By: Eric Little – Seven Ranges Radio
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It’s finally here…postseason play in the West Virginia High School football season. After an exciting regular season, here are this week’s games/times:
Class AAA #16 Parkersburg South (6-4) at #1 Capital (9-0) (Friday 7:30)
It’s crazy in high school football to see the difference that eight days can make. On the morning of October 30th, Parkersburg South players and coaches woke up to the reality that their team was 6-2 with a big game the following night against Wheeling Park. By about 10 p.m. on November 7th, those same Patriots were gathered in a locker room at Stadium Field following their second straight crushing loss.
The first of those came when Wheeling Park rallied from a 10-point third quarter deficit to edge Parkersburg South 25-24. The second came when South’s archrival – Parkersburg High School – played a near-perfect game and upset the Patriots to sneak into the playoffs with a 17-14 win in the Crosstown Showdown.
Now, rather than possibly hosting a playoff game, the Southsiders go all the way down to the #16 seed and a date with top-seeded Capital. And for that, Parkersburg South head coach Mike Eddy realized everyone involved only has themselves to blame.
“We did it to ourselves. The last two weeks, we’re four points away from being the number eight seed, and now we’re 16.” Eddy said. “But we had one goal at the beginning of the season. The kids wanted to be a playoff-caliber football team and they achieved that. So now our new football season starts.”
And it starts with an offense that’s sputtered for the last six quarters, only scoring 21 points in that span. Furthermore, that offense will be without top wideout Cody Boggs – lost to injury after scoring the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter against the Big Reds last week.
He’s been shut down for the time being with a knee injury. And now the challenge on defense will be to slow Capital’s prolific offense, led by quarterback Tyrhee Pratt. Perhaps South’s biggest challenge will be to counter Capital’s speed.
“The difficult thing is that’s something you can’t simulate in practice.” Eddy said. “Early in the game, it’s going to be an adjustment period for your kids to understand what angles they have to take in pursuit of the ball and adjustments like that. Hopefully you’re in contention once the kids figure it out.”
Capital’s offense has been held to fewer than 30 points just once this year. And the 91 points they scored in an October 24th win against Nitro were the most any team scored in the state – at any level all season. So you might think, then, that the way to even try to defeat Capital would be to try to do to them what Parkersburg did to Parkersburg South last Friday – control the ball through long drives.
And that’s not exactly Parkersburg South’s strong suit in an offense that’s been pass-first all season and has struggled to mount a sustained rushing attack in many of their games this year.
Still, expect Parkersburg South to come out with a few wrinkles up their sleeves and a renewed faith on Friday night. Despite the disappointing end to the regular season, this is still a program with plenty to be proud of in regards to the 2014 season. To go from two wins to six wins and a playoff appearance in just one year shows that the program is growing by leaps and bounds and is on the cusp of the next step.
“These kids are doing everything that we’ve asked them to do to begin the process of making this program different.” Eddy said. “After a 2-8 season, that’s disheartening to a guy returning. You wonder how much buy-in he’s going to have in the off-season and how much trust the team’s going to have at the beginning of the year. And these guys did everything they were asked.”
Make no mistake – the Patriots will work hard and give the Cougars their best effort on Friday. But one thing’s for certain: Eddy and his staff are well-aware of the importance of a playoff appearance to the health of the program, regardless of the outcome Friday.
“There’s a reason why the same teams are here every year.” Eddy said. “Obviously, talent and coaching matter, but you do get that extra practice time every year.”
This game can be heard locally on V96.9 (96.9 FM) and online at www.v969radio.net.
Class AAA #15 Parkersburg (6-4) at #2 Cabell Midland (9-1) (Saturday 1:30)
One thing that seems to be a more common trend than usual among West Virginia playoff teams this year is the number of teams that come limping into the playoffs. The Parkersburg Big Reds don’t fit that description. Winners of three straight, Parkersburg qualified for the postseason and now faces the difficult task of stopping a Cabell Midland team that’s been held to fewer than 40 points just twice this season.
On top of that, the Knights have just one loss – by seven points to the state’s top-ranked team. It’s a tall task, but for Don Reeves’s Big Reds, they had to rise to the occasion just to get into the playoffs. Sitting at 3-4, Parkersburg started its three-game win streak with a triple-overtime triumph at George Washington before back-to-back home wins against Riverside and Parkersburg South.
“We told them three weeks ago it was playoff mode and they accepted that, so for us, this is just phase four and we’re ready to move on.” Reeves said.
The big change is that Parkersburg has limited penalties in their last few games and controlled the football by executing well on offense and winning the time of possession battle.
“We’re playing with more confidence, excited to go to practice every day.” Reeves said. “It culminated with a win Friday night in the last second over South, which, I don’t think we could ask for anything better than that.”
