By: Jack Withrow, WVMetroNews.com
AAA No. 6 Capital (9-3) at AAA No. 2 Spring Valley (11-1) – Saturday, 1:30
Things seem very familiar to Capital as they head into the Class AAA semifinals this weekend. Just like last year, the Cougars will face a Mountain State Athletic Conference foe that they lost to in the regular season. Coach Jon Carpenter and his Cougars are looking for the same results from a year ago.
In last year’s semifinal game in Ona, Capital upended top-ranked Cabell Midland to get back to the championship game at Wheeling Island Stadium. On Saturday, the Cougars will travel to Spring Valley for a 1:30 kickoff against No. 2 ranked Spring Valley. The Timberwolves held Capital scoreless in their regular season victory back on October 21st.
Spring Valley has rolled through their first two playoff opponents while averaging over 450 yards of offense and scoring 54.5 points per game. The Timberwolves defense, led by linebacker Owen Porter and safety Chandler Stacey held Buckhannon Upshur and South Charleston to just 180 yards of offense and two touchdowns – both of those scores coming late in each game.
The Timberwolves offense has been more than impressive all year long as they switch out of the wing-T package and into a spread offense and sometimes an I-formation without changing personnel. The Timberwolves averaged 43.2 points per game in the regular season.
Quarterback Derek Johnson leads a talented group of skilled players including running backs Porter, Jonah Wellman and Mason Brubeck. Both Brubeck and Johnson rushed for over 1,000 yards in the regular season while Porter and Wellman are big, bruising runners that are hard to tackle; especially when running behind a pair of 6-foot-6, 290-pound linemen in Riley Locklear and Doug Nester.
Capital has also rolled through their first two playoff opponents including a 62-18 victory over Jefferson last Saturday at Laidley Field in Charleston.
Sophomore quarterback Kerry Martin, Jr. has thrown for over 2,000 yards on the season including 338 yards and 5 touchdowns in last week’s victory. Martin even hooked up with University of Louisville commit Dorian Etheridge for a couple of scores. Etheridge, who usually shines on the defensive side, has three catches for 164 yards in two postseason games. 6-foot-3 junior Anthony Pittman leads the Cougars in receiving with 676 yards and nine touchdowns.
The Capital defense may be the key in securing another trip back to the Super Six Championships in Wheeling as they try to slow down a tough Spring Valley offense.
“The thing they’ve got going for them is there’s a bunch of kids that have played together for a long time,” said Carpenter.
Capital’s defense has come up big so far in the last two games with Pittman returning an interception for a touchdown against Jefferson and Silas Nazario picking off two Cabell Midland passes and returning one for a score.
Spring Valley defeated Capital 21-0 in the regular season under a bizarre scenario as Capital sat in traffic for several hours before finally arriving at the stadium. The game started late but Capital’s offense never got started as the Cougars turned the ball over four times and totaled just 47 yards.
“That day started bad about 7:00 in the morning,” Carpenter added jokingly. “This time we aren’t sitting on a bus, we’ll turn around and go back home and play on Sunday if we have to.”
This will be the 7th meeting between the two schools as Capital owns a 5-1 record against Spring Valley.