DELBARTON, W.Va. — Fifteen years from its founding and ten years after winning the Class AA state championship, fans at Mingo Central High School have many reasons to believe that something special could be in store this season on Miner Mountain. Mingo Central tripled their 2024 win total last fall, going 9-3 while advancing to the Class AA quarterfinals before falling to the eventual champs from Frankfort.
“It is a stepping stone,” said Mingo Central head coach David Jones. “We reached one of those milestones last year by winning a playoff game and getting to the quarterfinals. This year now, we want to win a quarterfinal game and hopefully move on and get to the state title game.”
“It meant a lot for us and our community, especially,” said Mingo Central sophomore lineman Griffin Beckett. “We just want to build on that for this season and get more and more progress as the year goes by.”
Senior signal caller Jamere Knuckles returns to engineer the Mingo Central offense. As a junior, Knuckles accounted for 30 total touchdowns and nearly 2,800 yards of total offense.
“Year two in this offense with Coach [Josh] Sammons and he showed a lot of strides last year throwing for over 2,300 yards,” Jones said. “He scored 11 TDs on his feet. His offseason has been phenomenal.”
“Jamere is great. He is a great leader. He’s a great quarterback, a great passer, he can do it all,” Beckett said. “He can run. He’s a great quarterback and he means a lot to the team.”
Knuckles will be joined in the backfield by fellow senior Bam Coleman. He rushed for a team-best 1,001 yards in 2025 with 13 touchdowns. Newcomer Luvante Kenney enters the running back rotation this season.
“Kenney, he is one of those top dogs,” Jones said. “He can run that rock. Last year, we weren’t able to really give Bam any breaks. If he would fall on the ball or whatever, he just had to tough it out. Kudos to him. Now he is going to be able to get some breaks. We’ve got Davion Joplin and Luvante Kenney to come over.”
Despite the graduation of Marshall signee Aiden Burke, a solid group of receivers will be led by senior Terrindez Bryant.
“We did have two 500-yard receivers last year. Terrindez Bryant is one of those,” Jones said. “We’ve got Mason Kinder coming back again this year. He is a 6-2 kid. We’re showing a lot of strides there.”
Mingo Central’s defense yielded 14 points or less seven times last year and one of the best defensive players in program history, Taegan Hackney, has a milestone in his sights after racking up 170 tackles as a junior.
“I have known Taegan since he was a little kid,” Jones said. “For him, he is going to be the all-time leading tackler here at Mingo Central before he leaves out of here. He is just that guy you love to have on the defense.”
Entering his fourth season leading the Miners, David Jones is the second-most tenured head coach at Mingo Central, behind only the founder, Yogi Kinder.
“I know this area. I am from here and I know our kids,” Jones said. “I knew if we could just get together and keep our kids here in Mingo County and not going off everywhere else, I knew we’d be successful just like in the past.”