MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – University High football coach John Kelley had some concerns heading into last week’s season opener against Albert Gallatin (Pa.). Those seemed to go out the window as the Hawks (1-0) dominated the visiting Colonials from start to finish for a 32-point win, but this week he knows his home game against Jefferson is going to be a true battle.
“I’m excited to see how we do against them. They’re a much better team than Albert-Gallatin,” Kelley said. “They throw the ball two out of three times, have an outstanding quarterback who gets rid of it quick, they throw the home run ball anytime, anywhere and you can defend it four out of five times, but they’re going to hit it. And quick-strike scoring, it’s what they do.”
Jefferson High, a long-ago consistent state contender, looks to be building steam once more after coach Craig Hunter has finally solidified a culture within the program. And while some may look at the Cougars’ 1-3 record and say otherwise, Kelley knows that it doesn’t tell the full story of how well the team has actually played this season.
Take, for example, last week’s home game against Class AA powerhouse Frankfort. For three quarters, the Cougars had the Falcons on the ropes, although a strong push by Frankfort would put the top-rated team over the Cougars 28-19 in the end. Essentially, in Kelley’s eyes, his team shouldn’t take this game as a gimme.
“They lost to a 5-0 Frankfort team, Musselman – who is one of if not the best team in the state – and Spring Mills, another outstanding team,” Kelley said. “They put points on the board. [Their] Achille’s heel – I bet coach Hunter would tell you the same – [is] that their defense has given up a lot. That’s the biggest problem they’ve had.
“We only have one game on them, but you know any time you play Jefferson, they’re going to be a very athletic team. The tape we have on them is Frankfort, who doesn’t throw the ball a lot, so I don’t know how good their secondary is. But I know we’re going to have to run the football. If you can’t run the football on them, it is going to be a long night. Our run game was efficient last week, but it wasn’t where it needs to be. Our game is to throw the football, so if they’re good enough to defend it, then we’ll find out, but it’s their game, too. This game may not be over until a quarter to 12.”
That passing game is led by QB Sammy Roberts who has a few weapons at his disposal, the biggest being senior WR Jon Gidney, who, on a connection from Roberts in the opening drive of the third quarter of last week’s game, beat the secondary for a 54-yard touchdown. What’s shaping up to be an air-raid of a night between Roberts and Chase Edwards, Kelley has been prepping his secondary heavily for everything JHS will bring.
“It’s not like you can rush him [Roberts] and hurry him, he gets rid of it,” Kelley said. “Their whole premise is to engage a man in a one-on-one situation so their receiver can beat your corner. We did a lot of one-on-one work with the corners and with our two safeties high. They do a lot of wheel routes, [too], but the thing that concerns me is that we could be cruising along and think, ‘We’ve got this game pretty well in hand,’ then boom, they hit two home runs and they’re right back in it. And you’re not safe anywhere on the field – he’ll cut it loose from anywhere.”
Kick off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Mylan Pharmaceuticals Stadium.
MHS faces another top-10 team at Wheeling Park
Miscues hurt Morgantown in their Friday loss to Musselman, but that was to be expected with the COVID-19 situation that burnt Mon County teams for four-straight weeks.
Unfortunately, unlike any other team in the county, the Mohigans (0-1) have one of the hardest mid-season slates to tackle after missing the first portion of their games. So, it goes without saying that this week’s game against No. 8 Wheeling Park (4-1) will test MHS just as last week did.
The Patriots are coming off a 28-14 home win against Oak Glen, the fourth win in a row for the Class AAA power who has handily defeated its opponents to the tune of an average of 30 points per game.
Still, even after losing to Musselman, MHS coach Sean Biser knew he now could begin fine-tuning his team’s new offense. And good things were happening on Friday.
Senior fullback Deondre Crudup is living up to expectations placed upon him, rushing for 93 yards and the team’s lone touchdown – a 39-yard run – on 12 carries. Plus, MHS’ young QB Dakoma Neal, despite going 1 of 2 for 14 yards, has a chance to expand in this week’s matchup. The low passing numbers are indicative of the Mohigans’ run-heavy offense, the Wing-T, which garnered 220 yards on 50 rushes between nine runners.
