WHEELING, W.Va. — In the last of a four-game series between Wheeling Park and Musselman on Friday, the Patriots found themselves anything but short on motivation.
In addition to suffering losses to the Applemen in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 seasons, Wheeling Park had the rare opportunity to defeat the top-rated Class AAA team in this week’s WVSSAC Playoff Ratings.
The Patriots certainly played like a team trying to prove a point.
Behind strong performances from quarterback Brett Phillips and wide receiver Jerrae Hawkins, No. 13 Wheeling Park moved the ball consistently and the Patriots prevented the Applemen from scoring after halftime in a 34-7 victory at Wheeling Island Stadium.
“This was an opportunity for us to go play one of the top teams in the state,” Park coach Chris Daugherty said, “and our kids rose to the occasion.”
Phillips hit on 16-of-28 passes, including 9 of 11 after halftime, and threw for 283 yards and four touchdowns. Hawkins, the fastest high school athlete in West Virginia, hauled in three of Phillips’ four passing scores as part of his eight receptions for 198 yards.
“I knew we had some offense in us if we’d just settle down and the second half proved that,” Daugherty said. “We didn’t change much offensively. We just executed. Defensively, we did make some changes and credit to our defensive staff to stop some of those third-and-longs that broke our backs in the first half and we were able to get some pressure, too.”
Phillips’ 43-yard touchdown pass to Hawkins 3:45 into the action allowed Wheeling Park (5-2) to lead for good.
The Patriots then came up with a pivotal red zone stand, stopping Applemen (5-2) quarterback Bayden Hartman just short of the line of scrimmage on a fourth-and-1 run from Park 7-yard line.
“I called the wrong thing. We have two goal line formations we work on and it’s 100 percent on me,” MHS head coach Brian Thomas said. “We worked on one this week that I wanted to rep and we called the other one. I’ll take the blame for that, but at the same time, one of my football philosophies and beliefs is if you can’t get a yard, you don’t deserve to win the game. We didn’t get a yard. You have to convert on a fourth-and-1.”
Although the Applemen forced a turnover on downs in the red zone when Troy Woolaston knocked down a Phillips pass on fourth-and-4 of the ensuing series, Musselman squandered the five first downs it picked up on the following possession when Ray Adames lost a fumble that Park’s Charlie DiSaia recovered.
WPHS then marched 77 yards in eight plays, with Hawkins’ 29-yard reception the longest play of a drive that was capped by Phillips’ 1-yard touchdown run, leaving the Patriots in front 13-0 with 2:42 to play in the first half.
The Appleton then executed their 2-minute offense well to produce their only touchdown on a 9-yard pass from Hartman to Brayden Miller that left the visitors with a 13-7 halftime deficit.
Although Musselman entered the red zone on the opening series of the second half, the drive stalled when Hartman threw three straight incomplete passes, the last of which was on fourth-and-12 from the WPHS 21.
“We talk to our kids all the time about being a championship level team, and if you want to be a championship level team, you finish drives,” Thomas said. “We didn’t do that tonight. Part of that is on us not executing and part of that is a credit to their staff and their kids, because they clamped down and got stops in the red zone.”
Hawkins’ 16-yard reception on third-and-18 allowed the Patriots to attempt a fourth-down conversion on their next series, and it was successful as Phillips gained 4 yards on a quarterback keeper.
Two plays later, Hawkins hauled in an 18-yard touchdown pass over the middle, allowing Park to regain its 13-point lead with 1:05 to play in the third quarter.
“We’re just starting to crack the tip of the iceberg on what we can do offensively with him,” Daugherty said. “Early on, everyone doubled him and some teams tripled him, so we’re starting to move him and do some things to be able to get him the ball and not let people take him out of the game.”
The Patriots forced a punt to regain possession, but started on their 1-yard line to begin the fourth quarter.
They quickly moved away from their end zone when Phillips found Hawkins for a 55-yard reception as the speedster won in single coverage for the longest play of the night.
Hawkins hauled in a 15-yard TD with 8 minutes remaining that put the game out of reach, and after Isaiah Zelaski intercepted Hartman, Phillips found Keohn Stephens on a 14-yard TD pass with 4:54 remaining to finalize the scoring.
“They spread you out, try to find matchups and they are similar to Martinsburg in a lot of stuff that they do,” Thomas said.
Phillips also rushed for 52 yards on 10 attempts. WPHS improved to 3-0 against in-state opponents this season.
“We sold out to stop Hartman and we were determined that they were going to beat us some other way, but we were not going to let him run the ball on the interior,” Daugherty said. “We gave some stuff up to take that away. Credit to them for making plays, but we never really broke. We were able to maintain the lead and came out in the second half and executed.”