What a tremendous weekend of high school football we had the pleasure of experiencing this past Thursday, Friday and Saturday! There were some “surprises” as always and the weather, sad to say, felt like autumn was gone and winter had arrived.
Forty eight teams experienced the excitement and fun of the first week of the playoffs and the twenty four that won and are moving on to the quarter-finals will provide us with a great deal of excitement this coming weekend. First of all, looking back at some of the games, we only had four “upsets” as far as the seedings go with just one each in Class AAA and Class AA, and two in Class A.
In Class AAA, the only team that won with a lower seeding than their opponent was #10 Jefferson defeating #7 Spring Valley and that game was played in the cold rain on a natural grass field. The Cougars used their offensive speed to run past the Timber Wolves by an impressive final score of 34-14! After a Spring Valley opening drive that encompassed 14 plays and most of the first quarter before stalling at the Jefferson 10 yard line, the Cougars struck with the first score of the game as quarterback Dylan Harich hooked up with wideout Keyshawn Robinson on an 85 yard pass and catch for the touchdown. Jonathan Pineros add the point after and at the end of the first quarter, Jefferson led Spring Valley 7-0. The second quarter was the undoing for Spring Valley as Jefferson scored 21 points on a 39 yard touchdown run by Dylan Harich and two more passing scores from Harich! The Timber Wolves would answer with 7 points before halftime but trailed 28-7 heading into the locker rooms! Jefferson quarterback Dylan Harich completed 13 of 19 passes for 259 yards and 3 scores and wideout Keyshawn Robinson caught four balls for 93 yards and the one touchdown. According to Spring Valley Head Coach Brad Dinguess, his team just turned the ball over too much and could not chase down the speed of the Jefferson Cougars. For Jefferson and Head Coach Craig Hunter, the Cougars move on to quarter final play this Saturday afternoon at 1:30 when they travel back to the Huntington area and take on the #2 seeded Huntington Highlanders who defeated #16 Beckley 62-22 Friday night. The Highlanders improved to (10-1) on the season.
In Class AA, the one slight upset saw #9 Herbert Hoover defeat #8 Clay County 63-26 on Friday night in what was the first ever home football playoff game at Bradley Field. With the win, Hoover picks up their 8th straight victory and they did so by riding the arm and legs of Dane Hatfield. The sophomore quarterback accounted for seven touchdowns, including six rushing scores! He finished the game by rushing for 171 yards on 17 carries, plus pass for 55 yards! Clay County’s Head Coach Jason Nichols was rightfully proud of his ballclub and the wonderful season they had. The last several days have been very emotional for the Panther team as they have had to deal with an automobile accident that seriously injured one of the very best players in Jake “Salty” Morton, who continues to be in everyone’s thoughts and prayers. For Herbert Hoover, the win propels Joey Fields ballclub into the quarterfinals where they will meet up this Friday night in Winfield against the #1 seeded Generals. The two teams played one another in the second week of the season and Winfield defeated Hoover 19-14. Kick is set for 7:30 this Friday Night.
In Class A, we had two games that, according to the seeding, were considered upsets. In the first matchup, the #11 Bulldogs of Doddridge County traveled the 165 miles south on I-77 to Van to take on the undefeated and 6th seeded Bulldogs. In the end, it was the Bulldogs that won…..the Doddridge County Bulldogs…by a final score of43-0. The game was played in a driving rain for most of the game last Friday night and the homestanding Bulldogs of Van could never get their high scoring offense in gear. With the win, the Bulldogs will have a much shorter trip this Friday night as they will travel the 83 miles to Cameron, WV to take on the #3 seeded Dragons of Cameron. This past Friday night, Cameron improved to (11-0) on the season with a 20-6 victory over #14 Tyler Consolidated. In the other “upset” this past weekend, #10 East Hardy steam rolled past #7 Tucker County 34-6. The game was played on Friday night in the rain and cold in Hambleton, WV, and East Hardy Head Coach Devon Orndorf and his (8-2) Cougars controlled the game from the opening kick to earn the first round win. In doing so, East Hardy will travel to Parkersburg this Saturday afternoon to battle the #2 seeded Williamstown Yellow Jackets. With Yellow Jacket Field under season long renovation, the game will be played at Stadium Field in Parkersburg and the kick is set for Saturday at 1:30.
The quarterfinal round schedule calls for 12 games to be played this weekend and we have 7 games on Friday night at 7:30, 4 games on Saturday at 1:30 and 1 game (Bridgeport at Martinsburg) on Saturday night at 7:30!
Make sure to join Dave Jecklin and me this Friday night from 9:30 to Midnight for GAMENIGHT…..we will have all the scores and interviews from the 7 games on Friday night and a complete look ahead to the games scheduled for Saturday. Also, don’t forget to join us this Sunday night from 7 to 8pm for the second installment of “The Road To the Super Six”! For that hour on Sunday evening we will take a complete look back at the quarterfinal round, plus have the times, dates and matchups for next week’s semifinals!
Both shows can be heard on a number of great radio stations around the state, plus the live video and audio will be streamed at www.wvmetronews.com.
Talk with you this weekend!