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Wheeling Island – One Win Away!

When the first high school football game of this year was played on Thursday night, August 27th 116 teams had the opportunity to be one of the six teams that would play for a state championship on Wheeling Island December 4th or 5th!  Today, that number has been reduced to only twelve!  Semi-final week is here and those 12 high school football teams still alive will be practicing hard this week because we all know that number will be cut in half when play is over this Saturday night!  Certainly the match-ups look really good!

In Class AAA, the top four seeds have survived and the games this weekend look to be very competitive.  The number one seed in the big schools division has shown no signs of slipping up in the playoffs as undefeated Cabell Midland has won both their playoff games by a combined score of 85-14!  This Saturday afternoon however they will get their toughest test of the playoffs as the 4th seeded Capital Cougars will arrive in Ona looking for an opportunity to get back to Wheeling and try to win back to back titles.  These same two teams met in the regular season on September 11th at University of Charleston Stadium and the Knights defeated the Cougars 21-14…..expect another close game this Saturday Afternoon.  In the bottom half of the Class AAA semi-final bracket, the 3rd seeded Patriots of Wheeling Park will bring their 10-1-1 record to Point Pleasant to take on the undefeated Big Blacks.  It is certainly evident now if anyone was doubting the validity of the 2nd ranked Big Blacks, the young men from Mason County answered everyone’s questions last Friday night when they blanked a very good Huntington team 49-0!  Point Pleasant Head Coach David Darst has been saying all season long the Big Blacks know how to play defense and the shutout of Huntington proved his statements to be true.  Thru twelve games this season, Point Pleasant is scoring at an average of 60 points per game while allowing only 9.8 points per game!  For Wheeling Park, Head Coach Chris Daugherty has his team playing better now than at any other time during the season and the veterans he has at the skill positions seem poised to pull the upset!  This game is scheduled to kick at 7:30 Friday night and could be one you don’t want to miss!

In Class AA, both games will be played this Friday night at 7:30 and once again at the top we have another repeat game.  Last weekend, the top ranked Bridgeport Indians defeated the 9th seeded Flying Eagles of Robert C. Byrd 41-13 and that was after knocking off RCB in the regular season 48-21.  This week in the semi-final round, the Indians will meet up with the 4th seeded Polar Bears of Fairmont Senior, another team they are familiar with because during the regular season those same two teams hooked up back on October 30th and the Indians prevailed 35-0!  The Polar Bears know they will have to play a perfect game if they want to knock off the undefeated Indians and deny Bridgeport the opportunity to win back to back to back state titles.

In Class A, three of the top four seeds have advanced to the semi-final round with the Blue Eagles of Magnolia sitting at top with a perfect 12-0 mark!  This Saturday afternoon at 1:30 Magnolia will welcome the 4th seeded Yellow Jackets of Moorefield and this game is expected to be one of the very best of the weekend!  Both teams have been very impressive this season as Magnolia is still undefeated at 12-0 while Moorefield enters the contest with an 11-1 record and their only stumble being at 2nd seeded East Hardy back on October 16th.  In the other contest in the Class A bracket, East Hardy will welcome to Baker, WV the 11th seeded Blue Devils of St. Marys.  This marks the 4th time St. Marys has made it to the semi-final round and they are still waiting on their first state title.  Last year they made it to the Super Six title game as the undefeated number one seed in Class A but lost a heart breaker to Williamstown 33-32 in triple overtime.  For East Hardy, they are also looking for their first state title but unlike St. Marys, the Cougars have never made the trip to the championship game and they are hoping this is the year that happens.  East Hardy and St. Marys will kick their game off at 7:30 this Saturday night.

Just a reminder, H. S. GAMENIGHT will be on the air this Friday night from 9:30 to Midnight and this will be the final show of the season for 2015.  Next weekend, the GAMENIGHT crew will be in Wheeling to call the action of the Super Six Championship games on the MetroNews Radio Network!  Talk with you Friday night on great radio stations around the state and at wvmetronews.com.