First of all, I realize “best-est” is not a word (or is it?) and I am confident Hoppy Kercheval is spinning in his verbiage correct world…I still think “best-est” is the very best way to use one word to describe the start of high school football season!
We begin with a big shout out to the winner’s of last season’s title games that saw Wheeling Park win their first ever state football championship in a thrilling 23-15 victory over Capital in Class AAA……Bridgeport, in Class AA knocking off Tolsia 39-0 to win their 3rd straight and overall 9th state football championship…..and, Magnolia getting by East Hardy 62-0 to capture the Class A championship. The Blue Eagles also won it all in the Class AA ranks in 2010 and 1964. So again, congrats to the winner’s of the big three games from last season!
As we get set to enter the 2016 campaign, we do so with a lot of changes….particularly in the number of schools that will be found in each Class. When the WVSSAC released the new classification numbers last winter, we found the governing body going away from trying to keep roughly the same number of schools in each class. I personally think that was a great move by the principals and powers that be!! In the previous four years, we had 37 schools in Class AAA, 40 in Class AA and 39 football playing schools in Class A. Four years prior to that classification, there were 40 schools in Class AAA, 42 in Class AA and 34 football playing schools in Class A. Starting with this season and continuing through the 2019 school year, we will have 29 Class AAA schools…..44 Class AA schools and 44 football playing schools in Class A. Certainly the biggest difference is shown in the big school ranks. This year, the largest school in the state is Cabell Midland which boasts 1,965 while the smallest school in the big school field is Ripley with 933 students. There were 9 schools classified as AAA last year that now find themselves in the Class AA ranks this season…….Lincoln County, Winfield, Oak Hill, Shady Spring, Elkins, Nitro, Lewis County, Logan and Point Pleasant. Now I know if I have a math student reading this article they are wanting to point out my numbers don’t add up. And, they would be right! If we had 37 Class AAA schools last year and we have dropped 9 of them to Class AA, we should then be left with 28! So, where does that “extra school” come into play? Well, when the classifications were released for the 2012-2015 years, Spring Mills was not a high school. Add the Cardinals into the mix and we have 29 Class AAA schools this season. In Class AA, the new classification numbers show the loss of six schools this year and one addition. The six schools that were AA last season but find themselves in the Class A ranks this year are Ravenswood, Mount View, Webster County, Tolsia, Ritchie County and Summers County. The lone addition that climbs from Class A to find a home in Class AA is Man. Now a couple of times we have mentioned “football playing schools” which obviously means in Class A we have a few schools that don’t play football. While they are members of the WVSSAC and compete in other sports such as basketball, we have 10 schools that do not play football. Charleston Catholic, Huntington St. Joseph, Trinity, Greater Beckley Christian, Union Educational Complex, Paw Paw, Harman, WV School for the Deaf, Pickens and WV School for the Blind.
So there we have a lot of changes to keep in mind. One thing that won’t change this season is the number of quality games we can expect each week. And week one starts everything off in grand style. On Thursday evening, the MetroNews Networks will get involved by broadcasting a big game in HD on the MetroNews Channel. The George Washington Patriots will entertain the Black Eagles of South Charleston in what is always a great game in the Mountain State Athletic Conference. Last year, these two teams did not play until the last game of the season and with the Black Eagles winning, both ballclubs finished the regular season at 7-3. Another big game on Thursday night has the Class AA reigning state champion Bridgeport Indians taking on Lewis County in a rematch of a game that saw Bridgeport defeat the Minutemen last year 54-0! Of course a host of other great games will take place during week number one with a total of 60 games scheduled between this Thursday and Saturday!
And, just a reminder on Friday night we will begin season #15 of High School GAMENIGHT and I personally invite you to join myself, Dave Jecklin, Garrett Cullen and our entire GAMENIGHT crew for all the scores and all the stories of week #1 in high school football. You’ll find the program on over 40 great radio stations around the state and streaming on line at wvmetronews.com!