By Philip See for WVMetroNews.com
Class AAA No. 6 Capital (9-3) at No. 2 Martinsburg (12-0)
After knocking off previously unbeaten University, Capital will play in the AAA state semifinals for a fifth consecutive season. K.J. Taylor returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, and the Cougars would never look back, rolling to a 48-24 quarterfinal victory over the Hawks.
“The offensive line helped tremendously,” quarterback Kerry Martin said of his team’s performance against University. “Offense was clicking. Defense was clicking. That’s how we got the win.”
Though the Cougars have had some regular season setbacks the last few years, they continue to make strong postseason runs. Capital finished undefeated and won the state championship in 2014, but since then, the Cougars have finished with two, three, and three losses in the last three regular seasons. They consistently find a way to peak in the postseason.
“When this time comes around, everybody just kind of comes together and gets serious,” said senior linebacker Chase Goldsmith. “All differences get pushed aside, and we just come together. That’s when a team plays its best ball.”
If Capital is going to make its third trip to the Super Six in five years, it will indeed need to play its best ball of the season on Saturday afternoon. The Cougars must travel across the state to face undefeated defending state champion Martinsburg.
The Bulldogs have claimed five of the last seven AAA state championships, but it is possible that this year’s squad is the best in that run. Their dominance has been nearly unprecedented.
Martinsburg has played eight games against in-state opponents this year, and it has won all eight of those by a combined score of 497-32. The Bulldog defense has yet to surrender a point in the postseason and has held two playoff opponents to combined negative yardage.
“Martinsburg is a good ball team,” Goldsmith said. “Your alignments and your assignments are the biggest part of the game, especially from the defensive aspect…If you follow those two things, more times than not you come up with the win.”
Though this year’s Bulldog squad is outstanding, Capital can find confidence in its recent successes when these two have played. In fact, the Cougars are the only team to have beaten Martinsburg in the playoffs in the last seven seasons.
Martinsburg won at home in the 2013 semifinal meeting between the two squads on its way to a fourth consecutive championship. The Cougars won the rematch the following year in Charleston in the semis before capturing the AAA title.
The two schools met for a third consecutive year in 2015 when Capital won a quarterfinal contest in Charleston and then advanced back to Wheeling Island. Those Cougar victories are the only two losses Martinsburg has suffered to an in-state opponent since 2009.
Knocking off Martinsburg, especially in the playoffs and at Cobourn Field, is never easy. If any team has shown it can be up to the task, however, it is the Capital Cougars.