By: Wes McKinney, WVMetroNews.com
AAA No. 7 Cabell Midland (1-1) at AAA No. 9 Hurricane (2-0)
Cabell Midland rebounded after a loss to Spring Valley by shutting out South Charleston at home 29-0.
The Knights had three running backs rush for over 100 yards and became the second straight team to hold the Black Eagles without an offensive touchdown to start the season.
“We played tough and played with passion.,” Cabell Midland head coach Luke Salmons said. “We played the way we were capable of. We had to have some kids grow up and they did that Friday night.”
In just his second career start, sophomore running back Ivan Vaughn paced the Cabell Midland offense with 140 yards and two touchdowns on the ground while Drew Keeton had 121 rushing yards and a touchdown. The final 100-yard rusher was Korah Booker-Hill who finished with 107 yards on six carries.
Salmons was most pleased with the way his team adjusted from the Spring Valley loss to week two’s triumph.
“We weren’t ready for the spread, part of it was coaching,” Salons said. “We didn’t know what our kids could do. The kids don’t care what it takes to win, they will do anything they can to get a win. We got our kids in the right position and that’s why they played well. South Charleston has a lot of good athletes and we limited their big plays.”
After playing Hurricane to end the season last year, the game was moved into the Week 3 slot this season.
“Anytime we play Hurricane, they want to beat us with them being 15 minutes away,” Salmons said.
“I tell our kids it’s just another opponent on the schedule. It’s nice to play on the road because there’s a lot that goes into a home game at Cabell Midland. All we have to worry about is showing up and playing football. Sometimes, it’s easier for us to play on the road because there’s always something going on.”
Cabell Midland has scored 56 points in each of the last two seasons against the Redskins including a 56-15 victory last season.
George Washington (1-1) at AAA No. 2 Huntington (2-0)
Huntington stymied Spring Valley as the Highlanders held the Timberwolves to just 55 rushing yards on 32 carries in a 17-13 road win.
“We felt like our defensive line had to play really well to win that football game — we controlled the line of scrimmage on the defensive side,” Huntington head coach Billy Seals said. “Our guys were challenged throughout practice and they stepped up to the challenge.”
Perhaps the biggest play of the game came, though, on a 53-yard field goal from Highlanders’ kicker Cason Kessinger to stretch out a Huntington lead to 17-7 in the third quarter.
“It was a momentum swing in the game,” Seals said. “It put us up 10 in the third quarter. Cason is standing next to me and we’re standing around deciding if we want to go for it or not.
“I looked at Cason and said ‘can you hit it?’ and he said ‘without a doubt,’” Seals continued. “He was feeling pretty good in the pregame, so we decided to try it. He’s the best kicker I’ve ever been around. If someone doesn’t pick him up, then they’re crazy.”
Even with the big win, Seals and his team has moved on from the Spring Valley game and began looking ahead to a Class AAA first round playoff rematch in 2015 that Huntington won.
“Grant Wells is good at quarterback,” Seals said of the George Washington signal caller. “He’s reminds me of Cross Wilkinson at Wheeling Park. They are much-improved on the offensive line. They have big, tall, athletic receivers on the outside that’s a big concern of ours.
“On defense, Tanner Williams gets after it at linebacker and Dakota Cosby is a good football player,” Seals said. “George Washington is always a well-coached football team. In my opinion, they’ve improved from the team we saw in the first round of the playoffs last season.”
Gallia Academy, Ohio at AA No. 3 Point Pleasant (2-0)
Point Pleasant outlasted Ripley in the Battle for the Oaken Bucket as the Big Blacks grabbed a 19-17 road win.
It was the closest margin of victory for Point Pleasant in a regular season game since 2012 against Lewis County, 14-13
“It kind of reminded me of the old-fashioned games between Point Pleasant and Ripley,” head coach David Darst said of Friday’s game. “One of the improvements they’ve made in a year’s time is Ripley coach Eddie Smolder has done a great job of growing his kids up. I thought they played extremely hard on offense and on defense they were getting to the ball.”
With the close win, Darst said he learned a lot about his team in the process.
“I didn’t think we played great defense on Friday night, but they were gutsy,” Darst said. “They made plays when they had to be made in the game — I was proud of them. We had some backups that were forced into playing and they stepped up. That is what we needed — a lot of the teams we played last year were young teams and we were more of a veteran team and now we are getting more veteran teams.
The Big Blacks will play another rivalry game this week as they host their neighbors from across the Ohio River in Gallia Academy.
