By: Wes McKinney, WVMetroNews.com
All Games in the region will be played at 7:30 p.m. Friday night
AAA No. 11 Cabell Midland (6-4) at AAA No. 6 Capital (7-3)
After its playoff hopes were on dwindling six games into the season with a 2-4 record, Cabell Midland ran off four straight wins to earn the 11 seed in the Class AAA playoffs.
The latest of those four wins was a 28-7 victory over Jackson, Ohio two weeks ago. Jake Gooderham and Ivan Vaughn combined for nearly 400 rushing yards to lead the Knights.
“Jackson was a good team that is very dangerous,” Cabell Midland head coach Luke Salmons said. “We have played well the last five or six games and we are healthy right now.”
Cabell Midland and Capital have become acquainted with each other the last two seasons. Friday’s contest will be the fourth time the two have met since Week 3 of last season. Of course last season, the Knights won 21-14 in the regular season at Laidley Field before Capital came to Knights Stadium and won in the Class AAA semifinals.
This time, Cabell Midland would like to flip the script on the Cougars after Capital won 42-23 earlier in the season.
“Capital has made adjustments since we played them and we’ve made changes as well,” Salmons said. “We’ve certainly gotten better. Both teams know each really well. The game is going to come down to blocking and tackling.”
While Cabell Midland has won four in a row, Capital has sputtered a bit down the stretch as it has lost two of its last three contests after suffering a setback against George Washington in the regular season’s final week.
“We have our work cut out for us,” Salmons said. “Capital has played in a lot of big games and they have kids that have made plays in those games. We have to execute and be better than Capital on Friday night.”
AAA No. 10 South Charleston (6-4) at AAA No. 7 Huntington (7-3)
When Huntington takes to the field Friday night, it will be the third straight season the Highlanders will do so as the seventh seed in the Class AAA playoffs.
Two years ago, Huntington made it to the semifinals in the seven spot and won its first round game last season in the same position.
The Highlanders locked up at least one home playoff as they defeated Woodrow Wilson, 38-14, in Week 10.
“The season is a grind when you play 10 straight weeks,” Huntington head coach Billy Seals. “It’s a real grind on the kids and on the coaching staff. It’s a mental grind and a physical grind. We were all looking to forward to the bye week.”
Despite another playoff appearance, Seals continues to tinker with his lineup as he moved what he called “one of the best defensive lineman he’s ever coached” in Ryan Mills and inserted him into the right side of the offensive line as well.
One of the three losses for the Highlanders one came in Week 9 as it fell to South Charleston, 34-23, giving up two scores in the final six minutes of the game.
“What we have to do on defense is not give up big plays,” Seals said. “We have to make South Charleston be more patience and go on 10, 12 or 13 play drives in order to score. South Charleston is a big-play offense, so we have to eliminate those.”
And while Cason Kessinger is one of the best kickers in the state, it may be his ability to not kick the ball to South Charleston’s dynamic playmaker in Derrek Pitts that could most help the Highlanders on specials teams.
“We can’t kick the ball to Derrek Pitts—we did that and they scored,” Seals said of Pitts’ scoring on a return in the regular season game.
The first meeting this season came on the grass field at South Charleston, but this game will be contested on the artificial surface at Bob Sang Stadium.
“I don’t know if the turf is an advantage or a disadvantage for either side,” Seals said.
“They are going to be good regardless of if they are on grass, turf, blacktop or concrete. They are a good football team. We will roll the ball out and hopefully we are the better team that is moving on to the next round.”
AAA No. 15 Buckhannon-Upshur (5-4) at AAA No. 2 Spring Valley (9-1)
Spring Valley secured home-field advantage throughout the duration of the Class AAA playoffs as it downed Greenbrier East, 58-14.
“I thought we came out a little bit flat and it took us a little while to get going with the open week,” Spring Valley head coach Brad Dingess said.
“Greenbrier East was doing some things that most football teams don’t normally do, running trick plays out the wazoo. It took a while to settle down, but we did and it was a good night for us.”
With the MSAC championship already under their belt, the Timberwolves will try to make more history Friday night as they go for the first 10-win season in school history when they welcome Buckhannon-Upshur to the Wolves’ Den.
“We’ve been stressing to them that once the playoffs start everybody is 0-0,” Dingess said.
“They have worked their tails off to get to where they are. To win the MSAC was a big goal for us. Spring Valley has never had double-digit wins in a season. This one is a big game for us Friday not only to win a playoff game, but to get a tenth win.”
Spring Valley will get a good look at a rare offensive setup as the Buccaneers possess a triple option attack.
“They are a dangerous team that makes you play discipline, assignment football on the defensive side of the ball,” Dingess said of B-U that had to win four of its last five games just to make the playoffs.
