— FROSTBURG  — Jarrod Harper shredded the Jefferson defense for 250 rushing yards and four touchdowns, and Mountain Ridge combined with the Cougars for over 1,000 yards of offense during the Miners 50-28 opening night win Friday in Frostburg.

Though he touched the ball just 12 times, Harper made the very most of each one. He accounted for 157 yards on his four touchdown runs of 66, 14, 59 and 18 yards and his 250 yards was responsible for almost half of the Miners’ 570 total. Anthony Spataro gained 80 yards on 13 carries and Drew Winter had 76 on 12 as the Miners gained 533 yards on the ground.

The Miners needed just four plays before Harper got to the outside and sped past Cougar defenders for a 68-yard touchdown.

Jefferson struggled on the next drive, fumbling the second down snap, but recovering it, before getting a first down on a pass from Justin Carter to tight end Dan Myers. The success would be short-lived as the Miners would force a fumble on the next play that they would recover at the Jefferson 47-yard line.

The Miners next possession began with a pass from Dan Streitbeck to Justin Jeffries, but would be followed with a healthy dose of the run as they drove down the field. Winter finished the drive with a short plunge from less than a yard out.

After Evan Logue made the point after kick the score stood at 14-0.

The Cougars found themselves facing a third and 23 inside their own 10 early on their next drive, but Carter connected with Allen Milbourne for 48 yards and a first down, followed by a 25-yard run by Garrett Grantham to take Jefferson deep into Miners territory. A few handoffs later the goose egg was removed from the board when Grantham ran in from eight yards out to make it 14-7.

The Cougars would pass for a total of 273 yards, all from Carter, and Milbourne would be responsible for 217 of those on seven catches.

Again the Cougars’ would lose the momentum they built on offense when Harper went almost 70 yards on the first play of Mountain Ridge’s next possession, taking the ball inside of the Jefferson 10-yard line. They got some momentum back, though, when the Miners failed to get a touchdown on the drive and settled for Logue’s 23-yard field goal.

The next Jefferson series mirrored it’s previous one as it went 70 yards and was punctuated by a 38-yard pass from Carter to Lane Simpson to bring the score to 17-14.

On the final drive of the first half, Josh Vaughn and Spataro had big runs that took the Miners inside the Jefferson 20, and Harper finished things up with a 13-yard run with just 29 seconds left until halftime.

Grantham kicked off the second half by taking a hand off from the Jefferson three-yard line and running down to the Mountain Ridge 35 before Harper made a touchdown-saving tackle. The Miners held from there, and would wind up scoring on Harper’s third touchdown, a 59-yard run with 8:42 remaining.

After stoping Jefferson on fourth and short, Mountain Ridge went to work again by anchoring the ball to the ground, and were rewarded when Vaughn scored from 13 yards out. The kick after sent the score to 36-14, and Mountain Ridge appeared to be pulling away until the Cougars answered on their first play from scrimmage on the following drive with a 70-yard toss from Carter to Milbourne.

Winter broke a big run to take the Miners down to Jefferson’s 25-yard line, and Harper capped the drive with an 18-yard run that made the score 43-21 with 21 seconds left in the third.

Mountain Ridge got the ball back just a few plays later on an interception by Spataro. A passing play on the first play of the drive was followed by a series of rushes as the Miners took the ball inside the Jefferson one before Dan Streitbeck snuck it in to extend the lead to 50-21.

Jefferson finished out the scoring less than 40 seconds later on another 70-yard bomb between Carter and Milbourne.

The Miners will host Hedgesville Friday. Jefferson (0-2) will play at Broad Run, Va.

Frankfort    46

Moorefield    28

SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Frankfort’s Joey Luciw and Moorefield’s Louis Richardson traded 130-yard, three-touchdown performances on the ground, but it was Luciw’s Falcons that would come away with the win Friday during their season opener in Short Gap.

Luciw gained his 130 yards on 19 carries, and had touchdown runs of 26, six and 31 yards to go along with an 85-yard kickoff return for a fourth score. Jeremy Leedom gave the Falcons 95 yards on 19 carries and scored a TD on a seven-yard run as Frankfort finished with 257 total rushing yards.

Luciw provided both Frankfort scores in the opening quarter with his 26-yard run and long kickoff return. Richardson got the Yellow Jackets points on a two-yard touchdown.

Richardson gained his 130 yards on 20 carries, and scored on runs of 78 and five yards to go with the two-yard score.

Leedom had the first points of the second quarter, and Zach Bradfield booted a 42-yard field goal to make the score 25-7. The last score before the half came on a 65-yard pass from Brian Bills to Ryan Bobo.

Three touchdowns were scored in the third quarter, with all three coming in the final 3:35. Luciw stretched the lead to 39-7 with a six-yard run, before Richardson scored his final two touchdowns at 3:29 and :35.

Moorefield made it three straight touchdowns and closed the lead to 39-28 when Zach Laughlin caught a 56-yard pass from Jordan Ours. Laughlin would conclude the evening with 105 yards on four catches.

Luciw finished the scoring at 1:41 of the fourth quarter when he scored on a 31-yard run.

Wes Riden led the Frankfort defense with 10 tackles, and Luciw added eight. Bills finished with six tackles and two sacks, while Matt Grabenstein picked off a pass, and Justin Sachs recovered a fumble.