By: Wes McKinney, WVMetroNews.com
A No. 9 Williamstown (7-2) at A No. 1 Tolsia (7-1)
Since Tolsia’s Week 2 loss against Mingo Central, all the Rebels have done is win.
Heading into the final week of the season ,Tolsia sits atop the Class A ratings and a large part of it is the stout defense that is giving up just 15.3 points per game.
“We have good size and pretty good speed,” Tolsia head coach Mike Smith said. “We just come after you. We bring a lot of pressure. We’re able to mix it up and bring pressure from a lot of different places.”
The defense helped preserve a 28-21 win against Boyd County, Kentucky last week as Jonathon Johnson intercepted a pass with eight seconds left.
“That’s one of the new adjustments we had to make during our bye week—getting our young corners in the game,” Smith said.
Because of scheduling issues and the drop in classification, Tolsia scrambled to find nine games, including a rare matchup with Class A mainstay Williamstown.
“They are very talented on the offensive side of the ball,” Smith said. “They have speed and they like to spread you out and run zone reads and traps.”
This game will be important for both sides as a win would lock up home-field advantage for the Rebels while Williamstown could secure a first round playoff game at home with a road win.
“If we win this game, we will be at home for the playoffs,” Smith said. “If we lose, we could drop down as low as number five. We’re playing for a lot as well.”
AA No. 9 Winfield (7-2) at AA No. 2 Mingo Central (9-0)
Mingo Central will go for an undefeated season Friday night when it hosts Winfield on Miner Mountain.
The 9-0 record ahead of this week’s game is a product of the Miners shutting out Herbert Hoover, 36-0, last week.
“We’ve been a little slow getting out of the blocks the last couple of games, but we’ve been playing good teams,” Mingo Central head coach Yogi Kinder said of his team playing Chapmanville and Herbert Hoover the last two weeks.
This season, the Miners have also been more balanced on offense with over 1,800 yards through the air and on the ground.
“That’s the one thing offensive coordinator Joey Fields has emphasized on offense—being balanced,” Kinder said.
As for Winfield, it will be playing for a home playoff game in the first round with a win.
“Winfield has been playing the big games from where they are coming out of the MSAC,” Kinder said “We’ve been scoring a bunch of points, but I just want to be one point better than Winfield Friday night.”
AAA No. 16 Princeton (5-4) at AA No. 3 Point Pleasant (9-0)
Point Pleasant made short work of Westside as the Big Blacks improved to 9-0 with a 52-6 win.
Cason Payne tossed for nearly 200 yards and two touchdowns.
With the win, Point Pleasant has won 41 straight regular games going back to the 2012 season.
“We don’t sit around and dwell on whether we’re going undefeated,” Point Pleasant head coach David Darst said of his team chasing its four straight undefeated regular season.
“We put more focus on the opponent we’re playing. We know that Princeton is a very good football that is very well-coached.”
And the Big Blacks will get a very hungry Princeton team that is a must-win situation to hang onto its playoff spot in Class AAA
“We have to take care of fullback Zach Standifur,” Darst said referring to the Tigers’ running back who has rushed for over 1,000 yards this season “He’s such a good runner. They run him on trap plays and off tackle as well. The play action passing game for Princeton seems to be pretty good.”
Princeton also possesses a pretty strong defense.
“They are active in their 4-4 defense,” Darst said.
“Princeton is a fundamentally sound football team and you can tell they are well-coached. Those guys are trying to get the kids in the right place. Playing a school the size of Princeton, we will have to go out and execute what we do and do it well. If we have a flat night, Princeton can take advantage of us.”
AAA No. 2 Spring Valley (8-1) at Greenbrier East (4-5)
Spring Valley put the clamps on a high-powered Capital offense two weeks ago as the Timberwolves held the Cougars to 47 yards in a 21-0 win.
“The defense played well and the offense controlled the line of scrimmage,” Spring Valley head coach Brad Dingess said.
Spring Valley racked up 400 yards of offense helped by a big night from running back Mason Brubeck who had nearly 150 yards rushing in the first half.
Defensively, the Timberwolves haven’t allowed a point at home in the last three games with the opponents being Capital, Riverside and Hurricane.
“I never thought I’d see the day where playing football on grass was an issue,” Dingess said about his grass field at Spring Valley
Playing on the grass may very well be an edge for the Timberwolves with most playing on an artificial turf around the state.
However, if Spring Valley wants to lock up a home-field advantage throughout the playoffs it must first travel to Greenbrier East and defeat a Spartan team that revived their season with a 40-7 win over Princeton last week.
“They do a lot of good things on offense, and that’s because they are multiple,” Dingess said.
“They make people play more vanilla on defense. Driving to Greenbrier East is tough on us and historically we haven’t played real well down there when we played them in the MSAC.”
Spring Valley last played at Greenbrier East in 2012. The Timberwolves won 48-21.
Man (4-5) at A No. 11 Van (6-2)
Van fell to 6-2 two weeks ago as it lost on the road at Cameron.
However, the Bulldogs are in good shape to make the playoffs as 14 of the 16 spots have been locked up heading into Week 11 of the season.
If all the dominoes fall right on Friday night for the Bulldogs, they could even wind up hosting a home playoff game.
Van will try to avenge a loss from last year’s regular season finale that saw the Bulldogs fall to Man, 42-22.
Other Games:
Lincoln County (2-7) at AA No. 14 Herbert Hoover (6-3)
Logan (4-5) at Scott (3-6)
Nitro (1-8) at Wayne (3-6)
Bye Week:
AAA No. 7 Huntington (7-3)
AAA No. 9 Cabell Midland (6-4)
Chapmanville (5-5)
A No. 12 Sherman (8-2)
A No. 14 Tug Valley (7-3)
Hannan (2-7)