By: Eric Little – Seven Ranges Radio
Alfred Lord Tennyson once said, “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” Heading into the first week of the playoffs, there are two Mid-Ohio Valley football teams that feel that way from experience and a third that feels that way because they WISH they had the experience.
The area has the 16-seed in both Class A (Tyler Consolidated) and Class AA (Roane County) and came one-tenth of a percentage point away from landing in the 16-seed in Class AAA (Parkersburg South).
Though the 16-seed is a hard gig, ask Parkersburg South if they’d rather be playing this week or sitting at home. I think you’ll have your answer pretty quickly. Tyler and Roane will do their best under tough circumstances, while Williamstown finds itself in a dogfight in the opening weekend of the playoffs. Here are this week’s games. Dates/times listed:
Class A No. 9 South Harrison (9-1) at No. 8 Williamstown (8-2) – Saturday 1:30
Death, taxes and the Williamstown Yellowjackets playing meaningful games in November – three things you can rely on every year. For Williamstown head coach Terry Smith’s team, it hasn’t been an easy journey. A rugged schedule that featured the likes of Buffalo, Tolsia, St. Marys, Marietta, Ohio and Wheeling Central. An injury that knocked starting quarterback Trenton Tallman out of the Buffalo game. A schedule that didn’t include a bye week until Week 10.
This Yellowjackets team emerged battle-tested and ready to rumble this November. Smith says his team’s commitment has allowed them to persevere when times were tough.
“It just seems like everybody’s all in,” Smith said. “We’re to the point (to where if I said) ‘Hey, let’s go swim the Ohio River ten times’ the kids would complain, but they’d go. It just feels like everyone’s all in.”
One of the biggest assets for the Yellowjackets has been a tough run defense. Opposing teams have tried to stay away from senior defensive end Trevor Hoosier, but Smith says other players have stepped up when granted the opportunity.
“What happens is teams will run away from Trevor,” Smith said. “So what they’ll do is they’ll try to run the other way and run at Bryce Medford and Jake Seckman and Blake Neely. And those guys have to do their job and they’ve gotten better and better.”
Williamstown has a strong offense led by Tallman. The Yellowjackets have only been held to single digits once this season (against No. 2 St. Marys) and have topped 25 points in the other nine games.
This game features two veteran head coaches that, in the last five to six years, have ventured away from styles they’d run for ages. Smith says the evolution in styles, for the Yellowjackets, began when Williamstown’s coaching staff decided to better utilize the athleticism from the quarterback spot.
“It started a few years back with Jake Tracewell,” Smith said, reflecting on the evolution of his offense. “And then you had Dakota Watson and Trenton Tallman and those guys are really good athletes. I love those guys, but you gotta have an offensive line and the capability to snap the ball back. Basically what we did was go from under center to out of the shotgun.”
South Harrison head coach Brad Jett says he runs many of the same plays he’s run for years, and tries to achieve the same objectives, but out of shotgun and pistol sets – like Williamstown – instead of the wing-back looks that had been a trademark of the Hawks for years.
“We still wanna run the football, whether its off-tackle or jet sweep, we still wanna run the football and control it. We probably have the best team speed I’ve had in my 33 years here. We come out in a pistol. We’re very seldom under center anymore,” Jett said. “We try to spread some people out and open some running lanes for Freddie (Canary) and Cam (Barnette) and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
Last week against Wirt County, South Harrison’s offense exploded for nearly 500 total yards in a 76-13 win over the Tigers. That included 208 yards and four touchdowns for Canary on only 11 carries. For the Hawks, Barnette and Canary have been the go-to guys all year long, but Jett says they can’t do it alone.
“We have two above-average running backs, both with over a thousand yards rushing, but they’re not going anywhere without blocking,” Jett said of his running game. “So the guys up front have to take care of business.”
Jett feels that will be the difference against Williamstown this weekend.
“We’re going to have to handle them at the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively. If we don’t come off the football, it’s not going to be pretty,” said Jett. “We’re going to have to come off the football and be physical.”
South Harrison played two of its better games of the year against Moorefield and Tyler Consolidated, though the Hawks defended poorly in the latter matchup. Jett knows that he’ll need strong defense to go along with the running game and good line play to get a win Saturday.
“We know what Ohio River football’s all about in Single-A,” Jett said. “So we’ll just have to buckle it up and get after it.”
Smith knows the Yellowjackets will have to play with passion if they want to survive and advance to the second weekend.
“Even when you get beat, it’s good when you see that passion out of your kids. You know they care. That’s what was so good about the other night,” Smith commented, about Williamstown’s season-ending road win against Tolsia. “Seeing those kids happy the other night made all the difference.”
Class A No. 15 Buffalo (7-3) at No. 2 St. Marys (10-0) – Friday 7:30
For just the sixth time in school history, the St. Marys Blue Devils finished an undefeated regular season with last Friday’s 52-26 win over Tyler Consolidated. But in that 104-year school history, three of those six undefeated seasons have come in the last four years – a remarkable feat that isn’t lost on Blue Devil head coach Jodi Mote.
“Blessed is the key word. There’s just so much stuff that has to take place,” Mote said of what it takes to go perfect. “You have to have good kids that are willing to buy in to what you’re trying to do. You have to have your staff on the same page. You have to stay healthy. Your community has to be behind you. And your feeder programs at the elementary and middle school levels are important as well.”
One of the biggest areas of improvement with this year’s St. Marys team has been in what’s often referred to as the third phase of the game – special teams. The Blue Devils have improved range and place-kicking capabilities thanks to exchange student Georg Krough.
