By Wes McKinney for WVMetroNews.com
Class AAA No. 5 Capital (3-1) at No. 3 Huntington (4-0)
Huntington unleashed a different weapon last week against Pakersburg in a 35-21 win.
After Jadon Hayes rushed for 10 touchdowns in the first three games, wide receiver Mike Dawson had a big night with two receiving touchdowns, to go along with 104 yards receiving – quarterback Luke Zban threw for 210 yards as well.
And Hayes still had 196 rushing yards with two scores.
“Mike is a big piece to the puzzle,” Huntington head coach Billy Seals said. “He’s a kid you have to account for on every snap to see where he’s at.
“He makes a lot of plays when he’s targeted,” Seals continued. “When he gets the ball, he makes the most out of the opportunity. He’s continuing to get better each week and he’s obviously a big weapon for us.”
Huntington seems to be finding more balance to its offense just in time for a marquee game against Capital at home this week. The Highlanders rolled up nearly 600 yards of offense against the Big Reds.
“Offensively, we did exactly what we wanted to do — we had 570 yards,” Seals said. “We need to do a little better job of making the most out of our red zone opportunities. We’re excited to be 4-0.”
The Cougars are coming off one of the most dramatic wins of the season at Cabell Midland, a 55-49 shootout, that ended on a Hail Mary from Kerry Martin to Anthony Pittman.
“You talk about a kid that’s really progressed at the quarterback position — as a sophomore he may have struggled a little bit throwing the ball,” Seals said of Martin’s maturation as a signal caller.
“This year, he has become a really good quarterback,” he continued. “His biggest attribute is extending plays—he runs around, extends plays and gets guys open that way.”
And it doesn’t hurt that Martin has some of the most explosive athletes surrounding him.
“I just hope we can slow them down a little bit,” Seals said.
“Anthony Pittman has become their version of Mike Dawson. Deishawn Harper is a really good football player. They try to get the ball to him in space. He’s very similar to Silas Nazario.”
Huntington and Capital are the only two teams in the MSAC still unbeaten in conference play, so a win for either team would give it a leg up in the MSAC championship race.
Capital won last year 35-18.
Class A No. 9 Mount View (3-1) at Class AA No. 11 Point Pleasant (3-1)
Point Pleasant completed its three-game road swing with a convincing win at Herbert Hoover, 35-14.
“I was happy with the way we played on the road with it being our third road game in a row,” Point Pleasant head coach David Darst said.
“I was very happy with the way our defense played. Anytime you go to Herbert Hoover and come out with a win, it’s nice. Being in the old conference, it was always a tough place to play.”
Now, Point Pleasant will come home to face an upstart Mount View squad that erased a 20-0 deficit to nab its third win of the season over Summers County in a shootout, 48-40.
“Mount View has a nice scheme,” Darst said eluding to Mount View’s plan to put athletes in space. “They were very active offensively last year against us. They do a lot of things and they will keep us on our toes. Defensively, they’ll show us a lot of different things.”
Darst understands that it’s a much more mature team coming to Mason County from Welch Friday night.
“We’re going to spend the whole week preparing for them,” Darst said. “They are rolling right now at 3-1 and I’m sure they are thinking playoffs.”
The Big Blacks won at Mount View last season, 65-22
Class No. 12 South Charleston (2-2) at Class No. 8 Spring Valley (2-1)
Spring Valley put the clamps on George Washington in a 28-7 win.
The Timberwolves held George Washington to just 51 yards of offense to stymie its second straight opponent.
“It was an ugly, boring game,” Spring Valley head coach Brad Dingess said. “The defense played really well all game. When you hold George Washington to less than 100 yards of offense, that’s a really good night. We did enough offensively to win the game.”
Graeson Malashevich came to the rescue of Spring Valley on offense with three total touchdowns.
But defense since giving up 14 second-half points to Huntington two weeks ago, Spring Valley has allowed just 14 points in the last eight quarter against the Patriots and St. Albans.
“We had to replace a lot of kids on defense,” Dingess said.
“We felt like we had some talent on that side of the ball, but had some question marks as well. We’re still young in some spots.”
The Timberwolves will play their second straight home game versus South Charleston this week.
“They are really athletic and have good players at the skill positions.” Dingess said.
“They have a good quarterback. They fly around on defense and I think they are underrated up front. You look at the two teams they’ve lost two–Johnson Central and Cabell Midland–there’s a lot of people that would lose to them in the state, so you can’t base anything off that.”
And the best formula for Spring Valley may be to make the game ugly again.
“We’re not out there lighting the place up throwing it all over the place,” Dingess said of offsetting the athletes of South Charleston. “We’ll do what we have to do to win a game.”
Poca (2-2) at Class AA No. 2 Mingo Central (4-0)
Mingo Central took a 29-15 lead into halftime against Sissonville last week, then scored 40 unanswered second-half points to win going away, 69-15.
“We made some mistakes early with two turnovers in the first half, but in the second half we did our job,” Mingo Central head coach Joey Fields said. “We were able to get some young guys in there and they played really hard.”
Jeremy Dillon threw for four touchdowns while Dawson Elia accounted for 376 all-purpose yards and five total touchdowns in the win.
