MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Monongalia County residents woke up Thursday morning on the cusp of the Department of Education’s red designation, as the home of WVU shot up to 23.13 current cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents. But by the rules confirmed by WVSSAC officials Wednesday afternoon stating as long as Mon County is in the orange or below on Thursday, games can still be played in Mon County.
And while the rise in cases has already led to the cancellation of the Trinity-Wirt County game on Thursday night – which was a decision made by Wirt – the other three teams are still a go, even if the designation turns red Friday morning. Other teams can pull out, but so far, no one else has.
This means the Mohigans will host the 2019 Class AA champion Bridgeport, now a Class AAA team. While they lost some key players, they are still a major threat. Biser knows this and has prepared his team for this tough season opener. While he understandably didn’t want to share his entire game plan, he did note that it’s been more of an introspective look than anything else.
“We haven’t concerned ourselves as much with Bridgeport as much as we have ourselves,” Biser said. “All we can do is do what we do, and we need to get better – improve our defense and our tackling – that’s where our focus has been. Yes, we’re going to work on formations they run, we’re going to work on the plays they run, but if we work on nothing but them, especially with the short week, that’s not a good game plan. You’re not going to beat a team like Bridgeport just scheming something up to beat them. They’re fundamentally sound across the board. They’re well-coached, the kids are physical and they play hard. We need to [be the same].”
Dakoma Neal will lead the team in the debut, as fellow QB Cam Rice is out with a meniscus injury. Neal, a sophomore, has picked up the Wing-T playbook with ease, and Biser is confident he’ll do a great job against the Indians.
“The time he’s been in there, he’s definitely progressed,” Biser said of Neal.
Even with a set of great skill players, Biser knows this game will be determined in the trenches. He praised the work his linemen have put in and knows that Bridgeport’s line will be just as determined for a fight.
“Everyone’s been putting in work, but those guys up front have been doing a lot – on both sides of the ball,” he said. “One thing you know about Bridgeport is that they’re going to be strong up front, no matter who’s running the football. So we have to play really [well] up front.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Improved University travels to the Mid-Ohio Valley to test Parkersburg South
Parkersburg’s southside is one of the hardest places to play in the state, especially in recent years. But this year could be different, even if the Patriots are No. 8 in the state’s preseason poll. Without big-time quarterback Brandon Penn and wide receiver Dylan Day, University will look to capitalize on what seems to be a weakened Parkersburg South team and redeem themselves after a crushing 48-14 loss last season at home.
“Losing Brandon Penn is a whole different level they aren’t going to be able to replace,” UHS coach John Kelley said. “They still have very good players returning, but he was the X-Factor and by far the best player in the state. And they humiliated us with him. But I think we’re stronger and a little more experienced. It will be a little difficult because we have to go on the road – no bus so the parents have to drive – and we’re only going to take 30-35 kids, half our squad basically.”
South returns running back Devin Gaines who was the final piece in last year’s nearly unstoppable trifecta. Gaines, now a senior, will work in tandem with QB Sam Schuler this season, but in the season-opener could have more pressure on his shoulders as Schuler could be out. According to the Parkersburg News and Sentinel, an ankle injury could prevent the senior QB from playing, which would pit backup Landon Francisco, one of the top wide receivers, against the older Hawks defense.
“We’re better up front, but Gaines is one of the top backs in the state. That concerns me because we haven’t seen that level of talent yet,” Kelley said.
The much-improved Hawks, however, will need to focus on both pieces of South’s offense considering they’re one of the more well-rounded teams in Class AAA. If Francisco is out, the Patriots will still have seniors Jake Hogsett and Levi Rice to lead the receiving corps, two other major weapons returning from last year’s playoffs team. Still, it looks as if the UHS secondary has the cool confidence to take on the best, and Kelley believes they’re the strength of the team.
“We have very athletic kids back there,” he said. “If we want to match up we have kids that can match up, and we have speed back there and kids who will come up and hit [them]. That wasn’t the case that year. I think our defensive front will put more pressure on the quarterback than they did last year. I expect [PSHS] to do exactly what they did last year. It’s up to us to execute defensively and if we pull this off and win it will be a major upset.”
