When top seed Parkersburg South and No. 2 Huntington meet at noon Saturday for the Class AAA championship, on display will be two of the state’s more prolific quarterbacks, each of whom has helped guide their teams to play on the final day of the season at Wheeling Island Stadium.
For the Patriots, Robert Shockey has developed into a premier signal-caller as a junior. Highlanders’ quarterback Gavin Lochow picked up where he left off after his strong junior season and continues to progress as his storied high school career nears a conclusion.
The more successful quarterback Saturday afternoon will likely go a long way in determining whether the Patriots claim their first state championship since 2003 and second overall or the Highlanders head home with their first.
It’ll be a new stage for Shockey, who played sparingly as a freshman and made strides as a sophomore when the Patriots qualified for the postseason, but finished 5-6.
“It benefitted him greatly. As a quarterback, it made him battle-tested,” Patriots’ head coach Nathan Tanner said. “He took some lumps as a sophomore and he grew a lot through last season. He put in a lot of work this offseason, not just as a football player, but as a passer. He’s a much better passer than he was as a sophomore. He’s gotten better within our system.
“It’s really nice as a play caller and head coach to be able to talk with him in-game about what we see. I like to think he’s an extension of me out on the field. He’s just gotten more and more steady as the year has gone on and as the reps come.”
Parkersburg South (12-1) is averaging 52.5 points, including 64.7 over postseason victories against Hedgesville, Musselman and Hurricane.
Outside of its only loss to Bridgeport, PSHS has scored at least 32 points in every other game, including 44-plus in 11 contests.
Ahead of the Patriots’ 14th game this season, Shockey has thrown for 2,967 yards and 35 touchdowns to go with 1,185 rushing yards and an additional 16 scores.
“Their quarterback is very similar to Gavin Lochow,” Huntington head coach Billy Seals said.
Lochow was a Class AAA first-team all-state selection last season. He led the Highlanders to a runner-up finish and completed 125-of-207 passes for 1,952 yards and 19 touchdowns. A Dayton commit, Lochow also carried 254 times for 1,677 yards and 18 TDs.
That followed a season in which Lochow, like Shockey, garnered valuable playing time as a sophomore and took his lumps as the Highlanders’ finished 3-6.
“He was the best kid we had and we go 3-6 during that COVID year, but the biggest thing I was wanting to do during that season was get as many games as possible, because we had a bunch of sophomores that were playing,” Seals said. “We knew it would pay dividends for us down the road and his junior year he has a fabulous year and we get to Wheeling and get beat. Here we are again. I told our guys work hard this offseason, it’s still there and we have to take it week by week. Obviously the biggest week of the season is this week and we’re playing a fabulous Parkersburg South football team.”
In his final go-around at the high school level, Lochow has passed for 2,118 pass yards and 34 touchdowns in 13 games. He remains a dual threat, evidenced by 1,015 rushing yards and 16 scores on the ground.
Last Saturday, Lochow helped the Highlanders overcome a 21-14 second-half deficit in a 28-21 victory over Martinsburg, which had won each of the last five Class AAA championships determined on the field, including a 62-21 win over the Highlanders in the 2021 final.
“We’ve been in those situations this year,” Seals said, “and Gavin kind of calmed everybody down and said, ‘We’re fine, we’ve been in this situation before. It’s 21-14, let’s go down and score, tie it up and take control of the game.’ That’s the maturity we have on our football team. We’ve been through some ups and downs.
“Last year in the championship game, our guys took that personal the way it went and worked really hard this offseason to get back to that point.”
The Highlanders (12-1) are back and averaging 46.4 points. They’ve won 12 straight since a one-point loss to Spring Valley in the season opener.
Huntington has scored at least 24 points in every game, 41-plus in 10 contests and brings a scoring average of 46.4 into Saturday’s final.
“We haven’t won a state championship in football. It would mean a tremendous amount to our kids,” Seals said. “They’ve worked really hard and deserve all the credit in this process because they’ve stayed the course and have faith in what we do. They’re confident in what we do. Hopefully we can make a lasting memory for them on Saturday afternoon.”