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C-2 THE DOMINION POST HIGH SCHOOL FALL SPORTS GUIDE FRIDAY, AUG. 27, 2021

MOHIGANS

Morgantown football team, coach Sean Biserwant to take leap forward after odd COVID 2020BY MATTHEW [email protected]

The standard is the stan-dard at Morgantown High.That cliche is used withmany sports programs butthe Mohigans truly meanit. The 2021 season is aboutgetting back to the standardof success that the team hasbeen used to for years.

“T hey’re definitelyhung ry,” s e c o n d - ye a rhead coach Sean Bisersaid. “We talk about notjust getting a golden ticketto make the playoffs. Wehave to work our waythere and earn it. That’sour mentality. They’vereally embraced that.”

Last year, the Mohiganswent 3-3 in an unconven-tional COVID-shortenedseason. The team is search-ing for its first winning sea-son since 2016 — the lasttime the Mohigans won aplayoff game.

Biser, who came to Mor-gantown after a long stintcoaching at Keyser, ispreaching progression tohis sizeable team. He is inthe early stages of rebuild-ing a program that last won

a state championship in2005 and had a sustainedrun of deep playoff runs adecade ago.

There are more than 120boys out for football thisseason and 80-some arefreshman and sophomores.

“This off-season, theguys have done a good job ofkeeping things positive asthey were looking forwardto getting back at it thisye a r, ” Biser said. “It’s a lit-tle refreshing to be a littlemore normal this season. Ic a n’t say it’s 100% normalnow, but we are as close aswe ’ve been in a long time.”

Biser was named thenew head coach at MHS onFeb. 25, 2020. After hostinga meet-and-greet and sign-up session, he held thefirst after-schoolweightlifting in earlyMarch. The next day, theworld changed with lock-downs and quarantines.

“That was the first andlast time I saw them form o n t h s, ” Biser said.

This summer, he hastaken advantage of the timehe can spend with his play-ers, as well as their familymembers. He is trying to

make up for lost time inwhat was such a weird firstyear for him in 2020. That’spart of his process of bring-ing the program back to itsglory days.

“Last year was a lot ofadapting and overcoming,”Biser said. “You try to han-dle everything they’rethrowing at you. I can’t tellyou how many times wehad to change plans andadjust what we were doing.We had requirements tomeet and we had to makesure everyone was safe. Itseemed like every daythere was something wehad to change.

“Even though we had todeal with all that, I think weestablished a good, solidfoundation. Last year, wewere able to build some-thing into what we’re tryingto do now. We’re trying tocreate a culture and that canbe accomplished this year.”

Seeing improvements inthe weight room and hearingchatter amongst the seniorand junior leaders has Biserconfident the program is onthe right track. Having thenumbers the Mohigans do,too, is the biggest sign of

encoura g ement.The team has been run-

ning three practice ses-sions a day, every day, withthree separate groups forvarsity, JV and freshman.

“We have a lot of depthand we’re still battling inevery position,” Biser said.“Because we’ve been run-ning with three differentsessions, that’s just made itmore competitive. We dohave some talented kids atskill positions.”

Keonn Mallet, BroderickWashington, DavonEldredge and Alec Duleyare some of those key skillplayers. Junior quarter-back Sebastian Daltonsteps up with a year of expe-rience under his belt. Theoffense will also have depthwith Braedon Brooks andCharlie Nennebi poten-tially running the ball.

“T hey’ll be seeing moreplaying time this year,”Biser said.

The biggest benefit for theMohigans may be that theyare returning most of theirexperienced offensive line-man, including SammyTeets, Nathan Hagan, Eli Sta-hara, and Jiavair Howard.

Biser was an offensivelineman for WVU in theearly 1990s.

“Those guys up front arestrong and experiencedand we got guys behindthem who want a shot,”Biser said. “We ’re prettydeep and I expect us torotate players.”

Defensively, the Mohi-gans will stick with theireight-man front, thoughthey will employ multi-ple fronts.

Jaiden Evans and Mar-quis Mauney are two-wayplayers to look out for, aswell as Jarrett Lawrence

and Preston Harman.“Just out of necessity,

we had to be more sim-plistic last year,” Bisersaid. “We can expand ourplaybook on both sides ofthe ball this year.”

Morgantown hosts thefirst game of the year atPony Lewis Field on Aug. 27against South Charleston.

“The kids have reallybought into our mentalityand they’re fired up,” Bisersaid. “We ’re not where weneed to be yet but I’m reallyproud of their work ethicand commitment so far.”

TWEET @dompostsports

Aug. 27: South Charleston, 7:30 p.m.Sept. 3: at Bridgeport, 7 p.m.Sept. 17: Hedgesville, 7:30 p.m.Sept. 24: at Woodrow Wilson, 7:30 p.m.Oct. 1: Musselman, 7 p.m.Oct. 8: Wheeling Park, 7 p.m.Oct. 15: Parkersburg South, 7 p.m.Oct. 22: at John Marshall, 7 p.m.Oct. 29: at University, 7:30 p.m.Nov. 5: at Spring Mills, 7 p.m.

MORGANTOWN SCHEDULE

Benjamin Powell/The Dominion Post photos

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MOHIGANS

Jaiden Evans taking charge of Morgantown offense and defenseBY MATTHEW [email protected]

The Morgantown foot-ball team has many play-makers at different posi-tions across the field.Newer players are step-ping up to fill roles andveteran players are look-ing to make their mark onthe program.

Jaiden Evans is a playerwho is trying to do both.

A 6-foot-5, 250-poundsenior two-way lineman,Evans is one of the biggestguys on the field. He’s beena two-way player for thepast three years and hasbeen a contributor at thevarsity level since he was af re s h m a n .

As a senior, he is hopingfor more opportunities tomake his way into the start-ing rotation.

“It’s a lot of stress some-t i m e s, ” Evans said. “Ittakes hard work. Every-body is putting in the work.You have to work whennobody else is working.T hat’s what a lot of us havebeen doing. I’ve been focus-ing on getting better,myself, to help the teamreach its goals.”

This off-season, Evanscame to the realization histime with the Mohiganswas coming to an end. Notfully pleased with his per-formance as a freshman,sophomore and junior,Evans wanted a way toguarantee that his senioryear would be one he couldremember for a lifetime.

