John Marshall is 0-8 against Wheeling Park since November of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The John Marshall Monarchs will be playing at home against the Wheeling Park Patriots at 7:00 p.m. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: John Marshall has struggled recently with three losses in a row, while Wheeling Park will arrive with four straight victories.
John Marshall fell victim to Morgantown's stalwart defense two weeks ago and couldn't make it onto the board. They were beaten by the Mohigans 48-0. While losing is never fun, John Marshall can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' West Virginia football rankings (they are ranked 67th, while Morgantown is ranked 11th).
Meanwhile, Wheeling Park put the finishing touches on their fourth blowout victory of the season on Friday. They blew past Parkersburg South 64-14 at home. With Wheeling Park ahead 44-0 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Wheeling Park's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Aiden Davis, who threw for 265 yards and four touchdowns on only 17 passes. Davis hasn't dropped below three passing touchdowns for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Amare Johnson, who rushed for 136 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 7.2 yards per carry.
John Marshall's defeat was their fifth straight at home, which dropped their overall record down to 1-8. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 8-1 Bridgeport and 6-5 Union Local (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 60.9% over those games). As for Wheeling Park, their win bumped their record up to 6-2.
John Marshall was taken down by Wheeling Park 70-10 in their previous matchup back in November of 2022. Thankfully for John Marshall, Brett Phillips (who threw for 464 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 77.8% of his passes) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
