North-Central Report: Week 9

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Preston (5-2) at University (7-1)

Preston has won four in a row and is in a position to capture its first playoff birth since 2008 with a strong finish. The Knights end the regular season with games against UHS, Buckhannon-Upshur and Bridgeport.

Those teams have a combined record of 18-4.

“The last part of our season will be the toughest part of our season,” Preston coach Jonathan Tennant recently told the MetroNews High School Sportsline show. “But the weather is turning cold and we like to say we play our best football of the season when the weather gets colder.”

Senior Josiah Nuse continues to lead the way with 1.395 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns.

“He’s just a fast kid,” Tennant said. “Once he gets to that second level he’s hard to bring down,”

Preston’s program has enjoyed major success this season after five year run of 7-42 since that last playoff appearance in 2008.

“It’s one of the best feelings in the world,” Tennant said of the success the program has enjoyed this year. “We don’t receive any funding from the county for our sports programs at Preston. We’ve had to go out and raise money for everything; transportation, coaches salaries, equipment, everything. This group of parents we have now have been tremendous. They’ve helped us raise thousands of dollars. It’s been very exciting.”

As for the reasons for the success?

“This is our third year in the program,” said Tennant of his coaching staff. “The players know the system.  We started the year with the most talented and most experienced group we’ve had. The kids have worked very hard to have this success, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

That starts this week against a University team that overcame a flu bug that moved through the team the week leading up to the Lewis County game last Friday. The Hawks fell behind 7-0, but rallied to get just enough offense against an excellent Lewis County defense. UHS won the game 16-7 as Holden Talton hit three field goals and senior receiver Tristan Lucas scored the Hawks only touchdown on a 30 yard pass reception.

Class AAA No. 5 University (7-1) picked up a solid win over No. 10 Lewis County (6-2) 16-7.

“We took this as a playoff game,” Lucas said after the Lewis County victory. “It was a playoff-like atmosphere. We have a chance to finish with a very high seed heading into the playoffs and the coaches really pushed the importance of that going into the (Lewis County) game. Now we just need to keep it going.”

University’s defense matched Lewis County’s effort. The Hawks held the Minutemen to just 211 yards of total offense. The only time the Minutemen crossed mid-field in the second half, Jeremy Eckles and Mitch Phillips knocked them back with a 10-yard sack.

University has now won five in a row and will close the regular season with this game at home against Preston and then a trip across town to face Morgantown in the MoHawk Bowl on Halloween night.

 

John Marshall (4-3) at Morgantown (3-5)

John Marshall has a very difficult final three weeks with road trips to face Two-Rivers Athletic Conference foes Morgantown, Brooke and Wheeling Park.

Morgantown has won six in a row in this series by an average score of 41-14. Last year’s game was the closest of those six games as the Mohigans won 21-7 at Glen Dale.

MHS has struggled for wins of late, having lost four in a row. Last week, Morgantown lost a fourth quarter lead for the third time in this four game streak. Musselman scored the final ten points to hand the Mohigans a 27-20 setback last Friday.

Morgantown fell to 3-5 on the year with a 27-20 loss at Musselman (5-3) in week eight.

The final touchdown came when MHS was driving for a potential go ahead score. Musselman’s Deonte Glover recovered a fumble and raced 52 yards for a touchdown with 23.8 seconds left. Glover also returned to kickoffs for touchdowns as the Mohigans defense did not allow a touchdown in the game.

The Mohigans will close the regular season with back to back home games against John Marshall and rival University in the next two weeks.

 

Fairmont Senior (5-2) at Buckhannon-Upshur (5-2)

The Polar Bears came off a bye week to beat Braxton County 35-15 last week.  Joseph Toothman scored three touchdowns including one on a return of a blocked punt.

Buckhannon led Lincoln County 12-7 at the end of one quarter last week despite not running a single offensive play from scrimmage in the first quarter. Brandon Mallett had a 78 yard interception return for a touchdown and an 71-yard kickoff return for a score in that first quarter. Mallett finished with four touchdowns on five touches of the ball in the Bucs 46-21 victory. Defensive leader Marcus Lofton intercepted his sixth pass of the season in the win.

The Fairmont/Buckhannon series was resumed last year following a one year hiatus. Fairmont Senior won the game 49-7 at Buckhannon. The Polar Bears have won seven in a row in the series with Buckhannon’s last victory coming back in 2005.

