2 weeks Ago By by Sean McNamara Correspondent
RACHEL, W.Va. (WV News) — In a rematch of the 2023 Class AA state championship game, the Fairmont Senior Polar Bears came into Roy Michael Field in Rachel and defeated the North Marion Huskies,55-12, marking their 22nd-consecutive win in the Marion County series.
“It was a great atmosphere,” FSHS coach Nick Bartic said. “Everybody kept their intensity where it needed to be. We played smart, played hard, and it was a great team effort.
” The Polar Bears got off to a red-hot start Friday, with a Brody Whitehair 69-yard TD run on the team’s second play from scrimmage setting the tone for the evening. After losing a fumble on their second drive, the Polar Bears got right back into gear, adding two additional first-quarter touchdowns on an 8-yard TD run by Damani Johnson and a 24-yard touchdown pass from Whitehair to Martin, giving FSHS a 20-0 lead 12 minutes in. “We wanted to start hot, obviously, and come out here and show up and embrace the feeling and atmosphere,” FSHS receiver Brock Martin said.
“That prepares us for the bigger games later on.” While the Polar Bears got off to a strong first-quarter start, the North Marion Huskies struggled to find their footing early, accumulating negative-5 yards of offense in the first quarter with a lost fumble on a kickoff. “Offensively, it doesn’t help when you can’t sustain any type of possession,” NMHS coach Daran Hays said.
“We felt like we played defense all night, which was the furthest thing from our gameplan. Our game plan was to try and limit them to six or seven possessions.” After the Polar Bears extended their lead to 27-0 following a Logan Canfield TD run, the Huskies’ offense began to find some life.
North Marion’s first trip into the end zone came with 9:25 left in the second quarter as Cole Morris tossed his first touchdown pass of the year, connecting with Karter Parson on a 65-yard TD strike to get the Huskies on the board and also marking the first touchdown surrendered by the Polar Bears on the season. Hays’ group was able to score on its next possession with a 1-yard Morris run, but the NMHS defense was unable to stop the Polar Bear offensive attack. With the exception of the lost fumble, the Polar Bears’ offense rolled in the first half, scoring on every drive in the game, with two more second-quarter scores coming on a 1-yard TD run by Chris Wilson and a fumble recovery TD by Cannon Dinger, who jumped on his own fumble after taking a 30-yard pass from Whitehair to the goal line.
At the half, the Polar Bears held a commanding 41-12 lead with a 373-126 advantage in offensive yards. Much of the same continued for the FSHS offense in the second half as the visitors from Fairmont scored on every possession of the second half, as Martin caught a 50-yard TD from Whitehair in the third quarter and Jordan Wagner scored on a 6-yard run in the fourth quarter. North Marion had some success moving the ball in the second half, but was unable to find the end zone in the final two quarters, ultimately falling, 55-12.
“It’s good film for us to learn off of,” Bartic, whose Polar Bears outgained the Huskies 505-136 in total yards, said. “There are some things we thought we had covered there, so it’s a good lesson on defense. They made a good adjustment on a couple of scores there.
Ultimately, I feel like we buckled down in the second half on both sides of the and special teams. All three phases were pretty solid.” Despite the loss, Hays was proud of the leadership he saw from many of his upperclassmen.
“I saw some leadership out of Trevor Mullett,” Hays said. “I saw some leadership emerge from Gabe (Bland) and Noah (Hess) continued to play his tail off.” Now, Hays and his team will prepare for next week’s game at home against Lincoln.
“We have to bounce back and get healthy,” Hays said. “We need to be 4-1 going into the bye week.” The Polar Bears will prepare to host University next week, and Cowger and his teammates hope to build off this week’s win moving forward.
“A lot of games are going to have that atmosphere,” FSHS’s Jeff Cowger said. “It’s good to get in a game like this and have that atmosphere. I think we competed well and went out there and played well.
We’re excited for the rest of the season.”.
