As summer break begins to wind down for high school students, groups of athletes around the state are gearing up to go to camp.
Pre-season football training camp opens Monday in West Virginia, as teams across all three classifications will begin their quest to be crowned a state champion.
As things begin to heat up, let’s take a look where your school sits headed into the 2019 prep football season.
CLASS AAA
Morgantown
When putting together a list of top Class AAA contenders this fall, one might not look to closely at Morgantown – the program has managed just nine wins across the past two seasons, with many contributing members from those campaigns gone.
The energy is a bit different inside the MHS locker room, though, where they can’t help feeling like a bit of a dark horse for this time around.
“Our team has put in so much determination and effort this offseason. We’re going to shock some teams with our speed and athleticism; I think some people across the state are going to be very surprised,” said senior Preston Fox.
Preston
Last fall, no one inside the Preston football program was quite sure what to expect. The team had lost double-digit seniors from a team that mustered just two victories the previous year, and nearly 80 percent of the roster was composed of underclassmen. What followed was a one-win season — and quite a bit of learning.
As the Knights prepare for another season on the gridiron, head coach Jonathon Tennant feels a lot more confident in the unit he brings to the table. In fact, he may have higher expectations than he has for awhile.
“This team has been very focused over the summer, and we probably had the best three-week summer period in the program in terms of performance and competing against other teams,” he said
“We have a committed and dedicated group, and they’re much stronger and more experienced than last year. We have a lot of momentum heading into this year, whereas we had a lot more question marks headed into last year.”
University
There’s quite a bit of firepower to replace for University High.
The Hawks graduated three current NCAA Division 1 players from their offense last season, including Randy Moss Award winner Evan Parow. As they enter camp with some obvious holes to fill, they’ll try to develop a rhythm with their new weapons.
“Our goal is to just get better as a whole. We have a young team, but we are very confident in how we play,” UHS’s Andrew Myers said.
“Really this year we are just looking to turn some heads because people are doubting us and not just me, but our whole team has seen how we have worked in the offseason and improved.”
Class A
Clay-Battelle
With a talented offensive unit and and defense with a knack for causing chaos, Clay-Battelle had the components to be successful last fall. However, an injury-plagued season would throw the Cee-Bees off kilter and keep them from establishing momentum, and they failed to manage a winning record. As preseason training kicks off in Blacksville, the team looks to make up for the disappointing campaign.
“We have a bunch of seniors, we’re here to play, and we’re not messing around. Last year, our core guys kept getting hurt, and we’ve been hitting the weight room and we got tough enough to compete,” said senior Seth Casino.
“I don’t know for sure how to explain it, but we’re going in with the mindset that it’s going to be a good season. It’s a good feeling we have for this, and everyone has it. We’re on the same page and we’re all ready to go out and get it done.”
Trinity Christian
The month of August will probably look quite different for Trinity Christian than it will for many of their opponents.
The Warriors will open camp for their first season since re-launching the program, and while some teams will have 20 upperclassman returning for their third and fourth preseason, Trinity will likely have just 20 players, most of whom have little to no experience.
“We want to have everything crisp – we want to do all the little things right. That will go a long way for our program. We have a few guys with a little experience on our team, but most of our guys have none. If we can get those little things down, and be good at them, I think that can carry us over the hump, said Trinity senior Fletcher Hartsock.
