HURRICANE, W.Va. — Donnie Mays says Hurricane’s football team has heard plenty of outcries that take issue with the Redskins’ additions to their program by way of transfer.
Yet Mays believes his squad has come to relish an us against the world mentality, while some of the negative chatter centered around the Redskins has led to a more tight-knit team.
If Thursday’s season opener against Winfield in the War on 34 is any indication, a special store could be in season for Mays’ bunch.
Class AAA No. 3 Hurricane dominated from the jump, building a 35-point halftime lead and continuing to pour it on the Class AA fourth-ranked Generals over the final two quarters in a resounding 63-0 victory at Jim McGehee Field.
“You look in that locker room, they’re having fun,” Mays said. “They’re letting all these haters out there in the world motivate them. We love it. Just keeping hating. That’s all we’re going to say.”
The Redskins scored on their opening series, overcoming a pair of penalties and a sack to gain a 7-0 lead on Kylan Grace’s 1-yard touchdown run.
Marc McClain’s interception of a Chase Massey pass brought an end to Winfield’s opening possession and set Hurricane up at the Generals’ 23-yard line.
Three plays later, Hurricane quarterback JacQai Long raced 24 yards to the end zone to make it 13-0 just 7:07 into the contest. Long, a talented senior signal-caller and Marshall commit, began his prep career at Capital, where he played two seasons. He then moved to Akron, Ohio and played his junior campaign at Archbishop Hoban, before returning to West Virginia.
Winfield put together a strong drive on its second series, but an attempt at trickery backfired on the second play of the second quarter when Jayce Miller’s pass was intercepted by LaRon Dues-Hall.
A 45-yard pass from Long to Michael Terrell then led to Long’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Tyshawn Dues, leaving the Generals facing a 20-0 deficit 9:35 before halftime.
Later in the second quarter, Long’s 36-yard touchdown run upped the lead to 26-0, and his two-point pass to Rhett McGrew made the margin 28.
“It’s all about not getting complacent, because we know in certain games this year that we’re going to have to keep it going the entire game,” Long said. “We have to keep our foot on the gas and make sure everything is going the right way.”
Just before halftime, Noah Vellaithambi, the Redskins’ quarterback a season ago, broke free for a 37-yard touchdown run to make it 35-0 at the break.
“They’re breaking arm tackles and that’s important in any type of offense,” Mays said. “But you have to credit the o-line for getting a hat on a hat. Half of those are because we’re locked onto somebody and they’re trying with one arm, so that’s easy to break. But the line is doing a good job of getting to the second level.”
Hurricane went to halftime with 229 total yards, 139 of which came on the ground. Through two quarters, Long completed half of his 10 passes for 90 yards. Terrell was on the receiving end of four passes and accumulated 86 yards over the opening two quarters.
“I’m proud of the fact that 98 percent of our roster is Winfield kids that went through our middle school program and live in our community,” said Winfield head coach Eddie Smolder.
The Redskins scored on their first play from scrimmage in the second half, getting a 59-yard pass from Long to Dues for a 42-point lead.
Elijah Samples’ 60-yard run made it 49-0 at the 8:08 mark of the third quarter, and Hurricane went to the fourth with a 56-point lead after Vellaithambi reached pay dirt from 13 yards out.
Landon Taylor’s 75-yard touchdown run on the Redskins’ final offensive play provided the final margin.
“We’re all going to continue to work and get better. We’re not going to give up. It’s not in our DNA,” Smolder said. “We’re going to keep on working and keep on grinding, learn from this one and move on to the next one.”
Hurricane has won 14 straight in the series and 28 of its last 29 contests against the Generals.
For as explosive and efficient as the Redskins’ offense was, the Hurricane defense was equally stout.
“You get a shutout anytime, it’s a big deal,” Mays said. “That’s a pretty good double-A football team, and that quarterback [Massey] is very athletic, and our kids did a real good job of containing him. I watched his film when he was playing in North Carolina last year and he didn’t really play quarterback there, but we kind of knew that was going to be their guy and I thought we did a good job of containing him.”
