Dual threat: QB Morgan Smith leads West Holmes past Wooster with career rushing day
MONROE TWP. — Morgan Smith set the West Holmes single-game passing yardage record earlier this season, passing for 547 yards in a loss to Licking Valley.
Friday against Wooster, he only threw for 37 yards, barely taking to the air at all in the second half.
Smith still showed why he's the area's most dynamic quarterback, rushing for 290 yards, including the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter in West Holmes' 43-40 win over the rival Generals.
"I'm not really sore right now, but I will be in about 30 minutes and tomorrow," Smith said during a postgame interview.
The Knights' junior QB is the first to admit he's not Lamar Jackson or Cam Newton, but he looked like one of those big-time running quarterbacks on the high school field as he carried the ball time after time as the Knights took Wooster's best punches down the stretch.
Smith delivered the biggest haymakers of the game, including rushing for all 74 yards on West Holmes' go-ahead drive to make it 43-40. He scored four rushing TDs and threw one more on a shovel pass to Kyle Maltarich, who also scored the game's first TD on a 22-yard run just 50 seconds into the game. Smith churned out big chunks of yardage over and over again, with nine of his 27 rushes going for 10 yards or more.
"I know my line is going to do a good job," Smith said. "I just got on their back. It was working every time, so we just kept doing it and doing it."
West Holmes' offensive line — tackles Morgan Eastep and Gage Brown, guards Hayden Smith and Braylen McKinney and center Darren Gallion — paved the way for Smith as he put up numbers most ball carriers can only dream of hitting during a single game.
"Morgan's a wrestler at heart," Maltarich said. "He likes that contact. When he hits the hole, he hits it hard. He's not a juker, so he's going right through you or he's going down. There's no in between."
But the Knights' defense, which has been its Achilles' heel so far this season, delivered the knockout blows. The first came with 4:48 left in the game, stopping the Generals just short of the first down on a fourth-and-two run play — West Holmes' first defensive stop of the second half.
"On Monday in practice I said the offensive line and the defense are going to win this game, and that's exactly what happened," West Holmes coach Zach Gardner said. "Our offensive line played phenomenal tonight and our defense got three stops at the end of the game when they needed to. That's something they should be very proud of."
After Smith's 13-yard TD with 3:33 to go, the Knights defense needed one more stop. And it got it.
Mason Shankel dragged down AJ Likowski for a 6-yard loss to set up a third-and-21 for Wooster with time winding down, and Lynn Cline made that sack count on the very next play, coming down with an interception with 1:10 to go. Cline fumbled, but West Holmes recovered before running out the clock to end Wooster's comeback attempt.
There was no such thing as momentum Friday. Both teams scored at will most of the night, with the game going into halftime tied 21-all and seeing four lead changes in the second half.
"We were sitting in this exact same spot two years ago," Gardner said. "Two years ago, against Wooster, we were in a dogfight. We were down late, and we came back, and we won the football game. That propelled us to the first final four appearance in our school's history. I definitely think this could be the spark that could create the type of season we expect to have around here."
Wooster junior QB Likowski played perhaps the best all-around game of his career, throwing for 228 yards and two scores and rushing for 110 more yards.
"Our mantra this week was 'let it rip,' just play free and play like the athletes you are," Wooster coach Austin Holter said. "I think you saw it tonight. Our kids played extremely tough all night."
Julian Franklin was a workhorse for Wooster as well, rushing 35 times for 135 yards and four TDs. Hayden Meese was the biggest playmaker in the passing game for the Generals, catching nine passes for 118 yards, including a 28-yard TD catch on fourth-and-eight in the first half.
Player of the Game: Morgan Smith, West Holmes
The junior QB carried the West Holmes offense on his back, nearly rushing for 200 yards in the second half alone. As Wooster gameplanned to take away the Knights' potent passing attack, Smith battered his way into the line, making the right reads and breaking tackles on his way to the best rushing night of his career.
Top performers
West Holmes: Morgan Smith (27 rushes, 290 yards, 4 TDs; 6-of-12, 37 yards, TD, 2 INTs), Kyle Maltarich (4 catches, 26 yards, TD; 3 rushes, 43 yards, TD), Zach Shepler (5 rushes, 21 yards)
Wooster: Julian Franklin (35 rushes, 135 yards, 4 TDs; 3 catches, 33 yards), AJ Likowski (21-of-31, 210 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs; 11 rushes, 110 yards), Hayden Meese (9 catches, 118 yards, TD), Anthony Sines (3 catches, 12 yards, TD), Ethan Shetler (4 catches, 41 yards)
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Football: Smith leads West Holmes past Wooster
