Sometimes numbers don’t mean a thing…..but, they are always fun to look at! For example, the numbers listed in the title of this week’s commentary are placed there for fun…nothing more! What do they mean? When the 2017 high school football season got underway the last week of August, we had 116 teams in the state ready to strap on the shoulder pads and get ready to hit someone other than their teammates! Now, for clarification, the number of high schools in the state that are members of the Secondary Schools Activities Commission totals 126 however, 10 of those member schools do not play football. And, if you separate those numbers into classes, we have 29 in Class AAA….44 in Class AA and 43 in Class A. The 10 schools that do not play football are all in Class A, so the true number in Class A is 53.
To show you how the schools in each class have fared through the first four weeks of the football season, let’s break down the numbers even further. After week number four, in Class AAA we have 4 teams that are still undefeated, or roughly 14% of the total. Ironically, in Class AAA we have 4 teams that have yet to win a game…again, roughly 14% of the total. In Class AA, the numbers are basically the same. After week number four, we have 6 teams that are still undefeated, or roughly 14%. And, after week number four in Class AA, we have 6 teams that have yet to win a game….again, roughly 14%. The numbers change ever so slightly in Class A because of the 43 teams in the small schools division in the state that play football, we have 8 teams that are still undefeated or roughly 19% and we have 9 teams in Class A that have yet to win a game, or roughly 21%. So, total everything up in all 3 classes and we find there are 18 teams in the state that are still undefeated, or about 15%, while we have 19 teams in the state that are still looking for their first win of the season and that figures out to roughly 16%! Now, as mentioned, these numbers don’t mean a thing with just four weeks of the season having been played. But, if you look back to last season, in Class AAA, 7 of the top 16 teams that made the playoffs had a record of 6-4 or worse (2 teams were 5-5). However, that number in the other two classes goes down dramatically. In Class AA, only 2 teams that made the playoffs had a record worse than 7-3 and both those teams were 6-4. In Class A, only 1 team that made the playoff field of sixteen had a record worse than 7-3 and that team finished the regular season 6-4 and in spot #16! So, when you look at those meaningless numbers, the truth remains….no team is mathematically out of the playoffs yet….however, those teams that currently have 4 losses, the time to win is now!!
Taking a look at some of the more intriguing games this weekend we find two very good teams in Class AAA set to battle in Huntington as undefeated (4-0) Huntington will host (3-1) Capital while University (4-0) will host Class AA power Fairmont Senior, also (4-0)! In Class AA, undefeated Liberty Harrison (3-0) will travel to Grafton to take on the (3-1) Bearcats, while (3-1) Point Pleasant will entertain (3-1) Mount View from Class A. In Class A, the best game in the state will pit two Fayette County rivals as the Oak Hill Red Devils out of Class AA will put their undefeated (4-0) mark on the line when they travel the short distance to Fayetteville to battle the undefeated (4-0) Pirates!
Be sure to attend a high school football game in your area this week and cheer on your favorite team. Then after the game, tune in your local radio station to catch all the scores on GAMENIGHT. And, if you can’t find the show on the radio, just check out the video and the audio online at wvmetronews.com.
Talk with you Friday for all the week #5 scores!