“This past year reallystarted to snap for me,”Evans said. “I knew I had toput on muscle and step it upto really reach my fullpotential. I knew I could bea lot stronger than I was.

“It was just time to growup. I may not have been asmotivated in the weightroom but this past yearafter not having the junioryear that I wanted, I real-ized that it was make orbreak. I was going to hit itall harder and get after it.”

He is taking his role as asenior leader seriously. Ashe fights for a spot in thestarting lineup, he is alsotaking the time to makesure he is making his class-

mates better and setting apositive example for theyounger players in the pro-gram. Of the more than 120players out for the MHSfootball team this season,80-some are freshman ands o p h o m o re s.

“I know I’m not a kidanymore, I’m an adult and Ihave responsibilities tomyself, my team and myf amily,” Evans said. “T hat’sin the real world and in thefootball team.

“From my freshmanyear until now I’ve grown alot. I owe a lot of my devel-opment to the coaches I’vehad, role models I’ve lookedup to and the older playerson the team who have set agood example for all of us.I’ve grown into a new roleand I’m learning how to bea leader.”

Evans said he took thatstep as a leader in Mor-g antown’s first scrimmageagainst Capital. The Mohi-gans got off to a slow startagainst the Cougars,another consistent threatin AAA, but picked up theirperformance as the gamewent on.

“We got used to the flowof the game and I was proudseeing the guys step up,”Evans said. “We ’ve got agood team. A lot of kidshave grown into their spots.Our offensive line is bigand tough. All of our backsare ready to work. They payattention to every littledetail and make sure every-thing is on point. We sawwhat we needed to do inthat scrimmage.”

As Evans tries each dayto live out his goal of becom-ing a starter, he also is striv-ing toward the dream ofplaying college football.

“I would love to play atthe next level, no matterwh e re, ” Evans said. “P l ay -ing college football hasbeen my dream since I firststarted playing football.”

Evans took advantage ofhis height as a youngsterand played basketball forseveral years. In his upper-classmen years of highschool, he has devoted histime to becoming the bestfootball player he can be.


Benjamin Powell/The Dominion Post

Morgantown’s Jaiden Evans wants to be a leader on the offensive and defensive fronts for the Mohigans this season.


Evans has a conversation with assistant coach Anthony Giambrone.


Evans tries to shed a tackle against Preston during ascrimmage on Aug. 20.


KNIGHTS

Mark Deep looking to put his stamp onPreston football program in first yearBY MARK [email protected]

KINGWOOD — M a rkDeep, Preston’s new foot-ball coach, doesn’t teach atPHS, but the man is morethan accustomed to han-dling challenges.

Heck, he even works atthe Mountaineer ChallengeAcademy — and he insistshe’s ready to face this onehead on.

Deep played high schoolfootball in Pennsylvania atConnellsville andChartiers Valley, thenmoved on to Potomac State,where an unfortunate auto-mobile accident ended hisplaying career. But he knewhe’d end up coaching — it’sperhaps even a genetic traitthat runs strong through-out his family tree.

“My granddad, my dad, abunch of uncles, andcousins … all are footballc o a ch e s, ” he said. “So yeah,after my playing days weredone — even though theygot taken away quickerthan I’d hoped. I kindaknew that I’d end up on thesidelines sooner ratherthan later.”

So, what did the new guyget himself into? Deepknew he certainly wouldn’thave to start from scratch.

“I have been watchingwhat (former coachJonathan Tennant) hasbeen doing from afar,”Deep said, “and I knew heran a nice, tight program,and that he was a realstand-up guy. He moved theprogram forward, and nowI’m excited about theopportunity to continue

the progress.”While there will be sim-

ilarities in schemes fromthe previous regime onboth sides of the ball, Deepis concentrating much ofhis effort to learn the capa-bilities of the players hehas, and fit the playbook totheir strengths.

“I think it’s a balancingact between changingeverything right away, giv-ing the kids too much toosoon, and making sure thatwe are establishing a wholenew mindset,” he said. “Ithink the kids have beenfantastic, and welcoming,and they’re putting in thework and battling every dayto get better and under-stand what we need fromthem. It’s a process, and it’sgoing well so far.”

According to senior

offensive tackle/ middlelinebacker ChaseBlaney, the transitionhas been smooth andre i nv i g o r at i n g .

“I really liked the oldcoaching staff,” he said,“but once we heard thenews, we all were readyfor a new approach. Ourposition coaches areteaching us somethingnew every day, new tech-niques to put in our tool-box, and learning moreabout the game is alwaysfun, especially when thenew stuff works. We’reramped and ready to go.”

On the defensive side ofthe line, fellow senior TylerJeffries agrees with the guyhe’s been butting helmetswith in practice since theywere freshman.

“We were definitely sur-

prised when we heard then ew s, ” he said, “but oncecoach Deep got here, he’smade everyone comfort-able. Practices are a littlemore relaxed, with maybemore teaching involved.No matter who’s on the

sidelines, our team isready to give everythingwe ’ve got this season. It’sthe seniors’ last year, and Iknow we’ll leave it all outthere on the field everyFriday night.”


Aug. 27: at Hampshire, 7 p.m.Sept. 3: at North Marion, 7 p.m.Sept. 10: John Marshall, 7 p.m.Sept. 17: Robert C. Byrd, 7 p.m.Sept. 24: at East Fairmont, 7 p.m.Oct. 8: at Bridgeport, 7 p.m.Oct. 15: Washington, 7 p.m.Oct. 22: University, 7 p.m.Oct. 29: at Buckhannon-Upshur, 7:30 p.m.Nov. 5: at Brooke, 7:30 p.m.

PRESTON SCHEDULE

Deep thinks he can continue relationshipsbuilt at middle school level with SquiresBY MARK [email protected]

KINGWOOD — It’s aproven fact successful highschool sports programs donot suddenly emerge with aspecial star athlete, or astrong senior class or loads oftalented underclassmen. Allof those are key componentsof a fine team — but buildinga sustainably successful pro-gram starts much earlier.

Newly installed Prestonfootball coach Mark Deepknows all about building atthe beginning — he’s beeninvolved with the county’smiddle school football pro-gram for several years. Andnow that he’s running theshow at the top, he’s readyto find out just what hiswork several years ago hashelped produce.

