By: Fred Persinger II
Princeton (1-0) at Class AA No. 3 Bluefield (1-0)
The battle for Mercer County this week features two teams that put up some big numbers in Week 1. The Princeton Tigers are coming off a 55-7 win over Shady Spring. Princeton racked up over 400 yards on the ground, led by Jordan Jones who rushed for 154 yards and quarterback Jay Palmer who totaled 147 yards. While the offense was able to move the ball, the defense also did a good job of forcing five Shady Spring turnovers — all of them led to Princeton touchdowns.
Bluefield, meanwhile, lit up the scoreboard in its rivalry matchup with Graham (VA). The Beavers took a 29-21 halftime lead and then exploded in the second half in-route to a 76-48 win over the G-Men. Both teams combined for 17 touchdowns in the contest.
Bluefield’s offense racked up over 520 yards of rushing as senior fullback Corey Coppola scored five times for the Beavers, collecting 131 yards. Sophomore Carlos Reed led the way overall, totaling 173 yards. D.J. Stewart rushed for 107 yards on 15 carries and quarterback R.J. Bourne totaled 119 rushing yards.
Graham did its damage through the air as the G-Men threw for over 300 yards of offense.
Bluefield will try to get some revenge over its Mercer County rival — last year, Bluefield fumbled on the Princeton one-yard line late in the game, falling 32-29.
The Battle of Mercer County will take place at Mitchell Stadium this Friday Night beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Beckley (1-0) at Greenbrier East (1-0)
Beckley started the 2014 season with an impressive 28-0 win over Winfield. Two big things the Beckley coaching staff pushed in the offseason were to be balanced on offense and play as a team overall — the Flying Eagles did both those things in week one.
The offense was balanced as they racked up 390 yards. Ronald Blanks, Jr. led the way on the ground, rushing for 116 yards and two scores as the Flying Eagles in all tallied 214 yards rushing as a team. Senior quarterback Brent Osborne rushed for 79 yards and two scores, while also going 15 of 26 through the air for 176 yards.
Even more impressive, Beckley recorded its first shutout since a 35-0 win over Capital in 2011, holding Winfield to just 131 yards of total offense and just 26 yards rushing in the game.
The opponent for the Flying Eagles this week will be Greenbrier East. The Spartans are coming off an exciting 21-19 win over James Monroe. The Greenbrier East defense stepped up in the final minutes as James Monroe was driving late in the fourth quarter until an interception ended the Mavericks’ comeback with just 27 seconds left.
The Beckley-Greenbrier East rivalry is one that dates back to 1971 and the two teams have played every year since 1982. Beckley holds a 25-15 overall advantage in the series and has won the last three meetings, including last year 52-35. This game a three game road trip for Beckley. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. and the game can be heard on The Big Dawg 99.5 WJLS and at WJLS.com.
Wyoming East (0-1) at Westside (1-0)
The battle of Wyoming County takes place in week two as the Wyoming East Warriors travel to take on the Westside Renegades. Wyoming East is coming off a tough 37-28 loss to Mingo Central. Wyoming East was held to 188 yards of offense, while Mingo Central had three players rush for over 100 yards. The Warriors only ran 39 plays in the game as Mingo Central owned time of possession, having the football for over 30 minutes and running 76 plays.
For Westside, the Renegades were able to defeat the Liberty (Raleigh) Raiders 40-28 behind quarterback Justin Cogar who exploded for 315 yards of offense and five scores. Cogar rushed for 200 yards and was 7 of 12 passing for 115 yards.
It’s the battle for the Golden Shovel this week, which is currently in the hands of Wyoming East after the Warriors defeated Westside last year. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.
Games this week:
Fayetteville (0-0) at Valley (Fayette) (1-0)
Richwood (0-1) at Greenbrier West (1-0)
Pikeview (1-0) at Independence (1-0)
Liberty (Raleigh) (0-1) at Summers County (0-1) – game can be heard on AM560 WJLS and WJLS.com
Tug Valley (1-0) at Meadow Bridge (1-0)
Midland Trail (0-1) at Clay Battelle (1-0)
Montcalm (0-0) at Twin Valley, Va
Mt. View (0-1) at Man (1-0)
Poca (0-1) at Nicholas County (0-1)
Musselman (0-1) at Oak Hill (0-1)
Pocahontas County (1-0) at Moorefield (0-1)
Shady Spring (0-1) at Logan (0-1)