By Philip See for WVMetroNews.com
Capital (3-2) at Hurricane (4-1)
Hurricane started its daunting three-week stretch about as strong as it possibly could last Friday night. It jumped out early on Spring Valley and was in control of the game the entire way, coming away with a 41-21 victory over the Timberwolves.
Receiver Dakota Williams led the way on offense for Hurricane. Williams amassed 197 yards on just four receptions, three of which resulted in touchdowns. His two scores in the first quarter—one from 79 yards out and the other from 37—set the tone early.
“We watched a lot of film and we noticed that they like to play one-on-one,” Williams said. “We really took advantage of that. We just made it happen.”
With the big win under its belt, Hurricane’s attention now turns to Capital. After suffering their first in-state loss of the season to Huntington on a late field goal, the Cougars were idle in Week 6.
At this point in the season, this game will be of great value for playoff seeding. The victory for either team would bolster its playoff resume, likely putting it on a trajectory to host at least one playoff game, if not two.
Hurricane impressed in its victory over Spring Valley and now looks to continue that momentum against the Cougars.
“Capital is a really, really good team,” Williams said. “Really fast, really athletic. Our team has been practicing hard this week. We’re ready.”
St. Albans (3-3) at George Washington (3-3)
St. Albans just missed coming away with a huge win a week ago, falling 44-37 in overtime to University, which is undefeated and sat atop the WVSSAC AAA ratings.
The Red Dragons led for long portions of the game, including taking a 30-21 lead in the second half. The Hawks stormed back with 16 consecutive points to go ahead 37-30 with less than two minutes to play, but St. Albans drove and scored to tie the game with just three seconds left on the clock. University scored on the first overtime possession, and the Red Dragons were unable to answer.
Despite the disappointing loss, head coach Scott Tinsley believes his Red Dragon program is headed in the right direction.
“The biggest thing that we’ve been able to do is to turn around the mental attitude of the kids,” Tinsley said. “In the last few years, including last year when I coached here, we had an attitude that if things got going wrong, it was going to snowball and keep going that direction.”
“This year, like against Riverside, we fell behind 17-0 at the half and were able to battle back and get a win. The mental attitude of our kids is way ahead of where we thought it would be at this time.”
St. Albans looks to get back in the win column against George Washington. To do so, the Red Dragons must find a way to slow down quarterback Grant Wells.
“Grant’s one of the best, if not the best, quarterback in the state,” Tinsley said. He can do a lot of things. He’s such a good athlete that he can run the ball and beat you scrambling. He’s got a cannon for an arm, and he’s accurate with his arm.”
Both squads enter the game with a record of 3-3, and suffering a fourth loss at this point in the season would be very detrimental to either team’s playoff hopes.
Tinsley believes that George Washington’s record is not necessarily indicative of just how good the Patriots actually are due to their difficult early schedule.
“Their first four games were bears,” Tinsley said of GW’s opponents. “I mean they played some great football teams early in the year. No matter who they face right now, it’s not going to be intimidating to them because they played a lot of good teams early.”
Winfield (3-2) at Poca (2-4)
The first half of Winfield’s season was a little up and down. The Generals struggled in an opening-week loss to Hurricane but responded by outscoring Herbert Hoover and Chapmanville by a combined 99-22 the next two weeks.
Winfield then tripped up again with a 46-24 loss to Wayne in week 4 but rebounded the following week with a 62-6 thrashing of Logan.
Fresh off their bye week, the Generals are looking to put together a strong run in the second half of their season and return to the playoffs. The run could start this week when they travel across the county to take on Poca.
Despite a loss, the Dots again showed signs of their vast improvement in week 6. They challenged Sissonville for much of the game before falling 45-36. Poca looks to be a tough test for Winfield this week.
Other Games:
South Charleston (2-3) at Ripley (2-4)
Spring Valley (3-2) at Riverside (3-3)
Nitro (2-4) at Mingo Central (5-0)
Herbert Hoover (1-5) at Wayne (4-1)
Buffalo (1-4) at Williamstown (2-4)