By: Shawn Rine
The Wheeling Intelligencer and News-Register
Class AAA
No. 9 Wheeling Park (7-3) at No. 8 George Washington (7-3)
A pair of Patriots will face off at 7:30 on Friday night in Charleston.
Wheeling Park starts the real defense of its Class AAA state championship, but will do so on the road. Coach Chris Daugherty’s club got off to a slow start at 4-3, but reeled off three straight victories to end the regular season.
“We are better now than we were at the beginning of the season,” Daugherty said. “We have made adjustments and our offensive line has gotten better. Just look at the simple mistakes we were making early in the year.
” Those mistakes are gone now and they are playing more consistent and it shows when they allow our running backs and quarterback to make plays.”
Despite losing an outstanding class to graduation, Park extended its school-record playoff streak to six straight seasons. The Patriots have done so despite a myriad of injuries. Junior tailback Rennie Clark missed a game earlier in the season and leading receiver Nate Phillips’ junior season is finished after surgery to repair a broken collar bone.
“I couldn’t be more proud of where we are after losing all of those players to graduation last year,” Daugherty said. “We have gotten better week in and week out. Our young guys aren’t so young any more, meaning they have experience now.
” We have caught some injury bugs lately but we are dealing with that. Not everyone is at 100 percent, but at this point in the season, who is?”
In his first season as a starter Clark has rushed for 1,342 yards and 18 touchdowns. He had 115 yards and two scores in last week’s close victory against rival John Marshall. He’s joined by Zach Torbett, who has really come on as a ball carrier.
“Torbett had a great second half last week for us,” Daugherty said of the senior. “We will probably use both of them this week.”
But the offense goes through junior QB Cross Wilkinson. He has completed 130 of 228 passes for 1,743 yards and 18 touchdowns. He did his best work in last season’s playoffs. He will miss Phillips (51 catches, 647 yards, six TDs), but will look for the combo of Mazei Mosby and Jack Stakem.
George Washington enters on a six-game winning streak, including an impressive victory against Capital last week.
“We started our season with a 1-3 record but got back on track to make the playoffs,” George Washington coach Steve Edwards Jr. said. “We only had four home games this season but all of our starters are healthy and our kids are excited about hosting a playoff game.”
The southern Patriots won five of those six in a row on the road, with 14 points being the smallest margin of victory.
George Washington is also led by its quarterback, sophomore Grant Wells. He’s throw for more than 2,000 yards. Tanner Williams paces the defense with more than 90 tackles.
“Wells is a pretty good quarterback who leads our offense and Darnell Brooks is his favorite target,” Edwards said. “We will need Brooks to catch the ball and get some yards after the catch.
“I know that there will be two really good quarterbacks on the field this Friday.”
Daugherty said this is a matchup of two mirror images.
“They are similar to us offensively and defensively,” Daugherty said. “They have an aggressive defense, their quarterback has gotten Division-I offers and they have a wide receiver who can make plays, especially after the catch.
“For us to win, we need to limit mental mistakes and turnovers. We have to maintain the ball and not give them opportunities to score.
“We are going to go down to Charleston and throw everything out there. We are excited to make the playoffs for the sixth time in a row and we will give it everything we got.”
Class AA
No. 13 Weir (7-3) at No. 4 Sissonville (9-1)
Weir is no stranger to postseason action, but it also doesn’t play at home often once there. For the third straight year, the Red Riders will be on the road to begin the playoffs at 1:30 on Saturday at Sissonville’s Joe Sawyer Stadium.
The last two years Coach Tony Filberto’s club was one-and-done.
“We’re going to change that,” Filberto said.
The Red Riders enjoyed their bye week last weekend while the Indians were busy dispatching Braxton County, 57-12. While the rest was good, the news on standout running back Cody Enrietti was not. The senior who ran for 1358 yards and 13 touchdowns and is being recruited by VMI and West Virginia, is finished with for the season after injuring a knee.
Coach Marc Wilson has a senior-dominated team this season at Sissonville. Led by quarterback Chance Brown (5-foot-10, 165 pounds), running back Austin Cook (6-1, 210) and middle linebacker Colton Faber (5-10, 170), the Indians have victories against No. 11 Winfield (7-3) and No. 12 Herbert Hoover (7-3). Their only defeat came against No. 2 Mingo Central in Week 3.
“We had a great comeback to beat Winfield,” Wilson said. “They have a very good team and we were down 20-0 but had a big second-half comeback. That was the most fun I think any of us ever had on a football field.
“We have a lot of players that are two- and three-year starters. Brown started at wide receiver as a freshman and has been the starting quarterback since his sophomore season.”
