I am not one of the many that believe “if you don’t talk about it, it will go away!” However, I do believe you can talk about something way too much! So, with that said, here’s hoping we don’t have to deal with Covid and that despised “map of many colors” this fall! To the folks in charge….please do your homework and do not throw a blanket of red over an entire county just because a very small section of said county has a few breakouts! We send our children to school to be smarter than that…..as adults, we should learn from the past!
Now with all of that said…….“Are you ready for some football?” The 2021 high school football season kicks off this week with a few games scheduled for Thursday night and the bulk of the games being played under those Friday Night Lights! Last year, the state championships were awarded to South Charleston in Class AAA, Fairmont Senior in Class AA and St. Marys in Class A. No one can argue the fact that all three schools deserved those titles and I am quite confident all three teams would have rather won those titles on the football field! But, that was the way the cards were dealt last season. What can we look forward to in 2021? Certainly all three reigning champions are going to be good once again this season! And, if you look at the preseason top ten rankings in all three classes which, by the way, are available to look at on our website @wvmetronews.com, you will find all three teams ranked! However interesting to note, only in Class AA is last year’s state champion ranked at #1. In Class AAA, Martinsburg is ranked in the top spot while South Charleston comes in at #2. In Class AAA, Wheeling Central is the preseason #1 ranked team, while last year’s champion, St. Marys, checks in at #7.
As always, we have some outstanding games slated to kick off week number one in WV High School Football and here are just a few. In Class AAA, Cabell Midland travels to Spring Valley……South Charleston heads to Morgantown……Parkersburg will head to Huntington…..Parkersburg South heads to Capital and on Thursday night, George Washington will open on the road at Crawford Field against St. Albans. In Class AA, the traditional opener finds Bluefield and Graham, Va. battling at Mitchell Stadium, Robert C. Byrd will head to Keyser…..Independence travels to Glen Daniel to take on rival Liberty……and Herbert Hoover will head to Scott. In Class A, a few schools step out of classification for some great games as Tug Valley will travel to Shady Spring, Tolsia will head to Wayne to battle the Pioneers…..Midland Trail will visit Clay County. Also on tap in Class A this Friday night, Greenbrier West is on the road to Buffalo and the Man Hillbillies will welcome in county rival Logan!
And as a reminder……you will hear all of the scores of all the games, plus interviews with coaches, players and fans on HIGH SCHOOL GAMENIGHT, presented by Summit Community Bank! This will mark year #20 of the show, and Dave Jecklin and I are back to host the most listened to high school sports show in the state. GAMENIGHT can be heard on over 40 radio stations statewide each Friday night from 9:30 until Midnight and the audio and video of the show is streamed live at www.wvmetronews.com!
Join us this Friday night for week #1 of year #20 of GAMENIGHT!!