PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — Parkersburg is one of the most storied programs in the history of West Virginia High School football. They boast eleven state championships. Last year, the Big Reds rallied from a 1-3 start to finish 7-5 with a spot in the state quarterfinals. This fall, many new names will be featured as PHS replaces a huge senior class that included Penn State signee Brenton Strange.
“It is going to be baby steps,” said Parkersburg head coach Mike Byus. “We are pretty young. Every other position we are looking at a junior that didn’t play much last year and we are looking at a sophomore. That is the nature of the beast when you graduate 26 seniors like we did last year.”
“We’ve got a strong group,” said Parkersburg senior defensive lineman C.J. Wade. “We also have really young kids in here. We are all learning and trying to learn new positions.”
“There’s a lot of young guys,” said Parkersburg senior lineman Zach Wofe. “When they got here I didn’t think they were going to start but they’re going to be backups.”
Byus says that the quarterback competition is the biggest question mark in training camp. While the candidates to replace Jake Johnson feature some positives, Byus remains in search of one signal caller than can handle all the responsibilities.
“We have two or three kids that all have different attributes,” Byus said. “We don’t right now have that one kid that has all the attributes. I wish I could clone them all and mold them into one guy. Bryson Singer and Michael Owen have two different skill sets there.”
Senior Braeden Mason could line up all over the field on offense, including quarterback. He was the team’s second-leading receiver last year with 55 catches for 658 yards and four scores.
“Braeden has great anticipation skills,” Byus said. “You don’t want to get beat with one of your best players standing beside you. You want him out there.”
Defensively, the Big Reds will be led by senior Gage Fiore. He was tops on the squad with 94 tackles last fall and Byus hopes his work ethic will set an example for the rest of the Big Reds.
“It is different than somebody who just wants to get on you because you are not working,” Byus said. “He literally does not understand it, ‘Why are you not working as hard as me’? It just messes his head up. He wants you to be working as hard as he does. His value is far reaching.”