This weekend, the high school football playoffs begin across the state with a total of 24 games to be played either this Friday night or Saturday afternoon. In fact, when you look at the breakdown of all three classes, there will be 15 games that kick off at 7:30 Friday night and 9 games scheduled for a 1:30 start this Saturday afternoon!
To no ones surprise, the #1 seeds in each class are all undefeated. In AAA, Martinsburg is 10-0, in AA, Fairmont Senior is 10-0 and in Class A, Doddridge County is 10-0. Martinsburg is currently riding a 52 game winning streak and will be going for their 4th consecutive state title and their 8th in the last ten years! And another crazy stat for you, is over that ten year period, 2010 through 2019, the Bulldogs have won 125 games and lost only 7. That is a winning percentage of .9469697!! Amazing!! In Class AA, the Fairmont Senior Polar Bears are also trying to repeat as AA State Champs as they won the title in an exciting game over Bluefield last December in Wheeling. In Class A, Doddridge County will be going after their first ever football state title. They last appeared in the championship game in 1978 where they lost to Duval 27-14. The Yellow Jackets of Duval were consolidated with Hamlin and Guyan Valley in 2006 and are now the Panthers of Lincoln County. Last year’s Class A champs are in the playoff field, however the Maroon Knights of Wheeling Central Catholic will have to come through the bracket as the #10 seed. They begin play this Saturday afternoon on the road at #7 Tolsia.
Now even though the weather is suppose to be nice this weekend, if you prefer to stay indoors and support high school athletics, then the 2019 State Volleyball Tournament is something worth checking out. For the first time, the Volleyball State Tournament has been seeded and exciting play is expected both days of the tournament. Action begins at 8:30 Friday morning and continues through the championship matches scheduled to begin at 9:30 Saturday morning. In Class AAA, last year’s state champion, Spring Valley returns as the #4 seed this year and in Class AA, last year’s winner, Bridgeport is also the #4 seed in their respective class. In Class A, last year’s winner was Magnolia however the Blue Eagles did not make it back to state tournament play this year. The #1 seed in this year’s Class A division is Wirt County!
Before I finish writing this week’s commentary, I would be remiss if I didn’t salute the state champions that were crowned last Saturday in Beckley at the State Soccer Tournament. Congratulations go out to the Class AAA Boys State Soccer Champion, George Washington as the Patriots defeated Cabell Midland 2-0 in the title game to win their second straight state championship. In Class AAA Girls, the Mohigans of Morgantown took the State Championship Trophy back home as they defeated Hedgesville 3-2 in a well played title game. The championship for Morgantown marked their first state soccer championship since 2011. In Class AA-A Boys play, the championship belongs to Fairmont Senior as the Polar Bears defeated Robert C. Byrd 2-1. The win marked the first title for Fairmont Senior since 2015 and with the loss, the Flying Eagles finished as runners-up for the third time in the last four years. In Class AA-A Girls play, the championship belongs to Charleston Catholic as the Irish defeated Oak Glen 5-1. It marked the first state title since 2015 for Charleston Catholic.
Don’t forget to join Dave Jecklin and me this Friday night from 9:30 to Midnight for GAMENIGHT. We will have all the scores of the 15 games being played this Friday night, plus take a look ahead to the 9 games scheduled for Saturday afternoon! GAMENIGHT is heard on 40+ great radio stations around the state and we stream the live video and audio of the program at www.wvmetronews.com.
I look forward to talking with you Friday night!!