CLASS AAA CHAMPIONSHIP - MORGANTOWN 27, NITRO 24, OVERTIME TITLE SLIPS AWAY FROM NITRO FUMBLE IN OT CLINCHES REPEAT FOR MORGANTOWN

Publication: THE SUNDAY GAZETTE-MAIL
Published: 12/04/2005
Page: 1D
Headline: CLASS AAA CHAMPIONSHIP - MORGANTOWN 27, NITRO 24, OVERTIME TITLE SLIPS AWAY FROM NITRO FUMBLE IN OT CLINCHES REPEAT FOR MORGANTOWN
Byline: RICK RYAN

rickryan@wvgazette.com
WHEELING - All season long - make that all career long - Josh Culbertson has made a habit out of battling, struggling for those final few yards before being brought down on a tackle.
On Saturday, the odds caught up to him.
Culbertson fumbled in overtime and Morgantown’s Josh Davis pounced on the ball, locking up a 27-24 victory for the Mohigans in a dramatic Class AAA championship game at Wheeling Island Stadium. An estimated crowd of 5,550 sat through 30-degree temperatures.
It marked the first overtime in the AAA finals since Capital edged Wheeling Park 15-14 in 1991.
Fullback Maxwell Anderson ran for 151 yards and a pair of touchdowns for top-ranked Morgantown (14-0), which defended its state title and captured its 28th straight victory. Anderson was selected as his team’s most valuable player in a media vote.
Garrett Bradlyn booted a 30-yard field goal for Morgantown’s winning points after the Mohigans lost the coin toss to begin the OT and went on offense first at the Nitro 20.
On third-and-6 from the Morgantown 16, Culbertson headed off right tackle for what looked like a 4-yard gain. But linebacker Jordan Pinto, who Culbertson had already passed, swatted the ball out of his hands and Davis fell on it, ending the game.
“I just managed to get a hand on the ball,’’ Pinto said. “I wouldn’t have tackled him. Probably more than anything, I was lucky. We saw on film he had a tendency, when he would cut, to bring the ball out.’’
Culbertson, who broke a handful of state rushing records this season with his slashing, hard-charging style, wound up carrying 32 times for 223 yards and scored all three of his team’s TDs, one on a 68-yard interception return that gave the Wildcats a 14-7 halftime lead.
But he couldn’t provide the heroics in the final act as the Mohigans defense forced the issue by forcing a fumble, closing out an entertaining game that featured four lead changes.
“Somebody had to win and somebody had to lose,’’ said Nitro coach Scott Tinsley. “It’s just their day. That’s what champions do. That’s why they’ve won 28 in a row. I’m proud of our kids because all you can ask of them is give me all you have, and they gave me all they had.’’
Nitro’s Andrew Rollins connected on a 32-yard field goal with 2:08 remaining in regulation to tie the game at 24 and set up the OT.
Morgantown picked up one first down after that and appeared to be running out the clock for overtime when quarterback Charlie Russell uncorked a long ball for Andrew Saab, who was a couple yards behind defender Chris Fulmer. But Fulmer got a hand on the ball to deflect it away, making the Mohigans punt and killing the remaining time.
On Morgantown’s overtime possession, Nitro nearly sacked Russell on third-and-3 at the 13, but he managed to dump off an incompletion, and Bradlyn followed with his 30-yard field goal.
Nitro (12-2) went for the end zone on its first play, but Mohigans defensive back Derek Long broke up Michael Scott’s pass intended for Fulmer. Culbertson gained 4 yards on second down and seemed headed for another 4-yard gain on third down when disaster struck the Wildcats in the form of a fumble.
Before Nitro’s OT series, Anderson tried to rev up the Mohigans defense.
“I told them we can’t afford a touchdown,’’ Anderson said. “We have to hold them to a field goal. I said a turnover’s a win and they said, ‘Let’s go for the turnover,’ and that’s what we tried to do.’’
The game-ending play was Culbertson’s second lost fumble of the game.
“There’s a whole lot of people coming at him from a whole lot of angles,’’ Tinsley said. “If you take his number of carries this year and divided it by the number of fumbles, he holds onto the ball pretty well. But he was fighting for those extra yards at the end and just trying to get us into the end zone.’’
Morgantown coach John Bowers didn’t think Culbertson was a high-risk fumbler, but he had faith in a defense that had allowed just one team before Nitro to score more than two touchdowns in a game this season.
“You watch them play 13 games and you see the kid fumble every once in a while,’’ Bowers said, “but it’s not been problematic for them. We always fancy ourselves as being kind of an opportunistic defense. Derek almost had a pick there and that would have sealed it, too. We try to make as many plays on defense as we can.’’
Culbertson, who finished the season with nearly 3,600 yards and 46 touchdowns rushing, certainly gave the Mohigans fits before that.
He ran for 113 yards in the first half, including a 1-yard rush that tied the game at 7. After he lost a fumble at the Morgantown 49 with 2:30 left before halftime, Culbertson took it personally.
From his linebacker position, Culbertson jumped an out route by Saab and picked off Russell’s pass at his own 32 as the clock wound down. He dashed down the right sideline, cut back across the field near the 50 and outlegged the pursuit for a touchdown with five seconds left in the half.
Despite the fact they trailed 14-7, the Mohigans felt like they were making headway with their relentless running game.
“Even though they had more points, we felt like we were moving the ball,’’ Bowers said. “We were kicking ourselves like crazy [for not leading]. We felt we were imposing our will on them just a little bit even though we gave them one right before the half. We felt like if we could continue to run the ball and use play-action passes, we’d be OK.
“And if we had the ball, they didn’t. Having the ball was actually working like good defense for us. If [Culbertson’s] got the ball for one play, you see what can happen.’’
Culbertson’s other TD run covered 69 yards and gave Nitro a 21-17 lead with 9:40 left in the game. It came 18 seconds after Anderson’s 1-yard plunge put Morgantown in front.
“If you keep pounding Josh long enough, he’s gonna find a crease and he’s gonna keep you in the ballgame,’’ Tinsley said. “I thought they made some nice adjustments at halftime on the offensive side and just kept pounding the ball at us. We had a hard time standing up to it.’’
Morgantown gained 163 of its 258 rushing yards in the second half.
To contact staff writer Rick Ryan, use e-mail or call 348-5175.