By: Eric Little – Seven Ranges Radio
If you ever wanted a loaded slate of games in the penultimate week of a season, you’ve got it here in the Mid-Ohio Valley. The biggest is a cross-classification matchup between two teams with a legitimate shot to reach Wheeling Island later this season. But this week also features matchups between teams fighting for playoff positioning, or in a couple cases, their very playoff lives. Here are this week’s games:
Ravenswood (7-1) at St. Marys (8-0)
While it still remains to be seen what the most popular Halloween costume of 2014 will be, everyone in attendance at Imlay Field in St. Marys will be dressed as devils of one sort or another. Ravenswood’s Red Devils have been one of the most dominant teams in Class AA this season, with their only loss coming to one of the best Class AAA teams in the state.
The Blue Devils of St. Marys have run roughshod through Class A once again this season, with an unblemished 8-0 record. For St. Marys, that record stayed peerless last week in a 42-7 win over South Harrison. Jeremy Pratt ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns, while Corey Stewart added two scores. Thanks to a 65-yard pass play, Addison O’Brien also reached the end zone for the third straight game and is becoming quite the threat, both on offense and in special teams, for St. Marys.
Ravenswood dismantled Clay County in a 64-32 spanking. 55 first half points helped the Red Devils wash away the bitter memories of the previous week’s loss and led Ravenswood to a sizeable halftime lead. Rhys Jelich ran for 213 yards and three touchdowns – including two on runs of greater than 50 yards – while throwing for two more scores. Ben Johnson caught a touchdown pass and returned an interception 40 yards for a second score.
Though St. Marys boasts one of the most successful shutdown defenses in any class, they’ve not had to stop anyone of Jelich’s caliber all year – with the exception of Williamstown’s Dakota Watson. Ravenswood will face the same challenge in this game that they’ve really only faced against Point Pleasant – stopping a team with multiple offensive threats. In the backfield alone, the Blue Devils have Pratt, Stewart, Jason Allen and Bret Fetty sharing carries – not to mention the dual-threat at quarterback of Evan Illar and Wesley Parsons.
That depth is a strength for St. Marys for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the fact that opposing defenses have no idea at any given time which one of those threats they should zero in on. The challenge defensively for St. Marys is quite the opposite – stopping Jelich when you know he’s going to get the ball in the bulk of the situations. The Blue Devils were able to contain Williamstown’s Watson for chunks of that game, but a total shutdown might be more than this defense can handle. With all that skill involved for both sides, the team that’s more physical up front and that does a better job to push around their opponent for 48 minutes stands the best chance to come away with the win.
There’s no question, Ravenswood is the toughest threat remaining on the St. Marys schedule in the Blue Devils quest for an unprecedented second straight undefeated regular season in school history. With the Battle for the Hatchet looming next week against Ripley, this game with St. Marys is very winnable despite the strength of the Blue Devil offense, but one that Ravenswood shouldn’t take lightly.
This game can be heard locally on Lite Rock 93R (93.9 FM) and online at www.literock93r.com. In addition, Suddenlink cable subscribers can see a tape-delayed broadcast of this game at 8 p.m. Saturday on Network West Virginia, as well as On Demand and online next week. For St. Marys, it’ll be the Blue Devils’ third television appearance of the season.
Wheeling Park (6-2) at Parkersburg South (6-2)
After scoring 14 combined points in back-to-back weeks against Point Pleasant and John Marshall, the Parkersburg South offense has combined for 104 points in back-to-back wins against Brooke and Greenbrier East. For the Patriots, it must be like if the Hoover Dam were to bust open.
Brendan Schwendeman paced much of the Patriot offense, running for 109 yards and three touchdowns while also catching a touchdown pass. Cole Day followed up a solid game with five catches for the Patriots while quarterback Garrett Gilkeson welcomed back one of his favorite targets – Cody Boggs. Boggs hadn’t played since the Point Pleasant game, but saw limited time against the Spartans in last week’s 59-34 win. Gilkeson ran for two touchdowns and threw for another in yet another big game from the Patriot signal-caller.
This week’s opponent – Wheeling Park – saw a four-game win streak come to an end at the hands of the powerful Steubenville, Ohio Big Reds. Steubenville doubled up on Wheeling Park with a 42-21 win over the Northern Panhandle Patriots. Wheeling Park’s ability to win the close games might give them an edge in this one. In games decided by four points or fewer, the Island-dwellers are 2-1 – including a one-point victory against Morgantown earlier this month.
But with Boggs likely to be back in his regular role and Schwendeman and Gilkeson clicking on all cylinders, the Parkersburg South offense will not be easy for Wheeling Park to stop or slow down. Defense has been the X-factor for Wheeling Park this season; the panhandle Patriots have allowed fewer than 20 points in all but two of their eight games this season.
