For high school football fans around the state, week #7 of the 2022 high school football season is officially in the books. That means, there are only four more weeks left in the regular season!
Looking at some numbers as we exit week #7, we still have 12 teams that are undefeated and, we have 9 teams still looking for win number one. The numbers break down as follows: In Class AAA, we have zero teams undefeated and four teams still looking for win number one including St. Albans, South Charleston, Lincoln County and Preston. In Class AA, there are three teams undefeated after week #7 and those teams are Independence, Scott and Roane County. The lone team still looking for win number one in Class AA is Berkeley Springs as the Indians are currently (0-7). In Class A, the number of undefeated teams after week #7 proudly stands at nine! Those 9 undefeated teams included Williamstown, Wheeling Central, Doddridge County, Tucker County, Wahama, Van, Cameron, James Monroe and Montcalm! By the way, the Montcalm Generals are (6-0) for the first time in school history! In Class A, we still have four teams looking for win #1 including Tygarts Valley, Tolsia, River View and Magnolia.
With week #8 coming up this weekend, a lot of folks seem to think that if a team is going to make the playoff field of 16 this season, they should already be in the top 16. That’s not totally true because there is still room near the last part of that 16 team field that will certainly move around some in the next couple of weeks. But, what if the season did end right now…..how would this year’s field of 16 compare to last year’s playoff field? Well, in Class AAA, of the 16 teams that made the playoffs in 2021, 14 of them would be in this year. The two playoff teams from last year that are currently on the outside looking in are Greenbrier East and South Charleston. The two teams that would replace them are both from the Eastern Panhandle….Musselman and Hedgesville! In Class AA, only 9 of last year’s playoff field of 16 would be returning if the playoffs started this week. Those nine include Scott, Independence, Roane County, North Marion, Frankfort Nicholas County, Keyser, Fairmont Senior and Herbert Hoover. The 7 teams that made the playoffs in 2021, but would be staying at home in 2022 if the playoffs began today include Liberty-Raleigh, Point Pleasant, Robert C. Byrd, Shady Spring, Bluefield, Poca, and Grafton! The seven teams that would currently be in the top sixteen include Winfield, Logan, Clay County, Keyser, East Fairmont, Philip Barbour and Weir! In Class A, only half of last year’s playoff field would be back if the playoffs began this weekend! Those eight teams that would be back are…Williamstown, Wheeling Central, Doddridge County, Greenbrier West, Camron, James Monroe, Clay-Battelle and East Hardy. The eight that would be gone are Gilmer County, Moorefield, Ritchie County (last year’s State Champ), Mount View, Sherman, Midland Trail, Meadow Bridge and Trinity Christian. The eight teams filling those spaces would be Tucker County, Wahama, Petersburg, Van, Man, Tug Valley, Montcalm and South Harrison! Now the good news is, as mentioned above, this is only week #8 and there are four more regular season weeks to play. A lot can happen in four weeks, so we will see how it turns out.
Some really great games to check out this weekend include Hurricane (5-1) at Cabell Midland (5-1), Morgantown (4-2) at Parkersburg South (5-1), Beckley ((5-2) at Princeton (302), Musselman (5-1) at Wheeling Park (4-2), Liberty (Harrison) (4-2) at East Fairmont (4-2), Cameron (7-0) at Clay Battelle (4-1), Independence (6-0) at Man (6-1), James Monroe (6-0) at Midland Trail (5-2) and, Wirt County (4-2) at Wahama (7-0)!
If you get the opportunity, check out an area high school football…..it is indeed a lot of fun! Then after the game, be sure and tune in to GAMENIGHT, from 9:30p til Midnight where we promise to give you all the scores of all the games taking place on Friday night. We will also look ahead to any games coming up this Saturday night as well. So, join Dave Jecklin and me immediately after your game for GAMENIGHT…..heard on 48 radio stations statewide, plus you can watch the show as we will stream all the audio and video of the show @www.wvmetronews.com!
Talk with you Friday night!!