The girls from St. Marys have accomplished one of their goals for this season - winning a third consecutive Little Kanawha Conference Night of Champions title.
Now, it is up to the Blue Devil boys to make it a clean sweep by the Pleasants County school when they take on South Division champ Braxton County in a rematch of the 1996 title game this Saturday at the Braxton County Armory.
Since the Little Kanawha Conference elected to decide its basketball championships on the court with the annual NOC, no school has been able to lay claim to both titles during the same season. That could change with a St. Marys win, however.
Mark Barnhart's squad has been the toast of Class A this winter, compiling an 18-0 mark and running the table in the LKC's North Division (12-0). There have been bumps in the road, but the Blue Devils have answered every challenge behind the play of senior K.D. Arnett, as well as Derek Renner, Andrew Cosper and Garrett Wichterman.
The challenge ahead, however, is a huge one as St. Marys must capture the league's final winter championship by taking on an Eagles' squad that will be playing on its home court. Not an easy task to say the least, but this group has been overcoming challenges since their days of playing together in the pee wee leagues.
The quartet was in the Mid-Ohio Valley last week as part of the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg's 16th annual Steak & Burger Dinner in Vienna.
Jenkins appears to be recovered from his latest knee injury. This one forced him to miss the entire 2011 season and has driven him in his workouts to help the Mountaineers become the best team in their new conference - the Big 12 - next fall.
The stories for Lindamood, Molinari and Nutter are just as impressive when one remembers that all went to WVU as invited walk-ons only to earn starting berths on the school's special teams.
Nutter possibly could be the poster child for what hard work can do for you as the former Parkersburg South standout parlayed his ability as a long snapper into a three-year starting job with the old gold and blue and now stands one step away from attaining his biggest dream - playing in the National Football League.
Long snappers rarely are among the players drafted, but that doesn't mean that the unique ability isn't recognized by NFL coaches as Nutter already has had several inquires surrounding his possible availability.
As for Lindamood and Molinari, both had to overcome adversities during the 2011 campaign, but found a way to get themselves onto the field for the Mountaineers and head in spring drills as players who will be right in the thick of the competition for the starting fullback and punter jobs, respectively.
Contact Jim Butta at jbutta@newsandsentinel.com
