Eastern Panhandle Report: Week 2

Eastern Panhandle Report New03

By: Michael Minnich

Mineral Daily News Tribune

The old saying is that the biggest improvement that a team makes is between their first game and their second one. Will holes be plugged? Little creases smoothed out? Things tweaked? We’ll find out on Friday.

 

A No. 3 Moorefield (1-0) at Pocahontas County (1-0), Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Moorefield dug itself out of a 12-0 hole against Frankfort in its season opener, scoring 34 points in the second half to win 41-31.

Wil Schoonover rushed for 170 yards and tallied touchdowns in the passing, rushing, and return games, while Caleb Kite ran for a score and caught another TD pass.

Their reward for beating a then-ranked AA school was a bump up to the third spot in the MetroNews power rankings.

They’ll venture to Pocahontas County, 52-16 winners at home against Tucker County last week.

Moorefield pulled out a narrow 20-14 win in last year’s contest.

 

Berkeley Springs (0-0) at AA No. 5 Keyser (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.

Keyser scored 34 points in the first quarter and were never tested in a 61-13 win at Petersburg last week.

Quarterback Brady Ours rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns on only four carries, Deavonta Johnson scored twice on returns, Amonte Turner caught a touchdown pass and ran for another score, and Cody Rodeheaver rumbled for two rushing touchdowns as well.

Berkeley Springs will have had an extra week to prepare after a Week 1 bye.

 Keyser won last year’s meeting, 62-12.

 

AAA No. 6 Martinsburg (0-1) at Sherando (Va.) (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.

Martinsburg has a losing record. It’s strange to type.

But that’s the situation after the Bulldogs lost to H.D. Woodson at home last week in a back-and-forth contest, 26-24.

Martinsburg took a 24-20 lead in the fourth quarter when Tyson Bagent’s 31-yard toss to Isaac Brown set up Mikey Jackson’s short TD run, but Woodson scored back on a 59-yard TD reception by Edward Hendrix midway through the final period.

This week’s out-of-state opponent is no pushover, either: Sherando opened with a 35-7 win at Louisa County (Va.).

Martinsburg pitched a shutout in last year’s game, 26-0.

 

A No. 9 East Hardy (1-0) at AA RV Frankfort (0-1), Friday, 7 p.m.

Frankfort will face a ranked foe from Hardy County for the second straight week after fading at Moorefield last week.

The Falcons led 12-0 at Moorefield, but the turning point came in the second quarter: in the red zone, the Falcons had a bad snap and a sack to bring up third-and-very long, and an interception set up Moorefield’s first touchdown of the evening.

Noah Bible rushed for over 200 yards and two touchdowns and caught another TD from new starter Carter Houdersheldt.

Nate Strietbeck ran for 120 yards and two scores and, with Bible, impressed in the return game.

But a combination of Frankfort’s cramping and Moorefield’s offense doomed the Falcons to defeat in the second half.

East Hardy’s spread offense had few issues in an opening 62-18 win over Page County (Va.) last week.

Last year, Frankfort and East Hardy met for the first time, and, after a long delay due to rain and lightning in the area, the Cougars actually got the better of the Falcons in the first half before FHS found their footing in the second half of a 35-14 final.

 

AAA RV Spring Mills (1-0) at John Champe (Va.) (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.

Spring Mills emphatically reversed their short history against Musselman, winning 31-0 last week.

After a quiet start and only 14 yards of offense to that point, new recruit Nate Monroe opened up the game with a 68-yard catch-and-run to put the Cardinals in front by a 6-0 score at the break.

Demetreus Jalepes rushed for two touchdowns and 107 yards (101 in the second half) to pace Spring Mills.

John Champe, a new addition to the schedule, won at Woodgrove in overtime last week, 20-17.

 

Petersburg (0-1) at A RV Pendleton County (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.

Petersburg took some consolation out of last week’s opening loss against Keyser in the form of freshman Zach Rohrbaugh, who ran for two touchdowns against the Golden Tornado’s reserves last week.

Pendleton County opened with a 39-15 win over Tygarts Valley and took last year’s contest over the Vikings, 44-0.

 

Oakdale (Md.) (0-0) at Washington (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.

The brothers Maccubbin staked Washington to an early lead by connecting on a 24-yard pass, then Chase ran for a 22-yard score, threw another one 37 yards for a TD, and the Patriots were off and running in a 59-0 victory over Hedgesville.

Oakdale was a playoff team in Maryland Class 2A last year, going 8-2 in the regular season and losing to eventual state semifinalist South Carroll in the first round, 35-12.

The two schools did not meet last year.

 

Hampshire (0-1) at Elkins (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.

Hampshire couldn’t climb out of an early hole against Preston, as three quick touchdowns staked the Knights to the lead for good in a 30-20 final.

Jarette Zopp rushed for 116 yards to spark Elkins to a 17-14 win over North Marion last week.

Hampshire won an overtime nail-biter last year, 38-37.

 

Hedgesville (0-1) at Milbrook (Va.) (0-1), Friday, 7 p.m.

The Eagles will try and end their 16-game skid against a Millbrook squad that thumped them 73-6 last year.

 

Oak Hill (1-0) at Musselman (0-1), Friday, 7 p.m.

Musselman lost four fumbles, two in each half, and only managed 30 yards of offense in the second half of a 31-0 loss to Spring Mills during week one.

 

Bye Week:

Jefferson (1-0)

 

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