By Tom Bragg, For Lootpress.com
Hurricane had its hands full in Week 1 of the West Virginia high school football season with a visit from perennial powerhouse Huntington, which blocked a field goal attempt as time expired to seal the victory.
The Redskins won’t have any time to dwell on that loss, however, with another stiff test on the schedule in Week 2.
Hurricane hosts Spring Valley on Friday, and the Timberwolves (1-0) look to be among the top teams this season in West Virginia’s new-look Class AAA. Despite their loss to Huntington, the Redskins are still among the handful of Class AAAA teams considered serious contenders and a win against this Timberwolves team would go a long way towards getting back on track for their ultimate goals.
“They’ve been traditionally good for a long time,” Hurricane head coach Donnie Mays said of Spring Valley. “Coach [Brad] Dingess does a good job getting those kids to play hard. They always think they can win the ballgame and they’ve proven that too. They’ve beaten Martinsburg at their field and at home. They’ve beaten Huntington in the past too. It’s a tough challenge with them. It always is.”
Senior quarterback Noah Vellaithambi along with running back tandem Kylan Grace and Alexander Gregory found room to run against Huntington, combining for 268 rushing yards in Mays’ fast-paced offense.
“We felt really good about the running backs, and Noah plays quarterback but he runs the ball too, so we felt like we had something there with the three backs,” Mays said. “What helps to open it up more is the receivers that we have. We have guys who can stretch the field and open up different things in the run game for us.
“A.J. [Gregory] runs the ball hard, and Grace is more like a power back. It’s kind of a ‘Thunder and Lightning’ deal like USC had – and I’m not saying our kids are Reggie Bush and Lendale White, I’m just saying it’s a similar idea. But we also have Noah too, and if they are ‘Thunder and Lightning’ then Noah is the full storm with the ball.”
Spring Valley and Hurricane are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday in Putnam County at Redskin Stadium.
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Nitro quarterback Josh Moody turned heads around the state last season when his Wildcats took on cross-river rival St. Albans in the annual Battle of the Bridge, and he’ll be looking to do the same this week in the rematch of that contest.
Moody, now a senior, threw for a mind-boggling 621 yards and tossed 11 touchdown passes against the Red Dragons in 2023 – breaking the single-game state records set by legendary Nitro quarterback J.R. House in the 1998 Class AAA state championship game against Morgantown.
The 88th meeting between the old Kanawha County rivals takes place Friday at Nitro’s Underwood Field, where the Wildcats showed in last week’s 52-21 win against visiting Lincoln that Moody and the offense picked up where they left off last season.
Moody completed 26 of 35 pass attempts for 417 yards and six touchdowns against the Cougars from Harrison County last week.
St. Albans comes into Friday’s contest off a 39-0 loss to open the season last week at George Washington. The Red Dragons have a new coach this season in Derek Stotts and a new quarterback in Hurricane transfer Deuce McClain. Against GW last week, McClain went 6 of 16 passing for 41 yards with two interceptions and ran the ball 12 times for 45 yards.
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Other Kanawha, Putnam and Boone games the Week 2 schedule:
– Oak Hill (1-0) at Riverside (0-1)
– Winfield (1-0) at Herbert Hoover (1-0)
– George Washington (1-0) at John Marshall (0-1)
– Parkersburg (0-1) at South Charleston (0-1)
– Sissonville (0-1) at Logan (0-1)
– Buffalo (1-0) at Clay County (1-0)
– Midland Trail (0-1) at Poca (1-0)
– Scott (0-0) at Wayne (1-0)
– Tug Valley (1-0) at Sherman (1-0)
– Van (0-1) at Webster County (1-0)
– Off this week: Capital (0-1)