For Parkersburg, Corey Burdette ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns. The Big Reds took advantage of Parkersburg South’s only turnover – a fumble at the Patriot 30-yard line with just under two minutes to go – to set up Josh Roney’s game-winning 30-yard field goal.
This game is a rematch of a 42-21 Knights win over the Big Reds at Stadium Field on September 12th. Reeves said his team has grown a lot since the beginning of the season and is a much different bunch of Big Reds.
“Early in the year, we were making some mistakes. We turned the ball over and we weren’t able to sustain drives.” Reeves said. “So we just have to do what we’ve been doing the last three weeks. Playing good solid defense, controlling the ball, taking the ball out of their hands because they’re a dangerous team. But we just need to control what we control.”
Though they come in as prohibitive underdogs, expect the Big Reds to take their best shot at Cabell Midland. Reeves is willing to take advantage of any edge he can find to pull the upset. His choice of game time is a response to Marshall University’s home football game against Rice the same afternoon.
The thinking is that if that game cuts into what might be a hostile Cabell Midland home crowd, why not play then and try to control the size of that crowd. Reeves even pointed out that some of the biggest Big Reds fans are also Marshall fans themselves. I’m sure they’ll have their DVRs set on Saturday.
Class AA #14 Ravenswood (7-3) at #3 Bluefield (9-1) (Saturday 1:30)
Though a 1-3 finish to the regular season isn’t how Ravenswood would like to enter postseason play, Red Devils’ head coach Mick Price emphasized that his squad is certainly glad to be part of postseason play once again.
“It’s the same draw we had last year. We know Bluefield is one of the traditionally strong programs in the state. No matter what class they’ve been in over the years, they’re going to be in the running for a state championship every year.” Price said. “Most of the time, if you’re going to win the daggone thing, it’s gotta come through Bluefield one way or another. It’s a tough draw, but we’re going to Mitchell Stadium on Saturday afternoon and we’ve got 48 minutes to give it our best shot. And we’re excited to do it.”
Ravenswood is led by running back/linebacker/kick returner Rhys Jelich. Anyone who’s scouted or watched the Red Devils knows the offense runs through Jelich. And that’s an offense that on three separate occasions topped 60 points this season.
Jelich has rushed for over 1,600 yards this year and passed for almost a thousand to lead the charge. According to Price, there’s no question that Jelich belongs in the discussion with the rest of the state’s elite players.
“Obviously, Rhys is one of the better football players in the state of West Virginia, no matter what class he’s in. He does so much both offensively and defensively and special teams. He’s just a really special kid.” Price said.
With as much mileage as Jelich has racked up this year, one might think…how much is left in the tank for the Bluefield Beavers? Price says Jelich is up to the task.
“He loves football. This is a passion for him.” Price said. “He’s responded very well to all the things that have been thrown at him this year.”
Bluefield has scored 40 or more points in all but three of their games this season, but two of those three have come in the last two weeks. The defense has been particularly strong in the last half of the season, averaging just over a touchdown per game. That includes two shutouts.
Class A #16 Wahama (6-4) at #1 St. Marys (10-0) (Saturday 1:30)
In the final regular season game ever at their ivy-covered, longtime home – Imlay Field – the St. Marys Blue Devils took the field and absolutely stunk up the joint for the first 24 minutes. St. Marys was manhandled up front by a strong and fast group of Greenbrier West Cavaliers.
The Blue Devils also committed penalties at inopportune times, turned the ball over twice and failed to get any traction on offense on the way to a 13-0 halftime deficit. But amidst all of that, they still believed.
“To finish the season undefeated, we knew we were going to have to play well in all three phases for four quarters.” said St. Marys head coach Jodi Mote. “We only did it for two quarters, but fortunately we got the win.”
The comeback started with a defensive stop on Greenbrier West’s first series of the second half. Then St. Marys got on the scoreboard with a Jeremy Pratt touchdown run. The Blue Devil defense forced a Greenbrier West punt, and that led to the real game-changer.
A bad snap sent the football bounding toward the end zone, and after Corey Stewart fell on the pigskin, the Blue Devils trailed just 13-12. On their next drive, Pratt found paydirt from 11 yards out to give St. Marys their first lead of the day. After stopping the Cavaliers again, St. Marys chewed most of the fourth quarter with a 16-play drive that stalled on the Greenbrier West 15-yard line.
But on their first offensive play of the quarter, a Greenbrier West fumble gave the ball BACK to St. Marys thanks to Bernie Northrup’s recovery. A short time later, Pratt’s third score of the day sealed the St. Marys win.
“We just made adjustments – offense, defense and special teams.” Mote said of the winning formula. Give credit to our coaches and credit to our kids.”
St. Marys is one of the rare teams that’s been able to make a two-quarterback system work. Wesley Parsons and Evan Illar have split time at the position all year. Mote says that even in the playoffs, that’s not something he’s willing to change.
