West Virginia's Landon Thomas and Ohio's Austin Gautier were named MVP's for their respective teams Friday night in the BACF Classic at Bill Hanlin Field in St. Marys. Also pictured are Jodi Mote (Left) and Barry Cheuvront (Right). (Photo by Mike Morrison)

ST. MARYS – On a night when a whole host of deserving candidates could have claimed Most Valuable Player honors, West Virginia’s Landon Thomas claimed the hardware as the Mountaineer squad snapped a two-game losing streak with a dominating 26-7 win over the Ohio squad in the 31st Annual Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis Football Classic at Bill Hanlin Stadium in St. Marys.

Thomas earned MVP honors for the West Virginia squad after catching four passes for 108 yards and a pair of first half touchdowns.

The former Doddridge County Bulldog made his presence felt right away as he caught a 64-yard touchdown pass on the very first play from scrimmage from his former high school teammate Brysen Dixon.

That play pretty much set the tone for what was to come as the WV squad would go on to take a 20-0 lead at the end of the first half.

The scoring play was something the WV squad had in the works all week long during practice.

“That first play we knew all week long that was going to be our first play and it was,” said Thomas. “I didn’t really expect it to go that big but I guess it did.”

That touchdown would be the only score in the first quarter, but the WV squad got right back on the board early in the second quarter when Dixon connected with Tucker County’s Reid Kisamore on an 11-yard touchdown pass to increase the lead to 14-0.

Six minutes later Thomas was at it again as he made an outstanding diving catch in the end zone on a pass from Wirt County’s Tyler Smith for a 26-yard touchdown.

While his first touchdown required him to out-run an Ohio defender into the end zone, the second one was a thing of beauty as Smith put the ball in the perfect place for Thomas to make the diving catch.

“The second one was just a deep sluggo route and I saw the ball go deep,” said Thomas. “At first I didn’t think I was going to have to dive for it but I did and fortunately I was able to pull it in.”

Both Dixon and Smith surely garnered some consideration for the MVP award as both signal callers fired a pair of touchdowns while Kisamore also deserved attention after catching his second touchdown pass of the game in the closing minutes of the lop-sided win.

“Our passing game was really on and I don’t think they knew what to do with all the weapons we had,” said Thomas. “We have quick receivers and we have tall receivers and a couple of really good passers too.”

Thomas will play his college ball this fall at Glenville State and the future Pioneer treasured his time on the field one last time at the high school level.

“It’s a big honor to play for a cause as important as Cystic Fibrosis and I’m glad I got to do it,” said Thomas. “I’m honored to get the MVP and it was great to be part of a team with so many great players.”

The Ohio MVP award went to Nelsonville-York running back Austin Gautier, who accounted for the only Buckeye score.

The Buckeye squad tried to move the ball by putting it in the air in the first half but that changed dramatically in the third quarter when they leaned on Gautier to get their first score of the game.

The Ohio team ran the ball 11 consecutive times as they marched 89 yards capped by a three-yard plunge by Gautier.

Gautier handled the rock eight times on the drive including the final one that resulted in the touchdown.

“We were moving the ball really well and shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times and didn’t get anything out of it,” said Gautier. “In the second half we came out much more physical and it worked but it still didn’t turn out how we wanted it to,”

Taking mostly direct snaps in a Wildcat formation in the second half, Gautier piled up 129 rushing yards on 22 touches.

The former Buckeye had high praise for the guys in the trenches that made his big night possible.

“I had great lead blockers all night and the whole offensive line was amazing,” said Gautier. “They really set it up for me and it’s great to come out here one last time and win this award.”

Unlike Thomas, Gautier’s plans going forward don’t include playing at the collegiate level, making his MVP night even more special.

“It’s awesome to get to do this one last time and for such a great cause like Cystic Fibrosis,” said Gautier. “I got to play one more time with Brody (Goodrich) who I have played with since second grade and to meet all these guys now they are like brothers.”