The fact that Greenbrier West is playing for the Class A football championship comes as no surprise.
For a team that has the famed “Runaway Beer Truck”, Owen Schmitt as an assistant coach, the Cavaliers have in turn looked like a “Runaway Dump Truck” this year.
“It is so special for the kids, the school and the community,” Greenbrier West head coach Kelly Vaughan. “These kids have worked for this since last November. They were in the weight room and they did a great job during summertime ball. We knew we had a lot of kids coming back and we had a little quote, unquote pressure because people expected us to have a good year. The coaching staff knew the expectations were high, but took those expectations as a challenge and ran with it. Their effort of the kids and their accomplishments speak for themself. The kids handled expectations wonderfully.”
Offensively Greenbrier West is averaging 45 points per game, while allowing just over six points to the opposition.
On the way to its eighth undefeated regular season in school history (56 years), Greenbrier West broke the school record for points scored in a season with 583.
Widely known over the years as a team that would line up and run right over you, this season, the bunch from Charmco did things a little differently.
Quarterback Cole Vandall rewrote the passing records at West, now holding the top spot in 12 different categories. The state champion wrestler completed 111 passes on 176 attempts for 1,887 yards and 29 touchdowns.
The Cavaliers also know how to run the football. They just do it more by committee now. Jake Pate leads the rushers with 1,178 yards, but Isaac Agee, Ethan Holliday, Moses Gray and Vandall can all tote the rock when needed.
Tucker Lilly leads the receiving core with 30 catches for 513 yards and 10 touchdowns. He is followed by Holliday with 22 catches for 374 yards. Agee is the quick strike threat with the ability to score from all over the field with his speed.
While the offensive numbers are eye-popping, defense has been the key to success, especially during the first three postseason wins.
The defense has six shutouts to its credit in 13 games. Only the high-powered offense from Wahama has scored an offensive touchdown against the Cavaliers in the postseason. The White Falcons were also the first team to score three times on the Cavaliers. Prior to that only three teams has managed two scores.
Holliday has led the charge on defense, but is really a factor in all phases for Greenbrier West. The first team all-stater has scored six touchdowns rushing and five receiving. He has returned a punt and a fumble recovery for a score along with a pair of interceptions that he took to the house.
In the playoff win against James Monroe with Vandall ailing, the Cavs went old school with Holliday in the wildcat formation where he tallied his first career 100-yard rushing game. Not to mention he scored three times in the fourth quarter to lead West to the win.
The defense for the Cavaliers looks like a pack of wild dogs at times blowing up running games and making quarterbacks run for their life.
Overall the Cavaliers have 100 tackles for loss and 24 sacks on the season. They have recovered 19 fumbles, grabbed 12 interceptions and recorded three safeties.
Holliday has 23 tackles behind the line of scrimmage followed by Jacob Whitt (15), Vandall (11) and Agee (7). C.W. Sturgill and Brandon Poticher have six each.
Poticher has had a breakout season with 105 combined tackles, second only to Holliday with 117. Poticher recorded four sacks, forced two fumbles and has a blocked kick on his resume’.
Agee, Sturgill, Pate and Trent Parker all have over 50 combined tackles as well.
Saturday night the unbeaten Cavaliers will face its biggest test of the year, especially defensively, when it battles Class A defending state champion Williamstown.
The Yellowjackets come into the contest undefeated and are led by Kennedy Award hopeful Maxwell Molessa.
“Everybody knows the Molessa kid is a fine, fine athlete. He signed DI to play baseball at West Virginia University,” Vaughan said. “That right there tells you that he is an athlete. Anytime you have a DI athlete, you have a nice team.”
Molessa has thrown for 1,165 yards and 21 touchdowns, but that is only part of his arsenal. The dual threat nightmare has also rushed for 1,642 yards and scored 30 more touchdowns.
Making matters worse for opposing defenses, Molessa is only part of the problem to try and stop.
“To go along with that, like us, some of the other kids don’t get recognition. They have a nice line that works together. They are a good unit. Their running back runs the ball hard,” Vaughan said. “We just somehow have to contain them and stay close. Hopefully in the fourth quarter we give ourselves an opportunity to win the game.”
Junior running back Lynken Joy has added 1,295 yards on the ground and scored 13 times. Senior Louis Goodnow leads the receivers with 46 grabs for 754 yards and 14 touchdowns.
“Williamstown reminds me a lot of us,” Vaughan said. “They can throw the ball. They can run the ball. They can run counters, run reverses and even line up in different formations where we have to adjust on the fly.”
“They can go from an interior set to a wide set,” Vaughan continued. “We have worked on it as far as our scout team, but we have to be prepared for it. That tells you their coaching staff does a good job of getting them in situations where they can make plays to win the game.”
Saturday will be the the third trip to the title game for Greenbrier West and the first for Vaughan as the head coach. However, the head man does know a little bit about title clashes.”
“My first year coaching (as an assistant), I was 25 years old and we lost to Spencer,” Vaughan recalled. “In 2013 I was coaching with big Lou McClung and nobody gave us a chance. They had a quarterback named Ross Comis. He was tough ( and went on to play at the University of Massachusetts). We had a shot in the fourth quarter, but they beat us 24-14. It was great game.”