Football is back to business as usual at Oak Hill High School.
However, that was not the case just a few short months ago when head coach David Moneypenny tendered his resignation after one year at the helm.
“Things just weren’t fitting for me, personally. I thought it might be better if things went on in a different direction,” Moneypenny said. “Never say never though and things changed in a matter of days. Actually about eight days to be exact.”
Just over a week after stepping down, circumstances changed and Moneypenny rescinded his resignation.
“Everything is good. Everything was good then. Things are going really well at Oak Hill High School, especially with football,” Moneypenny said Thursday at the Nicholas County 7-on-7 competition. “I am extremely happy with how things are right now. We have three more coaches now than we did last year. That was one of the things we needed and it happened here. The administration has always been very, very supportive. There have been several positive things that have happened the last couple of weeks and (the administration) has made that happen for us.”
Consolidation took Oak Hill from the Class AA ranks and moved them up to Class AAA where they now compete with huge AAA programs like Spring Valley, Martinsburg and even Cabell Midland.
“I have some great coaches and I would like to have more,” Moneypenny said. “I know it is a process. We are a 3-A school and may be a 4-A school one day. We need to try and level the field out with all of these other schools in the state.”
The Red Devils finished 3-3 last year after missing the first month of the season due to COVID related issues. A loss to University in the final week of the regular season derailed Oak Hill’s postseason bid.
“We ran into a pretty good football team. We played pretty well in the first quarter, but they were able to take advantage of us in some areas,” Moneypenny said. “(University) was a true AAA football team and that is the standard we are trying to imitate and get to. We played Spring Valley last year and we picked up Cabell Midland this year. We are trying to get the kids more experience against these bigger programs.”
The bright spots last season included wins over two big rivals, Woodrow Wilson and Greenbrier East.
“I had never beaten Woodrow before and we beat Greenbrier East. All the games we played were very competitive,” Moneypenny said. “The kids played hard last year and I don’t expect anything different out of them this year. We have some new faces that are stepping up like all schools do and we have to get these guys ready.”
Enthusiasm has been high thus far for Oak Hill during the three week period, as well as during the 7-on-7 competitions.
“Our coaches are really good. They have a group of kids that they contact and they keep them updated on things,” Moneypenny said. “They are the key to it all. The coaches care about the kids and share that enthusiasm with them. I think it has brought a lot of kids in and we have been hitting like 60-65 kids.”
The Red Devils have already demonstrated some big play capabilities on both sides of the ball in the early competitions.
We have some kids that can run and catch and a couple of kids that can throw it. They are really smart and have some football IQ,” Moneypenny said. “We are hoping to build on that. We have kids that are curious and ask good football related questions. That is always a good thing, it keeps me on my toes. We have five or six guys that we feel like we can get the ball to and they can get down the field.”
However, Moneypenny uses the three week period for more than just passing.
“Anytime we are out here doing football related things, I think it is a plus if you plan it well. We take it a little different approach than most,” Moneypenny said. “We don’t throw the ball a lot. We are a run oriented offense and we use this time to install our run game. We have been a little behind on that with the flex days being moved. We are also talking defense, run fits and we work on our kicking game. We probably use the 7-on-7 and flex days a little more differently than some. We try to hit all aspects of the game.”
The two areas of major concerns for the Red Devils will be the offensive line and the quarterback position.
“The key is the offensive line and what happens in August, September and October when it is live,” Moneypenny said. “Can we protect the quarterback and allow him to see the things that he is seeing now? I am confident we can fit some guys in there. We also have some kids that we can get the ball to on the edge and take some pressure off that area, but the offensive line is the key.”