By Paul Fallon
Times West Virginian
RACHEL
September 06, 2008 02:05 am
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Things were not all rosy for West Fairmont coach J.L. Abbott and crew despite the sound whipping they delivered here to cross-county rival North Marion Friday night.
The Polar Bears put up 41 points to the Huskies’ 6. However, the gray lining in West Fairmont’s silver cloud came when star running back Desmond Evans was taken from the field in an ambulance approximately three minutes into the game.
Evans sustained a significant injury to his right leg on a pitch play that garnered his team 14 yards. Abbott said he could not comment as to the exact nature of Evans’ injury. However he noted that it was most likely season ending.
“This is a good-sized blow to our running game,” Abbott said after the game. “I’m very concerned about him; he’s a great young man.”
Abbott added that other members of the Polar Bear offensive squad would now have to step up to fill the hole left by Evans. He noted that the Polar Bears would need to ready two more running backs other than Remington Skarzinski in order to pick up the slack.
“And we’re really going to need to concentrate on our passing game,” Abbott said. “I would give two of my legs to have Desmond back.”
However, Abbott’s passing game was flying high throughout the matchup against the Huskies. Quarterback Logan Moore hooked up with a plethora of different receivers, racking up five touchdowns. Moore was on throughout the game and hit most of his passes no matter if they were the short in patterns or the long ball down the sideline.
Abbott also complimented his defensive squad, which held the Huskies to just six points and 13 first downs. For the most part, the Huskies were unable to get any type of sustained offense going. Their lone score came when a snap flew over West punter Ryan Tennant’s head. He scooped the ball up but could only make it back to the 50-yard line, turning it over to the Huskies with a short field.
From there the Huskies mounted their only successful drive. Coach Gerry White’s squad moved the pigskin down to West’s 11-yard line where quarterback Cody Morgan hooked up with tight-end Jacob Streyle for the score.
“We faced a football team that was just faster and more skilled,” White said. “And any time you face mismatches like that, you give up plays.”
However, White added that he will be working to improve his 0-2 squad before they face off against Robert C. Byrd at home next Friday, a team that runs a similar offensive scheme to the Polar Bears. White pointed out that his squad is young, and that a lot of sophomores are seeing time on the field.
“We just have to keep working on our fundamentals, and keep trying to get better,” he said.
White added that he will be working with his offensive line to improve pass protection as well as run blocking. He pointed out that West’s defense put a lot of pressure on his quarterback, especially from the defensive end positions.
“And our guy (Morgan) got a little edgy,” White said.
“But we got beat by a good football team,” he added.
White went on to point out that his inexperienced squad was facing an exceptional quarterback in Moore.
“He’s (Moore) probably as good a guy at throwing the football with accuracy as you’ll see in high school,” he added.
E-mail Paul Fallon at pfallon@timeswv.com.
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