By Justin Jackson and Sean Manning
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The year 2019 could simply be wrapped up in one word: Change.
Not all of it was good. Certainly not all of it was bad, but the year brought plenty of it.
For the first time since 1991, the high school football state playoffs were played without a school represented by Monongalia County.
Marlon LeBlanc guided the West Virginia men’s soccer team to an improbable championship in the Mid-American Conference tournament and then resigned his position after a second-round loss against Marshall in the NCAA tournament.
Maybe the most surprising change was the season had by the WVU men’s basketball team.
Ranked No. 13 in the preseason, the Mountaineers did not live up to those expectations and finished 15-21, just the second losing season under head coach Bob Huggins.
The biggest story of the year? That, too, involved change, which is where we begin our top sports stories of the year:
Holgorsen exits, Brown enters
It didn’t take long for the biggest sports story of the year to unfold in 2019. After a disappointing ending to the 2018 season, where the West Virginia football team lost its final three games, it became obvious that coach Dana Holgorsen may be on his way out.
On Dec. 31, Houston was given permission by WVU to interview Holgorsen, and by Jan. 2, Houston officially announced Holgorsen was its new head coach. He left the Mountaineers after eight seasons at the helm, compiling a 61-41 record, but he left behind an inexperienced squad that lacked depth and star power in Morgantown.
WVU athletic director Shane Lyons made quick work on the coaching carousel, landing Troy head coach Neal Brown just two days after Holgorsen was hired at Houston. Brown, along with Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell, were interviewed, but it was Brown who prevailed after helping lead the Trojans to three straight 10-win seasons.
On Jan. 10, Brown was introduced as the Mountaineers’ 35th head coach in program history.
“I think about the 14th-winningest program in college football,” Brown said. “Wow — I think about 15 conference championships. I think about the flying WV and the hard working, blue-collar people of West Virginia that the WV represents. I think about Country Roads, and I think about one of the best environments in all of college football. West Virginia is culture. It is vision, and it is passion. It was a great fit. It fits my DNA.”
In Brown’s first season, West Virginia went 5-7 in an up and down year, but the program’s future remains bright.
UHS boys’ hoops capture state title
K.J. McClurg had 20 points and eight rebounds and Kaden Metheny chipped in 15 points and seven assists to lead the Hawks to a 51-45 upset of top-ranked Martinsburg for the school’s first basketball state championship.
It was a title one year in the making, after the then-top-ranked Hawks fell to Martinsburg in the state semifinals in 2018.
A year later, UHS would not be denied.
“It’s kind of surreal. I’m almost speechless,” UHS head coach Joe Schmidle said. “Other than my daughter being born, this is the happiest day of my life.”
It was Martinsburg’s first loss of the season and it came with a tough ending.
Trailing by two points and with possession of the ball, Martinsburg guard Joe Bokey called a timeout the Bulldogs did not have.
McClurg made both free throws on the technical foul and the game was over.
“I was nervous,” McClurg said. “Those were the biggest shots of my life. We’re up two, and coach said, ‘Go over there and shoot them.’ I went up there, did what I usually do and they both went in.”
The Hawks knocked off Musselman in the first round before beating Cabell Midland to advance to the title game.
WVU baseball hosts NCAA regional
For the first time since 1955, the city of Morgantown played host to an NCAA baseball regional, but it ended in heartbreaking disaster.
West Virginia built a 37-20 record that was good enough to break into the national top 25 polls and the Mountaineers played in the Big 12 tournament championship game.
It set up the Morgantown Regional — meaning the Mountaineers were considered by the selection committee to be one of the top 16 teams in the 64-team field — which also included Texas A&M, Duke and Fordham.
WVU knocked off Fordham, 6-2, but was shutout by Duke, 4-0, in the second game.
It set up a meeting with Texas A&M, with the winner advancing to play Duke for the right to move on to the second round.
In front of a sold-out Monongalia County Ballpark crowd, the Mountaineers powered out to a 9-1 lead, before the Aggies came back to score six in the seventh inning to cut it, 9-7.
That lead was 10-7 heading into the bottom of the ninth when disaster struck for WVU.
Closer Sam Kessler, who had already pitched in the seventh and eighth innings, was now being asked for three more outs that did not come.
Logan Foster led off the ninth with a double, before Aaron Walters walked with one out.
