No. 1 Mountain Ridge crushes No. 5 Keyser, 49-13, for 1st unbeaten regular season

Oct. 29—KEYSER, W.Va. — It took a single play for Mountain Ridge to upend Keyser's game plan.

The Golden Tornado planned to play a game of keep-away against the Miners' high-flying offense, employing a power I-formation with two tight ends and two fullbacks and snapping the ball with fewer than 10 seconds on the play clock.

However, on the first play from scrimmage, Keyser fumbled and Landon McAlpine recovered. Four plays later, Will Patterson found the end zone, and the Miners went up two scores soon after on a long Uma Pua'auli run to thwart the Keyser strategy.

No. 1 Mountain Ridge dominated from start to finish and played mistake-free football once again, pounding No. 5 Keyser, 49-13, to cap an unbeaten 9-0 regular season — the Miners' first in school history.

"First undefeated regular season in school history, really proud of that," Mountain Ridge head coach Ryan Patterson said. "You can just tell the guys are on to the playoffs.

"We're happy to beat a physical Keyser team the way that we did. Second week in a row a team's offense completely changed from what we saw on film. Two polar opposite styles, and we were able to adjust and handle both."

Fighting for its playoff life, Keyser drew up a new offense during the week, making a complete 180 from the shotgun and pistol sets the Tornado have run this season.

Instead, Keyser opted to bring all 11 personnel in tight with seven men on the line and four in the backfield.

The plan finally came into action after the 14-0 hole, as Keyser embarked on a seven-play, 73-yard drive — capped by a two-yard Tristen Root touchdown with 1:29 left in the first.

Down 14-6, Keyser's defense came up with consecutive stops, but its offense came up empty. Mountain Ridge countered with two touchdowns in the final 4:33 of the half to go up 28-6 and put things out of reach.

"We had some miscues early and that got us behind the sticks," Keyser head coach Derek Stephen said. "Our game plan was to try and control the clock, and we had to come out of that. ... The heart was there, the effort was there. We just didn't come out on top like we hoped."

Mountain Ridge quarterback Uma Pua'auli delivered another impressive performance, completing 13 of 17 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown, and running for 89 yards and two TDs on seven totes.

David Miller caught five balls for 65 yards, and McAlpine made three grabs for 62 yards and a score. Jaden Lee rushed for 56 yards and two TDs on 14 carries. Will Patterson and Connor Guy also found the end zone on runs. McAlpine was a perfect 7 for 7 on extra points.

Mountain Ridge out-gained Keyser, 360-307, and had a 17-11 edge in first downs. The Miners have now scored at least 30 points in every game, and they've topped 40 in 7 of 9.

"Every week we try to diversify our offense," Ryan Patterson said. "(Offensive coordinator) Sefa (Pua'auli) watches a lot of film, trying to see what their weakness are, see what we can exploit and add in."

Root led Keyser with 90 yards and a TD on 19 carries, and Anthony Mele ran the ball 12 times for 65 yards. Logan Rotruck completed 3 of 4 passes for 135 yards, a touchdown and an interception, hooking up with Chase Davis for a 96-yard scoring pass in the fourth.

Mountain Ridge played turnover-free football for the fifth consecutive time, and Keyser had three giveaways. The Tornado fumbled the ball four times and lost two.

Keyser's strategy to eat up the clock worked for a spell, but the poor start proved to be too much to overcome.

"It was something we saw, and it goes back to what teams have done to us in the past, trying to control the clock," Stephen said. "We knew that if we got into a shootout that it probably wouldn't favor us. We score, but we don't score at a clip they do."

Despite the different look from Keyser's offense, the Miners' defense didn't miss a beat, holding the Tornado without points on their first two drives of the night.

"We went to what we call our bear front, so we threw an extra lineman in there," Patterson said, "and told our guys to get lower and get tougher."

Mountain Ridge's four TD drives began on the Tornado 19, 21 and 46, and its own 41.

The Miners' first touchdown came when Patterson ran the ball out of the flexbone as the tailback, and he beat Keyser to the left pylon for a seven-yard touchdown run just 1:43 into the action.

Following a Keyser three-and-out, Pua'auli made a highlight-reel run, dancing around the Tornado defense before making one last cut inside for a 39-yard touchdown with 7:35 left in the opening quarter.

After Root cut the Keyser deficit to 14-6 with a touchdown run with 1:29 left in the first, Mountain Ridge eventually regained control.

Pua'auli pranced into the end zone on a six-yard touchdown with 4:33 left in the half, and Lee crossed the goal line from a yard out for the Miners' fourth TD of the half.

Keyser got the ball with around two minutes left at the end of the half but elected to run the ball four times up the middle and run out the clock.

Mountain Ridge called a timeout with one second left to bring Keyser back on the field for one final play, and Rotruck's Hail Mary was intercepted by Xzavier Payton.

The decision not to run a two-minute offense, Stephen said, was because a starter went down with an injury during the series.

Mountain Ridge opened the second half with an eight-play, 72-yard touchdown drive, as Pua'auli methodically threw for three first downs and ran for another to set up a three-yard TD run by Guy with 9:23 remaining in the third.

After a Keyser three-and-out, Pua'auli nearly threw for touchdown pass to Miller, but his wide-out was tripped up by the turf monster at the one. Lee bullied into the end zone a play later to make it 42-6 after three.

Following a Keyser turnover on downs, Pua'auli and McAlpine hooked up for a 48-yard pass play down to the Tornado 2. McAlpine then snagged a fade from Pua'auli over a Keyser cornerback for the Miners' seventh and final TD.

Mountain Ridge defensive end Will Bannon also recovered a fumble during the fourth quarter.

Keyser added a late touchdown on Davis' athletic catch-and-run beginning inside the Tornado's own five-yard line.

Mountain Ridge's win clinches the No. 1 overall seed in Maryland's Class 1A playoffs, and the Miners will have a first-round bye in the playoffs after Hancock elected to forgo the postseason.

"We're going to use two weeks to heal up and get fundamentally more sound," Ryan Patterson said. "We're going to continue to work the turnover thing. We're going to continue to work some special teams stuff. It's gonna be interesting to see how we handle it."

Keyser (5-4) will turn to the Mineral Bowl next week against Frankfort (8-1), which defeated North Marion, 41-20, on Friday night.

The Golden Tornado entered the week slotted at No. 15 in the West Virginia Class AA playoff ratings, and only the top 16 teams make the postseason. They will likely need a win over the Falcons, and some help, to enter the field.

"We can't dwell on this game now, it's over with," Stephen said. "We're on to Frankfort. We're on to (the) Mineral Bowl. It's that big one we have circled every year, kind of like what they're having in Cumberland right now with Fort Hill-Allegany. This is our version of it.

"I know our kids will sulk for a little bit, but hopefully they get over it tonight and we're ready to move on."

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.