Friday stopped that trend dead in its tracks as the Patriots made it two in a row against the Hawks on Friday inside Wheeling Island Stadium, winning 42-35.

University led 21-7 at halftime, and 28-25 after three quarters, but it was the final play of the third quarter that was a harbinger of things to come down the stretch– with Park senior running back Brennan Wack running away with the game — no pun intended.

Wack, who University had keyed in on all night in the run game to that point, burst outside and up the sideline for a 27-yard touchdown with zero’s on the clock for the third quarter, a score that brought Wheeling Park within three points of tying the game. Wack, the reigning Curt Warner Award winner, hit another home run in the middle of the fourth quarter, bursting between University’s final two defenders and breaking away for a 58-yard score.

The best was yet to come though– a 76-yard, shot-out-of-a-canon burst up the middle to the end zone which put the Patriots ahead 42-28 with 2:11 to play.

“That’s the thing with Brennan, is he has the ability to get stuffed… stuffed… then 75 yards,” Wheeling Park head coach Chris Daugherty said. “We just have to be willing to keep giving him the ball sometimes. But again, I thought Jay Bordas in the second half made some throws that were really big. And we’re going to continue that. He has to do that for us. Our wide receivers and Jay started to connect in the second half.

Wack ended with his biggest game of the year- 329 yards and a staggering six rushing touchdowns, a new school record for Wheeling Park.

Wack broke his previous school record of five touchdowns, a mark he set in last year’s playoff matchup vs. Huntington.

“He’s proved it over and over and over again,” Daugherty said. “All last season, all this season, last week- I think he had the least amount of carries he’s had, and still 244 yards. When he gets into the secondary, he’s both physical and fast. And if you don’t get in front of him, if you don’t stop his feet, he’s gonna just pull away.”

Friday was a game full of flags- the two teams combined for 21 penalties amounting to 190 yards. The flag-fest was never more impactful than during University’s short-lived drive before Wack first long touchdown run of the period. In the middle of the fourth, University was set back to a 1st-and-35 after two holding calls and a false start. They would have to punt it away to Park, and watch as Wack gave his team the lead with a 58-yard score.

“You saw the ultimate part of the game right there,” University head coach Eric Snyder said. “Not only were we killing ourselves, but we lost the ability to be able to hit the clock. We were trying to march down the field to be able to score. Not only did we lose the field, but we were losing minutes off the clock with our pace right there. Next time, we wished we had that time back at the end.

“But again, kudos to Coach [Daugherty], Wheeling Park, and Wack’s a heck of a running back. He’s hard to bring down the first hit. They have blockers up front that know exactly what to do with their system. So they did a magnificent job. Our kids themselves, very proud of my kids. They fought very hard.”

While Wheeling Park’s ground game was their focus, University excelled through the air. Harrison Helbig threw for 322 yards and four touchdowns to make it two games in a row where the Hawks have topped 300 passing yards. Three of his touchdowns were to senior Glenn Brown, who twice in the first half torched Wheeling Park on 23 and 71-yard touchdown streaks down the sideline. He finished with four catches for 113 yards and three touchdowns. His third score came with under a minute to play, where he reeled in a contested 15-yard touchdown in the corner of the end zone.

University needed to recover an onside kick for a shot to win, and Wheeling Park’s Jaxson Updegraff recovered it to seal the game.

“I’ll give Coach [Daugherty] a lot of credit, they were able to adjust to what we were doing, that nice counter attack to our defense we were doing, they definitely knew how to make us uncomfortable and that’s what they were able to do […] Our kids fought with a lot of guts, though. Very proud of their performance tonight. Just wish the score could come out to a better outcome for them.”

Besides Brown’s two touchdown grabs in the first half, University’s Brody Kehler also ran in a three-yard score. Kehler was hurt and did not play in the second half. He finished with 41 rushing yards.

Hayden George had a monster day at receiver for the Hawks, hauling in 13 passes for 149 yards and one touchdown.

Defensively, University’s Luke Braham and Hayden George each had interceptions for University. Nolan Yanchak had an interception as well as two catches for 73 yards– a 35-yard and 38-yarder, both of which took Park to the goal line, and both of which ended in Brennan Wack short touchdown runs.

Kayden Fortney had a sack for the Patriots.

“Honestly, it’s what I already knew,” Daugherty said, when asked what he learned about his team Friday. “But I think it was an opportunity for everyone else to see. There’s no quit in them. They play hard. Even last week, when it was kind of over at one point, they played hard. They won’t quit. We got a good bunch of kids. We gotta get a little bit better. We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot, but that’s probably every football team right now, right? But the kids care about each other. They play hard all the way to the end. You can’t ask for anything more than that.”

Wheeling Park (3-1) remains at home next week to face St. Clairsville (3-1). University (3-1) returns home to face Fairmont Senior (3-0).

Wheeling Park 42, University 35

Univ 7 14 7 7 – 35

Whg 0 7 19 16 – 42

U-Brown 23 pass from Helbig (Goodenow kick)

WP-Wack 2 run (Mealy kick)

U-Kehler 3 run (Goodenow kick)

U-Brown 71 pass from Helbig (Goodenow kick)

WP-Wack 10 run (kick missed)

WP-Wack 3 run (run failed)

U-George 8 pass from Helbig (Goodenow kick)

WP-Wack 27 run (Mealy kick)

WP-Wack 58 run (Yanchak pass from Bordas)

WP-Wack 78 run (Bordas run)

U-Brown 15 pass from Helbig (Goodenow kick)

RUSHING: University 27-114-td (Kniska 11-55, Kehler 8-41-td, Helbig 8-18.) Wheeling Park 46-365-6tds (Wack 38-329-6tds, Sands 4-10, Bordas 3-8, Hunley 1-18).

PASSING: University 24-42-322-4tds-int (all by Helbig.) Wheeling Park 6-13-111-2ints (all by Bordas).

RECEIVING: University 24-322-4tds (George 13-149-td, Brown 4-113-3tds, Weaver 3-19, Lewis 2-19, Kehler 1-10). Wheeling Park 6-111 (Yanchak 2-73, Dobrzynski-Hines 2-35, Neider 1-3, Wack 1-0).

FIRST DOWNS: University 22, Wheeling Park 18

FUMBLES: University 0-0, Wheeling Park 0-0

PENALTIES: University 12-105, Wheeling Park 9-85