The senior running back finished with 33 carries for 281 yards rushing and three touchdowns as West Marshall (7-2) jumped out to an early lead over West Liberty (3-6) and never looked back, defeating the Comets 34-6 in a Class 2A playoff home opener on their home field in State Center.

“The O-line worked all week to make those holes for me. I can’t appreciate them enough. That’s all I’ve got to say,” Gonzalez said.

After forcing a three-and-out on West Liberty’s inaugural drive, Trojan punt returner Kinnick Geers took the ball into Comet territory, and from there, Gonzalez got to work, racking up 28 yards on his first three carries of the night. It was senior quarterback Vincent Clawson, however, who got West Marshall on the board first, punching it in from 10 yards out to make the score 7-0 with just over seven minutes to play in the opening frame.

Another West Liberty three-and-out set up one of the biggest momentum shifting plays of the game. As Ryker Dengler prepared to punt, West Marshall’s AJ Dee busted through the line and blocked the kick to put the Trojans within 15 yards of their second score of the contest. On the very next play, Gonzalez took the ball up the middle and rumbled into the end zone, and just like that, his team led 14-0 less than halfway through the first quarter.

The Comets showed resiliency on their next drive and benefited from a pair of offsides calls on the Trojans that turned a 3rd and 11 into a 3rd and 1, eventually converting the short first down and getting on the board when Dengler connected with Owen Daufeldt on a screen pass. After a blocked PAT attempt, the West Marshall advantage was cut to 14-6 with 2:48 left in the first.

On their next drive, the Trojans again leaned on Gonzalez, who pushed them into Comet territory and opened up the passing attack for the biggest downfield play of the night, a 35-yard touchdown pass from Clawson to a streaking Dee from the tight end position that made it 20-6 after a missed PAT.

“We do all that in practice, so I was just imagining it in practice. I knew I was gonna get it, and I did,” Dee said. “It feels really good. I haven’t got a touchdown yet this year, so it felt really good.”

The two teams traded unproductive drives in the first half of the second quarter before West Marshall took over at their own 38 with 5:26 to go. After a pair of Gonzalez runs for five and 10 yards, respectively, Clawson found Jace Eich on a screen pass for 18 yards to put the Trojans deep in Comet territory. From there, he went back to the bread and butter of handing it off to his running back, and Gonzalez hit paydirt from a yard out four plays later. At the half, West Marshall held a commanding 27-6 lead.

The third quarter got chippy as both teams incurred a slew of penalties, including an unsportsmanlike conduct on West Liberty head coach Jason Dumont. With less than two minutes left in the frame — and coming off of a crucial goal line stand despite a personal foul and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the previous Comet drive — the Trojans embarked on what would ultimately be their final scoring trek of the night thanks to a pair of huge runs from Gonzalez, who broke one for 24 and another for 33 down to the Comet 20 with 10 more yards tacked on due to a horse collar tackle.

On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Gonzalez barreled full speed ahead from 10 yards out and wound up in a familiar place — the end zone — to push the lead to 34-6.

“The five boys up front, they just had a huge bounce back week, and they dominated,” Clawson said. “So it makes my job pretty easy handing the ball off left and right, so I can’t complain.”

Though neither team scored again, Geers hit a major milestone when he tied the school record for interceptions in a season when he nabbed his eighth pick of the year on a fourth down heave into the end zone.

“My eyes open pretty big, and I know I’ve gotta go hunt it. And I know I’ve gotta get up in the air and go get it and trust the defense and just go get the ball,” he said.

Gonzalez managed to rattle off 45 more yards on the ground before he was pulled from the game with about four minutes to go, and the offensive backups finished it out for the victors.

Although a roughing the passer penalty on what would’ve been the last play of the night gave West Liberty one last chance to score, they were unsuccessful in doing so, and the Trojans celebrated the win while waiting to find out who their next opponent will be.

Head Coach Cody Hackett said his team came out prepared for the moment with the understanding that records mean nothing once the postseason begins.

“You’ve gotta show up, execute and be sharp and crisp in all three phases of the game, and that’s what they did tonight. So it was pretty cool to see. We had a bounce back week up front. I know Ben and Vincent gave our five O-linemen some credit, but we had two tight ends out there that blocked extremely well as well,” Hackett said. “So there’s seven guys up front that really got things rolling and got things going for Ben and Vincent, and if something’s working, we’re not gonna go away from it until they stop it.”

Gonzalez, his coach added, may not have the volume of carries and yards as he has in past years, but he had a feeling he was due for a big night.

“I’m happy for him. I know sometimes he wants the ball. He wants the yards, and he comes out here tonight and gets them, so I’m proud of him,” Hackett said.

As for the penalties, the coach had a simple message for his players going forward.

“It just comes down to, just, keep your mouth shut. When you get into a playoff game, things get heated. Every team’s in it. A team that’s down might get a little chirpy, and it’s always the second guy that gets caught,” he said. “And that’s kind of what happened tonight, so we’ve just gotta clean that up. I told them after the game that it’s gonna cost us the game if we don’t clean that up. We had some penalties out there, but our kids played extremely hard defensively.”

West Marshall finished with 416 yards of total offense, including 345 rushing, and Shane Hanford led the defense with 7 ½ tackles. Although Dengler pulled off a few elusive scrambling runs, the Trojans mostly held him in check and managed to sack him twice.

“Our defense has been our strength and our backbone of our team, and they go out there and here at West Marshall, it’s just kind of funny that all of our kids just really love to play defense. They love to go out and hit. They love to gang tackle. They love to see all the guys in the film and wrap up,” Hackett said. “You never know what can happen, but they fly around. They make plays. They help each other, and it’s pretty cool to see.”