“Whoever has the hot hand is whoever we’ll go with.” Mote said. “That’s basically how we’ve been doing it all year.”
Now the Blue Devils must face a Wahama program that is in a rebuilding mode, but is still just two years removed from a state championship. In his first full season leading the program, White Falcons’ head coach Dave Barr knows the difference between that state championship team and the one he leads into St. Marys on Saturday is depth.
“We had lots and lots of good football players and a lot of times when we had an injury, we would absorb it and play with someone else that was a good football player.” Barr said. “And now we have to replace that person with a freshman or sophomore. And no offense to any of those guys, but a lot of them aren’t ready to be varsity football players yet.”
Wahama’s four losses are the most the program has seen in recent years, but this team has a quality win against Ohio playoff participant Belpre (a team with eight wins this year) and played tough with a number of other good teams. Barr says his White Falcons will give it their best shot on Saturday.
“We had a lot of change in personnel this year, so we knew that was going to be a challenge for us to get our guys going in the right direction. They’ve responded well to coaching this year.” Barr said. “We’re just going to look at this week like any other week. We know we’ve got a great challenge ahead of us in St. Marys. We’re just going to go up there and give it our very best.”
This game can be heard locally on Lite Rock 93R (93.9 FM) and online at www.literock93r.com.
Class A #11 Pendleton County (7-3) at #6 Williamstown (8-2) (Saturday 1:30)
After the sixth week of the season, the Williamstown Yellowjackets were in a tough place. Though Williamstown was 4-2, the Yellowjackets had just endured very physical losses to Ravenswood and St. Marys – the two most difficult teams on their schedule.
So, a bye week came at absolutely the right time for Williamstown…and the Yellowjackets have responded. Williamstown comes into postseason play on a four-game win streak and is a much healthier team than they were following the St. Marys game. Head coach Terry Smith sees how the chance to heal up and get reorganized was just what the doctor ordered.
“You’ve gotta do something. You hate to look back, but you have to after losing two weeks in a row.” Smith said. “I don’t think we played bad against St. Marys, especially in the second half. So we had something to be positive about. It gave us a chance to take a deep breath and regroup.”
The Yellowjackets are led by Dakota Watson at quarterback, a player who isn’t in his natural position, but has progressed mightily as a multi-faceted threat since the beginning of the year.
“It’s just a matter of being more comfortable with the guys.” Smith said of Watson’s progression as a quarterback over the course of this season. “They all grew up together, but some guys end up playing different positions. So you end up just going with what works.”
It’s always said that actions speak louder than words, and for Watson, that’s how he chooses to lead the Yellowjackets.
“He leads by example. He always has. He works as hard as he can, but he did that as a freshman.” Smith said. “Dakota always works hard. That’s part of the reason he’s successful.”
Pendleton County has struggled to get into the end zone during losses in three of the last four games this season. Though their win came by scoring 50 points against Tucker County, Pendleton County failed to score more than 14 in the three losses that come within the last month.
Class A #9 Moorefield (8-2) at #8 Tyler Consolidated (7-3) (Saturday 1:30)
For the first time since 2007, Tyler Consolidated is a playoff team. Just like in 2007, the Silver Knights will host as Tyler Consolidated welcomes Moorefield on Saturday. Second-year head coach Ryan Walton is glad to be able to deliver the excitement of playoff football to the school and the community and to serve as a complement to Tyler Consolidated’s other successful programs.
“It’s a good feeling. Good for the kids, good for the community, good for the school.” Walton said. “There’s a little bit of a buzz around the school with the cheerleaders and volleyball team and now we’re headed to the playoffs.”
Moorefield enters postseason play after some injuries forced them to go back to the drawing board early in the year. Head coach Josh See made some lineup and philosophical adjustments in response to early season injuries, and the result is a trip to the postseason.
“We started out the season a little more diverse. Our best two receivers got hurt in the first two weeks and we’re relying more on the run at this point.” See said. “We’ve been dinged up all season long, never had the same offensive line from one week to another. We’re relying heavily on Will Schoonover. He’s become the face of our team at this point.”
Tyler Consolidated rallied from a 19-7 first half deficit to sink Oak Glen in last week’s regular season finale by a 30-22 margin. Walton was quick to praise his assistants and his kids for the turnaround.
“Last week, our coaching staff made some nice adjustments at halftime and out kids executed them.” Walton said. “Our kids are young, but now they’ve got ten games under their belt. So that kinda shows there’s no substitute for experience and they’re kinda growing up now.”
The one thing Walton knows for sure about Moorefield is that they’ll be physical up front and they’ll show up on Saturday ready to play.
“They’re going to be a physical football team and they want to control the line of scrimmage like any other team.” Watson said. “We just wanna keep the guys in routine and go out and play hard and see what happens.”
Saturday’s game will air locally on WXCR-FM (92.3 FM) and online at www.wxcr.com.