I seemingly say every year, “the high school football season flying by”! And, 2021 is no different! Case in point, it seems as if we just started the 2021 season and a lot of teams will play game #5 of their 10 game schedule this weekend.
And then there is Richwood…..you honestly have to feel for the Lumberjacks! Head Coach Gary Roach and his group of gridders have yet to play a game! Think about that….a lot of teams in the mountain state will kick off game number five of the season and the Lumberjacks have yet to turn the game scoreboard on! But, the great news is, Richwood is trying….and they are trying hard! Think about this – beginning this week, Richwood will try and play Tuesday and Friday…..they will also try and play games next Tuesday (Sep 28th) and Friday (Oct 1st) and they will do it at least one more time this season as they have games scheduled for Tuesday (Oct 19th) and Friday (Oct 22)! Three different times, the Richwood Lumberjacks will try and play two games a week just in order to get ten games in the books for their kids! Big time congratulations go out to the administration and Head Coach Gary Roach for going that extra mile for their kids! The Lumberjacks are a prime example of what Covid can do to a group of young men who are just wanting to compete on the gridiron!
As the 2021 season rolls along, we have several teams that have started their season in fine style. In fact, we have a total of twenty (20) teams that are still undefeated! We have seven teams in Class AAA, seven teams in Class AA and six teams in Class A. And, just in case you’re wondering, the answer is yes, I did include Richwood in my list of Class A teams that are still undefeated! They have yet to play a game (as of Monday, September 20th) so obviously they have yet to lose a game!
Looking ahead to games of interest this week, we have a couple of games featuring undefeated teams in Class A as Cameron (3-0) travels to Weirton to take on Madonna (4-0) and Ritchie County (3-0) is on the road at (2-0) Doddridge County. In Class AA, Robert C. Byrd (2-1) will try and rebound from their first loss of the season last week (Flying Eagles lost 35-13 at Keyser) as they host rival Bridgeport! The Class AAA Indians are undefeated at (3-0). Also in Class AA, Lincoln County (3-1) will make the trip to Point Pleasant to battle the (3-1) Big Blacks. In Class AAA, undefeated South Charleston (3-0) will travel to Huntington to take on the (3-1) Timberwolves of Spring Valley and in North Central WV, the Fairmont Senior Polar Bears will continue an unbelievable stretch of very tough road games as Head Coach Nick Bartic boards the buses with his team to make the short trip north to Morgantown to battle the very talented Hawks of University. Head Coach John Kelly’s ballclub is (4-0) after defeating a very good Wheeling Park team 35-14 this past Saturday night.
If you have a chance this weekend, support your local high school team and head out to their football game….I promise it will be a couple of hours well spent. And then after the game, make sure you tune in to High School GAMENIGHT with Dave Jecklin and me. The show is heard on over 40 radio stations around the state and the live audio and video is available at www.wvmetronews.com!
Talk with you Friday night!