Southwestern: Midland, Spring Valley highlight loaded slate

By Wes McKinney for WVMetroNews.com

Class AAA No. 12 Cabell Midland (6-5) at Class AAA No. 4 Spring Valley (9-2) – 1:30 p.m. Saturday

Spring Valley puts the clamps on George Washington and had a big rushing night as it racked up 443 yards on the ground.

Derek Johnson and Owen Chafin led the way with 127 and 126 rushing yards, respectively.

“We just take what the defense gives us,” head coach Brad Dingess explained. “With the kind of offense we run, we have four threats carrying the ball out of the backfield on every play. We rotate Owen Chafin in there a lot. We were getting a lot of off tackle stuff.”

Meanwhile, Cabell Midland went on the road and turned in one of its best defensive performances of the year with a 28-18 win over Musselman in the first round, marking the second straight season the 12 seed in Class AAA upset the fifth seed.

“We feel like our defense is playing a lot better the last two weeks,” Cabell Midland head coach Luke Salmons said.

“They’ve done really good and I think they’re getting better. Kids fought extremely hard and made up for some mistakes. They played with a great amount of effort.”

Even though Cabell Midland was able to keep Musselman grounded in the game, the Knights still ran for 407 yards against the Applemen.

“They have one of the most powerful offenses in the state,” Dingess said of the high-efficient Cabell Midland offense.

“We were able to get them a couple of weeks ago. It was a good win for us and now we have to turn around and play them three weeks later. When you get in the playoffs, you think you’re going to team play team you haven’t played in the regular season, but now we’re 2-for-2.”

Spring Valley was able to hold the Knights to 28 points while throwing up 56 of its own.

“To get that type production—you hope to—but Cabell Midland has gotten better in the last three weeks,” Dingess explained. “It was just one of those nights where whatever we called it worked. We will have to do something like that again to beat those guys.”

Cabell Midland running back Ivan Vaughn has rushed for over 1,700 yards this season.

And Dingess is right, Cabell Midland held Huntington to 27 points and Musselman to 18 after giving up 56 to the Timberwolves.

“We just couldn’t get a stop on defense when we needed one,” Salmons said.

“Spring Valley was able to make some more plays than us. Before we could do anything about it, the game was out of hand. That game is in the past though. I’m not sure it’s even in the kids’ minds. We’re excited to play them again. Some years we’ve been in the opposite position where we are facing a team for a second time we may have beat—this year is a little bit different. We have our work cut out for us.”

The way both teams are built, neither one is comfortable playing from behind more than one score.

“Both of us play a style of offense where if you get a couple of scores behind, it puts you in a spot that you aren’t comfortable calling plays and the kids aren’t comfortable either,” Dingess said. “If someone can get out to an early lead, it puts some pressure on the other team.”

Class AAA No. 9 Hurricane (7-4) at Class AAA No. 1 Huntington (11-0) – 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Huntington turned the tide against South Charleston in seemingly a flash in its opening round win as the Highlanders scored the game’s final 27 points.

“We didn’t play our best football in the first half,” Huntington head coach Billy Seals. “We did some things that were uncharacteristic of ourselves and those things happen sometimes. I’m proud of our guys for coming back in the second half and playing our brand of football and dominating the second half.”

Up just 17-14 in the early stages of the third quarter, the Highlanders were able to force a turnover that turned into a long Jadon Hayes touchdown run then got another stop and another score to make it 31-14.

“When you get turnovers, you have to make the other team pay for it,” Seals said. “We’ve done a nice job of that—when we get turnovers the offense capitalizes off of it.”

If Huntington is to make a trip to the Super Six, it will play three consecutive MSAC opponents. Regardless though of the draw, Seals is getting his team ready for a rematch against Hurricane who Huntington beat 34-14 earlier in the year.

“It’d be nice to play someone who you haven’t already played—I think that’s what’s fun about playoff time,” Seals said. “We’re going to have to get ready for a good Hurricane football team that won some big games this year. They are very good on the offensive side of the ball.”