A crucial turnover or a huge special teams play could decide this one – the latter of which could go against Parkersburg South. The Patriots gave up two kickoff return touchdowns last week to Greenbrier East speedster Zayvion Lawson.
Call it a toss-up…and yet another possible classic matchup in the making between two schools that have provided their share of memorable moments in recent years. This game can be heard locally on V96.9 (96.9 FM) and online at www.v969radio.net.
Valley Wetzel (5-3) at Tyler Consolidated (5-3)
Tyler Consolidated had a chance to take a big step as a program last week against Magnolia. Though the Silver Knights have taken strides under second-year head coach Ryan Walton, and stand an excellent shot to make the playoffs, they just aren’t at the caliber of a Magnolia right now. That was evident in a 34-0 loss to a Magnolia team that was finally able to show how much better they were than the 2-5 record they brought into the contest.
Magnolia scored early and never looked back as the Blue Eagles worked off some of the frustration of four of those five losses coming by a combined nine points. All is not lost for the Silver Knights, as they now close the regular season with very winnable home games. The first comes this week against the 5-3 Valley-Wetzel Lumberjacks in a likely playoff elimination game. The next comes next week when Tyler Consolidated welcomes Oak Glen and their Class AA bonus points to town.
First things first, the Lumberjacks got out to a 4-0 start this year, but have lost three of their last four contests to put their playoff future in doubt headed into Week 10. Last week, Doddridge County’s Wyatt Ford proved to be too much for the Lumberjacks to stop in a 27-7 loss to the Bulldogs. Ford ran for 144 yards and two touchdowns for Doddridge County.
While the Silver Knights don’t boast that sort of singular threat, Jace Reed and Jordan Baker have potential to give the Lumberjacks similar headaches and to rack up the same kind of numbers. If the Lumberjacks have issues stopping the Silver Knights on the ground, that might be enough to punch Tyler Consolidated’s first trip to the playoffs since 2007 before Oak Glen even comes into play.
This game can be heard locally on WXCR-FM (92.3 FM) and online at www.wxcr.com.
Riverside (0-9) at Parkersburg (4-4)
It took three overtimes, but Parkersburg’s playoff chances remain alive and well heading into the final two weeks of the season. The Big Reds went on the road and downed George Washington 27-24. After the Patriots put a field goal on the scoreboard in their possession of the third and final overtime – the first score by either team in the overtime periods – Corey Burdette’s touchdown provided the game-winner for the Big Reds.
For Burdette, it was his second score of the night. The Big Reds tied the game in the final minutes on Josh Trembly’s 88-yard touchdown pass to Dan Fox. So now, the Big Reds return home for their final two games of the season against winless Riverside and their crosstown arch-rivals, the Parkersburg South Patriots. Expect a focused group of Big Reds who know that if they take care of business this week, the crosstown matchup in the final week will come with the possibility of a playoff spot if Parkersburg can knock off the Southsiders.
George Washington (4-4) at Ripley (3-5)
Ripley showed some of the results of a season-long improvement in a 41-7 win last week over Lincoln County. Jake Martin had a red-letter day for the Blue and White, running for 155 yards and three touchdowns. Martin also returned a punt 65 yards for a fourth score.
George Washington’s playoff hopes took a huge hit last week in a triple-overtime loss to Parkersburg, but the Patriots can still rebound and play for a winning season at the very least. Expect a solid rebound effort to put George Washington back on track to get that winning season against Ripley this week.
Williamstown (6-2) at Ritchie County (3-5)
The offense continues to flow freely for Williamstown as the Yellowjackets have tallied 112 points in the last two weeks. After thrashing Wirt County, Williamstown downed cross-county rival Parkersburg Catholic 42-6 last week. Williamstown used the win as a chance to hone their aerial attack, as Dakota Watson fired a single-game high three touchdown passes – two to Michael Beck.
Watson also ran for 136 yards and two more touchdowns. Ritchie County still hasn’t recovered from an overtime loss to Doddridge County in late September – a game that proved to be the first of four consecutive losses. The latest of those came in a 49-21 loss to Weir a week ago. So while this weekend might be Halloween, the Rebels have been dressed as zombies for about a month now.
For Williamstown, last week’s focus on the passing game was a genius move by head coach Terry Smith – a guy who perennially gets the most out of his roster and one of the best playoff coaches in the state at any level. Expect the Yellowjackets to once again use this week’s game to get ready for when the games really count. And by the way…the Rebels defeated the Yellowjackets last year IN WILLIAMSTOWN for the program’s first win against Williamstown since 1997. I’m sure that fact hasn’t been glossed over in the slightest in Williamstown’s locker room this week.
Other Games
Roane County (3-5) at Wirt County (1-7)
Calhoun County (2-7) at Clay County (4-4)
Parkersburg Catholic (2-6) at Gilmer County (3-5)
South Harrison (4-4) at Paden City (3-5)