The Deep Post: Week 1 ripe with key matchups

Welcome back to The Deep Post, a weekly column-notebook.

Rejoice, football season is finally here. Starting Thursday night the games matter again with a couple of local title hopefuls taking center stage.

I want to start by applauding the teams that have taken action and opened the season on a Thursday. I think it’s a genius move. Locally Princeton, Independence, Summers County and PikeView will play Thursday games with the latter two facing each other in Gardner.

From a media perspective it’s a dream.

Instead of covering two games in Week 1, we get the chance to staff four, with six of the teams featured being in our immediate coverage area (Graham, Va. and Capital being the two exceptions.) I asked Princeton coach Keith Taylor about the decision to host Capital on Thursday and he explained that he’d rather not lose gate money to Bluefield-Graham, one of the biggest matchups in the country.

Solid move.

Independence head coach John H. Lilly mentioned that the financial benefits were worth it as well when the Patriots played Liberty on a Thursday two years ago. From my understanding that game was media driven as Video Productions wanted to stream Thursday and Friday games. Independence’s matchup with Herbert Hoover draws similar attention this year as it’ll be broadcasted by MetroNews.

There’s an allure to the Friday night lights, but an occasional Thursday or Saturday game is wise.

Speaking of Week 1, let’s get into the top matchups.

Powerhouse Matchups 

Glancing at the schedule these are the matchups that intrigue me.

• Capital at Princeton
• Independence at Herbert Hoover
• Bluefield at Graham, Va.
• Greenbrier West at Pendleton
• Oak Hill at Nicholas County
• Wheeling Central at James Monroe

I value a challenging early-season matchup. My belief is it shows you where you are early enough to tend to your weaknesses. Independence started 2-3 last year before making a semifinal run. Herbert Hoover has started 0-2 the last two seasons, finishing with playoff wins in both seasons. You’re also likely to be at your healthiest early in the year.

For Capital-Princeton I’m interested in seeing what Capital’s program looks like with Jon Carpenter back at the helm. The thought is it’ll take him a year to pick up the pieces and rebuild a program that last made the playoffs in 2019 during his first stint. It’s also a good opportunity for Princeton to show it’s not living off the success of last season’s title game run.

For Independence-Herbert Hoover I want to see what Independence’s offense looks like and how its defense contends with a dynamic QB such as Dane Hatfield. Starting on defense, Indy’s going to face its share of talented QBs this year. Devin Richardson at Oak Hill, Chance Barker at Princeton, Kadien Vance at Westside, Coleton Hellems at Nicholas County, etc. If Indy can find a way to contain Hatfield it could be a confidence-boosting performance that lays a nice blueprint for the season. On offense there are a ton of new faces but the plan is to run the offense through Sylas Nelson. The Patriots have been anything but a one-man show since their rise to statewide relevance so I’d like to see how the complementary pieces perform.

In the annual Bluefield-Graham matchup I’m watching Bluefield’s offense. The scrimmages haven’t been played against chumps but there’s been a concerning lack of points scored. To my knowledge there isn’t a skill player on the roster with more than 30 career carries or catches and whether the starting QB is Max Simpson or Ricky Dunford, neither have started a high school varsity game. Now they’ll be expected to snap Bluefield’s skid in the rivalry in a raucous atmosphere.

When Greenbrier West opens up at Pendleton County it will do so minus 17 seniors that helped the program to the Class A title game and three playoff appearances before that. How will West fare in its first game without those program pillars?

Oak Hill-Nicholas County has been a good opening week litmus test over the past four years. The winner has typically gone on to have a very successful season. Oak Hill will replace QB Malachi Lewis while Nicholas County brings back most of its heavy hitters from a team that was six points away from finishing 8-2. This matchup has a chance to be the most competitive of the week. Nicholas has a difficult schedule with four games against Class AAA teams so any win that can be found is welcome, especially one against a rising power like Oak Hill.

Last but not least, James Monroe will welcome Wheeling Central for its first of three trips to this part of the state this season. James Monroe is replacing all but one offensive lineman, 2,512 yards of total offense and 35 touchdowns between skills players Chaz Boggs and Cooper Ridgeway. That’s a ton of production, especially for a schools that relies on most of its players to play both ways. Wheeling Central is a perennial contender, one the Mavericks have beaten in each of the last two seasons.

The Lootpress Sports Lowdown 

For those unaware, we’ve launched a weekly show sports talk show called The Lootpress Sports Lowdown. The first episode went live on Tuesday and you can view that down below. The plan is to also use the show to announce our weekly Player of the Week winners. We’ll also take questions to answer on-air as well. If you have any feel free to send them to tylerjackson@lootpress.com.

Week 1 Schedule 

Thursday, Aug. 29

Capital at Princeton
Independence at Herbert Hoover
Summers County at PikeView

Friday, Aug. 30

Beckley at Washington
Bluefield at Graham, Va.
Clay County at Midland Trail
Greenbrier West at Pendleton County
Meadow Bridge at Van
Montcalm at Buffalo
Mount View at River View
Oak Hill at Nicholas County
Poca at Liberty
Riverside at Greenbrier East
Shady Spring at Roane County
Webster County at Richwood
Wheeling Central at James Monroe
Wyoming East at Westside