Morgantown (3-2) at Wayne (3-1)
Morgantown will make the long trip to the southwest portion of the state to face Wayne for the first time. A banged up Morgantown team gave four time defending Class AAA state champ Martinsburg all it could handle last week. Morgantown had leads of 20-8 and 26-15 before Martinsburg got two fourth quarter touchdowns — with a recovered on-side kick in between — to win 30-26.
“It was attrition,” Mohigans coach John Bowers said. “We had so many kids out. We didn’t have any bodies left.
“But we learned we have a bunch of tough guys and a bunch of good young players,” Bowers said. “We learned that we’ve got something we can work with.”
Morgantown may still be a bit shorthanded. Linebacker/running back Logan Wotring and defensive back Ben Waihgboa both left the Martinsburg game with injuries their status is unknown. Morgantown also had a starting offensive lineman ejected from the Martinsburg game. He’ll be suspended for this game.
Wayne may have to play without quarterback Grant Ferguson for the second consecutive week. Ferguson missed last week’s game against Mingo Central with an injury. Nate Adkins played in his place and led the Pioneers to a win. Adkins, in fact, is 3-0 as a starter at quarterback. Wayne has won 24 straight at home dating back to 2010.
Greenbrier East (2-3) at University (4-1)
The Hawks spotted Mussleman 21 points before roaring back with 42 unanswered points to win on the road last week.
“This is one of the strangest teams I’ve had,” said University coach John Kelley. “They often don’t practice well and they have trouble focusing sometimes.”
Once the Hawks regained their focus, they dominated the second half. Quarterback Jeremy Eckels led the offense with 152 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Eckels also threw for 126 yards and two scores. He did throw his first two interceptions of the season in the game. One was returned 65-yards for a touchdown by freshman linebacker Jacob Northcraft to give Mussleman that 21-0 lead.
The University defense tightened up on the second half as it forced a total of four turnovers.
UHS and Greenbrier East are meeting for the second consecutive season. University won last year’s game 56-24. Among the players back from last year’s game, receiver Tristan Lucas got his first career touchdown for UHS last year against Greenbrier East on a 27-yard pass from Jeremy Eckels. Jace Neville and Jeremy Hunter also had touchdown runs in last year’s game.
Greenbrier East is 2-3 on the season, having lost back to back games on the road at Parry McCluer (VA) and Bluefield.
Clay-Battelle (4-0) at Valley (Wetzel) (4-0)
The Cee-Bees continue to roll as they pounded St. John’s, Ohio 63-14 last week. The Cee-Bees have outscored their first four opponents by a combined 206-64. Clay-Battelle senior Jacoby Steele had to have the best game of any player in the state of West Virginia last week.
Steele scored two rushing touchdowns as he led his team with 137 yards on the ground. He threw a touchdown pass while going 7-7 on extra point attempts. He also forced a fumble on defense while recording three sacks and a total of four tackles for loss.
Valley has raced out to a 4-0 start and the Lumberjacks are 3-0 on the road so far this season with victories at Cameron, Tygarts Valley and Hannan.
Clay-Battelle has won nine in a row in the series. Valley’s last win came back in 2004. This year’s game promises to be the most competitive between the two since the Cee-Bees won 20-18 back in 2010.
Buckhannon-Upshur (3-1) at Lewis County (4-1)
Buckhannon has won three straight and the Buccaneers have been scoring a lot of points of late. The Buccaneers have surpassed 40 points in all three wins. The latest came at Oak Hill 41-27 last week. Brandon Mallett scored touchdowns on three big plays, a 59 yard pass reception from Dillon Gaudet and runs of 50 and 27 yards.
The Lewis County defense will provide a significant challenge. Lewis County has allowed just 42 points in five games. The Minutemen have won two in a row since suffering it’s only loss of the season — a 14-7 loss at Bridgeport in mid-September.
Last week, Lewis County held Lincoln County to just 45 yards of total offense in a shutout win.
Bridgeport (4-1) at Elkins (1-3)
Bridgeport’s defense has dominated during the first half of the season. The Indians have allowed just two points over the last three games. Bridgeport has allowed a total of 35 points in five games so far.
Bridgeport completed an impressive three game home sweep of Lewis County, Robert C. Byrd and East Fairmont in consecutive weeks. Now the Indians will play four of their last five on the road starting this week at Elkins.
Elkins will try and snap a three game losing streak. The Tigers win came during week one of the season at North Marion.
These teams have met in each of the last three seasons. Bridgeport has won all three games by a combined score of 130-21.
Braxton County (2-3) at Liberty (3-2)
Liberty looks to get back on the winning track following a 50-16 loss to Weir. The Mountaineers hung tough for three quarters before Weir busted that game open with 26 points in the fourth. Liberty can keep itself in the playoff hunt by starting the second half of the season with a win. Just two of the Mountaineers remaining five opponents current have winning records.
Braxton County has dropped two in a row following a 2-1 start to the season.
Notre Dame (2-2) at Grafton (3-2)
The Irish have won two straight having beaten Bishop Donahue and River View on the road. Notre Dame will play its first five games away from home and then play the entire second half of the schedule at home.
Grafton has lost back to back games against Likely playoff teams Weir and Robert C. Byrd.
Other games in the region:
North Marion (0-4) at East Fairmont (1-4)
Fairmont Senior (3-2) at Lincoln (1-4)
Philip Barbour (0-5) at Petersburg (0-4)
South Harrison (2-2) at Calhoun County (2-3)