MARTINSBURG — The Class AAAA state champion Martinsburg Bulldogs played this past season with a stacked deck.
Plus, they had an “Ace” in the hole.
Ace Flores — the Bulldogs’ middle linebacker.
His presence benefitted a stalwart defense tremendously as the Bulldogs defeated league and county rival Spring Mills 24-17 in the state final to win their second title in a row and 11th since 2010. The other titles came in Class AAA.
Ace Flores led Martinsburg in a full house-like way, topping the Bulldogs in unassisted tackles, assisted tackles, tackles for loss and total tackles.
The Quad-A first-team defensive captain is being honored today by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association with a pair of awards — the Howley Award as the top linebacker in the state and the Huff Award as the top overall defender.
Flores’ selection as the Huff winner is the second straight for Martinsburg after Rashad Reid won in 2023 and is the Bulldogs’ state-best sixth honoree overall.
Flores won over runner-up defensive back Zah Jackson of Huntington and third-place finisher defensive end Xavier Anderson of Spring Mills, which allowed just 61 points in 14 games, 41 of them.
“It was definitely a goal (to lead the team in tackles),” Flores said. “Among my goals was to be the defensive player of the year, be an all-state linebacker and win the Huff Award.”
Goals accomplished for Flores, including a state crown as a senior.
Ace is not Flores’ real first name.
It’s actually “Anthony,” same as his father, leading the elder one needing to come up with a nickname to differentiate the two.
“I like poker,” said Dad, who played middle linebacker for four seasons at Glenville State and served as his son’s youth league coach.
It was natural with his father’s affinity for cards.
So “Ace” the son became.
“That is the big one on defense,” Ace said of the comparison between nickname and position.
Big and bad.
Flores never seemed to be away from the action, his uniform No. 9 hard to miss among an array of defensive players with double-digit numbers stitched on their jerseys.
“I gotta be a captain and go full throttle,” is how he explains his style of play.
“I want to be super aggressive … to hit someone and get the tackle.”
He finished with 109.5 tackles, 33 of them solo stops, 59 assisted takedowns and 13 drops for loss. He also recorded 4.5 sacks.
“He was a big part of our defense,” Martinsburg coach David Walker said, “and he is relentless.
“He has a nose for the football, and he’s extremely fast. Even when people have had angles on him, he could still make up for it with his speed.”
Flores’ favorite game came when Martinsburg defeated Huntington 47-15 the second week of the season.
“I had a bunch of tackles,” he said.
His biggest tackle and most-important stop came the second time the Bulldogs hosted the Highlanders in the Quad-A semifinals.
Scoring a touchdown in the waning seconds of the game, Huntington opted to attempt a two-point conversion to take a one-point lead, rather than kick a tying extra point to force overtime.
Flores tackled all-state running back Keegan Sack short of the goal line, preserving a 35-34 victory for Martinsburg.
“That was a great moment,” Flores said.
It was a winning moment.
“I knew they had only three yards to go and win that game,” Flores said. “For most of the game, they were running opposite of me and getting more than three yards.
“I read the play. I knew we had to do everything perfect. … It was the same thing; they ran the opposite side with Keegan Sack. I thought Koi (Fagan) was going to get him, but he spun out and I was there to make the tackle.”
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Flores saved the day for the Bulldogs, who won all 14 of their games on the field but suffered a forfeit loss leaving their record at 13-1.
“He’s a little undersized,” Walker said, “so he’s going to have to play (in college) with a chip on his shoulders.”
Flores already did.
He took offense to a state recruiting website’s characterization of him by not considering him among the top linebacker in the Mountain State, rather rating him only as someone “to look out for.”
Flores changed it to “Look out.”
He drew motivation from that slight.
He printed copies of the listing and posted them all over the house, even had one taped of his bathroom mirror to see almost as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning.
“Every day,” Flores said, “it aggravated me.”
It reminded him of what he wanted to do this season,twist that annoyance in a positive way for his teammates.
It worked out.
Flores is hopeful that some connections play out in his favor for the future.
His father played linebacker with new Marshall coach Tony Gibson at Glenville State, where the squad was coached by Rich Rodriguez, who is returning to West Virginia for a second spin as the boss.
“It’s definitely pretty cool,” Flores said of those ties that he is hopeful could produce a “who-you-know” scenario for him.
For now, he’s receiving a lot of attention from Mountain East Conference programs.
He wants his play this past season to really be a determining factor in what happens next for him on the football field.
“At the end of the day,” Flores said, “I did everything I could, and now it’s ‘let’s see where it ends up for me.'”
For now, it’s an Ace that began a king in the deck he helped deal.
He’ll be honored with his two awards at the 78th Victory Awards Dinner at the Bridgeport Conference Center.
By Rick Kozlowski