“It’s definitely felt a littlebit like a homecoming fors u re, ” Deep said. “I’vecoached probably 80% of thekids on our team at somepoint when they were backin middle school, so I’vereally enjoyed reconnectingwith them, seeing what fineyoung men and fine footballplayers they’ve become.”

As Deep has evaluated

his Knights during thethree-week flex time, aswell as fall practice andscrimmages, it’s been clearreintroducing some of theterminology and tech-niques from the past hasbeen fairly seamless formost of the team.

“Coach Deep was myposition coach back in mid-dle school,” senior defensivetackle Tyler Jeffries said, “soI knew what to expect fromhim. He’s made the transi-tion a very comfortable pro-cess for all of us, even as weare changing things up. It’sjust great getting a chance toget a different perspective onyour game and how you play.It’s made football a lot moreinteresting and challengingfor my last year, but I can’twait to put what I’ve learnedinto action.”

Although he’s nowcoaching many of his for-mer middle-schoolers at thevarsity level, Deep is mak-ing sure that every Knightsplayer knows that expecta-tions are going to be verydif ferent.

“I think this first year isgoing to be critical for us,”he said. “T here’s a differentmindset and different cul-

ture, a total mindset changethat everybody involvedwith the program has toembrace. I certainly hopewe don’t, but we may findout that some players aren’twilling to do what it takesto be successful — lear ningthe playbook, commitmentto fitness, extra work in theweight room. There’s aprice you have to pay to playfootball the right way, andt h at ’s what we expect.

“For us to build Prestonfootball into what it can beis my full responsibility,starting the day I acceptedthe position. When I first gotthe offer, I took the weekendto really consider what Iwas about to do, because Iwo u l d n’t have said yesunless I was fully commit-ted. The people of PrestonCounty will rally aroundthis football team on Fridaynights — all we have to do isplay a good, solid, tough,committed style of football,year after year. That’s whatwe ’ve been trying to growhere for years, and Ipromise you that we leave itall on the field every time wesuit up.”


William Wotring/The Dominion Post file photo

Benjamin Powell/The Dominion Post photos

D-2 THE DOMINION POST HIGH SCHOOL FALL SPORTS GUIDE FRIDAY, AUG. 27, 2021

H AW K S

University football team finally hasveteran group coach Kelley seeksBY MARK [email protected]

MORGANTOWN — Fo rthe first time in a while,t h e re ’s something in theair surrounding the Uni-versity football team. It’snot enthusiasm or passion— those are always pre-sent, and in great quan-tities, starting with gen-eration-spanning headcoach John Kelley, whostates simply that, “If I’mout here, then I’m excitedabout being here, and if

I’m not — well, that will letme know it’s time to hang’em up.”

No, after two seasons ofyouth-related on-fieldstruggles compounded byharrowing and frustratingCOVID issues, the prevail-ing vibe emanating fromHawks practices these daysis a critical component ofevery successful programand every winning season— b e l i e f.

“By our standards, it’sbeen two straight down

years, no question aboutit,” Kelley said. “A big partof that has been how youngwe ’ve been. The past threeyears, we’ve had single-digit senior classes, andno matter how talentedyou are, it’s difficult tocompete successfullyagainst more-experi-enced, more-physicallymature teams. And thatusually results in somehard learning.”

But all that struggle andbattle and long-term think-

ing appears poised to payoff, as UHS enters the sea-son with a whopping 71-player roster, including 21seniors and 21 juniors, allwith loads of varsity expe-rience and talent.

“We even have a sopho-more class with lots of game-action on their resumes,”Kelley said. “There are eightstarters back on both sides ofthe ball, plenty of speed andexplosiveness at our skillpositions, and our O-line and

Aug. 27: John Marshall, 7:30 p.m.Sept. 3: Parkersburg South, 7:30 p.m.Sept. 10: at Brooke, 7:30 p.m.Sept. 17: at Wheeling Park, 7 p.m.Sept. 24: Fairmont Senior, 7 p.m.Oct. 8: at Albert Gallatin, 7 p.m.Oct. 15: at Buckhannon-Upshur, 7 p.m.Oct. 22: at Preston, 7 p.m.Oct. 29: Morgantown, 7:30 p.m.Nov. 5: Oak Hill, 7 p.m.

UNIVERSITY SCHEDULE

William Wotring/The Dominion Post photos

SEE UNIVERSITY, D-3

Snyder a proud dad toUHS backup QB HudsonBY MARK [email protected]

It isn’t often a veteranhigh school football offen-sive coordinator gets soemotional after a play thathe starts to tear up a littleon the sidelines, especiallyduring a preseason scrim-mage. But for Universityassistant coach Eric Snyder,who returned to the UHSprogram after steppingaway in 2018, it’s all aboutfamily, both then and now.

“I started at UHS as anintern back in 2002 when Iwas attending WVU; I wasin charge of the toolbox,” hesaid. “Over the next 15years, I coached on bothsides of the ball as positioncoach as well as defensivecoordinator, and I loved

every minute of it, but I alsorealized that I was justmissing too much timewith my family, especiallymy stepchildren.”

However, two years ago,S nyd e r ’s stepson Luke Hud-son decided he wanted to trytackle football (after playingflag football and othersports), and then last year,Hudson approached himwith a request that even now,lights up his stepdad’s eyes.

“He told me he wantedme to be his coach,” S nyd e rsaid, “and I was like, ‘O k ay, ’but that was really some-thing special for sure.”

Of course, Snyder stillneeded to be hired, so heapproached his old boss,and long-time Hawks head

SEE SNYDER, D-3

William Wotring/The Dominion Post

University’s Luke Hudson.

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FRIDAY, AUG. 27, 2021 HIGH SCHOOL FALL SPORTS GUIDE THE DOMINION POST D-3

D-line goes nine deep. So wefeel confident that, if injuryand/or fatigue hits as italways does, we have peoplethat are ready to step in withthe same level of play. Andt h at ’s a big advantage.”

Senior linebacker/tightend Donald Brandel sees adifferent mindset that hashim fired up.

“We have been lookingtoward this year for awhile now,” he said of hisfellow upperclassmen.“We kept reminding eachother that if we just stucktogether, kept pushingeach other to improve,that we would have an

opportunity to be a reallystrong team. We felt luckythat we got the season wedid last year through thepandemic, and we’re alldoing our part to makesure we give ourselves achance to have one thisyear, as well.