But the return game, led by Braden Barnhart and Jaiden Smith, is also lethal. Two weeks ago, against Ravenswood, touchdown returns from Barnhart and Smith accounted for three Blue Devil touchdowns. Special teams is a point of emphasis that hasn’t been lost on Mote.
“Each coach has a special teams unit they’re responsible for, so that’s something we all try to focus on. And we try to focus on that every day during the week,” Mote said. “We don’t wait until Thursday to put it in because it could be the difference in the ballgame. And you have to have kids that are able to buy in and perform.”
Against a playoff-bound Silver Knights team, the Blue Devils nearly hit the 500-yard mark in total offense. Much of that came through the running game, something St. Marys expects to have to stop from their opponent this week, Buffalo. And Mote is well aware that starts and ends with senior running back Dylan Lucas.
“I remember him last year. You gotta find a way to stop him. He definitely is a great player.” Mote said of Lucas. “Between him and their quarterback, they have great team speed.”
Lucas helps lead a potent Bison attack that topped 40 points six times this year. Last week, Buffalo bounced back from three losses in their previous four games to pick up a 60-14 win over Wahama. Because of the firepower the Bison possess, Mote knows this won’t be an easy draw for the Blue Devils.
“They played Fayetteville, Williamstown and Winfield, and all three of those teams are in the playoffs. If you had to pick out of those 16 teams, I guarantee one thing…you wouldn’t pick Buffalo as your first round opponent. I’m not going to tell you who I would pick, but it wouldn’t be Buffalo,” Mote said. “You throw the No. 2 and the No. 15 ranking out the window. It’s just like last year when we were No. 11 and we went on the road and beat No. 3 South Harrison. You can’t focus on rankings. You just have to focus on the fact this is the only game in front of you.”
Mote also knows there’s one other factor in play Friday night.
“We went down there last year in the playoffs, and they were 10-0 and we upset them, so now the roles are reversed,” Mote said.
This game can be heard locally on Lite Rock 93R (93.9 FM) and online at www.literock93r.com.
Class A No. 16 Tyler Consolidated (6-4) at No. 1 East Hardy (10-0) – Friday 7:30
In a famous scene from the film Dumb and Dumber, lead character Lloyd Christmas – played by Jim Carrey – is trying to gauge his chances of landing a date with socialite Mary Swanson. When he asks what his chances are, and finds out they’re pretty close to one-in-a-million, the reply given by Christmas is, famously, “So you’re saying there’s a chance?!”
Point is, a lot of things have to go right for a No. 16 seed in any bracket to knock off a No. 1 seed, but the fact remains – as long as those two teams meet head-to-head, ANYTHING can happen. And for Tyler Consolidated head coach Ryan Walton, that’s the angle he’ll use to motivate his team for Friday’s match up against top-seeded East Hardy.
“We’re going to view this as an opportunity. We’ve played some good teams this year, like South Harrison, Williamstown, Magnolia and St. Marys,” Walton said. “We’re going to look at it as a challenge, try to motivate the kids and get excited and get ready to go to East Hardy and play a football game.”
The Silver Knights had help getting into the playoffs after a Week 11 loss to St. Marys. Perhaps they wouldn’t have needed the help if it weren’t for the wake up call Tyler Consolidated received in their fourth game against then-winless Ravenswood. After jumping out to an early lead, the Silver Knights lost a 14-point advantage on the road to the Red Devils. Walton said his team learned from the experience.
“One thing that we worked on after that game was the pursuit drill. Everybody staying home, doing their job and not trying to do too much,” Watson said, of his defense’s Week 4, second-half performance against Ravenswood. “The kids learned from that situation that you can’t take anything for granted. They learned from that mistake.”
The Silver Knights are led by the potent one-two backfield punch of Tyler Anderson and Jace Reed. Anderson caught a 69-yard touchdown pass last week against St. Marys as part of a 138-yard receiving effort. Reed ran for a score and caught a touchdown pass from Tyler quarterback Griffin Phillips. Like any other team though, Walton knows his skill players don’t find success without good work from the guys up front.
“We rely on Jace (Reed) and Tyler (Anderson) in our backfield,” Walton said. “Our offensive line has kind of meshed together a little bit. In August, we were moving people around, but over the course of the year they’ve gained experience. They get a little bit better every week.”
Under Walton, the Silver Knights are back in the playoffs for the second time in the last three years; a sign the program is headed in the right direction.
“It’s a great feeling. The kids are excited. Anytime you get in the playoffs, its great for the community and it helps your program,” Walton said. “You use that to try to get some kids to come out and play that want to be a part of something.”
This game can be heard locally on 92.3 FM and online at www.wxcr.com.
Class AA No. 16 Roane County (6-4) at No. 1 Bridgeport (10-0) – Friday 7:30
In the area’s other David versus Goliath matchup, Roane County travels to top-ranked and perennial championship favorite Bridgeport this week. The Indians are once again unbeaten and boast wins against Class AA rival Fairmont Senior and defending Class AAA state champion Wheeling Park.
Despite stumbling down the stretch with three straight losses heading into their final game against Independence, the Raiders rebounded last week in a must-win game. Tyler May ran for 156 yards and two touchdowns as Roane County knocked off Independence 21-8.
The task will be much tougher for the Raiders running game this week against Bridgeport. And for a group that doesn’t play well from behind, an early Bridgeport lead may be too much for the run-heavy Roane attack to overcome.
One thing to remember about this Roane County team: just because they aren’t known for the pass doesn’t mean they aren’t known for the big play. May has ripped off a number of long touchdown runs for the Raiders this season, including a 90-yarder against Independence. Because of that, the Raiders scored 21 points and racked up 259 total yards last week despite only earning eight first downs.