By Fred Persinger II for WVMetroNews.com
AA No. 6 James Monroe (4-1) at No. 5 Nicholas County (4-0)
A great mid season matchup takes place this Friday night in Summersville as James Monroe visits Nicholas County.
Both teams are contending for a top eight seed in the playoffs and feature very good defenses. Nicholas County has featured back-to-back shutouts, while James Monroe has only given up 22 points in its last two games.
The Mavericks have won three in a row after falling to Point Pleasant back in Week 2, 20-14.
Both teams also boast have outstanding quarterbacks as Nicholas County’s Jared Sagraves has thrown for over 300 yards and four touchdowns — he is also the leading rusher for the Grizzlies, rushing for close to 400 yards on the season.
Sagraves had big shoes to fill starting the year, taking over for Tate Mayes.
“Tate was an amazing quarterback and playing behind him as his backup was a privilege,” Sagraves said. “The first few games, I was pretty nervous with people asking me if I could fill his shoes, or comparing me to my brother.
“But now I’m just calm and playing football,” he continued. “And my offensive line has been doing a tremendous job up front of maintaining their blocks through the whistle I want to give all the credit to them.”
For James Monroe, the Mavericks use two quarterbacks with Connor Moore and Monroe Mohler combining for over 400 yards passing and over 430 yards rushing. Grant Mohler leads the Mavericks individually on the ground, tallying 448 yards and five touchdowns on the season.
“Our coaches teach us physicality – that wins ballgames,” Moore said. “If you’re the more physical team, you’re going to win the game. Monroe (Mohler) and I have built a lot of trust since the beginning of the season (rotating at quarterback) and Grant (Mohler) is an automatic five yards – he can get us five yards running backwards, he’s incredible.”
It’ll be another big defensive test for the Mavericks on Friday night.
“Nicholas County throws the ball a lot,” Moore said. “Our defensive backs have prepared a lot this week for their passing game. They have a good quarterback and our main focus has been working on trying to shut their passing game down.”
Nicholas County defeated James Monroe 25-9 a year ago when the Mavericks were No. 1 in the Class AA playoff ratings.
“Nicholas County handed us our only loss of the regular season last year,” Moore said. “Now, their undefeated heading into this year’s game. We have our guys hyped up and our guys are ready to try and get the win.”
Kickoff on Friday night is set for 7:30 p.m.
“Last year’s game had great intensity and I hope that we have the same crowd, with the same intensity this year,” Sagraves said. “We need to be physical, have low pad level and hopefully we will come out on top.”
Beckley (1-4) at George Washington (2-3)
Beckley its chances last week against Cabell Midland.
The Flying Eagles were trailing by one point, 14-13, heading into the fourth quarter, but saw the Knights ultimately pull away. Cabell Midland outscored Beckley 30-6 in the fourth quarter for the 44-19 win, capitalizing on Flying Eagles’ turnovers.
The Knights rushed for 465 yards in the game and had two backs rush for over 100 yards in Micaiah Roberts (158 yards) and Isaiah Duncan (130 yards) who filled in for leading rusher Ivan Vaughn who sat out the game because of injury.
For Beckley, Micah Hancock once again rushed for over 100 yards and also scored on a 59-yard punt return. Hancock finished with 112 of Beckley’s 159 yards of total offense.
This week, Beckley goes on the road for the first time since Week 1, traveling to Charleston for a matchup against George Washington. The Patriots are coming off a 47-12 win over Ripley last week — a contest that saw the Vikings jump out to the early 12-0 lead before Patriots’ junior quarterback Grant Wells got rolling.
Wells finished 13 of 19 passing for 266 yards in the win and added 93 yards rushing on just nine carries. Wells accounted for 359 of the 478 yards by George Washington.
This will be the 18th meeting between the two teams as George Washington has won 10 of the past 17. Beckley has not defeated George Washington since the 2005 season. George Washington won last year 41-6.
Kickoff is set for Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and the game can be heard on the Big Dawg 99.5 WJLS, WJLS.com or on the iheart radio app.
Class A No. 3 Fayetteville (5-0) at PikeView (3-2)
One of the more interesting games in southern West Virginia takes place in Mercer County as as Fayetteville visits PikeView. Both teams feature good running backs as Pikeview has two backs with more than 500 yards rushing on the season.
Hunter Mitchelson leads PikeView with 790 rushing yards, while Evan Rose has added for 660 yards on the season as well. Last week, Mitchelson rushed for 295 yards in a 49-17 win over Shady Spring. As a team, the Panthers rushed for 460 yards in the win last week.
Fayetteville, meanwhile, is coming off an impressive 18-0 win over Oak Hill, extending its regular season winning streak to 15 games. The main weapon for Fayetteville is junior Jordan Dempsey who has done a little bit of everything for the Pirates — he has rushed for over 500 yards, thrown a touchdown pass and has over 100 yards receiving.
Kickoff on Friday night is set for 7:30 p.m.
Other Games:
Alleghany, Va at Greenbrier East(1-4)
Graham, Va. at Princeton(0-4)
Richlands, Va. at Bluefield(5-0)
Clay County(4-1) at Independence(1-4)
Riverside(2-3) at Liberty Raleigh(0-4)
Wyoming East(1-4) at River View(0-4)
Oak Hill(4-1) at Shady Spring(2-3) Saturday
Summers County(2-2) at Webster County(4-0)
Midland Trail(5-0) at Gilmer County(0-4)
Mount View(3-2) at Notre Dame(1-4)
Greenbrier West(0-5) at Sherman(4-1)
Pocahontas County(3-2) at Bath, Va.
Meadow Bridge(0-4) at Valley Fayette(0-5)
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Richwood-Idle
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