PikeView falls to Trail

GARDNER - The Patriots of Midland Trail High School literally ran a trail through the PikeView Panthers Friday night, defeating them 33-24.

The Patriots ran to a 13-0 with a pair of five-yard touchdown runs by Luke Morehead. Morehead had 83 yards on nine carries in the first quarter alone.

PikeView rallied to pull the score to 13-10, but a 23-yard touchdown pass from Tim Drennen to Dustin Nickell and a two-point run by Drennen gave Midland Trail a 21-10 lead and momentum before halftime.

The Patriots would settle the issue on their first possession of the second half when Morehead busted a 67-yard touchdown run. It was Morehead's final contribution in a 13-carry, 176-yard, three-touchdown night.

“It was an option to the right,” Morehead said. “Drennen pitched me the ball. I saw the guys cuttin' to the outside so I just cut to the inside. The backs and the line had good blocks, so I just ran.”

Midland Trail's running backs lit up the PikeView defense, rushing for 343 yards in the game. The Panthers were expecting a ground assault from the Patriots, but were surprised by their tactics.

“They did a lot of stuff different than we were expecting,” said PikeView head coach Eddie Niswander. “We were expecting them to run that counter and run the power and they did a lot of dives and a lot of option on us.”

While PikeView finishes their season at 1-9 and begins planning for next season, Midland Trail improves to 7-3 and looks toward the West Virginia playoffs. Patriots' head coach Joe Dean is confident, yet reserved.

“I'm encouraged,” Dean said. “We've put together a couple of good weeks here. We got ragged at the end which is very disappointing to me and we will work on that. The penalty situation has to reverse itself, but we'll work on that this week.”

The Patriots players have similar feelings.

“We're pretty motivated and with a lot of hard work we'll be successful,” Morehead said. “We gotta come together more as a team and we'll do alright.”

At PikeView High School

Midland Trail.................................13 8 12 0-33

PikeView........................................0 10 6 8-24

First Quarter

MTHS-Luke Morehead 5 run (Kick failed) 7:42

MTHS-Morehead 5 run (Richie Callison kick) 4:10

Second Quarter

PVHS-James Nottingham 34 Field Goal 8:11

PVHS-Nottingham 45 pass from Tim Simpson (Nottingham kick) 3:56

MTHS-Will Deskins 23 pass from Tim Drennen (Drennen run) 1:07

Third Quarter

MTHS-Morehead 67 run (Pass failed) 11:15

MTHS-Corey Wilson 11 pass from Drennen (Kick failed) 7:44

PVHS-#40 4 run (Run failed) 2:26

Fourth Quarter

PVHS-Anthony Cooper 37 pass from Simpson (#40 run) 5:16