Kessler then struck out Ty Coleman, before walking Braden Shewmake to load the bases.
Texas A&M second baseman Bryce Blaum represented the winning run, and his grand slam provided a disastrous end to what had been a magical season for the Mountaineers.
“All I can do is treat this like a win,” WVU head coach Randy Mazey said. “Big picture, I think this is a win. You can’t let one game, one pitch or one inning overshadow what our program has accomplished and how far we’ve come and what we’ve done. I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to let one inning of baseball or one game dictate my feeling about West Virginia baseball, because I couldn’t be prouder of anybody in that locker room.”
WVU pulls off upset of Texas Tech
For the first time since joining the Big 12 in 2012, the West Virginia men’s basketball team found itself in last place and as the No. 10 seed in the conference tournament.
That didn’t keep the Mountaineers from having two magical days in Kansas City, in which WVU advanced to the league semifinals for a fourth consecutive season.
A first-round 72-71 victory against Oklahoma went down to the buzzer.
Christian James’ long shot was ruled a 3-pointer, but replay proved he had his foot on the line, moving WVU to the quarterfinals.
That’s where No. 7 Texas Tech was supposed to run away with the game, but the Mountaineers and forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. had other ideas.
He scored a career-high 28 points to lead WVU to a 79-74 victory, as the Mountaineers became the first 10th seed to reach the Big 12 semifinals since the league shrank to 10 teams in 2011.
“What he did tonight, we always knew he had that ability,” WVU guard Jordan McCabe said of Matthews. “He was great. He’s really picked up his role and a lot of confidence and he’s been one of our best players over the last few games.”
McCabe added 13 points and eight assists and Derek Culver paced WVU with 13 rebounds.
The magic ended a night later, though, as a tired WVU fell to Kansas, 88-74.
Mohigans claim girls’ soccer championship
The Morgantown girls’ soccer team wasn’t even the top seed in its section when the postseason began in mid-October, but MHS finished the season as the top seed in the state.
The Mohigans started the playoffs with a bang, knocking off rival University in the first round of sectionals, followed by a win over Buckhannon-Upshur to with the section.
Defeating the region’s top seed, Wheeling Park, was a daunting task, but MHS knocked off the Patriots on the road to advance to the state tournament.
After beating Hurricane in the semis, MHS advanced to play Hedgesville in the championship game on Nov. 9. After trailing 1-0 at halftime, the Mohigans rattled off three-straight goals by Anna Iquinto, Michaela August and Sammie Brown — in that order — to take a 3-1 lead.
MHS went on to win 3-2 to claim its first state title since 2011.
“It doesn’t even feel real,” Iquinto said. “We worked so hard to get to this point and I’m proud. Our defense was tight and once we learned how to get past their backline, it was ours.”
WVU men’s soccer wins the MAC
West Virginia became the ultimate Cinderella story by winning the Mid-American Conference tournament with a 1-0 victory against Bowling Green.
The Mountaineers ended the regular season without a conference win and was the No. 6 seed.
WVU knocked off SIU Edwardsville, 1-0, and then beat Western Michigan, 3-2, on Albert Andres-Llop’s penalty kick.
Along the way, Bowling Green had upset conference-power Akron, 1-0, in the semifinals, which set up an unexpected showdown in the final.
Luke McCormick broke a scoreless tie in the 86th minute with a goal, and WVU goal keeper Steven Tekesky saved all five shots on goal he faced.
“What a credit to my kids,” LeBlanc said. “What a credit to the resilience, the fight and the character for us to go from where we’ve been to where we are now. That’s a testament to the character and the championship mentality of this team.”
WVU kept its momentum going in the NCAA tournament by blowing past Butler, 5-1, in the first round before falling against No. 11 Marshall, 2-1, to end it season.
Three weeks later, WVU announced LeBlanc resigned his position. He coached the Mountaineers for 14 seasons and went 138-100-34 in that time. He guided WVU to six NCAA tournaments.
Doege overtakes Kendall at quarterback
West Virginia’s offense was struggling through most of the season, but it certainly couldn’t be pinpointed as a quarterback problem. The running game was putrid, the offensive line was struggling and the receivers were suffering from drops.
But Austin Kendall simply didn’t seem good enough to overcome the offense’s deficiencies, throwing for 1,989 yards, 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Kendall won the starting job out of camp over Jack Allison and Trey Lowe. There was another quarterback waiting in the wings, but Jarret Doege didn’t fit into the early season plans.
