KINGWOOD, W.Va. – One game at a time. That’s Preston head coach Jonathan Tennant’s mindset right now.
“Right now, we’re just concerned with Brooke –– we want to win this game awful bad,” Tennant said. “We set some goals and finishing 5-5 would be a big boost to our program. When you start the year 1-5 and finish 5-5, that’s a tremendous job by our coaches and players.”
The No. 15 Knights (4-5) started out the season on a good note, shutting down Hampshire (0-9) 37-14 in Romney, but a five-game skid was waiting for them on the other side of the coin. After North Marion, John Marshall, Robert C. Byrd, Lewis County and Bridgeport combined to outscore Preston 182-67, the Knights turned around to down Washington and its triple option 21-14. Another close game followed, but Preston pulled away to edge favored University 20-19 after a final-play hook and ladder stop.
Preston followed with a 13-point win over Buckhannon-Upshur on the road, and now looks to continue the late-playoff run and defeat No. 23 Brooke (2-7) in Wellsburg, even if it’s in the back of Tennant’s mind for now.
“We’ll let the playoffs take care of the playoffs,” Tennant said. “We have a lot to play for and they want to take it away from us. That’s the mentality we’re going up there with, that we have unfinished business with one more game to go. Then we’ll figure out who we play next.”
The Bruins are coming off a 54-0 blowout loss at Weir (AA), and both of their wins this season have been over Hedgesville (0-9) in Week 2 and B-U (1-8) in Week 9. In the rivalry game agains Weir, the Bruins had minus-16 yards on 22 carries, and quarterback Josh Shorts was injured in the second quarter. He and backup Cameron Bates combined for 74 yards.
In theory, this week should end with a win for Preston, but even with the cards stacked against Brooke, Tennant isn’t doubting them –– specifically Shorts, should he suit up.
“Our theme this week has been: Finish,” Tennant said. “We started a few weeks ago thinking we could win four in a row and we’ve won three, so we’re going to finish. We know Brooke likes to throw it a lot, (but) they’re about 50/50 run-pass. The quarterback is big, has a strong arm and runs well. He’s got a couple of receivers that run fast and can block. Running the football they like to run counters and scissor plays, so we have to be disciplined, make good reads and put pressure on the QB to force bad throws.”
Tennant noted after defeating Washington, he and his staff went back to what was most comfortable for his defense –– a 4-2-5 coverage scheme. His secondary is smaller than most height-advantaged receivers, so to balance that out he’ll rely on his defensive line and linebackers to pressure the quarterback to force bad throws.
“We’ve got what we’ve got,” Tennant said. “We’re happy with what we’ve got, they’ve played well this season. We had some breakdowns early in the season, but each week, they’ve gotten better and I expect them to keep getting better.”
Playoff implications
Preston is in a weird spot at No.15. A loss could catapult it out of the postseason with two teams behind it –– No. 17 Hurricane and No. 18 Ripley –– that should win their respective games. No. 16 John Marshall (4-5), barring a major upset, could also be knocked out of the playoff hunt with a loss to No. 6 Wheeling Park.
Ahead of Preston, however, are No. 13 South Charleston (4-5) and No. 14 Riverside (4-5), which both have tough games against No. 2 Cabell Midland (9-0) and No. 9 Greenbrier East (6-3), respectively. A PHS win would give it a better matchup in the first round of the playoffs, in theory putting it in the No. 13 spot to face the No. 4 team rather than the No. 2 team, which would be Cabell Midland or Martinsburg depending on the point system if it stayed No. 15.
The No. 4 team is currently Parkersburg South (8-1), which is rated 0.11 higher than No. 5 Musselman (8-2). If Wheeling Park (7-2) wins this week, it’ll still be behind Musselman by one point.
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