Published: September 06, 2008 02:13 am            

UHS dominates second half in 42-17 win over East Fairmont

FAIRMONT — East Fairmont went into the locker room at halftime Friday night with a 17-7 lead over No. 1 University and enough confidence to fill East-West Stadium.

When the Bees came out ... well, nobody is sure if they did or not.

University scored 35 unanswered points while dominating East in all phases of the game in the second half en route to a 42-17 North Central Athletic Conference victory.

“Nothing,” University head coach John Kelley answered about what he told his team in the locker room. “I thought we were flat in the first half. We talked casually about not playing real well.

“We wanted to run the ball, and they started to put eight and nine in the box. So we started throwing it to (Demetrius) Cunningham, and the intensity returned on defense as well.”

The Hawks struck on their first series in the game, thanks to a 15-yard facemask penalty on third down that gave them new life.

On the next play Brandon Tucker scooted down the sideline for a 29-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 UHS lead.

East’s running game was kept in check early, so the Bees moved to quick passes that found holes in University’s defense. Despite that fact, the Bees were forced to punt on their first two possessions of the game.

After holding UHS on its second possession, East drove down the field with Matt Perrella connecting with Ryan Sevier for 34 yards. A roughing-the-passer penalty on the play put East at the UHS 8, and on the next play Drew Jenkins plowed in to knot the score at 7-all in with 6.9 seconds left in the first quarter.

“I thought we played a good second quarter,” East Fairmont head coach Bill Haddox said. “We had to change our defense to stop their run. We got the run stopped, but then they hurt us with those long passes to No. 4. We just didn’t play well enough at all in the second half.”

East was back in business quickly in the second quarter when Travis Nuzum picked up a Mark Golden fumble and returned it all the way down to the UHS 9-yard line. A block-in-the-back penalty moved the Bees back to the 19. Another penalty three plays later put East on the UHS 20 facing second-and-goal.

Perrella then hit Mason Bailey for a quick 7-yard gain and followed that up with a 13-yard touchdown strike to Nick Bonnett to push East ahead, 14-7, with 8:23 left in the first half.

“They’re a good team,” Kelley said. “There’s no doubt about that. When they got the momentum I was a little worried.”

Perrella had to step in at quarterback because East’s run wasn’t working. Starting QB Bonnett went out to wide receiver to give the Bees a weapon on the outside.

It worked.

Perrella started out completing his first six passes for 87 yards. He finished 6-of-10 for 87 yards and 1 TD.

East then forced UHS to punt and capped a 36-yard drive with a 35-yard field goal off the foot of Nolan Harvath to go up 17-7.

The Bees had a chance to put another scored on the board when Joel Orsborn intercepted Golden on the UHS 44. But a last-second pass to the end zone from Perrella was tipped just out of Bonnett’s grasp.

“We had our chances and opportunities,” Haddox said. “We just didn’t take advantage of them. From there it just dominoed.”

UHS opened the second half with Dominique Dixon shredding through the Bee defense for a pair of quick touchdowns — a 1-yard run and a 22-yard burst untouched through the middle of the East defense.

The second TD was setup by the Hawks’ partial block of East’s punt giving them the ball at the EF 36.

University’s next two possessions ended with Cunningham beating East’s secondary for a 8-yard touchdown catch and a 25-yard scoring strike.

Lucas Henn’s 42-yard interception return for a score sealed the game for the Hawks.

East’s offense, on the other hand, sputtered.

The Bees had only 29 yards total offense in the second half compared to 180 yards for the Hawks.

“We made mistakes; that’s for sure,” Haddox said. “But we can correct those. There was nothing out there that we can’t fix this week in practice. We had them stopped in the second half and then they just started heaving it to No. 4 and we couldn’t cover him. We’re going to watch film on Monday and we’re going to starting fixing things. It’ll get a little better on Tuesday and better still on Wednesday.”

The Bees (1-1, 1-1 in the NCAC) will return to action next week when they host Nicholas County.

The Hawks (2-0, 2-0 in the NCAC) will be back on the road next week at Buckhannon-Upshur.

E-mail Mike Bowen at mbowen@timeswv.com.

        

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