Photo by Alex Kozlowski Jordan Wood (18) hopes to lead John Marshall to a victory over Morgantown on Friday.

MORGANTOWN — Sitting at 3-5 with John Marshall and arch-rival University coming up on the schedule Morgantown picked the wrong time for injuries and inconsistency to pop-up on the offensive side and slow the Mohigans down.

Friday night first-year coach Jason Willis and his Monarchs will travel to Pony Lewis Field in hopes that Morgantown’s struggles continue while their winning ways stay intact.

The Mohigans are riding a three-game losing streak in which they have scored a total of 14 points, after averaging 33 a game through the first five games of the campaign. Meanwhile, John Marshall have won their last two games, including a 42-14 victory at Brooke last week.

“No excuses, but we have been hit hard with the injury bug and have struggled to find any kind of consistency,” Morgantown coach Matt Lacy said. “Injuries are tough to overcome at any level, but kids have to step up. At the start of the second quarter of the Wheeling Park game (3 weeks ago) we were down seven players.

“The worst part is that watching things on film we are just one block or one missed hole away from having a chance to be in those last three games. Things have started to snowball and spiral out of control. Bottom line we have to find consistency on offense.”

Willis’ group started the season 3-0 before a pair of games they might like to forget against Bellaire and Parkersburg South. But the last two games have seen the Monarchs come to life, piling up a 76-14 margin of victory.

“We have a little momentum going right now and we need to keep it up,” Willis said. “But we still have to find a way to limit penalties, take care of the football and keep up with the fundamentals.”

There is good news and bad news for the Monarchs on offense.

First the bad news, junior leading-rusher Justin Frohnapfel was injured early in the third quarter last week at Brooke and is doubtful to be ready to go this week. Frohnapfel had rushed for 143 yards and a score before going out. He has 536 yards and six touchdowns on the season.

The good news is that senior Chas McCool (42-376-8), after off-season surgery and an early-season injury, is back to 100 percent and ran for the majority of his 161 yards and five touchdowns after Frohnapfel left that contest. Senior John Davis and sophomore Dalton Flowers will also see plenty of playing time if Frohnapfel can’t go.

“Chas has played well for us and is finally getting healthy,” Willis said. “He played our first game but got banged up and has been working his way back to 100-percent since. It is also nice to have a couple kids like Dalton Flowers and John Davis to step-in.”

Senior quarterback Jordan Wood threw for 102 yards last week and spent most of the night looking for classmate Roy Rayl who hauled in three passes for 57.

In all John Marshall racked up 368 yards and six touchdowns on the ground on 51 carries, but he defense did allow 274 yards and 13 first downs, both well above the Bruins’ averages.

“They are a big, physical team that likes to throw in a lot of trickery,” Lacy saidd. “They will just line up and knock you around, but that is how they have been successful the last few years.

“I know they have a new coach, but the formula is the same and they love to play smashmouth football.”

Morgantown is led by senior running back Ty Konchesky, who ran for 106 yards and a 40-yard touchdown in last week’s 35-7 loss at Parkersburg South. Sophomore Cameron Rice continues to grow and threw for 99 yards, to six different receivers, but did get intercepted twice last week.

Along with injuries and inconsistency, the Mohigans have also been plagued by turnovers and penalties. To go with the two interceptions Morgantown lost two of five fumbles against the Patriots while picking up just 227 total yards of offense.

“They are big up front and they like to get physical with you,” Willis said of the Mohigans. “They have speedy receivers and a very athletic quarterback and they have players that can play.

“I believe every game is important all year long, but this is a big one. A win here could seal up the playoffs for us and if we can keep winning it could possibly help us get a home game.”