By Shawn Rine – The Wheeling Intelligencer and News-Register for WVMetroNews.com
Class A No. 5 Cameron (3-0) at Shenandoah, Ohio (4-0)
SARAHSVILLE, Ohio – Winners of 13 straight regular-season games, perhaps Cameron has faced no bigger challenge than the one that awaits Friday night on the road. A hungry, revamped Shenandoah, which is second in the Ohio Division VI, Region 23 rankings, will provide a stiff test.
“It’s kind of fun to be the underdog again,” Dragons coach Scott Holt said. “It’s a role we used to play an awful lot at Cameron, but the last two years, it doesn’t seem like that has happened a whole lot.
“So it’s fun to be an underdog this week and it’s definitely going to be a challenge to go over there. Just talking to people and watching them on film, the hardest part about them is they don’t do anything badly.
“You can’t point to any offensive, defensive or special teams position and say, ‘that’s their weakness.’ So far, they don’t have one and it’s our job to try and find one and we hope we’re able to do that on Friday.”
The Zeps, who have already equaled their win total from last season, have won their four games by a combined score of 165-18 and are coming off back-to-back shutouts.
“Our kids have worked really hard in the offseason,” Shenandoah coach Jesse Wells said. “Being 4-6 wasn’t good enough, obviously, and we played a lot of young kids the past couple of years. Those young guys have kind of grown up.
“We’ve been very good on defense. We haven’t given up a point yet in the first half in any of the four games. Our defense is led by our all-state linebacker, Chase Chicwak.
“All of our linebackers are returning starters. They’ve had a lot of success. Our defensive backs have been solid and our front has been very solid too. We’ve been been playing at a high level defensively.”
In last week’s 42-0 blanking of 2016 playoff qualifier Barnesville, the Zeps, who average 41.3 ppg., rode Nick Miller. The senior ran for 212 yards and four touchdowns while also catching touchdown passes of 17 and 35 yards from QB Brock Jones, who finished 11 of 18 for 139 yards.
“Shenandoah makes very few mistakes,” Holt said. “So we’ve got to match that. We don’t feel like we’re going to go in there and force them to turn the ball over four or five times.
“They take care of the ball extremely well. We’re gonna have to take care of the ball extremely well. Their running game is phenomenal. They block really well. We’ve got to be disciplined and we’ve got to tackle.”
The Dragons average 48.7 points and are fresh off a 56-10 dismantling of Frontier, Ohio. They are led by quarterback Colby Brown who has passes for 474 yards and nine touchdowns against one interception. Trey Scott, Travis Mickey and Trin Scott all caught touchdowns last week while Wyatt Wingrove ran for three.
“This will be a great test for us,” Wells said. “Cameron has a very, very good quarterback and they have some really good receivers. They have a lot of experience back on the line.
“So basically, they’re a very experienced team as a whole. They’re mostly juniors and seniors. So we know they had a lot of success last year and having a lot of success this year. We know that we’re going to have to slow that offense down and we have to do that by helping contain their quarterback and their pass game.”
Class A No. 9 Magnolia at Class A No. 7 Wheeling Central
WHEELING – To say there is a lot riding on this game would be an understatement. Each team, thought in the preseason to be a title contender, enters with a pair of losses and has little room for error as the second half looms.
So when Magnolia (2-2) travels to Bishop Schmitt Field on the campus of Wheeling Jesuit University on Friday night to take on Wheeling Central (1-2), there will not only be plenty of points on the line, one team will exit with a third loss and an uphill battle the rest of the way.
Coach Dave ‘Doc’ Chapman watched his Blue open with a pair of impressive victories before falling in double-overtime to Shadyside two weeks ago and dropping a hard-to-swallow 35-21 home decision to rival River last Thursday night.
“We are going through a little bit of a gauntlet on our schedule right now, but we will be ready to go Friday night,” Chapman said. “The kids are working hard, they are very resilient and we are focused on Wheeling Central.”
Meanwhile, Mike Young’s Maroon Knights broke their season-opening two-game losing skid last Friday night with a 28-23 victory over Williamstown. Central had fallen to Steubenville Catholic and on the road at East Hardy.
“The key to our season is going to be continuing to learn and getting better,” Young said. “We are still a little bit of a green football team with a young front and a sophomore quarterback.
“Our schedule has been a little challenging with big games every week, but I would rather have it that way and week-in and week-out having to get ready for strong football teams
“I have been very impressed with the improvement of the team to this point and how the kids have developed and matured. And I can’t say enough about the work ethic of our coaches, they are really a great group of guys.”
In its first three games of the season, Magnolia’s defense had allowed 44 points, but was able to contain their opponents. Last week, the Pilots racked up 456 yards on the ground and five touchdowns.
At the same time, senior Hunter Partridge was averaging 183 yards a game on the ground himself before being limited to 62 yards last week as the Blue Eagles put the ball in the air playing catch-up all night. Partridge has rushed for 612 yards on 91 totes and five scores, but watched his average drop to 153 an outing.
“Hunter (Partridge) is our workhorse, but he got a little banged up late in the Shadyside game and he wasn’t fully recovered from that last week,” Chapman said. “That made us go a little more one-dimensional than we wanted to against a good River team.”
Junior quarterback Pat Mirandy had an uneven night as well, hitting only 14 of 32 passes, but finishing with 271 yards and two scores. Unfortunately, he was also intercepted four times. Senior Brooks Parsons was the biggest standout, catching seven passes for 177 yards and a score while returning the opening kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown.