“I think COVID hasreminded us of how easilyit can all be taken away,”he continued, “and it’smade us a closer family,and made us more awareof all the moments we havetogether. And now, we are100% committed to beingas good as we can be.We ’ve talked about win-ning, but we can’t just talkabout it anymore. It’s timeto go out and do it. Andwe ’re ready.”

Junior Chase Edwards isback at quarterback afterstarting all of last seasonand the end of the 2019 cam-paign. At running back,Colin McBee will providethe thunder while DaminnCunningham will providethe lightning.

At wide receiver, JaedenHammack returns aftercontributing the last twoseasons, but the coachingstaff is very high on SageClawg es.

The Hawks, coming off a3-4 season with a first-round loss in the playoffs toMusselman, will open theirseason Aug. 27, hostingJohn Marshall.


UNIVERSITYFROM PAGE D-2

coach John Kelley had tothink about it — for aboutthree seconds.

“When Eric told me hehad to step down, it wasd eva s t at i n g , ” Kelley said,“because he is such a greatcoach, both from a footballpoint of view and as a men-tor for the kids. But I alsosupported him 100%,because putting your fam-ily first is what every fathershould do. So, when he toldme he’d like to come backthis year — well, it was likehaving a son return home.It feels very comfortablehaving him here, like henever left, and I guarantee

we ’ll be a better footballteam because he’s back.”

“I’ve been on cloud ninesince the flex practice daysin June,” Snyder said, “I’vemissed being around John,being around football, andit’s been so much fun. Andwith all the weapons we haveon offense, and our depthand experience, I kind of feellike I won the lottery as anoffensive coordinator.”

So, about that play — ithappened during theH aw k s ’ final scrimmageagainst Laurel Highlandsthe Saturday before theirseason opener againstJohn Marshall.

During the second quar-ter, with his stepson com-manding the UHS offense,Hudson was flushed out of

the pocket, scrambled lefttoward the sideline, thenalertly spotted his widereceiver, Sage Clawges,breaking off his short pat-tern and breaking openbehind the cover corner.Head up, eyes up, the youngQB delivered a pass per-fectly in stride to Clawges,who did the rest of the workfor a 72-yard touchdown.

“He’s only been playingfor two years,” Snyder said,“and that moment was justso special. I had to grab aplayer coming off the field,so I could coach him andkind of pull myself back intocoach-mode before I com-pletely lost it. It’s all been sopositive, and I’m just happyand proud to be back.”


SNYDERFROM PAGE D-2


WA R R I O R S

BY AUSTIN [email protected]

The Trinity footballteam is getting closer togame ready form as the sea-son inches closer.

“We ’ve seen a bigimprovement on our line ofscrimmage. We’ve got morepower out of them than whatwe expected early on,” headcoach Chris Simpson said.

The Warriors are seeinggrowth in their skill posi-tions, as well. The quar-terback competitionbetween Jaylon Hill andChayce Adams is closing ingoing into the first scrim-mage against CalhounCounty — the job is “Hill’sto lose.”

Simpson hopes to getreassurance the team’soffensive plans for the sea-son are not only manage-

able, but able to excel andlet the skill positionsfl o u r i s h .

“I want my line to con-tinue to prove itself, toshow us that it can buy usthe time we need to get theoffense running and I wantto prove some mentaltoughness to these guys,”he said.

After having the teamcompete with one anotherduring the offseason, Simp-son is most excited aboutgetting back out on the fieldwith fresh competition.

“You get stale after play-ing against each other forso long. It will be good to seethem against some folksthey don’t know and will bean excellent test for them.”

Behind the improvingoffensive line, Simpson isrelying on his quarterback

and receivers to move theball quickly down the fieldwith an air-raid mentality.

“It’s short passes, quickreceptions, getting the ballto athletes in space andallowing them to make amove or make a play. It’strying to set up the run gameto buy yourself more passingoppor tunities,” he said.

However, Simpsonadmits that his team’sstrengths lie on the otherside of the ball.

“Defensively, it’s keep-ing the ball in front of usand playing within our-selves. At the end of the day,we are a defensive teamright now until we proveo t h e r w i s e, ” he said.

Simpson is modeling hisunit around Texas Chris-tain University’s 4-2-5defensive play and puts a

lot of stock into his safetyplay from both Levi Teetsand Carmelo Kniska.

“Our strength is defi-nitely in our secondarybetween Teets andKniska, just two unbeliev-able safeties for us,” S i m p-son said.

Teets receives highpraise from Simpson, as hecontinues to quarterbackthe defense and help withtheir offensive attack.

“[Teets] is just a com-mencement leader. He’sbeen stepping in for us alittle bit at tailback, he’sbeen playing slot for usand he’s still quarterback-ing the defense. He’s oneof those once a decadeplayers. Just a high IQ,high hustle and really intune with what is goingon, just a great leader,”Simpson said

As the seasonapproaches, Simpson hashis eyes set on the gamesagainst Cameron andMadonna as he describedthem as important mile-stones markers for theWar riors.

“They always have a

solid team as well and weare looking to make a namefor ourselves,” he said.

The Warriors begintheir season at homeagainst Bridgeport (Ohio)on Sept. 3.


Aug. 27: OPENSept. 3: at Bridgeport (Ohio), 7 p.m.Sept. 10: at Millersport (Ohio), 6 p.m.Sept. 17: at Paden City, 7 p.m.Sept. 24: at Southern (Ohio), 7 p.m.Oct. 1: Cameron, 7 p.m.Oct. 8: at Hundred, 3 p.m.Oct. 15: at Hancock (Md.), 7 p.m.Oct. 22: Tygarts Valley, 7 p.m.Oct. 29: at Cameron, 7 p.m.Nov. 5: Madonna, 7 p.m.

TRINITY SCHEDULE

Trinity football team making finaladjustments as season approaches

Trinity place kicker Kyle Knight excels at more than just footballBY AUSTIN [email protected]

Trinity Christian juniorKyle Knight is proving to bea standout player for theWarriors football program.

After finishing last sea-son on the all-state secondteam as a place kicker,Knight has already beennamed pre-season all-statesecond team by Coalfieldsfor this season.

