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Photo by Cody Nespor John Marshall running back Klypson Wallace follows blockers into the endzone for his first of three touchdowns against Buckhannon-Upshur Friday.
MOUNDSVILLE — Klypson Wallace ran for 155 yards and three touchdowns, Jacob Coffield scored a touchdown and was named Homecoming King and the John Marshall Monarchs rolled over visiting Buckhannon-Upshur 31-7 Friday night at Monarch Stadium.
“It’s a win,” JM coach Mark Cisar said after the game. “We were 1-0 this week and that’s our goal. We’re back to .500 and now we’ve got to get ready for an absolute battle next week against (Parkersburg) South, who’s playing unbelievable.”
John Marshall (2-2) scored on each of its first five drives while forcing punt after punt from the Buccaneers (2-2).
“I thought we played pretty well in the first half,” Cisar said. “We had some penalties that killed us, but we did a lot of good things in the first half.”
JM’s worst drive of the first half was its first.
The Monarchs committed three penalties on the drive — including a holding call that moved the ball from the three to the 33 — and had to burn two of its timeouts, but strong-legged junior Conor Fitzpatrick kicked a 42-yard field goal with room to spare to still produce points.
“Having him, as soon as you cross the 40, you’re in scoring range,” Cisar said of Fitzpatrick. “It’s nice to have a kicker you have confidence in who has a great leg.”
Wallace, a sophomore, then scored two-yard touchdowns on each of the Monarchs’ next two drives and Coffield scored on a one-yard run after that. JM’s next drive lasted all of one play when Wallace broke through the line to race 44 yards to the endzone.
“(Wallace) ran extremely hard and I thought our line did a good job up front,” Cisar said. “For him it was the second effort and third effort running extremely hard.”
JM’s defense forced four punts and recovered a fumble against BU’s T-formation offense. By halftime, the Buccaneers had only 35 net yards of offense while the Monarchs led 31-0.
“We loaded the box, we knew they were going to run it and if they threw it, we were going to get pressure,” Cisar said. “They weren’t even able to get passes off because we were getting pressure.”
Coffield was crowned Homecoming King and Sienna Miller Homecoming Queen during a halftime ceremony.
The fast-moving second half began with Buckhannon embarking on a 17-play drive that included two fourth-down conversions and traveled into JM territory, but the Buccaneers failed on their third fourth down attempt of the drive and stalled out at the 24-yard line.
JM’s offense lacked some of the power it had in the first half, which Cisar attributed to some players taking their foot off the gas.
“In the second half, we came out lackadaisical and just went through the motions,” Cisar admitted. “I’m just disappointed in the second half. I wish we came out and looked a little sharper. I think some guys checked out.”
The only action in a punt-filled second half included Fitzpatrick having a 33-yard field goal attempt partially blocked and Buckhannon’s Taiwo Thropp cutting through the middle for a 68-yard touchdown with under a minute to play.
Excluding that long run, BU’s offense ran the ball 37 times for 120 yards. Savion Farmer led the team with 81 yards on 16 carries while quarterback James Tenney missed on all eight of his pass attempts.
“The thing is to not over-penetrate and get trapped,” Cisar said of facing BU’s offense. “We did that a couple of times, but I thought we did a real good job of controlling gap to gap, linebackers filling holes and gang-tackling. You hardly ever saw just one guy making a tackle, it was always two, three guys in on tackles.”
Wallace did yeoman’s work for JM’s offense, rushing for 155 of the team’s 278 total yards. Coffield completed 8-of-14 passes for 87 yards and ran for 13 and a score. Braden Sobutka led in receiving with three catches for 35 yards.
John Marshall stays at home to face dangerous Parkersburg South next week.
JM — Wallace run 2 (Fitzpatrick kick)
JM — Wallace run 2 (Fitzpatrick kick)
JM — Coffield run 1 (Fitzpatrick kick)
JM — Wallace run 44 (Fitzpatrick kick)
BU — Thropp run 68 (Mason kick)
RUSHING — Buckhannon-Upshur 38-188-td (Farmer 16-81; Bryant 10-12; Johnston 7-20; Tenney 1-(-1); Thropp 4-76). John Marshall 28-191-4td (Wallace 17-155-3td; Coffield 7-13-td; Wells 3-24; Bre. Sobutka 1-(-1)).
PASSING: Buckhannon-Upshur 0-6 (all Tenney). John Marshall 8-14 87 (all Coffield).
RECEIVING: John Marshall 8-87 (Collett 2-30; Hughes 3-22; Bra. Sobutka 3-35).
FIRST DOWNS: Buckhannon-Upshur 7. John Marshall 16.
PENALTIES: Buckhannon-Upshur 3-20. John Marshall 6-55.
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