By: Michael Minnich
Mineral Daily News Tribune
Keyser (6-2) at Frankfort (8-0), 7 p.m.
Is this the year that Frankfort finally beats Keyser?
Since Sean Biser took over at KHS in 2004, the Golden Tornado have lost to their cross-county rival just once, in 2009. Frankfort hasn’t won on home turf in this series since 1996.
The Falcons set a school record by scoring 68 points at Oak Glen last week: Maryland commit Gage Shaffer threw five touchdown passes and Noah Bible scored on the ground once, through the air twice, and on a return.
Keyser was off after winning at Jefferson the previous week.
Frankfort is slotted No. 3 in the WVSSAC rankings despite being the only undefeated team left in Class AA; Bridgeport and Wayne share the top spot by an edge of .125 points.
Keyser is tied with Ravenswood for sixth and is even with or higher than three 1-loss teams in the rankings.
MetroNews voters have FHS fourth and KHS seventh.
Last year, Keyser won, 42-3.
Musselman (6-3) at Martinsburg (8-1), 7 p.m.
After trailing early, Martinsburg got it going, scoring 41 unanswered points to pick up an important 51-12 win at Jefferson last week.
Carter Walburn threw for 179 yards and two touchdowns.
Musselman has been in great form, winning four straight and averaging nearly 50 points a game on offense in that span.
Martinsburg is ranked fifth in Class AAA by the SSAC, while Musselman is 14th.
The Bulldogs are in second with three first-place votes in the MetroNews rankings, while Musselman received votes.
In last year’s season finale, Martinsburg took a 48-12 win home with them from Inwood.
Moorefield (6-2) at Pendleton County (7-2), 7:30 p.m.
If the playoffs started today, this would be a first-round game, and a good one at that.
PC ended a two-game skid last week with a 50-6 win over Tucker County, while Moorefield scored 24 points in the first quarter against Petersburg and received 207 rushing yards and four touchdowns from Wil Schoonover on just 12 carries.
Pendleton County is currently ranked seventh in Class A, while Moorefield is 10th. Pendleton sits ninth in MetroNews’ rankings, with Moorefield receiving votes.
Moorefield squeaked out a 33-30 win at home in last year’s encounter.
Jefferson (5-3) at Hedgesville (0-8), 7 p.m.
Two straight losses from winning positions against Keyser and Martinsburg have severely damaged Jefferson’s chances of getting a home playoff game.
Andrew King had a rushing and a passing score to put the Cougars in front of Martinsburg, 12-10, late in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs opened the floodgates in the second half.
Jefferson’s slide has moved them down to 13thin the SSAC rankings this week; they received just two votes in the MetroNews rankings.
Hedgesville’s nightmare season continued with a 66-6 loss at Hampshire last week.
Jefferson won last year’s game, 30-22.
Clear Spring (Md.) (4-4) at East Hardy (6-2), 7:30 p.m.
East Hardy, ranked 12th by the SSAC, can cement a playoff spot with a victory this week.
The Cougars had last week off after their big 18-16 win at Moorefield, while Clear Spring has posted two straight wins over West Virginia foes, Berkeley Springs and Spring Mills.
East Hardy missed being ranked in the MetroNews poll by one vote. East Hardy won last year’s game, 52-25.
Hampshire (4-4) at Washington (1-7), 7 p.m.
The Trojans’ late run has boosted them to 20th in the SSAC rankings this week, but they would need to win out and get help to have a chance at the field of 16.
A 66-6 bludgeoning of Hedgesville, thanks to 359 yards of rushing, was their second straight win after a 2-4 start.
Washington was never really in last week’s game at Musselman, giving up a touchdown on the opening kickoff.
Washington won last year’s game, 55-14.
Southern Garrett (Md.) (0-8) at Spring Mills (3-5), 7 p.m.
A promising start for Spring Mills has gone off the rails a bit in the last three weeks: losses to Martinsburg, Hampshire, and Clear Spring have removed them from the playoff picture.
This is a good week to get better: Southern had to forfeit a game earlier this year and have struggled mightily, allowing 34 or more points in all of their games.
Southern won last year’s game, 42-0.
Northern Garrett (Md.) (4-4) at Berkeley Springs (2-6), 7 p.m.
Berkeley Springs has alternated wins and losses the last four weeks: it was the latter last week, a 25-14 defeat at Clear Spring.
Northern, who had won three in a row entering last week, suffered a harmful loss to their playoff hopes against Allegany, 38-16.
Northern took a 40-14 decision on the road last year.
Tucker County (3-5) at Petersburg (0-8), 7 p.m.
Petersburg was off last week, while TC took it on the chin at Pendleton County last week, 50-6.
Tucker County was victorious last year, 35-27.