Knight is a multi-useplayer who spends most ofhis time at the punter andplacer kicker positions, butalso contributes to the teamat the wide receiver anddefensive back positions, aswell. However, football isnot the only sport he plays,as Knight starts in the mid-field on Trinity’s soccerteam. Being such a stand-out and essential player ontwo teams takes dedicationand time though.

Most of his days startearly with the soccer team,but the practice time doesnot end there, as he returnsto the field hours later tomeet with the football team.

“I have soccer in themorning from 8:00 to 9:45 and

then I don’t have anythinguntil football, which is from3:00 to 6:00,” Knight said. “Id o n’t really have that muchfree time usually, but when Ido I’ll be at home and I’ll workout or be on my phone.”

The time Knight spendsplaying sports does not endthere, as he is also a mem-ber of a travel soccer teamoutside of the high schoolfall sports season.

Knight started playingfootball during his 8th-grade year for his middleschool team, but has alwaysspent time with soccer ashe’s been playing “sincepretty much forever.”

His presence on bothteams does not go unno-ticed, as Knight left quitethe impression with hisfootball coaching staff.

Head coach Chris Simp-son, who is entering his sec-ond full-time season asT rinity’s head man, knowsKnight’s potential and isexcited for what the futureholds, whether it will be onor off the field.

“He’s a pretty solid kid —he looks more likely to get ascholarship for DI in soccer,

but he’s still on a bunch ofdifferent radars right now, acouple different kickinglists that go across thenation. He’s a hidden talentand he’s a good, well-man-nered young man as well,”Simpson said.

Knight is excited aboutthe Warriors this footballseason and has mainly beenworking on getting comfort-able with his playbook andputting a lot of his confidenceinto his coaching staff.

“I think it’s going to begood. Our team is gettingtogether very well with ourcoaches. They know whatthey’re doing and they areteaching us everythingthey know,” he said.

Simpson is optimisticabout the upcoming footballseason as the team is accu-mulating experience withseveral returning players.He believes the veteranpresence in his locker roomwill mark the beginning ofgrowth for his system andhis team moving forward.

T rinity’s season kicksoff at home against Bridge-port (Ohio).


The Dominion Post file photo

Trinity’s Kyle Knight is a multi-sport fall athlete for the Warriors, also playing soccer.


CEE-BEES

BY MATTHEW [email protected]

BLACKSVILLE — Aftershowing dedication to theprogram throughout thesummer, the Clay-Battellefootball team came togetheras a cohesive unit. Headcoach Ryan Wilson hasbeen pleased with the teamchemistry spearheaded byveteran leadership and astrong offensive line.

“Team chemistry goes a

long way,” Wilson said. “Yo ucould see it during the three-week period in June.”

Clay-Battelle took advan-tage of its time together overthe summer and took partin 7-on-7 camps at Wash-ington & Jefferson andWVU. The experiencedoffensive linemen also wentto a specialized linemencamp to hone their skills.

“You could see that chem-istry coming together inthose competitions,” Wi l s o n

said. “You could see our guyscoming together as a team.They were working togetherand encouraging each other.The older linemen werehelping the younger line-men. Things that we weredoing there transitionedinto our camp in August.”

Thirty-two players areout for the Cee-Bees follow-ing a 3-2 campaign in thetruncated 2020 season. Inthe three wins, Clay-Bat-telle averaged 42 points per

game. Building on a strongoffense is a key this season,especially with the inspiredplay of the offensive line.

Jacob Kassey, AllenNestor, Braden Cohen, TateElliot, Seth Sheets andDrew Mercer will see a bulkof the playing time up front.Only one starting offensivelineman graduated lastyear, so this seasoned groupis prepared to build upon

Aug. 27: Federal Hocking (Ohio), 7 p.m.Sept. 3: East Hardy, 7 p.m.Sept. 10: Valley-Wetzel, 7 p.m.Sept. 17: Beallsville, 7 p.m.Sept. 24: at Tygarts Valley, 7 p.m.Oct. 1: Hancock (Md.), 7 p.m.Oct. 8: at Massanutten (Va.) Academy, 3 p.m.Oct. 15: at Cameron, 7 p.m.Oct. 29: at Calhoun, 7 p.m.Nov. 5: at Hundred, 7 p.m.

CLAY-BATTELLE SCHEDULE

Clay-Battelle will be anchored by high-poweredoffense, hopes to see improvement on defense

SEE C-B, D-6


its solid 2020 season.“T hey’ve done a super

job and I am just so proud ofthat offensive line,” Wi l s o nsaid. “T hey’re leaders onand off the field and theyopen up so much for ouroffense. We also have a cou-ple young kids coming on.T hey’ll need to step in prob-ably by Week 3 or 4 to pro-vide a little depth. They

have really impressed me.“They all pretty much

know our run game fromterminology to how weblock. The offense is com-ing together really well.”

The guys up front will beproviding protection forthe dual-quarterback sys-tem, paced by CarsonShriver and Trinity trans-fer Drew Boczek. Wilsonand the coaching staff havedevised schemes that playto each quarterback’sstrengths. Both Shriver and

Boczek will be on the fieldat the same time, though, inmany situations.

“Both of them throw theball really well,” Wi l s o nsaid. “T hey’re right on tar-get. They performed well in7-on-7s earlier in the sum-mer and I know they cankeep that up this monthinto game situations. Wepop them out as receiverswhen they’re not undercenter. They’re playmak-ers. They are skilled play-ers and don’t need to come

off the field.”Last year, Clay-Battelle

was solid on defense intheir victories but surren-dered more than 40 pointsin each of their losses.Tightening that up is afocus for Wilson.

“Defensively, from thelinebackers to the sec-ondary, we really workedwith them during ourthree-week period,” Wi l s o nsaid. “Our pass coveragewas a work in progress andnow it’s looking really

solid. I’m pleased with thatprogression. We’re work-ing on stopping the rungame here early in ourpractice sessions and thekids have picked that upreally well.”

Wilson is entering his27th year as head coach ofthe Cee-Bees. He has been onthe staff a total of 35 years.

“I’ve been very blessed,”Wilson said. “We have agreat school and a greatcommunity who supportsus. Everybody just wants to

get back to watching highschool football on a Fridaynight. I know our fans willbe there and we’ll show upfor them.”

Clay-Battelle opens athome on Aug. 27 againstFederal Hocking fromStewart, Ohio. ParkersburgCatholic was originallyscheduled as the openinggame but the football pro-gram folded due to lownu m b e r s.


