PLEASANT VALLEY, W.Va. — Fourteen years have passed since East Fairmont posted a winning season but all signs point to continued development in Pleasant Valley. In Shane Eakle’s third season leading the Bees last fall, they went 5-5 and were in the mix for a playoff spot until the season’s final week.
“We were at least one game short. It is what it is. We didn’t quite get it done and that starts with me. I think the effort was there and we played tough,” Eakle said.
“Obviously, we would like to get that sixth or seventh win this year to make sure we can get into that field of sixteen.”
Roster numbers have nearly tripled over the last three years for the Bees.
“I think they had seventeen kids finish the year before we came in. Right now, we’ve had 51 kids attend a workout. We are looking at around 50 kids. For us, that is a pretty good number at East Fairmont. I think the community support has been great.”
Solid numbers and returning veterans will occupy key spots on the line and the Bees are led by a senior in the middle of the offensive line.
“Tyler Parrish is going to come back for us at center. He’ll be a senior. That’s good because you have a veteran guy in the middle to hopefully identify line calls and communicate. Hopefully, that has gotten better for us with the communication part.”
Junior Ian Crookshanks enters his third season as the starting signal caller. He passed for 1,601 yards and a dozen touchdowns last season.
“He has kind of taken over for it to be his team. You see him in the weight room and he is the first to call guys to get in to go do extra, some extra sets in and things like that. Those leadership qualities, where as a sophomore you are running the show but not really running the show, as a junior he feels more ownership.”
Senior Alex Culp will occupy key spots on both sides of the ball. He is the team’s second-leading returning receiver and the Bees’ leading returning tackler.
“At the safety spot, he has to be kind of our field general to make calls, coverages and rotations. That’s really important. He is kind of one of our third down guys, our slot guy to get some of the dirty yards for us.”
Playoff appearances have come once a generation at East Fairmont but the goal for the Bees this year is clear.
“Ultimately, our goal is to get into the field of sixteen. That has only happened three times here and this will be year 103. That’s a big push for us. We’ve got some really good football teams on our schedule. We also focus our kids on how we approach that. What is your individual job to be the best player that you can be so that as a team, we are going to be the best team we can be? That’s kind of how we look at things.”