they got us on were penalties and negatives.”
Michael led the way on the ground for the Huskies with 76 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown, to go along with a 3-of-4 passing performance for 41 yards.
Morris completed 4-of-7 passes for 98 yards while adding 47 yards on the ground. Poindexter pitched in 53 rushing yards while Parson posted a team-best 69 receiving yards.
Next up for the Huskies will be a Friday road trip to Lewis County to take on the Minutemen.
In addition to Bowers’ 211 rushing yards, Dylan Fortney ran for 45 yards and Kyle Reed posted one catch for 25 yards.
Next up for Elkins is a Week 8 home game against Fairmont Senior, and Ware expects his team to once again come out ready to play.
“Our kids are going to fight. We’ve seen that,” Ware said. “We’ve lost two games by a combined three points now. I know our guys are going to battle and they’re going to fight. I expect that every Friday night. They gave everything they had. That doesn’t surprise me.”
NORTH MARION 22 ELKINS 20
NM;ELK
First Downs;;15;14
Rushing Yards;;184;261
Passing Yards;;139;25
Total Yards;;323;286
Passing;;7-11-0;1-8-1
Fumbles;;1;2
Fumbles Lost;;0;0
Penalties;;5-55;6-49
Individual Stats
Rushing – NM: Toby Michael 11-76 1 TD, Brian Poindexter 9-53 1 TD, Cole Morris 5-47 1 TD, Karter Parson 3-12, Cyrus Collins 2-5, Noah Hess 2-1, TEAM 2-(-10). Totals 34-184. ELK: Nick Bowers 36-211 3 TD, Dylan Fortney 7-45, Kyle Reed 5-8, Elias Jones 1-(-3), Nathaniel Sauerwein 1-0. Totals 50-261.
Passing – NM: Cole Morris 4-7-0 98 yards. Toby Michael 3-4-0 41. ELK: Nathaniel Sauerwein 1-7-0 25 yards. Nick Bowers 0-1-1.
Receiving – NM: Karter Parson 2-69, Landyn Stemple 2-32, Brady Anderson 1-15, Taylor Hayes 1-14, Brian Poindexter 1-9. ELK: Kyle Reed 1-25.
NM;;0;16;6;0;;22
ELK;;7;13;0;0;;20
Scoring Plays
First Quarter
ELK – Nick Bowers 3-yard run (Lucas D’Angelo kick)
Second Quarter
NM – Cole Morris 7-yard run (Toby Michael run)
NM – Brian Poindexter 3-yard run (Karter Parson reception from Cole Morris)
ELK – Nick Bowers 47-yard run (D’Angelo kick)
ELK – Bowers 3-yard run (run failed)
Third Quarter
NM – Toby Michael 38-yard run (run failed)
