MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — March is on the horizon and it looks like Region I is shaping up to play host to one of the more interesting postseason showdowns in the state.
Morgantown currently has two of the best teams in the state — No. 1 University (14-3) and No. 3 Morgantown (14-2) — and Region I as a whole brings it to three, adding No. 4 Wheeling Park. Although the Patriots (12-4) haven’t defeated either UHS or MHS, they aren’t a team to gloss over in crunch time. And as Morgantown coach Dave Tallman and University coach Joe Schmidle always hammer, the playoffs is where it truly matters in West Virginia. But still, regular season games matter for seeding and the lack of Friday’s game due to school cancellation fogs everything up for the time being.
“It may sound cliche, but we’re taking it one game at a time,” Tallman said. “We were preparing for Wheeling Park Friday night which was going to be a big game for sectional, regional and state seeding, so now we’ll move our attention to Weir on Tuesday.”
The Patriots led by Alex Vargo should seemingly cruise to the regional co-finals having yet to fall to a sectional opponent. Where they become a threat and are tested themselves, is against the loser of what should be University-Morgantown in the Section 2 title game, the game the Patriots would host. Park gave the Hawks a run for their money in the first meeting of the season, only falling behind UHS in the last minutes in the 72-67 loss. Tuesday’s game in Wheeling was much different, however, as the more stable Hawks pulled away early for a 20-point, 70-50 win. Wheeling Park also gave Morgantown some trouble in the two teams’ first meeting on Jan. 24, but Morgantown pulled away for a 59-45 win.
Vargo has been a dominant force this year and one of the consistent forces against MHS and UHS. Most recently, Vargo had a dominant performance against Parkersburg South, logging 53 points to break the single-game scoring record in Wheeling Park history, coincidentally held by his coach Michael Jebbia. In total, Vargo has scored 78 points against MHS and UHS combined, most recently netting 29 in the Patriots’ home battle with the Hawks. Should he and starting senior guard Xavier Morris catch fire in a single game, it will be difficult to stop.
But Morgantown and University have their own weapons and stingy defenses to tout, which have so far done their job against the Park duo.
“We just have to take care of business in our own region and section to try and get home-court advantage, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t since you get that mulligan game,” Tallman said.
“It’s hard to beat a team three times”
Ever hear the old adage, “It’s hard to beat a team three times in a single year?” Although it’s a fun narrative to spin around the time playoffs kick off, in reality over 70% of teams holding a 2-0 record over a team win the third. What may prove more difficult for either the Mohigans or Hawks is winning on the road.
Last year the Mohigans upset University in the sectional title game before thumping John Marshall in regionals to punch their ticket to Charleston, but should that script flip this year Tallman isn’t concerned about playing on the road.
“We’ve played there a lot so we’re not intimidated. We’ve had a lot of success over there,” Tallman said. “I’m from the Ohio Valley and have been around Wheeling my whole life. It’s just another game, nothing too special about that environment.”
Moving forward, the Hawks and Mohigans will see Wheeling Park at least one more time each.
UHS faces WPHS in the OVAC semifinals Tuesday at 7 p.m. Should Park upset University, the winner of Morgantown-Weir will play the Patriots in the OVAC finals the following Saturday, Feb. 15. The losers of each game will play in a consolation round on Feb. 14, which could potentially see Morgantown face Wheeling Park, should Weir and University win in the semifinals.
“We’re focused on one at a time and that’s been part of our mantra since I’ve been here,” Tallman said. “Once the playoffs get here we’ll prepare for whoever we get first in the section and then whoever we get if we move on.”
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