Senior quarterback Kayden Knapp tossed six touchdowns, four of them to fellow senior Cain Martin, in a much-needed victory for the John Marshall Monarchs, who going into Friday were rated No. 16 in WVSSAC Class AAA, with one week now remaining before the top 16 teams in the class advance to the postseason.

Now at 6-3 on the season, Friday’s was a game that the Monarchs couldn’t afford to let slip away.

“It puts us in better shape for the playoffs, if a couple things go our way, we might get in. But, we gotta go play next week and try to win next week. That’s what I told them– ‘guys, we have no idea.’ Does this get us in? It could, but it could not, because there’s a million scenarios that have to happen. There’s five or six scenarios that have to happen, so we can’t worry about that.

“We did what we needed to do tonight. We rebounded from last week, not playing very well. We’ve done that pretty well this year. We’ve played pretty well at home.”

Knapp threw for 357 yards, all of them coming from just three sources on the receiving end– Martin, Xavier Wells, and Landen Snyder.

It was running back Dalton Cooper, though, who kicked off John Marshall’s big day on offense, taking the Monarchs’ first play of the game up the middle 32 yards on a rush. Cooper, who missed last week’s game with an injury, totaled 54 rushing yards on a limited workload.

Knapp pointed to Cooper’s presence as a reason the passing game opened up on Friday.

“I think it started with our mentality all week,” Knapp said of his team’s performance. “You know, this is an extremely important game for us. We had to win it to stay alive. So, we knew that coming in, and we finally had Dalton healthy, so we knew they were going to have to come up and try to stop the run, and we were just going to be able to expose them in the pass game.”

Knapp finished off the drive with a three yard touchdown pass to Martin in the corner of the end zone. John Marshall had started with great field position after Xavier Wells blocked a Point Pleasant punt at midfield.

John Marshall led 7-0 at first quarter’s end, and Point Pleasant’s Khileel Bryant dashed in a 15-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter, but the Monarchs scored 21 points in the period to pull away before halftime, up 28-7.

It was in the second where the Monarchs’ receivers started winning deep– often.

Knapp threw a 28-yard touchdown to Martin who burned the defense on a deep cross, and Wells pulled away to be wide open on a streak for a 64-yard touchdown reception of his own later in the quarter. With less than two minutes to play before the half, Landen Snyder left his defender in a heap on the outside for an easy five-yard touchdown grab.

The trend continued in the start of the second half, with Martin beating his man deep less than 30 seconds into the third quarter for a 61-yard touchdown.

Martin caught his fourth touchdown of the day on a wheel route with five minutes to play in the third quarter. Matched up with a linebacker in man coverage, Knapp identified a mismatch and lofted a pass 23 yards into the end zone.

“Good offensive production by us,” Cisar said. “Outstanding routes by the receivers. [Knapp] threw the ball really well. We ran some good routes, caught some TDs, hit some big plays, and we made some big plays tonight, which got us going.

“Our defense was a little better than last week. We played good enough. Still some mistakes, and some good things. Got off the field when we needed to go off the field. Got some stops when we needed to get some stops, but really pleased with our offense on moving the ball.”

John Marshall led 42-14 going into the fourth quarter. Point Pleasant’s Isaiah Waminan scored on a 11-yard run in the third, and quarterback Caden Hill plowed in a one-yard touchdown for the first score of the fourth quarter, a touchdown which cut the Monarch lead to 42-21. The Black Knights would get no closer.

Reid Hamrick kicked through a 19-yard field goal with 5:30 in the game, and with the backups in for the game’s final minutes, Nathan Hughes rushed in a nine-yard touchdown for John Marshall for the finishing touches.

The stars of Friday were Knapp and his receiving trio. Martin finished with seven catches for 164 yards and his four touchdowns. Wells reeled in four catches for 131 yards and a score, and Snyder grabbed six passes for 62 yards and a touchdown of his own.

“Our route running was phenomenal,” Knapp said. “Best route running, I think, all of them have ever had. We all were on our best game today.”

“We did a pretty good job up front, giving [Knapp] time to throw a couple times,” Cisar said. “He had to scramble and make throws and make a couple plays, but other than that, had time back there, threw the ball well. Like I said, route-wise, that’s probably the best I’ve seen our receivers run their routes. Crisp, turning guys inside and out, running superb routes, we did a lot of good things on offense.”

Knapp’s six touchdowns were one away from tying the school record. Zach Amedro threw seven in 2004 vs. Hedgesville.