 

Gilmer County (3-4) at Notre Dame (5-2)

The Irish ran their winning streak to five with a 49-21 win over Madonna last week.

“After that 0-2 start we had a heart to heart talk with all of our seniors,” said Notre Dame coach Sam Alvaro. “We had a week off as well which was at the perfect time. After that, our seniors decided to play and everyone just followed right along and we’ve played very well since then.”

Notre Dame started the season with five consecutive road games. Alvaro made a plea to his team going into a week three game against Bishop Donhue.

“I told them this was the most important game of our season,” Alvaro recounted. “It was huge. 0-3 would have pinned our backs against the wall. The players raised up and played very well.”

The Irish haven’t lost since.

Gilmer County is coming off a bye week. Last time out, the Titans lost 29-28 on the road at Doddridge County back on Oct. 10. Three of the Titans four losses have come on the road. It’s an extremely young Gilmer County team with just four seniors among the 21 players listed on the roster.

Notre Dame and Gilmer County are meeting for the first time since 2009. The teams split the last two meetings in ’08 and ’09.

 

Clay-Battelle (7-0) at Van (4-4)

The unbeaten Cee-Bees will finish their season with three consecutive road games at Van, Notre Dame and Madonna. Clay-Battelle finished last week’s 34-6 win over Cameron with third string quarterback Elijah Steele at quarterback. Steele, just a sophomore, took over after veterans Jarret Hockenberry and and Jacoby Steele were injured in the game. The team is hoping to get those players back this week. Van is currently on a four game winning streak.

 

Lewis County (6-2) at Elkins (3-4)

The Lewis County defense continued to play well as the unit allowed just one touchdown in a 16-7 loss at University last week. The Minutemen finished that game without a couple of key players as linebacker/wingback Isaac Kemper and cornerback/receiver Ryan Watson were both injured in the UHS contest. Lewis County will try and lock down a playoff spot as it plays its final two games on the road at Elkins and Shady Spring.

Elkins has won two in a row following a four game losing streak. Mo Kelly had 239 yards rushing and four touchdowns during a 34-14 road win at Oak Hill last week. Kelly has nearly 13-hundred yards and 17 touchdowns on the season. Elkins has a deep offensive backfield as seven different backs say action in that game last week.

 

Doddridge County (6-1) at Valley (5-2)

Both teams head down the stretch harboring playoff hopes.

Doddridge County has won five in a row and it played well on both sides of the ball in a 20-0 win over Philip Barbour last week. The Bulldogs got a combined 277 yards rushing from Wyatt Ford and Brandon Stewart. The defense came up with three interceptions while holding the Colts to 35 yards of total offense.

The path for Valley figures to be a little more difficult as the Lumberjacks last three opponents have a combined record of 14-7. Valley, has, however, surpassed its win total for the past two years combined.

 

Lincoln (2-6) at Grafton (3-4)

Lincoln was shutout last week by Robert C. Byrd just one week after scoring a season high 36 points in a win over Ritchie County.

Grafton is back home in an effort to snap a four game losing streak.

Lincoln has won three in a row in this series including a 45-14 victory last year. Prior to that streak, Grafton had won six in a row against Lincoln.

 

Robert C. Byrd (5-2) at North Marion (0-7)

RCB has outscored its last three opponents 155-7 following a Sept. 19 loss to Bridgeport. The Eagles defense has posted back to back shutouts. RCB rolled up seven sacks as it held Lincoln to under 100 yards of total offense last week.

The Huskies have three opportunities remaining to try and get that first win. This one will be a tough matchup as the Huskies offense has struggled. North Marion has scored seven points or fewer in five of their seven games so far.

 

St. Marys (7-0) at South Harrison (4-3)

South Harrison is putting up very good defensive numbers. The Hawks have allowed just six points over the course of the last three games. Last week, the Hawks held Webster County to just 21 total yards.  Chase Jenkins scored all three touchdowns in a 20-0 win.

It was the third shutout victory of the season for South Harrison. The Hawks will have to come up with their best defensive effort of the season as they are up against the top ranked Class-A team in the state.  St. Mary’s has averaged nearly 43 points per game so far.

The only close call for the Blue Devils so far this season was a two point win at Williamstown earlier this month.





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