“If we come out and play well we can do those things,” Fields said of the second-half outburst. “If we come out and play like we did against Point Pleasant—not our own style—then we’re going to have a hard time.”
Mingo Central will get one of the feel-good stories in Class AA over the last two weeks in Poca. The Dots broke their long losing streak two weeks ago and downed Logan last week.
“When I think about Poca, I think about winning and tradition like they had back in day,” Fields said. “When these kids think about Poca, it’s a different thing. I’m letting our kids know that Poca has a different mindset and they are getting better.”
Class AAA No. 10 Cabell Midland (2-2) at Woodrow Wilson (1-3)
In one of the wildest games in recent memory, Cabell Midland lost on a Hail Mary against Capital.
The 55-49 defeat for the Knights doesn’t quite tell the whole story as Cabell Midland climbed out of a second half hole, only to see Capital quarterback Kerry Martin connect with Anthony Pittman for the 65-yard game-winning score..
The Knights were down 49-28 and had to score 21 straight points, before a late missed field goal gave Capital a chance at the desperation play. Cabell Midland’s attack again was led by Isaiah Duncan and Ivan Vaughn who combined for 384 yards and five touchdowns.
“Our kids were ready to go to overtime and then all of a sudden it changed,” Cabell Midland head coach Luke Salmons said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that as a coach in 10 years of coaching. But God has a plan for us as a football team, and we have to improve on some things.”
Not only has the schedule been difficult for the Knights with losses to Ohio powerhouse Anderson and now Capital, but the injuries are mounting some for the Knights, but Salmons isn’t letting that deter his team.
“We’ve had numerous injuries, but we aren’t going to talk about that — we can’t,” Salmons said of losing two offensive linemen in August to season-ending injuries, and a safety, for the Capital game. “We’ve been through a lot. We’ve had a lot of things happen to us that I’ve never have had happen to me in my years at Cabell Midland. It’s a tough thing, but we aren’t going to use that as an excuse.”
The Knights will have to rebound quickly with a trip to Woodrow Wilson this week.
“Anytime you go on the road, you have to get your mind right. Beckley is getting better,” Salmons said.
“They are moving the ball better. You can tell they have a plan of what they want to do. Anytime you face a team that’s building a program, they are looking for that win to get them going or over the hump.”
Nitro (1-3) at Wayne (2-1)
While it was only week four of the season, last week’s road win over Winfield felt like a season-changing momentum victory for Wayne if it is to get back to the postseason.
“Anytime you go into a game, you have a plan for the way you want things to go,” Wayne head coach Tom Harmon said. “We did a good job of executing that.”
The Pioneers took down the Generals—a playoff team from a season ago—46-24 behind Jeremiah Milum’s big night.
Milum had three offensive touchdowns and ran back a 46-yard interception for a score.
“Jeremiah has had some rough times—most of it wasn’t his fault,” Harmon said of his senior quarterback.
“He has kept on coming back, playing hard and had a good attitude about it. When you take a kid that has been through those trials, when he gets a slice of cake you like it. He stepped up big and made a difference this past Friday.”
While Milum and Mikey Bartam combined for six touchdowns, the Wayne defense came up big allowing just 81 rushing yards to Winfield. Milum, Jon Chinn and Grayson Pratt all had interceptions in the contest.
Wayne returns home to face Nitro who has lost three straight contests.
“They are trying to find themselves like a lot of people are trying to do this time of year,” Harmon said of Nitro. “Hopefully, they put that on delay for another week.”
Class A No. 14 Sherman (3-1) at Class A No. 9 Van (3-1)
Sherman and Van will renew their rivalry Friday night as both teams are looking for back-to-back playoff appearances.
Both teams are rolling at the moment with each pitching a shutout last week.
Sherman blanked Gilmer County, 43-0.
Van earned its second shutout in four games as it won 27-0, picking up some additional bonus points with a win over Class AA Lincoln County.
The Bulldogs went on the road last year and won, 30-13, against Sherman.
Class AA No. 15 Scott (2-1) at Chapmanville (2-2)
This contest is important to both squads in so many ways.
Scott is trying to keep its place in the top 16 of the Class AA playoff field while Chapmanville is trying to work its way back into the picture. The Tigers enter this week in a tie for 23rd in this week’s WVSSAC’s Class AA playoff ratings.
After this week, three of the final five opponents for the Tigers currently have losing records.
Meanwhile, Scott has back-to-back dates with playoff bubble teams. This week it will be Chapmanville, and the next, Wayne.
Scott had a week to prepare for Chapmanville after an open date. Chapmanville evened its record by edging Nitro 21-14.
Chapmanville won last year’s meeting with Scott, 27-12.
Class A No. 11 Tug Valley (3-1) at Tolsia (1-3)
Tug Valley rebounded from its loss against Van with a 20-7 victory over Phelps, Kentucky.
Tolsia had a setback with a loss against Westside, 28-7. The Rebels are getting ready to enter a treacherous part of their schedule with three consecutive games against Tug Valley, South Harrison and Mount View—all playoff teams if the season ended today.
Tolsia has won the last two meetings and three of the last four between the two teams.
Other Games:
Winfield (2-2) at Logan (1-3)
River View (0-3) at Man (0-3)