“Gallia has traditionally been a very, very strong football program,” Darst said. “Head coach Josh Riffe is still in the process of building that football program. They are going to be a spread attack team—they are in empty sets a bunch. They have a running quarterback. They run a 4-3 defense and they stunt linebackers from about every different direction.”
This rivalry runs deeper than just on the football field.
“I think some people don’t care what our record is, they just want to know if we beat Gallia and Ripley,” Darst said. “When you live on the Ohio River and you work with people in the same plant, they just want those bragging rights for a year.”
St. Albans (1-1) at AAA No. 4 Spring Valley (2-0)
Spring Valley has already turned the page from its loss to Huntington in Week 2.
“I saw the look in our kids’ eyes after Friday and they acted like they wanted to play right away,” Spring Valley head coach Brad Dingess said. “They are excited to get back out in a game environment. It left a bad taste in our mouth.”
After battling with St. Albans for the first half of last year’s game, Spring Valley pulled away for a 44-20 win over the Red Dragons on the road.
“Coach Scott Tinsley is one of the best coaches in the state,” Dingess said. “He’s going to exploit your weaknesses. He does a great job of spreading the ball around.
“St. Albans will get in the I-formation and run it, but he will also go empty in the backfield and spread it out. He’s going to try to put us in some bad situations,” Dingess continued. “They are a little unorthodox on defense, but their schemes are sound.”
Even though the Red Dragons have seen some rough years, Dingess has been around long enough to know there’s no easy out in the conference
“In the MSAC if you don’t come out to play every night, you will get beat,” he said. “It’s a game that we have to play well in.”
AA No. 4 Mingo Central (2-0) at Sissonville (2-0)
Mingo Central got the revenged it had been wanting since last year’s Class AA playoff semfinals as the Miners downed Tolsia 42-20.
The Miners look to build off of that win heading into Cardinal Conference play. But Sissonville is also coming off of a milestone win itself as the Indians beat Wayne for the first time since 2006 last week.
“They have a lot of skill people and they seem to be well-conditioned,” Mingo Central head coach Yogi Kinder said. “This is the first time in a while that we’re going to be bigger up front than our opponent. There’s going to be a lot of speed on the field. I think we will be in for a good football game.”
This game was named the Northside Automotive MetroNews Class AA Game of the Week.
Lincoln County (0-2) at AA No. 8 Logan (2-0)
Logan put another big number on the scoreboard in Week 2 as it beat Poca, 61-11.
“Our passing game has been working really well for us,” Logan head coach Gary Mullins said. “We’ve gotten some matchups we like and we’ve been taking advantage of those one-on-one matchups. Guys are just making plays from our quarterback, to our running back and our group of wide receivers. When you’re scoring that much, everyone has to be involved and clicking on all cylinders.”
Logan freshman quarterback David Early totaled seven touchdowns in the win. He threw for 243 yards and six touchdowns, adding a seventh score on the ground where he totaled 39 yards on five carries.
Mullins shares the same consensus about Lincoln County that Point Pleasant head coach David Darst said before Week 1 of the season.
“I think this is one of the best teams they’ve had in the last four or five years,” Mullins said. “They seem to be really athletic and play hard on defense. We better ready to play on Friday night.”
In fact, Mullins was impressed by the way Lincoln County played against Point Pleasant in week one of the season.
“I’ve watched some film of them against Point Pleasant and they moved the ball some on Point Pleasant,” he said. “They had some opportunities to score on them, but they couldn’t quite cash it in.”
AA No. 10 Westside (2-0) at Man (1-1)
Man outlasted Mount View in three overtimes, 45-44, to even its record to 1-1 on the season.
Now the Hillbillies get an upstart Westside team that has won its first two games of the season by a combined score of 102-8.
The last three games between Man and the Renegades have been decided by 17 points with Man edging Westside, 27-24, on the road last season.
Van (2-0) at Tug Valley (1-1)
It’s been five years since Van started a season 2-0 as the Bulldogs handled Phelps, Kentucky 41-13 in Week 2.
In the process, Van also picked up two votes in the MetroNews High School Football Power Rankings.
Tug Valley beat Van last season 34-21 in week three of the season, but since then, the Bulldogs have only lost three games total and two in the regular season.
Meanwhile, Tug Valley shutout Meadow Bridge, 37-0, on the road for its first win of the season. It was the first shutout for the Panthers since October 16 of last year when they downed Calhoun County, 44-0.
Other Games:
Chapmanville (0-2) at Scott (0-2)
Hannan (0-2) at Bishop Donahune (2-0)
Valley Fayette (0-2) at Sherman (2-0)
Bye Week:
AA No. 6 Tolsia (1-1)
Wayne (0-2)