By Rick Kozlowski
SPRING MILLS — The way Morgantown kicker Aiden Stire worked the wind and steered the ball during pregame warmups left Spring Mills coach Marcus Law breathless Friday afternoon as the Cardinals hosted the Mohigans in the quarterfinals of the Class AAAA playoffs.
“He was an impressive kid in the wind,” Law said. “He was hitting 40-yarders. He’d curl it with the wind and put it right down the middle.”
“So, I was surprised he missed those two.”
Stire had the distance on a 47-yard try, but the wind played havoc with the kick and pushed it off to the left of the far upright.
Same thing later on when Stire attempted a 32-yarder, the wind just sent the football knuckling under.
What was happening overall, though, had Law holding his breath as the seventh-seeded Mohigans, including some of the players whom Law taught when he was in Morgantown, gave No. 2 Spring Mills all it could handle before the Cardinals survived for a 14-7 victory.
It was the closest victory of the season for Spring Mills as the Cardinals improved to 11-1 and advanced to the school’s first semifinal appearance.
“It means much to our community and program,” Law said. “Morgantown has a great program.
“We talked about getting over the hump.”
The hump, though, was a major hurdle for the Cardinals, who saw their opportunity for a long touchdown pass play between the two Anderson brothers simply blow away.
Xavier Anderson, celebrating his birthday, nearly found a gift as he ran wide open near the Morgantown 20-yard line when Max Anderson’s pass headed for his brother’s hands.
Or so Xavier thought.
When the ball reached the target, though, a gust of wind blew the ball sideways, and it sailed through the hands of Xavier.
“I was prepared,” Xavier said. “My hands were ready. I was playing bad all game, but the wind pushed it farther away.
“I messed up trying to catch passes.”
Max Anderson, though, came through for the Cardinals by scoring a pair of touchdowns, a 1-yarder in the first minute of the second quarter, and a 5-yarder in the early portion of the fourth quarter.
It wasn’t like Anderson’s second touchdown surprised anybody.
“If we get the ball in Max’s hands, something good is going to happen,” Law said. “There was no doubt in my mind, he was going to get it into the end zone.”
Both times, Morgantown surged back but proved successful on just freshman quarterback Maddox Twigg’s fumble recovery in the end zone after the ball scooted away at the end of his 10-yard run, tying the game at 7 at intermission.
“He is tough,” Law said. “He’s a gamer. They have second-and-10 and third-and-10, and he’s making plays.”
Carter Cooper returned the ensuing kickoff after Anderson’s second touchdown 65 yards deep into Spring Mills territory, but the Mohigans couldn’t convert a field goal.
“There’s no moral victories,” Morgantown coach Sean Biser said. “We had opportunities in the red zone.
“Our defense played lights out. Special teams did a good job. Our offense kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Especially when the Mohigans had an opportunity to tie the game in the final minute when they had the ball inside the Spring Mills 10.
However, Morgantown suffered a false start penalty, a fumbled handoff and then Xavier Anderson led his defensive teammates to swarm Twigg on fourth down for a game-ending sack.
Law challenged his defensive end who has an assortment of high-Division I offers for his pass-catching ability.
“‘If you check down, we lose,'” Law said he told Xavier.
Max never lost faith, however.
“It’s very nervous going up by a touchdown and then giving up a long return,” Max Anderson said. “Our defense is relentless. We were grinding, and we got a stop.
“I’m proud of the defense and the way we went out and executed.”
Morgantown was only the third team to score on Spring Mills this season.
At the same time, the Mohigans kept Spring Mills’ high-powered offense in check.
“This is the way our defense has played all year,” Biser said. “We got some really good players and they did what they were supposed to do.
“We improved all year long.”
The Mohigans ended their season at 8-4.
Spring Mills outgained Morgantown 273-193 in total yards.
The two quarterbacks were their respective team’s leading rushers.
Anderson rushed for 97 yards and Twigg 86.
Blake Sanders added 81 yards on the ground for Spring Mills, while Morgantown standout A.J. left the game with an ankle injury in the first half after rushing eight times for 23 yards.
Spring Mills lost a pair of fumbles, while Morgantown, which dropped the ball seven times, kept possession on all of them.
“We showed toughness to battle through adversity, ” Max Anderson said. “I’m super proud we’re going into the semifinals next week.”
The Cardinals will face either Hurricane or Jefferson, who play Saturday afternoon in Shenandoah Junction.
