By Joe Sengelwalt
ELKINS — Cory Broughton waited a year to get redemption against North Marion.
Friday night here at Wimer Stadium, Elkins’ junior kicker got his chance and made the most of it.
Broughton nailed a 21-yard field goal as time expired to give his Tigers a 24-23 victory over the Huskies.
“I can’t lie; this feels pretty good,” said Broughton, who last year shanked a extra point against North in overtime at Husky Field in a 36-35 loss. “Last year I really had my head down after that game. I couldn’t wait for a chance to try and get them back this year and I got that chance.
“I had one blocked earlier in the second half and missed one on our next-to-last drive. I knew I just had to keep my head up, and I knew if I got another chance I could make it.”
Broughton’s field goal capped a big second-half comeback by the Tigers, which saw them erase a nine-point North Marion lead.
Trailing 14-10 at the half, North struck quickly on its first drive of the third quarter when quarterback Shaun McCoy connected with Quint Cochran on an 80-yard touchdown pass to give the Huskies a 17-14 lead.
McCoy finished 11-of-18 passing for 258 yards and one touchdown. Cochran hauled in six of those passes for 159 yards and a score.
On North’s next drive, running back Cody Morgan attempted to hook up with Cochran again down the field on a third-and-10 situation. On the play, Cochran tipped the ball into the waiting hands of teammate Tilmon Goines, who raced 25 yards into the end zone to make it 23-14 with 4:55 left in the third quarter. In all, the touchdown pass covered 37 yards.
On the ensuing kickoff North attempted some trickery which backfired and gave the Tigers momentum.
Husky coach Daran Hays called for an onside kick which didn’t travel the required 10 yards, and the Tigers took over on the North 47.
“No. 1, I’ve always been a believer when you have someone down you try to kick them,” said Hays of the call. “We’ve isolated that play in the past and have used it under coach (Gerry) White with success. They were playing their front line pretty tight and Shaun (McCoy) had kicked them beautifully all week. In hindsight, I don’t know. When you second-guess yourself you are always wrong.
“My thought process behind it was, the way we were covering kicks their average starting field position was around the 35- or 40-yard line. So we basically gave them 10 yards.”
Tigers coach Gregg Hott, however, felt the botched onside kick attempt was a gift and it gave his team a chance to get back into the game.
“That really surprised me that they did that,” said Hott. “I look at that as being a turnover. And when you get the ball in this type of a game with a short field to work with you’ve got to be able to cash in on it and we did.”
The Tigers promptly marched 47 yards in just six plays and closed the gap to 23-21 on a 1-yard TD plunge by quarterback Jerry Wilson with 1:58 remaining in the third.
On North’s next drive, the Huskies turned it over on downs at the Elkins 22.
The Tigers then drove 57 yards to the North 21, but Broughton’s 38-yard field goal attempt to give his team the lead was wide right with 4:53 to play.
A first-down holding penalty put the Huskies in a hole on what would be their final drive of the game, and they couldn’t get a first down.
A 14-yard punt then gave Elkins the ball at the North 39 with 2:37 remaining. Nine plays later, Broughton kicked the game-winner from 21 yards out on the final play.
“It’s almost become a tradition here the last few years for Elkins and North Marion to come down to the final minute,” said Hott. “After the shanked punt, I went to my kicker and told him you know you’re going to get another chance to kick one and win this thing. And he said ‘I know coach.’ And I told him this time you’re going to make it.”
North scored on its first drive of the game when Morgan capped a four-play, 79-yard drive with a 12-yard TD run. Morgan finished with a team-high 75 yards on 13 carries.
The Tigers, though, answered with a short TD run by Wilson to make it 7-7 on the first play of the second quarter.
North then re-took the lead on a 27-yard field goal by Preston Parker, but the Tigers took a 14-10 advantage at the half on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to a wide-open Alex Gaaserud with 1:23 left in the half.
Wilson finished with 93 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. He also completed 8-of-14 passes for 131 yards and one score.
Joey Badgett led Elkins on the ground with a game-high 110 yards on 24 carries.
The Tigers, who improved to 3-6 with the win, rolled up 367 total yards in the game. They close out the season next Friday at Buckhannon-Upshur.
North, which fell to 3-6 with its third straight loss, finished with 413 total yards. The Huskies host unbeaten Bridgeport next Friday in their season finale.
