CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Sissonville’s football program took significant strides in 2013 as the Indians finished the regular season with a 9-1 record and grabbed a No. 8 seed in the Class AA playoffs.
With that No. 8 seed, the Indians earned their first ever home playoff game as head coach Eddie Smolder’s club went on to beat No. 9 Mingo Central, advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1994.
It was a program-building season for Smolder as he now heads into his fourth year with the Indians.
“It was a great year and a great experience,” he said. “We took over an 0-10 team in 2011 and we wanted to build for the future and try to improve each year. So far, we’ve been able to do that with kids who have bought in and worked hard – now we’re starting to see a little bit of the award from it.
“We won two games our first year and then five our second year,” he continued. “Even a bigger task than getting to that level (last year) is staying at that level. My responsibility now is to make sure we stay humble and hungry as a football team.”
The Indians had six seniors on that 2013 team, five of them starters, including 1,000 yard rushing fullback Dominic Walker and quarterback Nathan Miller. Junior Jacob Fisher is expected to fill Walker’s shoes at fullback after splitting time there last season. Senior Tyler Shaffer, junior Jared Wilkinson and junior Austin Burfurd are all expected to get carries out of the backfield as well.
“We have multiple guys that we can play – Dominic was a good player, but hopefully we can plug some guys in there who can be successful in the ground game,” Smolder said.
Sophomore Chance Brown will get a shot at quarterback, taking over for Miller. Although, senior Houston Hill could handle snaps at quarterback, the preferable spot for him would be at receiver where he is the top Class AA returner in receptions.
“We’ll let them battle it out and see what happens,” Smolder said. “It would be tough to move Houston away from receiver, but we’ll see how it goes. We’re excited about Chance – he’s an athlete who played a lot at receiver last year as a freshman and started varsity basketball this past year.
“He’s a smart kid who can run. He’ll get every opportunity to be our guy,” Smolder said of Brown. “If he wins the job, he’ll do a great job.”
Shaffer, Wilkinsin and Fisher will all play key roles for Smolder’s defensive unit as well.
“Last year, we made big strides on defense and finished No. 8 in the state,” Smolder said. “Our goal is to finish top five defensively this coming season. That’s where it starts and ends.
“Tyler Shaffer is our leader and has been since his freshman year,” he continued. “He came in with me and took over our expectations, our attitude and our mindset of what football players should be like. He’s been that vocal leader for four years, along with Houston Hill as well. Those two together are good leaders and great kids – I feel comfortable with them leading this team.”
| SISSONVILLE 2014 Football Schedule |
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| 1 | 08/29/14 07:30PM | H | CHAPMANVILLE | – | ||||
| 2 | 09/05/14 07:30PM | H | WAYNE | – | ||||
| 3 | 09/12/14 07:30PM | H | MINGO CENTRAL | – | ||||
| 4 | 09/19/14 07:30PM | H | SCOTT | – | ||||
| 5 | 10/03/14 07:30PM | A | TOLSIA | – | ||||
| 6 | 10/10/14 07:30PM | A | HERBERT HOOVER | – | ||||
| 7 | 10/17/14 07:30PM | A | CLAY COUNTY | – | ||||
| 8 | 10/24/14 07:30PM | A | LIBERTY (HARRISON) | – | ||||
| 9 | 10/31/14 07:30PM | A | POCA | – | ||||
| 10 | 11/07/14 07:30PM | H | BRAXTON COUNTY | – | ||||
| wins: 0 lost: 0 ties: 0 | ||||||||
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