Glenn Brown starts at QB for UHS, but Hawks struggle on the ground after loss to Mohawk

MORGANTOWN — The official high school varsity football team roster listed on the WVSSAC website doesn’t even list Glenn Brown as a defensive back.

#86 WR/DB, wide receiver and defensive back.

And number 86 is not a number any quarterback would choose. It doesn’t bring back memories of Peyton Manning, John Elway or even Bubby Brister.

But on Friday night, Brown, a junior, lined up behind center to face rival Morgantown.

“I definitely wouldn’t believe it,” Brown said of being a starter at UHS. “I thought I would end up in my normal receiver position.”

However, after posting 425 yards of total offense in a win over Preston last week, it was Brown who got the call against MHS.

“I wasn’t surprised Glenn started today. He was in good shape early in the season and played a lot at quarterback in our summer seven-on-seven games,” UHS head coach Eric Snyder said. “We probably put too much on him today and tried to ask him to do too much.”

Brown finished Friday’s 49-7 loss to the Mohegans with 127 yards on 14-of-29 passing and one touchdown throw. Unfortunately for UHS, he was unable to achieve the same success on the field as he did against Preston. Brown finished with two yards rushing on 10 carries and a long run of 11 yards.

“Last week I thought I played pretty well,” Brown said. “I made some good runs and it made it harder for the defense to contain me, and at the same time I was able to find some open receivers.”

Against the Mohegans’ powerful defense, it was more difficult to get the Hawks’ offense going.

UHS finished with just 205 yards of total offense and just 29 on the ground.

“They were more physically active than us tonight,” Snyder said. “That was the message to my guys at the end of the game in the locker room. We are talking about our preparation in the off-season. We must do everything we can to become bigger, faster and stronger. Even though we had a wonderful offseason last year, it should be even better now.”

Brown echoed his head coach’s comments about what the young Hawks learned from the lopsided loss.

“We know what we need to work on and we know what we need to work on,” Brown said. “We need to get bigger, get better and get ready for the upcoming playoffs.”

Snyder, who has played three defensive backs this season, said he was unsure whether Brown would start in the regular-season finale against Oak Hill.

“Glenn is a tremendous athlete and needs to be on the field and have the ball in his hands,” Snyder said. “He is capable of doing wonderful things with the ball and I still think he has that ability. So, we’ll definitely look at what Oak Hill does and what they present to us to see our best point of attack.”

The Hawks (4-5) will host the Red Devils (8-1) on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m.

— Story by Eric Herter