All Tricks, No Treat: Raiders pull away 2nd half to end Hornets season

COAL GROVE — Halloween is a night full of tricks and treats.

During the first half, Coal Grove was treated to plenty of big plays, but the second half was full of tricks as the Mogan Raiders rallied with 21 second half points to take the lead and end the Hornets season with a 43-22 loss on Friday night in the Ohio Division 5 playoffs.

"I felt like we played pretty good football. We made some mistakes that hurt us, like the fourth down play and the bad snap to kill another drive. Those plays turned out to be huge," said Coal Grove head coach Jay Lucas.

The Raiders (8-3) now move on to the quarterfinals where they will make another long trip to Ed Miller Stadium to face the top seeded Wheelersburg Pirates next Friday night.

The win also marked Morgan's first-ever playoff win in school history and coach Seth Brown was elated afterwards for his kids on the program's historic win.

"We're playing week 12. It doesn't matter who we're playing, put the New York Giants out there, I don't care. It is an unbelievable feeling for our school. It was our sixth true playoff appearance and we finally found a way to get it done."

The game appeared to start off with a bang when Kaden Murphy appeared to run back the opening kickoff 83-yards to open up the scoring. But a block in the back call brought the ball back to their own 25.

Lucas felt the penalty on the kickoff had a huge impact on the way the game unfolded in the first half.

"I felt like that was a huge momentum switch. For us, if we get that score, you take a team from going to a high to a deflated feeling. I didn't see anything but it is what it is."

But the penalty didn't keep Coal Grove from scoring, as the Hornets (8-3) drove down the field in 10 plays. Murphy nosed across from 2-yards away to put Coal Grove ahead. Murphy also ran in the conversion run to make the score 8-0.

Murphy capped off a storied career with Coal Grove with another big night. The senior tailback carried the ball 21 times for 147 yards and 2 scores on the ground. On the season, Murphy finished with 30 touchdowns and compiled 2,025 yards on 223 carries.

Murphy's final touchdown as a Hornet came at the 3:39 mark of the second half to put Coal Grove ahead 29-22.

Morgan answered with a quick score that culminated with Casen Foley taking a reverse 27 yards for a score. Jude Garber added the point after to make. the score 8-7 with 4:00 remaining in the first.

Coal Grove was treated to a quick-strike touchdown play on their ensuing possession when Rylan Smith took a quarterback keeper around the right side and left the Morgan defense behind him for a 76-yard scoring run to extend the Hornets' lead back out to 14-7.

Tanner Bankes found the end zone first on a 4-yard score to tie the game back up at 14-14. His second score came on a 3-yard plunge to draw the Raiders to within two. A successful 2-point conversion pass by Haiden Pauley to Hayden Bankes tied the game up at 22-all with just under a minute before halftime.

Bankes led the Raiders offensively, displaying a combination of power and shiftiness to finish with 130 yards on 15 carries and 4 scores on the ground. The junior back found the end zone twice more in the second half to help close the game out.

"All we said at halftime is we matched everything offensively in the first half. We said to our kids, let's score to open the half because we get the ball, get one stop, and that will change the momentum of the game," said Brown.

Those words proved prophetic as Morgan took the opening kickoff of the third and drove 66 yards in 3 plays. The final play was a 28-yard touchdown strike from Pauley to Arlis Ponchak. Garber added the extra point to give the Raiders their first lead of the game at 29-22.

The Hornets appeared as though they would respond like they had all night, but then came the critical play of the night.

Murphy started the drive with a 15 yard gain to the 35. Then three runs found the Hornets facing a 4th-and-2 from their own 43.

Coach Lucas and the Hornets decided to roll the dice and convert the fourth down play. However, Murphy would be cut down a yard shy of the line to gain by Hayden Bankes and Casen Foley, giving the Raiders the first defensive stop of the game.

"The fourth down play was huge. I felt like we had to go for it because we were having trouble with our defense. We were able to ground consistent yardage all night, but (Morgan) made a good play to stop us," said Lucas.

The Raiders would take advantage of the swing in momentum and short field, scoring in 3 plays as Tanner Bankes scored his third rushing touchdown of the game to push Morgan's lead out to two scores and force Coal Grove to play catch up the rest of the way.

"I'm proud of our kids. Man, they had a great year. We just didn't have our best night tonight. But the kids had a great season and our seniors were outstanding leaders. We're going to miss all those guys for sure," said Lucas.

Caden Turner finished with 11 carries for 35 yards, but made a huge contribution in the passing game when he hauled in a two-point conversion pass on a jump ball pass by Smith in the second quarter. Smith finished with a big night rushing gaining 93 yards on 6 carries to go along with his score.

Pauley finshed a perfect 10-of-10 passing for 189 yards and a score. His top target was Ponchak with game-highs of 6 catches for 109 yards. Foley had 4 grabs for 69 yards.

Morgan 7 15 14 7 = 43

Coal Grove 14 8 0 0 = 22

First Quarter

CG — Kaden Murphy 2 run (Murphy run), 6:19.

Mor — Casen Foley 27 run (Jude Garber kick), 4:00.

CG — Rylan Smith 76 run (run failed), 2:19.

Second Quarter

Mor — Tanner Bankes 4 run (Jude Garber kick), 11:53.

CG — Kaden Murphy 1 run (Rylan Smith pass to Caden Turner), 3:39.

Mor — Tanner Bankes 3 run (Haiden Pauley pass to Hayden Bankes), 0:53.

Third Quarter

Mor — Arlis Ponchak 78 pass from Haiden Pauley (Jude Garber kick), 10:15.

Mor — Tanner Bankes 11 run (Jude Garber kick), 6:55.

Fourth Quarter

Mor — Tanner Bankes 4 run (Jude Garber kick), 7:00.

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Mor CG

First downs 23 11

Rushes-yards 33-225 39-266

Passing yards 189 22

Total yards 414 288

Cmp-Att-Int 10-10-0 3-6-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 7-60 6-55

Punts-average 0-0.0 1-41.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING — Morgan: Haiden Pauley 3-17, Hayden Bankes 5-22, Casen Foley 2-39 TD, McGwire Winner 2-6, Tanner Bankes 15-130 4-TD, Shane Harney 4-15, Team 2-minus 4; Coal Grove: Rylan Smith 6-93 TD, Kaden Murphy 21-147 2-TD, Caden Turner 11-35.

PASSING — Morgan: Haiden Pauley 10-10-0 189 TD; Coal Grove: Rylan Smith 3-6-0 22.

RECEIVING — Morgan: Arlis Ponchak 5-109 TD, Casen Foley 4-69, Tanner Bankes 1-11; Coal Grove: Kaden Murphy 2-10, Caden Turner 1-12.

MISSED FIELD GOALS — None.