Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval  Watch |  Listen
11:00am: Darian DeVries Introduction Press Conference

Confused…Mystified…..At a Loss For Words!

For those of you that know me, you are finding it hard to believe that I could ever be at a loss for words!  However, after what happened last Friday night in Beckley, that is where I find myself.  For those of you that might not be familiar with what I am writing about, here is the picture in a nutshell:  The Capital Cougars boarded buses last Friday night and traveled south on the WV Turnpike for what they thought was going to be a matchup on the football field at Van Meter Stadium in Beckley with the Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles.  What it turned out to be was a trip south for naught! Reason being, Capital and Woodrow Wilson found out just before scheduled game time, no officials would be showing up to officiate the game!  Why?  Because no officials were ever assigned to the game!  Now this situation has happened to schools in the past, but those schools were not members of the same athletic conference.  And, certainly not a conference the size of the Mountain State Athletic Conference!  That conference is headquartered in Charleston and is 15 teams strong in football…….8 in the West and 7 in the East. Both Capital and Woodrow Wilson are active members in the East.  For whatever reason, the game between Capital and Woodrow Wilson does not show up on the MSAC website (www.msacwv.org).  You can look at the schedule for Capital and all their home games are there and the assigned officials for each game are listed.  According to that website, Capital did not have a game scheduled on Friday, October 17th.  If you look at Woodrow Wilson’s schedule, the same is true.  They were not scheduled to play, according to the website and the game is not even listed!  How does that happen?  Everyone from the players, coaches, cheerleaders, band members and all the fans that turned out, including Woodrow Wilson’s complete homecoming court knew there was a game, however the game was never played!

The question remains…..who dropped the ball?  Was it the Mountain State Athletic Conference…..was it the administration at Woodrow Wilson?  For right now, no one is talking.  There are a couple of things for sure…..it is not the fault of the Capital Cougars or their administration.  They were the visitors and their job is to show up on time ready to play….the Cougars did that!  It is certainly not the fault of any official in the state….if they are not assigned, they do not know to show up!  It would appear on the surface, either the MSAC failed in their obligations to their member schools, even though Conference Commissioner Fred Aldridge was quoted as saying “this has never happened before in 16 years and there are too many checks and balances in place for this to ever happen” or, the athletic administration at Woodrow Wilson High School dropped the ball.  Again, that’s how it appears on the surface……and that is what most concerned fans are thinking.  If we are wrong, then let us know.  Maybe something legitimate happened…..maybe it is easy to explain!  And believe me, it does deserve an explanation.  But as mentioned before, no one is stepping up……no one is talking!  I certainly am not privy to all the facts…..and that’s alright…..no one has to keep me “in the loop”.  I am not “throwing anyone or any group under the bus”…..but someone should simply step up and say “I made the mistake, put the blame on me!”  We all make mistakes, but we also have to own them!

Now on to something a little more positive……week number 9 of the high school football season kicks off this weekend with a lot of great games.  In Class AAA, Cabell Midland will welcome Spring Valley to Ona, and while both teams are firmly entrenched into the playoff field of 16, they both need to continue to win to get the highest seeding possible.  The Jefferson Cougars will try to rebound from an eight point loss to Keyser last weekend when they welcome the once beaten Bulldogs of Martinsburg and Wheeling Park will try and take advantage of a struggling Big Red team when they travel to Steubenville, Oh.  In Class AA, Mingo Central will travel to Madison to battle a very good Scott ballclub and Ravenswood will try and bounce back from their loss last week to Class AAA Point Pleasant when they travel to Clay County to battle the Panthers.  In Class A, Magnolia will try to play the role of spoiler as they entertain a 5-2 Tyler Consolidated team and 6-1 Doddridge County will travel to Wetzel County to take on the 6-1 Lumberjacks of Valley Wetzel.

Make sure you follow your favorite high school team this weekend and be sure and join Dave Jecklin and me for GAMENIGHT beginning at 9:30 this Friday night on over 40 radio stations around the state.  If you can’t find it on the radio in your area, check out the live audio and video stream of the program at wvmetronews.com.







Your Comments