“Anytime you talk about high school kids having to play assignment football it kind of worries you a little bit.
“Buckhannon-Upshur is hot right now—they are playing the best they have all season,” Dingess continued. They are coming off a big rivalry game win with Elkins. It’s not the best matchup, it’s the worst matchup for us. The good news is they have to travel a ways to get to us.”
AA No. 14 North Marion (6-4) at AA No. 3 Point Pleasant (10-0)
Point Pleasant finished another undefeated regular season as the Big Blacks beat Princeton, 62-13, in the regular season’s final game.
“I think the kids were ready to play a home football game because we had been on the road a while,” Point Pleasant head coach David Darst said. “It was Senior Night and it was a chance for us to have our fourth undefeated season.”
On Senior Night, sophomore quarterback Cason Payne stole the show with 275 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, three passing and one rushing.
Darst and his players have quickly put 10 regular season wins behind them and have focused on the next task at hand.
“The undefeated season was one goal of ours, but now we’re 0-0 just like everyone else,” Darst said. “It’s been five years since we’ve been in Class AA. We’ll get focused on what we need to do to accomplish our next goal.”
The last time Point Pleasant was a contender in Class AA, the Big Blacks made it to the Class AA championship game, falling to Wayne.
The Big Blacks start the 2016 postseason against a North Marion team that had three of its four losses come against teams hosting playoff games this week, Bridgeport, Fairmont Senior and Lincoln—the other loss for the Huskies was against Robert C. Byrd.
“North Marion has some nice skill players and they have a quarterback that’s a four year starter,” Darst said Huskies’ signal caller Kyle Elliott.
“He does a good job of knowing where the ball needs to go and he does a good job of running with it. You can tell they have done a good job of getting their best athletes on the field.”
AA No. 15 Liberty Harrison (7-3) at AA No. 2 Mingo Central (10-0)
Mingo Central accomplished two goals it had been chasing since its inception, an undefeated regular season and a Cardinal Conference championship.
By winning 49-8 over Winfield, the Miners will be staying at home during the Class AA playoffs.
“It was pretty sweet,” Mingo Central head coach Yogi Kinder said of his team’s win over Winfield. “The kids have been working real hard to win the Cardinal Conference. We’ve been close to winning it in the past, but that was our goal whenever we first got started here. We had a lot of things fall in our place.”
But now the Miners will begin to put a perfect regular season in the rearview mirror and focus on its first round playoff game. Kinder has been around long enough to know playoff football is about hanging onto the ball and playing smart, something Mingo Central has done all season.
“Defensively, we kept getting better and better,” Kinder said. “We played a lot of teams that like to run the ball, but we stayed strong and hung in there. We stayed away from the penalties and the turnovers.”
The Miners will get Big 10 foe Liberty Harrison who will be playing in its first playoff game since 2010.
“They have a bunch of big guys and they like to run the ball downhill,” Kinder said.
“They are a lot like Bridgeport. It’s the same offense, but different players. Those guys know how to run the scheme they have in place. They run it out of the stick-I and they get up field and kick you out of the hole. It’s not real fancy, but they get the job done.”
A No. 13 Tug Valley (7-3) at A No. 4 Tolsia (7-2)
This Class A playoff game will be a rematch of a Week 5 win for Tolsia as it defeated Tug Valley, 36-16, in Mingo County.
The venue will change for the first round of the playoffs as the Rebels had a 10-game home winning streak snapped last week as they fell to Williamstown, 35-8.
As for Tug Valley, it got an extra week to prepare for this game after a Week 11 bye week.
The Panthers finished the regular season with a win over Man, 12-6, that helped boost them into the playoffs with the added points for a Class AA victory.
These two coalfield rivals last met at Tolsia in Week 5 of 2015 with the Rebels picking up a 31-14 win.
A No. 14 Van (6-3) at A No. 3 Fayetteville (10-0)
Despite falling at home to Man in the final week of the season, Van made the final 16 in Class A for the second consecutive season.
The Bulldogs hope to find the magic that propelled them to a 6-1 start as they begin the playoffs at Fayetteville.
Last season, Van fell in the first round of the Class A playoffs as a 16 seed to eventual 2015 champion Magnolia.
A No. 11 Sherman (8-2) at A No. 6 Wheeling Central (8-1)
Sherman concluded its regular season by locking up an eighth win as it defeated River View, 45-14, before a Week 11 bye.
The Tide will be making their first appearance in the playoffs since the 2009 season when they were a Class AA school.
During the playoff season then, Sherman won its first round game against Chapmanville before falling to Class AA powerhouse Bluefield.
Now the Tide will get another powerhouse, Class A perennial contender, Wheeling Central Catholic.