Doege transferred from Bowling Green to WVU over the summer and was eventually ruled eligible for the 2019 season. However, it was quickly approaching the first game against James Madison and Doege was recovering from offseason surgery.
With a redshirt still in his pocket, Doege wasn’t expected to play this season until the final four games under the new rules. With exactly four games remaining and Kendall struggling, Brown made the switch to Doege in the third quarter against Texas Tech on Nov. 9.
The Mountaineers wound up losing to the Red Raiders, but then won two of their last three games — both on the road at Kansas State and TCU — under Doege, where he threw for 818 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions.
Doege certainly isn’t the only reason for West Virginia’s late-season run — the defense drastically improved down the stretch — but he provided a spark and made plays Kendall hadn’t in the first nine games. Doege likely established himself as the favorite to win the job heading into 2020.
Alek Manoah taken in first round
In striking out a school-record 144 batters, Alek Manoah became the face of a WVU baseball program on the rise.
He finished 9-4 with a 2.08 ERA and was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.
The Toronto Blue Jays took notice of him, too.
Toronto selected Manoah as the No. 11 overall pick of the first round and signed him slot value at $4,547,500.
“We really love what Alek brings to the table and his ‘now’ stuff,” Blue Jays’ scouting director Steve Sanders said. “But, we do see room for him to continue to develop and continue to improve.”
Manoah became the Mountaineers’ first first-round selection since pitcher Chris Enochs was also taken 11th overall by the Oakland A’s in 1997.
Manoah finished 2019 playing for the Vancouver Canadians in the Northwest League.
He went 0-1 with 27 strikeouts in 17 innings for the Canadians and finished with a 2.65 ERA.
Trinity brings back football program
After five years, Trinity wanted to bring football back to the school, and it did it with a bang. No JV to start, no 7-on-7 — a full-fledged varsity schedule that included a few dynamic Class A programs in West Virginia awaited the Warriors when they got back on the gridiron.
In March, Trinity held a news conference announcing that football was returning for the first time since 2014, and Marcus Law would be the coach in charge of laying the foundation.
“I’m so excited to finally get a chance to be a head coach,” Law said. “It’s a dream for me and this is just the next step. For any coach, it’s great to have to mold a program into what I want — it is priceless. Just like anything, its not trying to do too many things. Small big steps is what I like to say. I am a defensive guy, but crazy enough, I love offense, too. Trying to solve ways to score points is fun to me, but my experience on defense will help. I have to have the right coaches to support that vision.”
Trinity installed new lights around the field so it could host night games, and there are plans to expand the facilities at the school.
In their first season, the Warriors went 2-8, earning two wins to start the season against Mapletown (Pa.) and Hannan before losing the final eight, but most involved knew it was going to be a slow process.
Cross-country dominance continues
After the University girls won the state cross-country championship the last five years, Morgantown decided it wanted a turn, and it claimed the title in a big way.
On Nov. 2, the Mohigans trio of Lea Hatcher, Athena Young and Irene Riggs finished 1-2-3 on Cabell Midland’s course in Ona, and Hatcher broke the Class AAA record at 17:24.
“Lea has made a great progression so far, and I expect to see her mature in the way she races and runs,” coach Mike Ryan said. “The talent is there and I think she’s got the confidence now that she can go out and run some really fast times. I think the next step in her progression is getting her into national-class races to get used to that level of competition. It’s one thing to come out here, take the lead and run by yourself, and it’s another to run with a group and be pushed.”
Hatcher and Young went on to qualify for the NIKE Nationals in Portland, Ore., a major honor among distance runners.
UHS finished second as a team, while Preston came away with third place.
On the boys’ side, Hawks’ sophomore Josh Edwards claimed his first state title, and there was really no doubt he was going to finish first.
“There were some points in the race where it will be a horseshoe turn where I’ll catch a quick glance, but I just kept pushing the throttle and wasn’t going to take any chances,” Edwards said. “It felt good. Last year, I kind of goofed track and cross-country states, so to break that, I don’t have that with me anymore. I’m finally a part of the club.”
Edwards helped lead the way for UHS to win the boys’ team title, and like the girls’ side, MHS and PHS finished 2-3, once again laying stake that North Central West Virginia is the distance running mecca of the state.