Parsons has 16 grabs for 293 yards and three scores on the season while Leo Herrick had three catches for 38 yards and a score against the Pilots.
“Magnolia is a big, aggressive and very well-coached football team,” Young said. “They have lost a couple of tough games, but they have beaten a couple of pretty good teams also.”
Wheeling Central had struggled getting its offense going early on, but thrived last week against the Yellowjackets. Sophomore quarterback Curtis McGhee III had a breakout game to lead the way.
McGhee was 13 of 20 through the air for 131 yards and two touchdowns while keeping the ball moving on the ground with 141 more yards on 24 carries. Senior Dawson Wear also went past the century mark with 113 yards on 17 tries and two touchdowns while Bray Price caught four passes for 40 yards, including touchdowns of 19 and 21 yards.
Cambridge at Class AAA No. 8 Wheeling Park
WHEELING – Wheeling Park coach Chris Daugherty knows a loss is just that. The Patriots are well past the days of moral victories.
But what he saw from his team during last weekás heartbreaking, 37-34 loss to University, might turn out to be more important.
“I know we have talent, but I didn’t know kind of team we had,” the coach said. “I was excited we got down 21-0 and continued to fight. That showed me we have kids that aren’t going to give up and are going to give everything they have.
“You like to see your kids play hard. Sometimes you win and don’t have to play hard.”
That said, he also realizes Park let a golden goose slip through its fingers.
“Because you know (the Hawks) are going to go 9-1 or 10-0 now and you lost a point that could have got you a couple home playoff games,” Daugherty said.
The Patriots (2-2) look to rebound Friday as fellow OVAC Class 5A foe Cambridge makes a stop at Wheeling Island Stadium. The Bobcats (2-2) have won two in a row following back-to-back losses to open the season.
“They are very similar to University in style, offensively, at least,” Daugherty said. “I think that might help us a little bit.
“It’s nice to be playing someone in the valley and we’re just going to go find out who is better. Kevin (Gunn) has done a great job as coach at Cambridge.”
Wheeling Park hopes to continue its offensive balance. Quarterback Cross Wilkinson continues to put up big numbers while running backs Donnie Evans and Rennie Clark have combined to give the Patriots a 1-2 punch at running back.
Daugherty believes Park is starting to figure out its identity offensively.
“Not making excuses for the early part of the season, but when you inherit Donnie Evans you use him,” Daugherty said of the transfer from Texas who returned a kick 99 yards for a score last week. “We’ve run a one-back set for five years, so changing to a two-back set it changes things.
“And what people don’t realize is, it also changes things for Cross, too. It changes some of the routes and some of his reads.”
Defensively things are also rounding into form. The ends are doing their job and the linebackers, led by Jermain Snodgrass, are flying to the football.
“He’s another kid we’ve been real happy with, but he was going to have to wait,” Daugherty said. “We’ve had some pretty good linebackers in our program and he was stuck behind those guys.
“He’s ready and it has showed. Between he and Dylan Wood, those two guys have really stepped up.”
The secondary was thought to be a strength heading into the season and it has not disappointed. Nate Phillips is a ball-hawking corner who already has a couple INTs returned for scores, as well as two more called back by penalties.
“He’s on pace to break our school record,” Daugherty said
John Marshall at Parkersburg South
PARKERSBURG – Sitting at 2-2 and with a relatively generous schedule ahead, Friday night is a major swing game for Coach Rick Goodrich and John Marshall. The Monarchs handled Bellaire last week to the tune of 38-20 and following this game, have three games against teams that have won a combined one game.
“The kids did a very nice job last week and the offensive line allowed us to throw the ball well,” Goodrich said. “But the biggest thing was that we didn’t hurt ourselves with penalties and turnovers. That was huge for us.
“Now we need to build off the Bellaire game and continue to not hurt ourselves. But at the same time we need to forget about the Bellaire game, not get caught looking ahead and focus on our opponent, week to week.”
JM senior running back Dereck Hess is putting up all-state worthy numbers. Through four games he’s run for 535 yards on 81 carries and has scored eight touchdowns. He ran for 127 yards and three TDs last week on 20 carries, while also returning an interception 84 yards for another score.
“On film, they look much improved from last year,” South (1-3) coach Mike Eddy said. “Coach (Goodrich) does a great job molding that team every year. They are a very good downhill running team, but that is what we have faced all year, so we are prepared for that.
“But you have to be aware of their play-action passing, which doesn’t allow you to load the box with your defensive backs.”
JM QB Jordan Wood has passes for 486 yards and ran for two touchdowns last week against Bellaire.
The Patriots are coming off their first victory, having dispatched Princeton by a 23-7 count. In that game South ran for 219 yards but had trouble in the red zone, thanks in part to 11 penalties for 95 yards. That’s OK, though, because kicker Ahmed Ali drilled field goals of 21, 30 and 49 yards.
“South is a good ball team that has played a tough schedule with a lot of younger kids, but is getting better every time they take the field,” Goodrich said. “Those kids are very scrappy and on defense they have the ability to defend the entire field both run and pass.
“They also pose a lot of threats on offense and you have to be ready for anything. Add to that the fact that they have a phenomenal kicker and they always seem to have the ability to score.”
Other games:
Pendleton County at Madonna
Fairmont Senior at University
Paden City at Hundred
Calhoun at Tyler Consolidated
Clay-Battelle at Tygarts Valley
Perry Traditional at Brooke
Beallsville at Linsly
Petersburg at Weir
Warren at Oak Glen