Good coaches, bad parents?

November 11, 2018

It was almost the perfect Saturday for Magnolia’s Pam Chapman. Earlier last week, I was trying to get in touch with the Blue Eagles’ head volleyball coach to talk about her team and their chances to win a state title in Charleston. Not long after I sent her a text message, she replied back and asked if it was OK for her to buzz me in about a half hour because she and husband Dave — Magnolia’s football coach — were on their way back from Wheeling Jesuit. After some volleyball talk, she informed me her youngest daughter Kelsi — a freshman basketball player for the ...

ALBRIGHT: PHS girls’ hoops won’t be defined by losses

November 9, 2018

Windows of opportunity for success when special teams emerge don’t stay open long in high school sports. If a talented team hopes to make their mark on history, panes of glass must shatter early to signal a group’s matter-of-fact arrival. One of those windows currently stands paneless, with a sweet aroma blowing in, for Parkersburg High’s girls’ basketball team. A year after winning the program’s sixth state title, the entire nucleus of the championship team returns with a chance to again celebrate in Charleston. Division I commits in senior Shay-Lee Kirby (Austin Peay) and ...

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK: WVU claims a thriller

November 5, 2018

It not only was the most exciting game of the season so far for WVU football fans, but perhaps the most entertaining game in all of college football this season. After a 33-yard touchdown pass to Gary Jennings with 16 seconds remaining there was no hesitation by head coach Dana Holgorsen. There would be no kicking an extra point for a tie and playing overtime. Instead after three and a half hours, 150 plays, 81 total points scored, and over a thousand yards of total offense, the game was to be decided on a single two-point conversion attempt. And just for good measure the ...

Column: We meet again so soon?

November 2, 2018

Tonight’s loser of the No. 10 Parkersburg High vs. No. 5 Parkersburg South football game might not have to wait long to score revenge according to two WVSSAC playoff scenarios. If Mike Byus’ PHS club pulls off the upset, according to the SSAC ratings, and Huntington beats Spring Valley, Mike Eddy’s South team hosts the No. 10 Big Reds presumably at Erickson All-Sports Facility at 7:30 p.m. next Friday or 1:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. next Saturday. South’s guaranteed one home game no matter the outcome of the crosstown showdown. A John Marshall win over Wheeling Park plus a ...

ALBRIGHT: Could Yellowjacket girls’ cross country go up a class?

October 31, 2018

If a single team at one school wished to play up a competition class in the past in West Virginia, the entirety of the athletic department had to follow along with the wishes for the desire to become a reality until a few months ago. A recent rule passed by the state’s board of education dissolved this requirement, instead establishing the opportunity for individual sports to test abilities at a higher level beginning with the 2020 reclassification by the WVSSAC. Decisions aren’t permanent for those worried about the flux of talent associated with high school athletics. Teams ...

ALBRIGHT: Can the Boston Red Sox repeat as World Series champions?

October 30, 2018

American League champion Boston dipped in 24 karat gold a dominant Major League Baseball season Sunday night with a World Series championship. National League winner Los Angeles became the final victim of a group responsible for a franchise-record 108 regular-season wins. Manager Dave Roberts’ Dodger club and their fan base proved unable to learn from previous playoff opponents’ mistakes of trolling the Red Sox after their lone win in the best-of-seven series in a 4 games to 1 beatdown. Boston stomped the second- and third-best teams in the majors and 100-plus game winners, Houston ...