BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — Carson Deeb threw four touchdown passes as Bluefield advanced to the Class AA state semifinals with a 43-20 win over Keyser at Mitchell Stadium.
The Beavers (11-1) will now travel to East-West Stadium in Fairmont to face the Polar Bears (12-0) in the semifinal round. These two teams have met in the last two Class AA state championship games, which each team winning once.
The Beavers jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead courtesy of stout rushing defense and a pair of first quarter touchdowns. Jacorian Green opened up the scoring with a seven-yard run midway through the first. Deeb tossed his first touchdown pass to Brandon Wiley late in the quarter.
A Kaulin Parris 28-yard field goal in the final minute of the second quarter capped the first half scoring.
Bluefield extended their lead to 31-0 in the third quarter on a 65-yard touchdown connection from Deeb to J.J. Davis and a Deeb to Jahiem House ten-yard hookup.
“He is starting to get healthy,” Bluefield head coach Fred Simon said of House. “We have him back to I think a hundred percent now.”
Keyser crept back into the game with touchdown totes from Ryan Shoemaker and Drae Allen to make the score 31-14. But Davis broke free on a 50-yard run and the Deeb-to-House combo connected once more as the Beavers pulled away.
“If they are going to take the run away, we can throw,” Simon said. “We can throw, we can run and we just try to pick out a weakness.”
Now the Beavers will hit the road for the first time in the postseason, and they will attempt to break the Polar Bears 26-game win streak.
“We figured we would meet them at some point,” Simon said. “Hopefully we will be ready to play because we are going to have to be in their hostile environment. We will do the best that we can.”