Keyser proves Tornado tough
SHEPHERDSTOWN — We’ve all heard the age-old axiom, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
The Keyser High football team slightly altered that bromide when it went with, “If at first you do succeed, just keep on doing the same thing”.
After losing to Point Pleasant in its previous game, the Golden Tornado wasn’t in any mood to falter again when Jefferson visited the Mineral County town last Friday.
When all the scoring and offensive celebrating was over, it was Keyser stepping up its overall record to 5-2 because it had a fast-paced, 63-44, win over the Cougars, now 2-4 overall.
In the first half alone, Keyser scored three times on identical pass routes run by Sammy Bradford, who was spotted by quarterback Gavin Root for three quick scores.
However, Jefferson had accomplished a 30-28 lead by the midway point of the offensive show with Sammy Roberts, Evan Tewell, Spencer Powell, Christian Blowe and company just outpacing the caravan of Tornado offensive contributors led by Bradford, Root, Drae Allen and Dameain Emerick.
After breezing its way to 28 first-half points, Keyser exceeded that outburst in the second half with 35 points to partially erase its previous losses to Point Pleasant and Oak Glen, teams in the same Class AA ranks as the Golden Tornado.
The first 14 of those points came after near-identical onside kicks the home team recovered to begin the third period.
Notching points after recovering both onside kicks had Keyser moving along to a 42-30 lead.
There were three more touchdowns left in Keyser’s impressive offensive arsenal.
Finally getting to return its offense to the field in the second half, Jefferson was able to score two more times, but fell short of Keyser’s 63 points.
The Golden Tornado had already loosed Allen and Bradford on long, scoring runs and seemed poised with its varied offense to do whatever necessary to succeed.
In its previous loss to Point Pleasant, the Golden Tornado had completed just five passes and saw Point Pleasant complete a single-game school-record 28 passes. What a difference one week made.
Coronavirus case increases and continued health problems have moved Berkeley County to the “orange” level on the state map of counties and jeopardized the impending Jefferson-Martinsburg game scheduled for tonight as well as next week’s Jefferson vs. Hedgesville game. Any county with an “orange” designation is not allowed to play football games.
After a previous loss to Frankfort, Jefferson couldn’t stop Keyser, making its 2020 football dealings with the two Class AA schools from Mineral County only count for two losses.