It’s the week high school football fans have been waiting for and the start of the 2012 high school football season will look different than any in the past. With the change in classifications, a lot of teams that were used to competing in Class AAA will now try their luck in Class AA. A few more that were successful in Class AA will now drop down and face the foes in the smaller schools classification and of course there are those few schools that had to move up in classification and they are sure to find the road to Wheeling a little steeper climb.
But, the good news is the season does begin this week and here’s a little reminder from 2011 of those teams that took home the big trophy last December in Wheeling. In Class AAA, the Martinsburg Bulldogs captured their second straight championship and finished their second straight year with a 14-0 record. The Bulldogs outlasted the Patriots of George Washington 35-27.
In Class AA, the Wayne Pioneers ended the regular season with an 8-2 record and were the #6 seed heading into the field of 16. In the playoffs they proceeded to roll by Grafton, Keyser and Shady Spring by a combined final score of 146-31, and in the championship game, the Pioneers avenged an earlier regular season loss to Point Pleasant by knocking off the previously undefeated Big Blacks by a final of 34-7.
In Class A, the Maroon Knights of Wheeling Central Catholic won their 8th small schools championship as they defeated long time rival Williamstown 35-21.
As we get set to begin the 2012 season, most of the encounters will take place this Friday night as there are just two games scheduled for Thursday, August 23rd (Washington at Hedgesville and St. Clairesville, Ohio at Wheeling Park) and only three games on Saturday, August 25th (Magnolia at Linsly, Wirt County at Moorefield and Valley-Wetzel at Madonna). In addition to those games, we look to have some great match-ups in week number one.
In Class AAA, several big games are on tap as Spring Valley will be at Cabell Midland, George Washington will travel to South Charleston, Sherando, Virginia will head to Martinsburg, and Princeton will travel the turnpike to take on Beckley Woodrow Wilson.
In Class AA, the game that annually attracts 10,000 fans has Bluefield meeting up with Graham, Virginia at Mitchell Stadium. Fairmont Senior will travel to Robert C. Byrd the Huskies of Herbert Hoover will welcome the Ravenswood Red Devils and their new head football coach Mick Price and Mingo Central will travel to Wyoming East.
In Class A on Friday night, Fayetteville will host the always-tough White Falcons of Wahama. Greenbrier West, a AA team last year, will host Nicholas County which was a Class AAA team last season. Also, in the rival game in Logan County, the Man Hillbillies will travel the short distance to Logan to battle the Wildcats.
If you’re like me, you can’t wait for the action to begin and as always, the MetroNews Radio Network will be there to keep you up to date on every score of every game played. You can follow live score updates as the games are going on just by logging onto our website at wvmetronews.com and of course after the games are over you can join us for High School GameNight presented by Warner Law Offices. This will mark the 11th season for the show and we are proud to say this year’s program will be broadcast on 47 great radio stations statewide. We will also be streaming live video and audio of the show at wvmetronews.com.
So, let’s all get ready for some football and we will talk with you this Friday night, August 24th for another season of GameNight!