C-BFROM PAGE D-5

CEE-BEES

Carson Shriver, Drew Boczek to split quarterback duties for C-BBY MATTHEW [email protected]

BLACKSVILLE — Bestfriends Drew Boczek andCarson Shriver accounted formore than 3,700 yards of totaloffense and 37 touchdownsover the past two seasons.

Boczek played at Trinity,while Shriver was at Clay-Battelle. This year, they areteaming up as Cee-Beesquarterbacks to lead whatcould be one of the most-dynamic offenses in ClassA football.

“I’m really excited for afull season with 10 gamesand hopefully more withthe playoffs,” Shriver said.“We ’re looking good so far.We ’ve got our offensivescheme in a good place andit’s been really fun to see itall come together.”

Head coach Ryan Wil-s o n’s unique dual-threatsystem has been in place forseveral years.

When Shriver was afreshman, he watched SethCasino and Levi Carricohandle the quarterbackduties. Last year, Shriverjoined Cooper Watson andtook advantage of theopportunity as a sopho-more QB.

“Getting the touchesthat I did will help me com-ing into this year, person-a l ly, ” Shriver said. “But wealso have an experiencedand bigger line — it mademe realize that this reallycould be our year. (Lastyear) developed me betteras an all-around athlete anda football player. Since Iwas a younger player, I saw

what it takes to move theball and ultimately wingames. Beyond that, I puton a lot of muscle andstrength which was a greatfeeling and better preparedme for this year.”

Boczek led Trinity to awinning record as a sopho-more quarterback in theCOVID-shortened cam-paign. As a freshman, hewent 2-2 as the starting QBbefore suffering a brokenfoot. He brings to Clay-Bat-telle a 90.2 quarterback rat-ing from last season. Hecompleted 87 of 152 passesfor 993 yards and 11 touch-downs last season, includ-ing a 20-of-32 passing per-formance for 313 yards andthree touchdowns in agame against Wahama.

He earned First-TeamAll-OVAC Mason-DixonConference and Honorable-Mention All-State honorslast season.

“I’ve done a lot of elbowworkouts and throwingmechanics to get my armstrong er,” Boczek said. “Ineeded to get the ball fur-ther down the field so Ireally worked on the deepball so I can get it out therefor my receivers.”

Boczek and Shriver havebeen close friends since play-ing basketball together inelementary school. Theyplayed against each otherand even together on sometravel teams. They’ve kept intouch in the years since andare now teaming up togetheron the football field.

“We click really well,”Boczek said. “We ’ve always

clicked really well.”Boczek was welcomed in

by the rest of his C-B team-mates right away.

“I’ve known some of theother guys, like Tate Elliot,for a long time, too,” Bocz eksaid. “Even meeting newguys for the first time,they’ve treated me like oneof their own. They’ve treatedme like a friend right away. Ifeel really proud to be part ofthis community.”

Boczek tends to be thetraditional pro-style quar-terback who is comfortableunder center, in shotgun for-mations and in the pocket.Shriver has quick feet andcan scramble to make adecision under duress torun or throw the ball.

Both Boczek — 5-10, 165pounds — and Shriver — 5-11, 175 pounds, will seeaction on nearly every snapfor Clay-Battelle this season.When they’re not at quar-terback, they’ll line up as areceiver or running back.

“Anything that helps myteam win,” Boczek said.“I’ll play wherever. If I’mneeded to throw in a bigsituation, I will, and if I’mcalled upon to catch a game-winning pass, that would beawesome, too. I just want toget wins and make it to theplayof fs.”

Like Boczek, Shriverwas named First-Team AllOVAC Mason-Dixon Con-ference and Honorable-Mention All-State. He had600 rushing yards andscampered to the end zoneeight times in four gameslast season, with two

games over more than 200yards each. Shriver alsothrew for 250 yards and sixt o u ch d ow n s.

Clay-Battelle firstunleashed its new offensein the first scrimmage onAug. 14 against Zanesville(Ohio) Bishop Rosecrans.Boczek and Shriver splitthe quarterback duties,with Boczek getting moreused to the system. Helooked comfortable rightaway as the Cee-Bees foundthe end zone four times, putup more than 300 offensiveyards, and the defensestepped up to only allow 56yards of total offense, enroute to a shut out.

“We excelled in our pass-ing game and in our rung ame,” Boczek said. “It wasbig for our confidence.”

“We really came to play,”Shriver said.

Now, the tandem willlook to harken back to theirearly days on the hard-wood, where they firstdeveloped their lifelongcompanionship. Theirchildhood innocence begana friendship that would lastfor the next 10 years.

“We can both rely oneach other to throw the ballor run the ball,” S h r ive rsaid. “More importantly, wehave each other’s back nomatter what. We keep eachother up even when wemake a mistake. I’m so gladD rew ’s on my team now.

“With him here, we cango far.”

One of the first thingsShriver told Boczek whenhe joined the Cee-Bees was

that the school was such aclose-knit community.

“Now we just want to

make the communityp ro u d , ” Boczek said.


The Dominion Post file photo

Clay-Battelle’s Carson Shriver.

Submitted photo

Clay-Battelle’s Drew Boczek.

The Dominion Post file photos

Parkersburg South will have brand new look in 2021BY JOSH HUGHESNews and Sentinel

PARKERSBURG — It’s anew look for ParkersburgSouth in 2021.

Out are some key con-tributors from a year ago,but necessity createdopportunities for headcoach Nate Tanner’s bunchin 2020. Several playersneeded to step up in the faceof others suffering injuries,and that has helped softenthe blow of having lots ofnew faces. Tanner says thisis a chance to start anew, asthe 1-7 mark from a year agois in the rear view.

“We started our offsea-son program in March. Thekids did really wellthroughout that entire pro-c e s s, ” Tanner said. “InJune, we started our flexdays, and we were able toget several flex days in,throughout the month. Weplayed a lot of 7-on-7s andcontinued to lift. I feel like

our flex days were almostlike a mini spring ball.”

After that, South beganthe three-week practiceperiod with more 7-on-7sand plenty of joint practiceswith other schools. It’s all apart of the process forPSHS, and this offseasonenergized the core group ofplayers set to lead the way.