Hayes ran wild on Hurricane in the first matchup as he racked up over 300 of his 2,000 yards on the season.

“The first time we played them Chris Rogers wasn’t playing, so we kind of had to ride Jadon,” Seals said. “That’s the one of the positive things about what we’ve been able to do on offense this year.”

And since the first meeting, Huntington has also become a bit more balanced on offense.

“If teams put guys in the box against us, we will try to hurt you in the passing game with guys out there that can catch the football and advance the ball after the catch,” Seals said.

“Luke Zban has done a nice job of running the offense. If teams want to drop guys, then we will run the ball. We’re going to take what the defense gives us. That’s been our motto all year long.”

But Huntington isn’t the only high-flying offense in the contest. Hurricane quarterback Nathan Roy has been banged up, but he has playmakers all around him.

“We’ve done a nice job of making teams earn everything that they get—eliminate big plays and make them snaps the ball 12, 13, 14 times to get a score,” Seals said. “You have to win first down and put them in second-and-long situations. You have to eliminate the big plays with Curon Cordon and Dakota Williams on the outside.”

Class AA No. 7 Point Pleasant (9-2) at Class AA No. 2 Bluefield (11-0) – 1:30 p.m. Saturday

Point Pleasant raced out to a 42-0 lead on Philip Barbour and never looked back as it returned to the quarterfinal round yet again.

“We were proud of the way the kids came out in the game early on,” Point Pleasant head coach David Darst said. “We got everything going and got it going quick. I thought defensively we played exceptionally well. Brumfield had a real good night for us running the football.”

Along with Justin Brumfield’s rushing total, Cason Payne added 250 yards and three passing touchdowns for the Big Blacks.

What may be more impressive than the offensive totals for Point Pleasant is the defense has been stellar as of late.

In fact, the last time the Big Blacks gave up more than two touchdowns to any team was six weeks ago at Bluefield.

“We’ve made some changes here lately, but we started nine new kids on defense at the beginning of the year,” Darst said. “We just needed to be patient with them and let them grow.”

Darst has gone back and watched the film of the 42-13 loss at Mitchell Stadium to the Beavers.

“We’re going to fix ourselves,” Darst said. “We’re going to make the kids watch game film and make sure we’re run fitting where we need to run fit for certain formations—good football teams like Bluefield are going to make you do that. We didn’t do a good job of run fitting when we needed to the first time.”

And even though Point Pleasant allowed 42 points, Darst wants the offense to be sharper against the Beavers.

“We didn’t throw the ball very well the night we were down there,” Darst said.

“It’s going to have to be one of those deals where we can’t just run the football on these guys. We’ll have to be balanced—that’s just how I am anyways. We’re about a 60-40 team. We’ll have to look at formations and see what was productive and what wasn’t. I’m excited about playing them and putting a game plan together this week. I want to play teams like this.”

Class AA No. 8 Liberty (9-2) at Class AA No. 1 Mingo Central (11-0) – 7:30 p.m. Friday

Mingo Central rolled up 600 yards of offense and 76 points on its way to a 76-40 win over Robert C. Byrd in the opening round of the playoffs.

Despite all the offense, the Miners allowed 40 points for a second straight week.

“We can go score with the best of them,” Mingo Central head coach Joey Fields.

“It’s just the other two phases that’s concerning me right now. I like how our guys will come out and get after it offensively—we’ve built that mentality. But to be able to win a state championship, we’ve got to do that on defense and special teams. I’ve been stressing that to our guys.”

And some of the issue has been how many extra times Winfield and Robert C. Byrd have gotten the ball the last two weeks.

“I think we scored 11 of 12 possessions against Robert C. Byrd,” Fields explained. “So the other team will get more possessions because of it. We continue to score like that other teams will get opportunities to score also.”

After the offensive showcase last week, Mingo Central will get ready for a ball-control Liberty team that won 27-7 over Nicholas County last week.