Noting that, this game has all the workings to be a passer’s showcase for UHS. With sophomore QB Chase Edwards stepping back into the pocket, he’ll be able to work his magic with six weapons: T.T. Brooks, Noah Braham, Joey McBee, Drew Burton, Jaeden Hammack, Sage Clawges and Donald Brandel. One bright note for Edwards, especially with all those weapons, is that Kelley is sticking to the spread, the sophomore’s bread and butter.
“Chase is a lot smarter and I know [PSHS] has a lot of good receivers but I wouldn’t sleep on ours. I’d match Drew Burton and Sage Clawges with anybody up in the state. Brandel, Hammock, Elijah Jackson, McBee, I have news for their defense they’ll have a handful trying to keep them [locked down].
“Chase is really good at taking what they’ll give us. He’s good at reading how they align, what’s going to be open. He’s exceptional.”
Like many in Monongalia County, UHS views this as, potentially, their last game of the season. The veteran coach was a little more outspoken than his peers on the matter, though.
“This is a desperation game for us,” Kelley said. “Unless things change, this is all or nothing. It’s disappointing and heart-wrenching, and I told the kids to go out and play the best 48 minutes of their life because it’s out of our control.
“I’ll go on record, I don’t care about making anyone mad. If this is what we’re going to follow, then there’s no reasonable explanation for why WVU should be allowed to play next Saturday. If it’s too dangerous for high school sports, it’s too dangerous for college sports.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Preston hosts North Marion
The Preston High Knights will kick off their season with a home game against North Marion, a top team in Class AA.
Even though Preston County is in the green per the color-coded system, coach Jonathan Tennant knows his team has to play like it’s its last.
“That’s how we’ve approached the season, like it’s our last drill, last rep, last practices, last game because it could be,” Tennant said. “We can get a phone call any time. Our kids understand that, so we’ve got to give it our all.”
As for the game plan, Tennant knows his defense has to shutdown North Marion’s passing game and his offense has to focus on breaking through the Huskies’ defensive front on the ground.
“We’re looking for our offense to execute, protect the football and run the ball effectively,” he said. “We have a lot of experience coming back on offense. Defensively, we need to stop that quarterback. They run the quarterback trap, quarterback power very well so that’s the play we have to stop. They’ve got some very good receivers. Tariq Miller is probably the fastest kid in their conference. We’ve got to know where he is, and he likes to run the jet sweep as well, so those are the two keys on defense.”
Leading Preston is a group of 15 seniors. Quarterback Trevor Thomas, running back J.J. Townsend and fullback Ayden Bishoff will lead the Knights backfield, while receiver Jaxson Lewis will look to work the Huskies’ secondary. Further, Caleb Shrout and T.J. Wiles will lead the linemen corps.
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
Clay-Battelle heads to Ohio for season-opener after lucky last-minute scheduling
Clay-Battelle lucked out after Hannan pulled out of its season-opening commitment to the Cee-Bees due to lack of numbers, picking up a game with Bishop Rosecrans, a private Catholic school from Zanesville, Ohio.
“It was luck,” Clay-Battelle coach Ryan Wilson said. “I called another school in Ohio and they were full, but I had seen on the WVSSAC site Bishop Rosecrans. I did a little investigating, made the phone call and [found out] they were open. We figured it would be a good ball game for both schools. We were excited, we have a game.”
Bishop Rosecrans is a small-enrollment school, which allowed the Bishops to play eight-man football last season. It boded well for them, as they ended last season 5-3, which started with a huge 64-19 win over St. Mary Central Catholic out of Sandusky, Ohio. This year, however, has not gone the same way. The Bishops (0-1) started their season with a 40-6 loss to Miller (Corning, Ohio) on Friday, and now has to face a loaded Cee-Bees team that likely won’t have another game for at least a week.
“The quarterback is back, but they lost the line,” Wilson said. “But the quarterback, he’s an athlete out there. So we’ve planned for him. They have nice receivers, the running back is nice, but the biggest thing is that their offensive line is inexperienced.”
Wilson used the opening season game and film from last year to game plan. His team, out of their scrimmage, is ready. But the Cee-Bees have to play by Ohio rules which took some time to nail down. Regardless, the team just wants to play to have some normalcy back.
“Maybe we can forget some of the other things going on in the world and just play some football,” Wilson said.
Color-coded nightmare
Although WVSSAC rules state schools in a county that is orange or red cannot play, Monongalia County cases were not high enough at the Saturday deadline to disqualify teams from opening week games. However, it is unlikely that there will be games next week due to Mon County’s spike in cases.
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