FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Behind quarterback Max Simpson, Bluefield has showcased one of the top passing attacks in West Virginia high school football each of the last two seasons.
Should the Beavers get production from their run game like they have for much of the season and continue to excel defensively as they’ve done of late, the result will look much like it did Friday against Fairmont Senior at East-West Stadium.
Class AA No. 6 Bluefield scored touchdowns on each of its four possessions in the first half, and the defense pitched a shutout over the first two quarters to set the tone in a 40-7 victory over the Polar Bears.
“Anytime you come up here and win, you feel pretty good about it,” Bluefield head coach Fred Simon said. “We beat a really good team. We have a good team. We’ve corrected some mistakes we made early in the year, the players have bought in and they’re listening. That’s been a big difference.”
The result makes it six consecutive victories for BHS (6-2) since its 0-2 start, while Class AAA No. 12 FSHS fell to 2-5.
The Polar Bears crossed midfield six times, but turned that into points once. The opening series of the matchup was somewhat a sign of things to come as FSHS got to the Bluefield 20-yard line where it was faced with fourth-and-8 and Chuckie Armstrong was stopped 1 yard short of the first down on a reverse.
Starting at their own 13, the Beavers got away from their goal line on a 35-yard run from Jeremiah Jones, which preceded Simpson’s 28-yard completion to Chadney Stanback. Simpson then found Jamarius Smith on a receiver screen for an 18-yard touchdown pass, and the point-after kick from Denver Riffe left the visitors with a 7-0 lead 4:50 into the action.
After forcing a three-and-out, Bluefield doubled its lead despite having two Jones touchdown runs negated by penalty on a drive that instead ended with Jones fumbling as he neared the goal line and teammate Pax Calhoun recovering in the end zone for the score and a 14-0 lead 11:07 before halftime.
“It’s hard to prepare for us,” Simon said. “What are you going to do? Stop the run? Stop the pass? Double team Pax? We have some weapons and now that our defense is playing better, it only helps us.”
Fairmont Senior reached the BHS 36 on its third series, which ended when Anthony Smith was sacked by Stanback on fourth-and-4.
“We were inconsistent on both sides of the ball,” Polar Bears’ head coach Mark Sampson said. “We were moving the ball and couldn’t finish drives. We’d get them into third-and-long and fourth-and-short, and couldn’t get off the football field. That’s a really talented football team, and coach Simon and his staff do an excellent job. Year in and year out, they’re the same type of team and hats off to them.”
Simpson’s 36-yard TD pass to Stanback made it 20-0, and the Beavers gained a 27-point lead on their next series, which ended with Jones’ 1-yard touchdown run.
FSHS got into the red zone on the second-to-last play of the first half, but Smith was intercepted in the end zone by Bralyx Isabelle on the final play of the half, allowing BHS to maintain its 27-0 lead at halftime.
Simpson hit on 10-of-13 passes for 164 yards through two quarters to lead the way for Bluefield, which had 278 yards to Senior’s 154 in the opening half.
“The run game helped us out a lot,” Simpson said. “Jeremiah is a beast. He’s getting a lot of yards per carry and that opens up the pass. When we saw matchups we liked, we took advantage of them.”
The Polar Bears played their best football of the night in the third quarter and forced the first of two Bluefield punts on the opening possession of the second half.
FSHS then drove 81 yards, aided by a fourth-and-11 conversion on Smith’s 31-yard pass to Elijah Holmes, which helped lead to Smith’s 3-yard touchdown run with 3:20 left in the third quarter. Matthew Blasher converted the point-after kick to make it a 20-point margin.
The Beavers’ ensuing possession ended with a punt, and the Polar Bears threatened to make it a two-score game before Smith was intercepted by Jaleel Jones on the first play of the fourth quarter.
BHS then added to its lead on Simpson’s 38-yard TD pass to Tylee Simon, before Jones’ 42-yard TD run with 3:51 remaining capped the scoring.
Simpson finished 16-for-23 with 243 yards.
Stanback led all players with 77 receiving yards on four catches. Calhoun added six receptions for 67 yards, while Simon had 55 yards on two grabs and Smith added four catches for 44 yards.
Jones had 25 carries for 176 yards to aid an offense that totaled 458 yards.
The Beavers have allowed 49 points across their six-game win streak and no more than 14 in any victory.
“To complement our size on defense, we have quick linebackers with a good secondary,” Simon said. “We’re not going to be easily scored on, and that’s the difference now, because teams had a hard time scoring on us last year when they threw it, but when they ran at us, we couldn’t stop it. We’re much bigger now.”
Smith completed 11-of-24 passes for 134 yards. Holmes was his top target and brought in six receptions for 74 yards while rushing five times for 65 yards in defeat.
FSHS finished with 264 total yards.
“I still think we’re seeing progress, and when you’re playing quality teams, you know that progress is real,” Sampson said. “Sometimes against lower competition, you can get away with some mistakes and still end up on the right side of the score. I still believe that we have a talented team. I know that the guys in the locker room do, too, and we have to make a run the last part of the season, try to get in and see what happens from there.”