We’re nearly through the first full month of a season many hoped would be a return to the norm.
It’s been anything but that.
In fact the Week 5 schedule is so bare that only three teams will be playing locally – Wyoming East, Nicholas County and Beckley. Liberty and Oak Hill will be on the road, but lets recap.
- Midland Trail at Summers – With Summers on remote learning, the game is postponed until a later date.
- Lord Botetourt, Va. at Princeton, Richlands Va. at Bluefield and Shady Spring at PikeView – With Mercer County still on remote learning all games involving schools in the county have been postponed. As of now the only game with an announced makeup date is Shady at PikeView, scheduled to be played Tuesday, Nov. 2.
- Westside at Independence – With the Renegades in quarantine the game has been moved to Tuesday, Sept. 28.
- James Monroe at Covington, Va. – Covington, struggling with Covid cases and injuries asked to postpone the game until a later date.
Now, for the games that will be played.
Liberty at Clay County
There may not have been a team that made a statement quite like Liberty did last week. Off of a three-week hiatus and having lost their first game 47-0 at home, the Raiders rebounded handing Logan (3-1) its first loss of the season. The win was so impactful it vaulted the Raiders up to No. 14 in the latest playoff ratings. The opportunity to add to their resume presents itself Friday night when the Raiders travel to Clay County (2-0). Clay comes in with a Week 1 win over Midland Trail and currently sits at No. 7 in the Class AA playoff ratings.
The Raiders have clearly shown that records mean little at this point with their win over Logan and their senior stars proved they’re going to make some noise this year. Ryan Simms scored three touchdowns in that win and Logan Dodrill went over 100 yards rushing behind a young offensive line. Another win over a highly rated AA school would keep them afloat in the ratings for another week.
The Raiders won last year’s game between the two 33-0 in Glen Daniel.
Wyoming East at Nicholas County
A reschedule of Week 3’s contest between the two teams, both are coming off losses with high stakes on the line. Wyoming East fell 70-6 at Herbert Hoover last week, dropping to 1-2 on the season while Nicholas County fell at home to Lincoln. With three losses being the threshold for the playoffs in Class AA in a normal year, the Warriors are skating on thin ice as they try to keep those hopes alive. Since beating Westside in Week 1 the Warriors have struggled, yielding 42 and 70 points in their last two games. Though not all of that is on the defense. In the first quarter of East’s loss to Hoover, the Huskies returned three interceptions for touchdowns in the first quarter.
On the opposite side Nicholas is looking for a bounce-back performance after squandering numerous opportunities against Lincoln last Thursday. The Grizzlies moved the ball between the 20s with ease but struggled in the red zone. Despite that junior running back Kaleb Clark did his thing, rushing for over 150 yards and catching a touchdown pass in the loss. He’ll be the focal point for the East defense in this one.
Morgantown at Beckley
Morgantown has been impressive to open the season despite losing its first two games.
The first was a home loss to defending Class AAA champion South Charleston in a game when the Mohigans (1-2) led in the second half. The second was a loss to Bridgeport.
Record alone shows they’ll provide the Flying Eagles with one of their toughest tests until this point.
Beckley comes into the games at 1-2 as well and hasn’t played in two weeks as their Week 4 matchup with Bluefield was postponed. If the Flying Eagles want to snap their two-game losing streak they’ll need to find a way to protect quarterback Maddex McMillen. The senior signal caller has averaged 164 yards passing per game but has been sacked regularly in his first three games, compromising the effectiveness of the Flying Eagles’ air attack which features explosive receivers in Keynan Cook and Elijah Redfern.
Oak Hill at Ripley
The Red Devils come into Friday having blown a 20-point lead last week against Lincoln County. They’ll need to refocus and put that behind them as they travel to Ripley and face a Vikings team that has also struggled.
Both teams come into the week at 1-3, but the Red Devils do have hope in the form of explosive playmaker Leonard Farrow. Farrow leads the area in rushing with 610 yards on the ground to go along with 12 rushing scores. Last week he had over 100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving, scoring through the air and on the ground. To top it all off he’s averaging 11 yards per carry.
Expect a heavy dose of Farrow as well as teammate Omar Lewis who has 353 yards rushing. Both will need to have big games to help the Red Devils right the ship.