Brown in multi-dimensional, having thrown for more than 1,800 yards and run for more than 950.
“For Sissonville, though, everything goes through their quarterback, Brown,” Filberto said. “He’s not real big, but he makes plays out of nothing.
“He finds a way to get away from the rush and he’s their playmaker.”
If there is an advantage, Filberto said, it’s that he believes the Indians haven’t seen the type of problems Weir presents.
“In the films, it doesn’t look like their defense has seen our type of offense,” said Filberto, who has used a straight-ahead power running offense. “It remains to be seen whether they can stop us because it is something they haven’t seen before.”
Wilson noted that the Red Riders have superior size compared to his team.
“They have a couple of big guys in the backfield and a fast quarterback,” he said. “Their lines far outweigh us. Our defensive linemen are not the biggest kids, but they have gotten the job done.
“Sometimes size isn’t the big factor. We rely a lot on speed and athleticism.
Senior Domenick Murphy (6-1, 205) will carry the load in the absence of Enrietti. Tyler Mack, who carried the ball 11 times for 32 yards against Brooke in the season finale, will fill in for Enrietti in the backfield.
Senior Donavan Spencer rounds out the Red Riders backfield at quarterback. He has accounted for 1,148 yards rushing and passing. The 155-pound state sprint champion finished the regular season with 649 yards on the ground, an average of 7.73 yards each touch and he had five touchdowns on the ground.
He completed 37 of 95 through the air for 489 yards and five scores with three interceptions.
Class A
No. 11 Sherman (8-2) at No. 6 Wheeling Central (8-1)
Playoff time has traditionally been Knight time. At least since 2000, that is.
Wheeling Central has collected eight Class A state championships during that time, walking away with hardware in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011. It lost in the title game in 2001.
This year’s quest begins at 7:30 on Friday night on the turf at Bishop Schmitt Field on the campus of Wheeling Jesuit University.
“This has been our time of year since 1999,” Young said. “We have only missed the playoffs once since then and the kids look forward to playoff time. This is another great group of seniors that we have, and a great group of kids overall. They practice hard, battle hard and get the job done.
“I have also been very fortunate with the players, coaches, parents, administrations and all the support that we have had here at Wheeling Central through the years.”
The Maroon Knights welcome a Sherman team to town that is riding a three-game winning streak, including last week’s 45-14 vanquishing of River View. The Tide’s two losses were against Gilmer County (36-6) and 30-13 against Van.
Coach J.D. Fairchild’s team features quarterback Bailey Kirk who has the ability to throw the football, hitting two of his three attempts for 53 yards and two touchdowns last week, but the visitors much prefer to run the football.
Kirk was one of three rushers that went over the century mark last week, finishing with 103 yards and a touchdown. Ben Salmon added 151 yards an a score on seven carries while Willen Christian ran the ball 10 times for 113 and a touchdown.
Tyler Perry and J.T. Hensley were on the receiving end of Kirk’s touchdown passes last week. Kirk is also among the team’s leading tacklers on defense.
“They are big as heck. Very aggressive and good on defense,” Young added. “They also seem very well-coached. Sherman has two very good, very fast running backs and their quarterback has the ability to take off and run also.
“As far as big, they have four guys over 300 pounds including a 360-pound center that moves very well for a big kid. But I really believe that our schedule and the teams that we play will help us in the long run. We played some pretty good teams this year, as we do every year.”
The Maroon Knights will have a full arsenal this week as sophomore running back Bray Price returns from an injury suffered in last week’s 47-0 victory against Bishop Donahue. Price has rushed for 661 yards and seven touchdowns.
With Price forced to watch much of last week, Central still ran the ball well behind senior JaQuan Jackson and junior Dawson Wear. Jackson finished with 143 yards and two touchdowns while Wear added 127 rushing yards.
Senior Isaac Rine is the Maroon Knightsá leader at quarterback and is 46 yards away from eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark. Rine has hit 16 scoring tosses while only being intercepted three times. His leading receiver is one of the top targets in the Mountain State in classmate John Burkhalter, who had a touchdown catch last week and also returned an interception 80 yards for a score that capped the scoring against the Bishops.
No. 12 Pendleton County (8-2) at No. 5 Cameron (10-0)
After a perfect regular season, Cameron is playing host to a true home playoff game for the first time in school history. After competing at Marshall County neighbor John Marshall in recent postseasons, the Dragons welcome Pendleton County to Dragon Stadium at 1:30 on Saturday.
