6:00: Morning News

Northern Panhandle Report: Week 4

Class A No. 16 Bishop Donahue (2-1) vs. Notre Dame (0-2)

The Bishops will look to regroup after a tough 33-28, loss in week three to unbeaten Clay-Battelle. The game turned the Cee-Bees’ way in the third quarter, when Braden Barr returned a kick-off 70 yards for a touchdown, making the score 33-28 and Clay-Battelle held on from there.

The Bishops were led by their dynamic quarterback, Jesse Padlow as he threw for 162 yards and two scores. The downside to his performance last week was throwing three interceptions, if he can clean that up, Bishop Donahue should have a good chance to get back on track, as the Irish are reeling early on in the season.

Notre Dame has endured a tough schedule to open up the year with losses on the road to both Wheeling Central and Parkersburg Catholic as they will get tested again this week. The Irish are led by running back Santino Cava who owns the school’s all-time career rushing yards record.

 

Brooke (1-2) at Steubenvillle, OH

Brooke will be looking to build off of its 28-21 upset victory of University last week as the Bruins will travel to Steubenville, OH for a week four matchup. The Bruins put up huge numbers offensively against the Hawks, amassing 517 yards in the win.

Brooke’s quarterback Aaron Walker has been a huge part of their offense this year as he is becoming more of a complete quarterback. In a week two matchup, he threw the ball 44 times against Morgantown and first year head coach Mac McClean is impressed with his senior’s improvement.

Brooke is 1-2 on the year with losses to Morgantown and Indian Creek (OH), along with last week’s win over University.

“Aaron is coming into his own, he’s reducing his happy feet and urge to bail out of the pocket,” McClean said. “He’s making all of the throws and I expect him to improve every week — his best football is still ahead of him.”

McClean was concerned that coming into the season as a first year head coach and having such a young staff behind him, that the kids might not respond. He looked to his 11 seniors on the team to step up and take a leadership role. Early in the year, he couldn’t be more proud with their efforts.

“All 11 seniors have major contributing roles on the team and this group has been a dream for me,” he said. “They’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do, and they give me everything at practice.”

 

Magnolia (1-1) at River (Hannibal), OH

Josh Sims notched his first career win at Magnolia last week as the Blue Eagles traveled to Greenbrier West and upset the Cavaliers 33-20 in Charmco.

“It was a great experience for our entire team,” Sims said. “We have so many new faces and young kids that it was their first win as well.”

One of those young faces was sophomore quarterback Nick Priem who shined on the big stage, throwing for 226 yards and accounting for four touchdowns in the win.

“Nick was fantastic, it’s real tough for a sophomore to go into a game like that at Greenbrier West,” Sims said. “He stood strong and delivered the ball to his receivers when he needed to.”

Magnolia will travel to their rivals across the border in River, OH as it looks to stave off a hangover from the big victory last week.

“That’s one thing we stressed to our guys, ‘you guys played well on Saturday, but we can’t over look River,'” Sims preached. “It doesn’t matter how good we are, or how good they are, it’s always going to be a tough game.”

 

Class AAA No. 6 Wheeling Park (2-0) at Class AAA No. 10 University (2-1)

Wheeling Park had last week off to rest up and get healthy, something that University could use itself as the Hawks have been decimated with injuries at the running back position. University went into last week’s game already down its top two running backs in Jace Neville and Isaiah Utt. During the Hawks’ 28-21 loss to Brooke, they also lost the services of fullback Dylan Cole.

University’s offense struggled to stay on the field, leaving its defense in precarious situations Brooke racked up 517 yards. With the injuries in the backfield, more will be on quarterback Jeremy Eckels who had two touchdown bombs of 51 and 43 yards last week, but it wasn’t enough to propel his team to victory.

Wheeling Park is coming off of a bye last week after the week two win over Bridgeport 14-10.

Wheeling Park is sitting at 2-0 with win over Taylor Allderdice, PA and a nail-biting 14-10 home win over defending Class AA state champion, Bridgeport.

 

Other games:

Cameron (0-3) at Beallsville, OH

John Marshall (2-1) vs. Bellefonte Area, PA

Madonna (1-2) OPEN

Oak Glen (1-2) at No. 1 Williamstown (3-0)

Paden City (1-1) at Bridgeport, OH

Class A No. 13 Tyler Consolidated (2-1) vs. Class A No. 3 St. Marys (3-0) (THURSDAY)

Class A No. 9 Valley (Wetzel) (3-0) OPEN

Weir (2-1) at Class AA No. 8 Grafton (3-0)

Class A No. 16 Wheeling Central vs. Linsly, WV





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