HAMBLETON, W.Va. — For the second time in 12 years, Tucker County won a dozen games and fell just one game short of reaching the state championship. The Mountain Lions earned the No. 2 seed and won a pair of playoff games before falling to eventual state champion Williamstown. Tucker’s offense averaged over 41 points per game.
“We had a great, great group of seniors,” said Tucker County head coach AJ Rapp. “I am not going to list them off individually because I’ll end up forgetting one of them and they were all just as important as the other one. They all did a great thing for us. Nobody likes to lose that last one but we had a pretty formidable opponent in Williamstown who went on to win the whole thing.”
The challenge for Rapp as he enters his 21st season leading the program is to replace several top skill players. Quarterback Ethan Rosenau has graduated after he tossed 42 touchdowns a year ago. Sophomore Lucas Barb could be next in line to run the offense.
“He gives us that running element. He is an athletic kid. It kind of gets me back to the old days when I had running quarterbacks. Not that we will run him a hundred times a game, but he has that element with the way we do things now, if a defense gives it to us, he will take it and run.”
With the passing game in a transitional phase, Tucker’s top running back returns. Jared Reall rushed for 1,385 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior.
“Early on, we will probably rely a lot more on Jared than we did last year with Ethan and all the receivers I had.”
Senior receivers Blaike Adams and Maddox Anderson have moved on after combining for 27 touchdown receptions last year. However, Garrett Wilfong returns after leading the team in receiving yards with 820.
“He is an athletic kid as well. He scored a lot from distance for us last year. Once he gets in the open field and gets wound up, he is long-legged. He can take off and go.”
Three of five starters return on the offensive line and younger players with some bulk are waiting to step in.
“We’ve got some younger kids that are finally bigger in size. I was kidding them earlier. I was handing out shirts that we got them and I said, ‘It is embarrassing when a coach has to order smalls. I am glad I didn’t have to order too many smalls this year’.”
Rapp has seen the usual ebbs and flows that come with leading a high school football program. But he believes despite losing a decorated senior class, the Mountain Lions are set up well to remain a contender in Class A.
“We’ve had ups and we’ve had downs. I’ve been number one and we’ve been undefeated. Last year was a special year with those guys. And I have been defeated. I’ve had the whole gamut of records. That really doesn’t matter a whole lot to me. It is just being part of this with the kids.”