By Tom Bragg, For Lootpress.com
WINFIELD, W.Va. – Just looking at the seeding, No. 6 Winfield should probably be considered the favorite Friday against No. 14 Independence in the quarterfinal round of the Class AA football state playoffs, but the Patriots are no normal No. 14 seed.
Independence (7-3) is, after all, the defending Class AA state champion and home of the last two Kennedy Award winners. This is a different team from those that found recent success for Indy, but the program is no stranger to the big stage and high-stakes playoff games.
Winfield coach Eddie Smolder said he doesn’t care what number is next to a team like that on the bracket, his Generals know they will have a battle on their hands on Friday.
“Independence is the defending state champ and they’ve been one of the marquee teams in Class AA the last four years,” Smolder said. “Their seeding in the playoffs doesn’t mean anything – they’re a really good football team. They’re well-coached, they’re physical and they play hard. It presents a huge challenge for us.”
Indy went on the road last week and rolled past No. 3 Roane County 55-21, while Winfield made quick work of No. 11 Lewis County with nearly 300 rushing yards as a team in a 57-21 win against the visiting Minutemen.
The Generals (9-2) have played well since an Oct. 27 loss at Scott that gave the Skyhawks the Cardinal Conference title, with a tough win on the road at Point Pleasant to close the regular season and last week’s romp against Lewis County to open the postseason.
K-Juan Pearson led the way for Winfield against Lewis County with 216 yards of total offense to go with three touchdowns – two rushing and one receiving – as well as an interception returned for a touchdown.
Smolder said it wasn’t much fun losing that game in Boone County a few weeks ago, but he thinks his team took the right lessons and is better for it now.
“It sucks that we lost but it was good for us in a way,” Smolder said. “Our kids have really practiced a lot better with their focus and their effort throughout the whole practice. [The loss to Scott] I think has benefitted us. We’re continuing to get better and that loss, we had won seven or eight in a row and them getting beat made them realize that this thing could end soon and you had better take advantage of every day.”
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Herbert Hoover, the No. 9 seed in the Class AA bracket, is the Kanawha Valley’s only other remaining representative in the 2023 postseason.
The Huskies (8-3) used a strong second half to power past No. 8 East Fairmont 28-14 last Saturday on a chilly evening at East-West Stadium, and for the effort Hoover gets to make a return trip to Marion County this week for the quarterfinal round.
No. 1 North Marion awaits the Herbert Hoover on Saturday, and it will be a rematch of a very good game won by North 21-14 on Oct. 20 in Rachel.
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Hurricane crashed out last Friday in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs, as No. 13 Parkersburg mostly dominated in a 47-23 loss for the No. 4 Redskins.
There was a lot of hype around Hurricane this season, in no small part because of the addition of senior quarterback and Marshall commit JacQai Long. With the Redskins trailing 26-7 at halftime against Parkersburg, head coach Donnie Mays made the call to bench Long and go with junior Noah Vellaithambi, last season’s starter at quarterback who had played mostly running back this season.
Vellaithambi got the Redskins offense moving at times in the second half, but the Big Reds were just too strong on Friday.
“We were trying to get a spark,” Mays said. “I just felt like we needed a different spark. We weren’t blaming anybody or anything. You know how quarterback play is a weird thing. I thought Noah came in and played pretty good for not having to play all of the time and running the ball so much this year. He did a good job and led us on a couple of drives, hopefully it kickstarts us for what is to be.”