“We’re familiar playing them last year in the playoffs,” Fields said

“We have to win the line of scrimmage because they are going to come right at us with the running game. I hope we respond to their physicality. I think we’re a physical football team too, but we have to make tackles, wrap-up and finish.”

Over the last two weeks, Jeremy Dillon has accounted for 13 total touchdowns as he continues to be a leading candidate for a potential repeat as the Kennedy Award winner and MetroNews Player of the Year.

“When the game is on the line, that’s when Jeremy is at his best and that’s who we’re going to,” Fields said. “He’s our leader. He’s the best player on the field. He’s probably the best football player to come through Mingo County.”

Class AA No. 5 Wayne (10-1) at Class AA  No. 4 Fairmont Senior (10-1) – 1:30 p.m. Saturday

Wayne turned a tight first-half contest into a 54-28 runaway victory against Sissonville as the Pioneers make a quarterfinal round appearance for the first time since 2014.

“We made a few halftime adjustments, but the kids have to go do it,” Wayne head coach Tom Harmon said. “We were able to come out and do the things that we talked about at halftime.”

Wayne continued its second surge in games this season as Wayne has now outscored the opposition 211-75 in the second halves of games.

“Sometimes, the things you write on the board at halftime work and sometimes they don’t,” Harmon said. “Offensively, we were able to finish some drives and got a turnover at the right time. We basically stopped what they were doing enough to pull away.’

Saturday was the third straight game the Pioneers have been able to score 50 or more points.

“Guys are able to adjust and adapt,” Harmon said. “We had some critical penalties and long sticks to work with during the game. We were able to make plays. You have to make plays this time of year—just not the ordinary plays either, you have to do the extraordinary things.”

And speaking of great plays and players, Fairmont Senior has a few of those.

“You watch Fairmont Senior on film and you can there’s a lot of great talent,” Harmon said.

“They have guys that are making extraordinary plays,” Harmons said. “They have a couple of kids in the backfield that can make you miss or run over you—that’s going to be a challenge. You throw on top of that what looks like a seasoned quarterback and a great passing scheme—it’s kind of pick your poison.”

Class A No. 9 Sherman (9-2) at Class A No. 1 East Hardy (11-0) – 1:30 p.m. Saturday

Sherman will play in its first playoff quarterfinal game since 2009 after the Tide went on the road and knocked off Madonna, 37-14, in the opening round of the postseason.

“I’m just so happy for our program and our community,” Sherman head coach Michael Showalter said after his team’s win over Madonna. “Our kids have worked so hard for this opportunity.”

This run put together by the Tide has been fueled by the defense who hadn’t allowed more than a touchdown to any team since the third week of the season. But, Sherman was still able to keep a potent Madonna keep grounded.

Showalter described the win over Madonna as one of the greatest moments in Sherman football history, but now the Tide has an opportunity to make even more history.

East Hardy was in a battle with a pesky Williamstown team for the duration of the game, but the Cougars haven’t lost a game since last year’s state championship against St. Marys.

Class A No. 5 St. Marys (9-1) at Class A No. 4 Tug Valley (10-1) – 7:30 p.m. Friday

Tug Valley had to fend off an upset-minded Pocahontas County team last week to move into the semifinal round of the playoffs.

The Panthers are back in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs for the second third time in the last four years and will be seeking its first semifinal trip since 2014.

Even though Tug Valley will have home field on its side against the Blue Devils, St. Marys will enter the game as the defending state champions.

“Everyone is playing to their potential,” said Tug Valley running back Jonathan Blankenship. “St. Marys loves to run the football and they have a good running back in Jaiden Smith. He’s fast and strong. They travel well and they will have a lot of fans there too.”

Blankenship this season has rushed for 1,435 yards and 17 touchdowns to lead Tug Valley on the ground. He also has 25 catches for 532 yards and six more touchdowns. Defensively, Blankenship has collected 36 tackles and three interceptions for the Panthers.





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