ELKINS, W.Va. — Friday’s 54-25 Class AAA opening round playoff victory for the Elkins Tigers proved to be a historic event on several levels. With the win, the Tigers (10-1) secured the program’s first double-digit victory season. The win was also the program’s first in a home playoff game on their campus.
“It is special for our community and special for our kids,” said Elkins head coach Chad Ware. “Ten wins — nobody has ever done that before at Elkins High School. To have that in this season, hopefully we’ve got more football to play. I am just awfully proud of our guys and it is a huge win for our program.”
Elkins rushed for over 500 yards on a night where four different Tigers found the end zone at least once. Cyrus Kump, Seth Robinson and Jaden Hatfield each scored touchdowns in a first half where Elkins jumped out to a 20-7 halftime lead. Keyser (6-5) opened the scoring on their first possession of the game when Dominik Crawford reeled in a 24-yard touchdown pass from Addison Brafford.
The Tigers broke the game open in the third quarter, scoring touchdowns on their first two possessions of the second half to take a 33-7 lead.
“We just wanted to be patient. We are a physical team. We were able to run that football and that’s what we do. Most of the games we have won this year, we have been able to wear guys out. Stay true to who we are, keep our identity, and just keep pounding the rock.”
Keyser found success in the second half through their passing game to set up rushing touchdowns. Rio Simone, Deacon Stanislawczyk and Brafford each had scoring runs after halftime.
“We just knew that with a lot of their misdirection, we just wanted to stay at home and play our assignments,” Ware said. “Our guys did a great job controlling their gaps, not overrunning in the run game. We were very stout in our run defense.”
Hatfield and Robinson each rushed for three touchdowns. Hatfield finished the game with 251 rushing yards.
“We want to be balanced across the board. Everybody talks about Hatfield and everybody talks about Robinson. But we also have Elias Jones and Cy Kump. They can get it done. So it is nice when you have that balance. They can’t focus on one or two guys. You’ve got to respect everybody we have.”
The Tigers (10-1) will host Winfield (9-2) in the quarterfinal round next weekend at a date and time to be determined. The Generals defeated Ripley 20-10 in their opening-round matchup Friday.