Article Photos

Advertisement

Of the 24 remaining teams in the state playoff field, seven go into this weekend's quarterfinal round without a loss.

They are Brooke and Bridgeport in Class AAA; Wayne, Magnolia and Sherman in Class AA; and Madonna and Richwood in Class A.

Ironically, all three of the No. 1 seeds and all three of the No. 3 seeds will carry 11-0 records into the weekend. But only one No. 2 seed, Magnolia, is unbeaten.

• Road Trip: The longest road trip of the quarterfinal round belongs to Martinsburg, which must travel 307 miles to Charleston's Laidley Field to meet South Charleston in a Class AAA contest. Yet, in spite of the long trip, Martinsburg coach David Walker elected to play the Black Eagles on Friday night.

The shortest road trip of the upcoming weekend also will take place in Class AAA as University has just a 19-mile ride to East-West Stadium in Fairmont where the Hawks will hook up with Fairmont Senior.

That game will mark the second time the two teams have met this season, both at East-West Stadium. During their regular season meeting on Oct. 5, Fairmont Senior emerged with a 10-7 victory.

• Double Digit Seeds: Of the 21 teams seeded 10th or lower in the first round, only two won. In Class AAA, No. 13 University upset No. 4 Spring Valley and in Class AA, No. 12 Pikeview eliminated No. 5 Westside.

If you had picked the highest seed to win each of the opening round games, you would have gone 20-4, as in addition to University and Pikeview, a pair of No. 9 seeds, Ripley in Class AAA and Tucker County in Class A, also won.

By the way, had No. 12 Parkersburg South won its opening-round match with No. 5 Fairmont Senior, the Patriots would have earned a home game in the quarterfinal round against No. 13 University.

• Action Jackson: It's been a banner year for high school football in Jackson County.

Ravenswood, a perennially strong Class AA team, compiled an 8-2 regular season record, then won its opening round playoff game on Saturday against James Monroe.

Meanwhile, in Class AAA, Ripley also went 8-2 and won its opening round playoff contest at Nicholas County.

Veteran Ravenswood coach Dick Sturm can remember years when both teams made the playoffs, but he can't recall off hand if both teams ever were in the state semifinals at the same time.

Ironically, both have been dealt the same hand this weekend, a road trip to face the No. 1 team in their division as Ripley travels to top-ranked and undefeated Brooke and Ravenswood visits No. 1 and unbeaten Wayne.

While the Red Devils and Vikings are big rivals during the regular season, the rivalry is more friendly than many think.

" I root for Ripley every game but one,'' said Sturm. Both Sturm and Ripley coach Jimmy Frashier congratulated one another on Sunday at the state playoff meeting.

• Interesting: Just when you think you have heard every reason the lower seeded coach uses to select the time and date for his team's game, along comes a creative thinker with a new idea.

That's what happened Sunday when Wirt County coach Jason Hickman elected to play Richwood at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the only one of the 12 playoff games that will take place at that time.

Hickman's reasoning was two-fold. One, Wirt had played its opening round game at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and that worked out well for the Tigers. But it was other reason that put him in a party of one.

"I didn't want to play a day game,'' Hickman said. "We throw the ball a lot and I was worried about the sun and the shadows.''