Photo by Kim North Wheeling Central’s Maddox Stillion (19) chases Tucker County quarterback Samuel Marks during Friday night’s W.Va. Class A quarterfinal playoff game at Wheeling University’s Bishop Schmitt Field. The Maroon Knights won, 41-8.

WHEELING — During its hey-days, Wheeling Central made a habit of practicing on Thanksgiving Day in preparation for the W.Va. Class A state championship game.

Thanks to a 41-8 quarterfinal drubbing of visiting No. 8 Tucker County (7-5) on Friday night at rainy Bishop Schmitt Field on the campus of Wheeling University, the Maroon Knights will be working on the turkey holiday once again. However, this time it will be for a berth in the championship game.

Wheeling Central will meet the winner of today’s quarterfinal between East Hardy and Pendleton County. That contest will once again be played in Ohio County, with the day and time yet to be determined.

“We love to practice on Thanksgiving Day. That’s something that we made a habit of,” veteran Wheeling Central head coach Mike Young said.

The top-seeded Maroon Knights (8-2) defense set the tone early. After Niko Kusic connected with Joey Hall on a 41-yard touchdown pass on the third play of the game, Troy Mortakis and Max Olejasz returned back-to-back interceptions to the house as the margin quickly ballooned to 21-0 with 8-minutes, 51-seconds still showing on the first-quarter clock.

Mortakis, a defensive end, tipped a Samual Marks pass to himself, broke a tackle at midfield and rumbled 55 yards to paydirt. On the next Mountain Lions snap, Olejasz, an outside linebacker, stepped in front of a screen pass and waltzed 12 yards into the end zone.

Clay Petry was perfect on the three PATs and would finish the game with 6-of-7.

“Our defense played lights-out. We made a few mistakes, but we didn’t break,” Young added. “I can’t ever remember having back-to-back interception returns for touchdowns. Troy is getting better and better every week. He is playing really hard.”

After Marks scored on a 1-yard plunge to make it 21-6 after the two-point pass failed, Wheeling Central bumped the count to 27-6 when Kade Koroneos went off the left side of his line standing up.

Kusic got into the scoring act when he couldn’t find a receiver, scrambled to his left before reversing his field. He found some downfield blocking from Olejasz and Koroneos as he scampered 42 yards to paydirt. Petry’s two PATs made it 34-6 at the half.

Dustin Sanner crashed in from a yard out and Petry’s placement capped the Maroon Knights scoring.

Tucker County added the final two points when they tackled a Maroon Knight runner in the end zone after being stopped on fourth-and-goal from inside the 5.

Wheeling Central racked up more than 300 yards of total offense as it ran 28 times for 189 and three scores. Kusic led the way with 106 on 10 carries, while Koroneos, who went over the 1,000-yard mark, ended up with 98 on nine totes. Kusic also completed 5-of-9 passes for 126 yards.

“Think about that. We only had eight regular-season games and he was sitting right around 900 yards,” Young noted. “He’s a great athlete and a joy to coach.”

Tucker County could only muster 67 yards rushing on 33 carries and passed for 127 on 14-of-32 as Marks equaled his season total with four interceptions. In addition to Mortakis and Olejasz, Hall and Joey Jerrome also picked off passes.

“I can’t say enough about our program, our players, our fan base and my coaches. All of those things make a program, and I’m so proud of everyone,” Young said.