Parkersburg South’s Kinzyn Lutchmansingh throws a pass against Morgantown High on Friday. (Photo by Benjamin Powell/The Dominion Post)

MORGANTOWN — No. 2 Morgantown High rebounded quite well from its first loss of the season.

Maddox Twigg made sure of that.

With an impressive display of early throws that eventually turned into Twigg showing off his running ability, the Mohigans powered past No. 14 Parkersburg South 45-10 on Friday inside Pony Lewis Field.

“We came out and hit the first one, so we just kind of kept going with it,” Twigg said about the early passes. “There wasn’t any specific plan to do it, but after we hit it early, we just kept going back to it.”

If it had been a boxing match, the Mohigans (7-1) would have landed a haymaker early. Twigg’s first three passes went for 87 yards and two touchdowns – all before 40 seconds had run off the clock.

He hit Carter Cooper with a 44-yard strike 29 seconds into the game. After the Patriots (2-5) fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Twigg connected with Jayden Smalls on a 15-yard touchdown pass.

“It was all stuff that we’ve done before,” MHS head coach Sean Biser said. “We’ve tried to open up with our passing game at times. This was probably the most success we’ve had so far. I think you’re beginning to see Maddox getting a lot more comfortable in the offense. I know we’re eight weeks in, but his grasp of running our offense is at a much higher level right now.”

All of it came just one week following Morgantown’s 34-6 loss against state power Martinsburg. That all seems to be in the rear-view mirror now, as MHS ran out to a 24-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Twigg completed passes to six different receivers and threw for 201 yards and four touchdowns. His two favorite targets – Carter Cooper and Jayden Smalls – put on their own shows by dashing past and around Patriots defenders. Cooper also added a highlight-reel over-the-shoulder catch along the MHS sideline early in the second half. He finished with 80 yards receiving and a TD on four catches, while Smalls had 57 yards on five receptions and finished with two scores.

“I’ve spent so much time working with those two,” Twigg said. “With Carter, he’s got so much speed, you just have to lay it out for him and you know he’s going to make a big play. Jayden, once you get him in open space, he’s electrifying. He’s got such good hands.”

The rest of Morgantown’s offense from Twigg’s legs. He finished with 80 yards rushing on five carries and scored on runs of four and 15 yards. His 4-yard score to end the first quarter came on a goal line play in which there was a mixup on the handoff, so Twigg simply improvised and ran it in himself.

“What he’s doing is basically running a college offense,” Biser said of Twigg. “Some of the passes tonight were off his reads on the (run-pass option plays). He’s just not back there throwing it all over the place. He’s making better reads and getting us into good situations and that’s a lot to ask of a kid who is still 15 years old.”

The MHS defense did its part by pitching a shutout until late in the third quarter. Parkersburg South was held to just 35 yards of offense in the first half and it wasn’t until seven seconds remained in the third quarter that Parkersburg South got on the scoreboard with Wyatt Bartley’s 27-yard field goal.

MHS finished with 363 yards of total offense. Twigg accounted for 281 yards of that.

Parkersburg South finished with 132 total yards, with senior quarterback Kinzyn Lutchmansingh throwing for 112 yards. He connected with receiver Taj Joyce on a 28-yard scoring toss with 47 seconds remaining in the game.