Kick off is set for 7 p.m.
Preston heads to Lewis County after Harrison County goes orange
Preston High will have a chance to face Lewis County after all this season after their Week 6 opponent, Bridgeport Senior, had to call off its games this week when Harrison County went orange.
Due to facility issues at Knights Stadium, Preston will travel to Weston to face the Minutemen (3-2) who are coming off a blowout road loss to Robert C. Byrd on Friday. The Knights (0-5) and Minutemen were scheduled to play each other in Week 4, but the Knights decided to forfeit that matchup after players were disciplined for saying “things they shouldn’t have said,” according to coach Jonathan Tennant. That forfeit marked the second going in favor of Lewis County after Braxton forfeiting the two teams’ season-opener.
Being that the Minutemen have only played three true games, Preston has a shot to redeem its five-game skid coming off the best game of the season, albeit a 21-12 loss to Woodrow Wilson on neutral ground. The defense was crucial, forcing six turnovers – three fumbles and three interceptions – and holding Beckley to the least amount of points the Knights have given up all season, but the offense was unable to capitalize. Starting QB Trevor Thomas left the game early with an injury, putting “emergency quarterback” Zachary Riffle in the pocket. Unfortunately, the run game was stymied, something Tennant unhappy with after the game.
“We’ve got to be able to run the ball when our starting quarterback is out,” Tennant said in his postgame interview. “Somebody’s got to pick up the load. We were running it at times, but at [other] times we weren’t consistent — we’d get a penalty, bad snap, that just slowed down our offense.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Trinity set to play East Hardy after Tug Valley sees positive COVID-19 cases
After its season-opening loss at Madonna, Trinity Christian had to turn around for another tough road game scheduled for Tug Valley. Until Thursday, when COVID-19 claimed another high school game like it has so many times already this season as an outbreak rocked TVHS.
Luckily for Trinity, they were able to work around the lost matchup and move East Hardy, the Warriors Week 7 opponent, up to this week. Currently, they will fill next week’s open spot with Valley-Wetzel.
Like their triple-A counterpart Morgantown High, Trinity had many miscues in their loss to Madonna but has had clay to shape ahead of a likely Sunday home game. And it will be crucial, as No. 9 East Hardy (3-1) is a strong force out of the Eastern Panhandle.
Like Madonna, the Cougars tout a strong passing game led by senior QB Christian Dove who accounted for four touchdowns in the team’s dominating 40-7 win over Pocahontas County. Three of his scores were in the air to junior Noah Lang, and one was on the ground. In total, Dove completed 11 of 18 passes for 147 yards while Lang’s three scores were his only catches, all accumulating to 82 yards. Still, even with a strong passing game, the Cougars aren’t one-dimensional, as senior RB Alex Miller can run over defenses as he did to Pocahontas in his 86-yard, two-score performance.
EHHS’ defense is also tight, only allowing 147 yards of total offense last week and forcing four fumbles, recovering them all.
Kickoff was not announced at the time of this story publishing.
Clay-Battelle set to open the season at Valley-Wetzel on Saturday
After a roller coaster of a week, Clay-Battelle will start its season on Saturday with a road game at neighbor Valley-Wetzel.
The Cee-Bees were forced to cancel their road game at Calhoun County last Friday after someone within the program tested positive for COVID-19, and, after a topsy-turvy week of quarantining and a round of negative tests, things are finally working in their favor. Further, a report by WBOY indicated the staff member who originally tested positive has since tested negative twice.
Like last week, even despite missing five weeks of games and only having two full practices to prepare, Clay-Battelle has a shot to pull off a win in its season opener. The Lumberjacks (1-3) have had a rough three-game stretch since beating Calhoun in their season opener, losing by double digits in each game – the worst coming from No. 4 Tygarts Valley who overpowered them 59-16. Then, last week the group fell to South Harrison on the road 46-24.
C-B will hold tight with its two-quarterback system, deploying Carson Shriver and Cooper Watson. Shriver brings a strong rushing ability to the role, while Watson’s arm can help the Cee-Bees break Valley’s secondary. The team also has bottled-up back Daniel Gorbey who can run over defenders and who, according to coach Ryan Wilson and Shriver, is a “man.”
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