Photo by Cody Nespor John Marshall’s Jace Bartsch (3) knocks a pass away from Keyser receiver Chase Davis during the Monarchs’ 30-14 win Friday night.

MOUNDSVILLE — It’s not often that a team’s most impactful player is the specialist, but it would be hard to argue the contrary for the John Marshall Monarchs in their 30-14 win over Keyser Friday night.

JM (3-3) kicker/punter Conor Fitzpatrick was outstanding in all phases against the Golden Tornado (4-2). He accounted for all of the second-half scoring by both teams with three long field goals, the first from 37 yards and the next two from 33, and was perfect on three point-after attempts. He also pinned the visitors on their own one-yard line twice, first on a kickoff and later on a punt.

“When you have a kicker to step up and hit three long field goals for us, that’s just huge for him,” John Marshall coach Mark Cisar said.

A play that won’t show up on the stat sheet came when a punt snap was sailed over Fitzpatrick’s head. He retreated about 10 yards to corral the ball and still get the kick off. The punt only traveled 20-or-so yards, but that effort saved the Monarchs at least 40 yards of field position.

“He’s a phenomenal punter,” Cisar said. “On special teams, he’s a weapon for us. He’s done extremely well, he’s worked his butt off and it shows.”

Fitzpatrick’s contributions helped support a John Marshall offense that was missing starting quarterback Jacob Coffield and had senior Brennan Sobutka under center.

Not wanting to put too much on Sobutka, the Monarchs leaned heavily on tailback Klypson Wallace, who carried the ball 33 times for 152 yards and a pair of touchdowns. A strong effort from JM’s defense gave it’s offense multiple short fields in the first half, which the Monarchs capitalized on thrice.

“It was a team win,” Cisar said. “There was nobody that really, really stands out. This was a team victory for us.”

JM’s first scoring drive traversed just 36 yards and ended in a one-yard plunge by Wallace. Then, Cisar dipped into his bag of tricks on the Monarchs’ next drive.

Cisar called for a hood-and-ladder play, where Sobutka threw a short pass to Ashton Collett, who then lateralled the ball to Wesley Hughes, who was able to run free for 30 yards to the endzone for a 14-0 lead.

After that, however, the momentum flipped. Keyser scored on its next two drives, the second of which traveled the full 99 yards and tied the game at 14-14 with less than three minutes before halftime. The Golden Tornado might have gotten a little too greedy, however, and tried an onside kick after its second touchdown. JM earily recovered and was set up at midfield with a chance to retake the lead before the break.

Cisar again went to a trick play, this time a wide receiver pass where Sobutka tossed the ball to Hughes, who threw it 32 yards to Collett. That set up Wallace for a 15-yard touchdown jaunt that seized momentum and put JM up 21-14 at the half.

“You see what they’re lined up in and you go from there,” Cisar said of calling trick plays. “We got what we wanted with the formation and we got the same thing again on the other formation. We guessed right twice and sometimes you don’t guess right and they look bad.”

With the lead, JM came out of the locker room determined to run the ball and grind clock. Wallace saw plenty of use in the third and fourth quarters, rarely going down on first contact as JM kept picking up first downs and running the clock.

Fitzpatrick kicked all three of his field goals in the second half to keep upping JM’s lead while the Monarch defense smothered the Golden Tornado. Keyser’s four second-half drive ended with a punt, interception by Hughes and two turnovers on downs.

“In the second half, we did what we were supposed to do,” Cisar said. “We told them we were going to ground it and pound it a little bit and give it to Klypson. A very good job by him, our offensive line and fullbacks.”

Sobutka played much better after halftime, converting two third downs with his legs to keep drives alive and converting a third-and-long on a 25-yard screen pass to his twin brother, Braden.

“We made some third down plays when we had to make third down plays (Friday),” Cisar said. “It was huge to stay on the field and keep the clock going.”

Brennan Sobutka finished 2-of-10 for 33 yards with an interception while running for 22 yards.

Tristen Root was Keyser’s bellcow, rushing 24 times for 113 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Logan Rotruck completed just 5-of-16 passes for 41 yards with a touchdown and interception.

For JM’s defense, Maverick LeMasters had a sack and a half, Bryce Cook had one of his own and Braden Sobutka also got to the quarterback.

John Marshall 30, Keyser 14

Keyser 0 14 0 0 — 14

JM 14 7 3 6 — 30

JM — Wallace run 1 (Fitzpatrick kick)

JM — Hughes run 30 (Fitzpatrick kick)

K — Keller pass 4 from Rotruck (Parks kick)

K — Root run 20 (Parks kick)

JM — Wallace run 15 (Fitzpatrick kick)

JM — Fitzpatrick field goal 37

JM — Fitzpatrick field goal 33

JM — Fitzpatrick field goal 33

RUSHING: Keyser47-198-td (Mele 7-23; Root 24-113-td; Rotruck 11-18; Shoemaker 2-16; Stainislawczyk 2-24; Kingman 1-4). John Marshall 42-196-3td (Wallace 33-152-2td; Bre. Sobutka 8-22; Hughes 1-22-td).

PASSING: Keyser 5-16 41-td-int (all Rotruck). John Marshall 3-11 65-int (Bre. Sobutka 2-10 33-int; Hughes 1-1 32).

RECEIVING: Keyser 5-41-td (Keller 3-25-td; Shoemaker 1-7; Sions 1-9). John Marshall 3-65 (Collett 2-40; Bra. Sobutka 1-25).

FIRST DOWNS: Keyser 14. John Marshall 15.

PENALTIES: Keyser 8-80. John Marshall 10-62.

FUMBLES: Keyser 2-1. John Marshall 3-1.