South’s biggest chunkof returning talent comeson the defensive side ofthe ball. Through eightgames, Trent Parsons,Gage Wright, BrentParkhurst, BraydenWhipkey and CyrusTraugh all finished justbehind South graduateDevin Gaines for the teamlead in tackles. BothTraugh and Wrightearned all-state defensivehonorable mention spotsfor their efforts. Thatphase of the game was atough one for the Pats, asthey allowed more than 42points per game. The

returning firepowershould help in thatregard, as Tanner likedwhat he saw over the off-season with the guys upfront. Both offensive anddefensive lines put plentyof work in, as linemancompetitions helped pre-pare those players forwhatever the oppositionthrows at them.

“We had lineman com-petitions, and basically, ourgoal was to speed up thematuration process with alot of our young guys,” Ta n -ner said of the youth on theteam. “We ’re going to behaving a lot of young guysthat are going to be playingkey roles on offense,defense and special teams. Ifeel like we were able toaccomplish that.

One position thath a s n’t been decided forPSHS is the all-importantstarting quarterback spot.Last season, senior SamSchuler was called upon to

throw the ball more thanexpected. The result wasone which saw him throwfor more than 2,100 yardsand 15 touchdowns. Back-ing him up were under-classmen, Turner Garret-son and Robert Shockey.Both signal callers sawlimited chances undercenter, as combined, theythrew 13 passes. Garret-son finished his freshmanyear by going 3 for 9 with122 yards, a touchdownand an interception.S h o cke y ’s freshman yearsaw him go 3 for 4 for 25yards. Given how reliantSouth was on the passinggame, Tanner is taking histime coming to a decision.Both quarterbacks offeradvantages that give Tan-ner a lot to consider. Withboth coming in as sopho-mores, the winner of thestarting job could anchorthe position for the nextfew years.

“We ’re still kind of 50-

50, right now,” Tanner saidof the QB competition.“After playing both scrim-mages, I think we’ll have agreater idea. Robert is anexceptional athlete. Hewrestled for a state title asa freshman, if that givesyou an idea of what kind ofathlete he is. He’s an excep-tional runner, and as apasser, he’s improved mas-sively. I think a lot of that isattributed to just learningour system and goingthrough offensive individ-ual periods with ourcoaches. He’s getting a bet-ter feel for his assignmentsand being a quarterback,in general.”

Tanner continued, thistime, with his thoughts onGar retson.

“You can say a lot of thesame things about him.He’s probably more of apure passer, than whatRobert is,” Tanner said ofGarretson. “Where Robertmakes up for some stuff

with his athleticism andhis ability to run, Turnercan pass the ballextremely well. With histechnique, he’s pretty pol-ished. He’s worked on hiscraft as a passer, quite abit. That’s more than mostof the quarterbacks I’vecoached in the last tenyears. I told him that if hewanted to be our starter,he needed to get a lotstronger and a lot faster.He did all of those things.He moves pretty well withhis feet, and I think he’sgot a lot more confidence,as a runner.”

Both players wait in thewings for the chance tostart, as Week 1 sees thePatriots head on the roadto face Capital. The earlyroad trip continues intothe next week at Univer-sity, then South finallycomes home on September10 at0 the Erickson All-Sports Facility to faceWoodrow Wilson.


Next group ready to take over at Wheeling ParkBY CODY TOMERThe Intelligencer

WHEELING — Onething about high schoolfootball is that when onesenior class leaves, there isanother group waiting inthe wings, dreaming fortheir shot in the spotlight.

That time has come atWheeling Park after a stel-lar senior class earned itsdiplomas last year, leavingthe door open for thisye a r ’s Friday night heroesto leave their mark.

Some of the playersfrom last year’s outstand-ing senior class are threefirst team all-state playersin wide receiver ShaheedJackson, offensive line-man Caleb Bryan andkicker Andrew Glass,along with All-Valley hon-orees in quarterback BeauHeller and running backStevie Mitchell, not tomention standoutreceivers Torrence Walker,

Sincere Sinclair and Car-son Namack.

Those seniors playedtheir final game in a post-season win but due toC OV I D ’s color map, theywere eliminated and forcedto watch their memorableseason come to an end.

“We lost a lot of kids lastyear and they don’t get theopportunity to come backand finish that season,”Park coach Chris Daugh-erty said. “It was a toughsituation. Everybody washealthy but it was just acrazy year and a tough pillto swallow.”

Jackson racked up 597yards receiving with 10touchdowns to go with 27tackles and three inter-ceptions — one for at o u ch d ow n .

Bryan turned in a rungrade of 97% and a passprotection grade of 98%,Glass connected on 43 of 45extra points and was 5-for-6 field goals, including a

season-long 47-yarder.Mitchell recorded 1,255

yards rushing and 15touchdowns, while alsocharting a TD catch.

Heller amassed 1,684yards and 23 touchdownpasses, leaving big shoesto fill.

“Last year at times itwas tough to find a weak-n e s s, ” Daugherty said. “Wehad a nice set of receivers,a nice quarterback and theline played exceptionallywell. We had a great tail-back in Stevie to give theball to. The downside tothat is you lose a bunch ofkids. The upside to it, how-ever, is you gain a bunch ofkids who are talented andexcited to get after it.

“You can tell they know‘this is my turn.’ Last yearthey were kind of standingoff to the side saying ‘ye a h ,this group is pretty good.I’m going to have to waitmy turn.’ So, you can seethe excitement in this

young group and they arefun to coach.”

Junior Brett Phillips (6-foot-2, 175 pounds) will tryon those shoes this year ashe takes on the task of lead-ing the Park offense.

“Last year we felt like atany time, if Beau wouldhave gotten hurt, Brettcould have gone in and donegreat things,” Daugher tysaid. “Now it’s his oppor-tunity to take charge. Hehad a great offseason andwe ’re really excited aboutwhat he can do. He is a dual-threat quarterback who canrun and throw. It’s excitingto coach a kid like him.”

Replacing last year’sspeedsters won’t be easyeither, but Jerrae Hawkinsis a good start.

“I feel like we have somequality kids coming up,”Daugherty said. “Jer raeHawkins is actually in theJunior Olympics rightnow so he is obviouslyreally fast.

Kropka takes over at John MarshallBY CODY TOMERThe Intelligencer

MOUNDSVILLE —Newly named John Mar-shall coach Justin Kropkais used to rebuilding ateam — after all, he didhelp get Harrison Cen-tral’s football program towhere it is today.

