Breaking News

Local Sports Columns

ALBRIGHT: Big Reds’ Kristen Lowers can answer the call in 2019-20

Fans should take a moment to re-adjust when in attendance of a Parkersburg High girls’ basketball game this season. Some things are going to feel a little weird. Where is Mary Ostrowski Award winner Shay-Lee Kirby one might ask? She’s playing NCAA Divison I basketball at Austin Peay. What about Ohio commit Madi Mace? She’s in Athens learning the D-I Bobcats’ system. Where are two stout defensive contributors and the combined 25-35 points per night for Parkersburg High’s girls basketball coach Scott Cozzens? Well, they simply won’t be there. Hm? Who is the ...

ALBRIGHT: We should be able to avoid 84-0 in the playoffs

Change is hard, but in this case it is necessary. Are you listening, WVSSAC? Hopefully, Bernie Dolan and company felt the winds during an opening round playoff game Saturday from Cobourne Field. Precious gates can be locked up. This was just ugly. And it was cruel. I challenge anyone to tell me straight faced this is how any season should end. Class AAA top-seeded Martinsburg romping largely untouched to an 84-0 halftime lead over No. 16 Preston should have been avoided. Second-half quarters being shortened to six minutes, in the playoffs, should have been avoided. This game ...

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK: WVU grabs big win

Despite a 35-17 loss to Texas Tech on November 9, head coach Neal Brown reaffirmed that his team would get significantly better and a successful program would be built at WVU. The mood of Mountaineer fans was understandably skeptical, having just witnessed the low point of the 2019 season to date, and when Kansas State scored on a 68 yard touchdown pass on its first offensive play on Saturday there was an ominous “here we go again” feeling. But West Virginia responded with a 75 yard scoring drive of its own and it didn’t take long to see that the change at the quarterback ...

ALBRIGHT: Forget about Ravenswood’s Annie Hunt? Oops.

This certainly wasn’t the plan. Annie Hunt earned better. Of this, there is no doubt. The Ravenswood point guard completed a freshman season full of promise and potential in 2017. Toe stepping wasn’t on her agenda. But, her genetic gifts and hoops’ IQ still emerged inside the cage. Year two brought the hope of big things. Maybe, just maybe the injury bug would spare the Red Devils for the first time in four years. “That is other people, I am probably not going to tear my ACL,” said Hunt before her sophomore season. Uh-oh... Annie are you OK? Are you OK, Annie? Did she ...

ALBRIGHT: What a long, crazy ride it has been, Don Fosselman!

Don Fosselman is hanging it up. No, I cannot believe it either. Father Time usually always makes the final save. Fosselman laid out the plan to feed him an easy shot, too. “I always said when my youngest grandson reached his senior year I was going to walk away,” he said. But, his coaching skills were still sharp in the farewell season. And, this swan song might just be one of his finest coaching jobs. There was no shortage of questions for this final team. Could Caleb Thomas step in seamlessly in replacement of all-state first-team goalie Jacob McKnight? How would ...

JOHNSTON: Fort Frye football and food for thought

BEVERLY — Fort Frye’s Braden Medley pounced on the Dalton fumble at the 2-yard line like it was a sirloin steak. Ah, the sweet taste of Fort Frye victory. Then, Cadet running back Tyler Fisher took an Ian Ellis hand-off and raced, like he was late for Mindy’s supper, 98 yards to the house. All of a sudden, instead of the Cadets being buried in pasta, 21-7, they’d knotted the score at 14-all. “That was big, right at the beginning of the game,” said FFHS head chef Eric Huck afterwards. “They (Dalton Bulldogs) were about ready to score and we got a turnover. Then, we ran a ...