“I know that we will be fully focused on the task at hand Saturday afternoon and nobody will be looking back to last week or any of our other win,” Cameron coach Scott Holt said. “This is our first true home playoff game in school history, so we are expecting a huge, loud crowd.
“Honestly, I think this could be one of the best games in the state this week, so I want to tell everyone in the valley that if you haven’t had the chance to make the trip to Cameron, this might be a great week to do it.”
Finishing the season unbeaten was not an easy task as Cameron needed overtime on a long trip to Pocahontas County last Friday night to get the job done. Cameron outscored the hosts by a 24-14 edge in the second half and used a surprise 2-point conversion in overtime to escape with a 36-34 triumph.
“We were very lucky last week, not only to get out of there with a win, but the fact that we left there healthy,” Holt said. “Monday we came in, congratulated the kids on a great accomplishment and told them it was time to move on and turn our attention to Pendleton County.”
The Dragons have a powerful offense that’s led by junior quarterback Colby Brown and senior running back Michael Starcher. Brown is 82 of 154 for 1,599 yards, 21 touchdowns and only two interceptions through the air. Starcher has carried 180 times for 1,382 yards and 16 touchdowns, averaging nearly 140 yards a week.
Coach Rod Cooper’s Wildcats have lost 32-30 to Petersburg and 40-16 to unbeaten East Hardy this season. Pendleton County has won four straight, including last week’s 57-20 rout of Tygarts Valley.
When the Wildcats have the football, Coach Cooper is familiar with the two kids that are usually going to somehow be involved in helping to move it. Those two are his twin sons, Luke and Trey Cooper, who combined for seven touchdowns in last week’s victory.
Luke Cooper, the team’s quarterback, was 8 of 17 through the air for 131 yards and four touchdowns, two of those to his running back brother, Trey. Trey Cooper ran 10 times for 164 yards and three more touchdowns.
“Pendleton County is very big up front, averaging 6-foot-2., 265 pounds across the line, which is huge for a West Virginia Class A football team,” Holt said. “On the other side we average about 160 pounds across both the offensive and defensive lines, so that is a major size advantage of over 100 pounds.
“The coach’s twin sons are the two kids that lead them and they are averaging over 40 points a game on offense. Both of them are extremely talented kids. I know that they played Wheeling Central very tough in the playoffs last year and they are a year older and a year better this year.”
No. 16 Tyler Consolidated (6-4) at No. 1 East Hardy (10-0)
Tyler Consolidated couldn’t have gotten into the field with a victory in the regular-season finale. But a 52-26 loss against power St. Marys meant the Silver Knights had to play the waiting game.
As it turns out, it was rival Magnolia that helped Coach Ryan Walton’s club get in. With their 55-0 victory at Moorefield, the Blue Eagles got the Silver Knights in.
After falling to the No. 2 team last week, Tyler Consolidated travels to face top-seeded East Hardy at 7:30 on Friday night.
“The kids are excited, but they are also looking at is an opportunity,” Walton said. “We want to have fun but we are treating it like a business trip.
“We have a couple guys on the team that played in the playoff game two years ago and know the feeling.”
After being blown out in last season’s title game by Magnolia, the Cougars have slammed everyone in their path. They have won by an average of 22 points and scored 60-plus five times, including four games in a row.
“It is going to be huge for us to get off to a good start and not get behind early,” Walton said. “We have to get things going on offense early.”
East Hardy provides a big challenged for the Tyler Consolidated defense. The Cougars run a quick offense and will throw a lot behind senior quarterback Corey McDonald.
“They have an athletic quarterback that likes to throw it all over the place and receivers that will go up and get it,” Walton said. “They are a pretty good football team with a lot of experience.
“Matching up with them is going to be difficult. We haven’t seen any team on our schedule that throws it like they do and it will be a challenge to defend their pass.
“But our guys are going to be prepared and are up for the challenge.”
Tyler Consolidated isn’t without weapons. Tyler Anderson, Jace Reed and Griffin Phillips have all put up solid numbers.
Reed is the leading rusher with 925 yards, to go 14 rushing touchdowns and five receiving.
Anderson is a do-it-all player. He has 609 yards rushing and six touchdowns, 527 receiving yards on 37 catches with nine touchdowns. He also has three special teams scores.
On defense, Anderson leads with seven interceptions and is the leading tackler with 54.
Phillips is in charge of running the offense, completing 94 passes for 1,051 yards and 17 touchdowns.
“Any time you draw a No. 16 seed and are the playing the No. 1, it is an us-against-the-world mentality,” Walton said. “We are going to come up with a game plan that we think is going to work. The community is really excited and so are these kids.
“We are ready to show that belong there.”