Those Huskies beganthe program winning nineof their first 60 games inschool history beforeKropka helped guide themto a 73-57 mark over thenext 13 seasons.

Now, after spending thelast three years as an assis-tant coach at Wheeling Uni-versity, Kropka is faced witha new task and although thecurrent John Marshall pro-gram does have solid num-bers with 50 kids coming outfor the varsity team and aveteran coaching staff, theMonarchs will be rebuildingafter graduating a very tal-ented senior class full ofstarters all over the field.

“Those years at Harri-son, we built that thingfrom scratch,” Kropka said.“There are a ton of thingsthat the second time around– the experience I gained atHarrison Central gives us alittle bit of an accelerant tothe rebuild but it has causedme to go back and call onsome of those past experi-ences to keep my headabout me a little bit.”

John Marshall loses itsquarterback in DerrickDerrow, standout receiverand defensive back in BryceRayl and OVAC All-Starsand dynamic duo in thebackfield in tailbacks Dal-ton Flowers and Alex Bur-ton, just to name a few.

Rayl earned an All-Val-ley selection for forcing andrecovering six fumbles,recording 31 tackles andtwo interceptions, one ofwhich he raced back to theendzone for a touchdown.He also paced the receivingcorps with 27 catches, 360yards and six touchdowns.

Flowers brought homesecond team all-state hon-ors last year as he gallopedfor 1,384 yards and 16 touch-downs, followed by Burton’s887 yards and nine scores.

“We currently don’t

have a kid on the team whohas a varsity carry or hasthrown a varsity pass,”Kropka said. “So we arestarting on the groundfloor. We are awfully youngand the smallest class onthe team is our seniors. Welost an all-state tailback, welost our quarterback, bothreceivers so we are prob-ably one of the most inex-perienced teams you willfind in the valley but thegood thing is we are alllearning together.”

Taking over at quarter-back for the Monarchs thisseason will be junior JacobCoffield (6-foot-1, 185pounds), who is already tak-ing steps forward and is pro-gressing in his new role.

“It’s his first time start-ing a varsity game, which isAug. 27 at University andthat is not an easy opener,”Kropka said. “He’s got agood arm, he can run alittle bit, and he just has themental aspect for the game.He’s learning the system,which will come with time,but he’s getting better.Between coach Mark Cisarand myself there is nosugar coating anything andhe is learning how to takecoaching well and he hasprogressed a great dealwithin the last two weeks.”

Kropka is also excitedabout the talent the teamhas found at backup quar-terback in junior BrennanSobutka (6-2, 160).

“This biggest surprise isour No. 2 in BrennanS o bu t k a , ” Kropka said.“He’s never played quarter-back but I just knew he wasa competitor. He’s grownleaps and bounds. He playsthree sports and I like myquarterbacks to at-leastplay two and preferablythree because that meansthey’ve been under firebefore, so I kind of draftedhim to play QB out of theblue and he has reallyimpressed me as far as mak-ing the right reads and mak-ing the throws. He’s done agreat job and now we feel alot more comfortable withour No. 2 guy. Going into theyear I knew we had Coffieldbut I wasn’t sure about ourNo. 2 but he has really had agreat July and August.”

Younger players abound for BrookeBY CODY NESPORThe Intelligencer

WELLSBURG — After arash of injuries derailedwhat could have been apromising season for Brookein 2020, the Bruins will bemuch more dependent onyounger players in 2021.

With just seven seniors onthe roster, head coach MacMcLean is hoping his fresh-men and sophomore grow upquick early in the fall.

“We ’re going to be a veryyoung and inexperiencedteam and I think we justneed to keep on an upwardtrajectory every week,”McLean said. “These youngkids need to grow up and byOctober we should be a vet-eran football team. Butwe ’re going to start reallyyoung and the determiningfactor is just how fast wecan grow up and how wellcan we stand up to oldercompetition.”

McLean returned 18 of22 starters in 2020 and washoping that would lead to asuccessful season, but theinjuries hit the Bruinsearly and often as they sput-tered to just a 1-8 record.

“I thought we were goingto have a pretty darn goodseason last year and byweek three I think 11 (play-ers) were out for the sea-son,” McLean said. “It justfell apart, there’s only somany losses you can sus-tain on the depth chartbefore you’re scramblingjust to put kids out there inpositions where they’regoing to be safe.”

McLean said he is notworried about players get-ting hurt this year, everyteam deals with injuriesafter all, but more so themental tax that injuries canhave on the rest of the team.

“My biggest concerni s n’t injuries, we will havei n j u r i e s, ” McLean said.“We have got to get over themental hurdle of the firstkid that goes down. Wec a n’t get into a ‘here we goag ain’ attitude. I told theseguys early that there’s

going to be a day when welose somebody, we mightlose two people in a game,but we cannot let it men-tally drive us into theground. We’re going to haveto overcome that.”

“It’s important that weall acknowledge (injuries)but not overthink it,” saidsenior lineman Jacob Don-ley. “(We need to) keep ourcomposure to not makemistakes that could causemore injuries.”

Donley (6-foot-1, 175pounds) is one of threeseniors McLean said theteam will really depend onthis year. The others arelinebacker Luke Secrist (5-11, 203) and wide receiverNick Costlow (5-11, 167).

“If I’m only going to havefive or six seniors, they’rethe kind of guys I want asrole models for the sopho-mores I have,” McLeansaid. “T hey’ve taken apretty active role (in lead-ership). They’ve beenreally positive with theincoming freshmen,they’ve done everythingthat I’ve asked them to doand they deserve success.”

On the field, McLeanexpects the Bruins will bea defense-first team thisseason.

“As a coaching staff, wehave made the determina-tion that we’re going to tryand build around ourd e f e n s e, ” McLean said.“We ’re going in with theidea that we’re going toload up our defense and letour offense grow up. Wehave to stop somebody ifwe ’re going to win any-thing.”

Upfront, Brooke will fea-ture a pair of sophomoresin Hayden Parr (6-0, 311)and Tyler Wise (6-2, 190).

“The best thing aboutthem is that they grew,”McLean said. “Upfront I’dsay we’re going to have apretty good season out ofthose two guys.”

That group will also fea-ture Donley, who has takento the role of teacher for theyounger players.

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