KEYSER, W.Va. — No. 1 Frankfort improved its consecutive wins mark to 24 in a row, cruising to a 41-7 win over No. 3 Keyser in the 49th Mineral Bowl on Friday at Tornado Alley.
“I’m happy with the outcome, kids went out and played hard,” Frankfort head coach Kevin Whiteman said. “It was a hard-fought game, Keyser did a lot of good things. They had a no-quit attitude, no-quit spirit. Played hard, I wish them well in the playoffs. The kids came up, took care of business. We were able to move the football and get stops on defense and play our game.”
The Falcons (10-0) opened with an 11-play, 81-yard drive that picked up six first downs.
Cole Shanholtz scored from a yard out to open the scoring.
“They jumped out on us early, and I just told the boys, we saw a body language we really didn’t like this year,” Keyser head coach Derek Stephen said. “I’m gonna put that on me, I gotta do a better job of making sure we keep them focused, keep everybody locked in. I didn’t do a good job of that today, and you could tell.”
The Golden Tornado (7-3) answered with a 10-play, 52-yard drive down to the Frankfort 33.
A 32-yard pass from Addison Brafford to Dom Crawford was the highlight, but the drive stalled on a blocked field goal.
Frankfort capitalized with a 44-yard touchdown run from Carder Shanholtz on the opening play of the second quarter.
Shanholtz rushed six times for 84 yards and a touchdown.
Keyser’s ensuing drive ended on a punt fair caught at the Falcon 15.
One play later, Braydn Tyler had a huge lane up the middle and was off to the races for an 85-yard touchdown to stretch the Falcon lead to 21-0 early in the second quarter.
“We knew they were gonna come out hot,” Stephen said. “We knew what they’re about, they’re a solid team. They don’t make a lot of mistakes, they run hard, they block hard, play defense, fly to the football. We knew they were gonna come out swinging and we’d have to answer the bell.”
A facemask penalty on a punt set Frankfort up at Keyser’s 42, and eight plays later, Cole Shanholtz scored from eight yards out.
Shanholtz rushed 19 times for 124 yards and a score.
Facing fourth-and-two at the Falcon 43, the Tornado went for it, and Grayson Lambka scored on a 43-yard touchdown run.
Lambka finished with 82 yards on nine carries and the score.
Tyler caught a 17-yard touchdown from Blake Jacobs late in the third quarter for the Falcons and he scored his third and final touchdown early in the fourth quarter on a 24-yard run to finish with 205 yards from scrimmage with 188 on the ground.
The Falcons combined for 567 yards, including 533 rushing.
“It just helps our team, I say it all the time when you have multiple weapons, they can’t keep you on one guy,” Whiteman said of the balanced ground attack. “We’re blessed this year with a lot of speed, which speed kills. When you can spread the wealth like that, it helps your offense a lot.”
Keyser was held to 146 yards with 132 on the ground.
The Falcons have won 10 regular season games in consecutive years for the first time in program history and clinched its sixth perfect regular season.
Frankfort went undefeated in 1995 and 1996, going 9-0 and 10-0.
“It’s phenomenal, not only to be able to do that, it’s the second time in school history we did it back-to-back,” Whiteman said. “It’s pretty special and something they can be very proud of.”
Both teams move on to the playoffs, beginning next week.
The Falcons will be the No. 1 seed in Class AA and await their first-round opponent, which will be finalized this weekend.
The Golden Tornado return to the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
Entering Friday, Keyser was the No. 11 seed in Class AAA but will likely play on the road.
The Tornado qualified for the 2020 playoffs but had to forfeit because of COVID 19.
“Like I said in the beginning of the year, these seniors were different,” Stephen said. “They led different, they did the things they’re supposed to do. I always tell them, you do the little things, the big things take of itself. They did the little things and we got into the playoffs like our goal was.”