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This week in MOV athletics

Predictions of rain mixed with sun make for another on-again, off-again week in the world of local high school sports. Sectional tournament time quickly approaches as does league title competition. Speaking of sectionals, keep an eye on the Parkersburg South baseball team. The Patriots earned two big sectional wins during a 4-0 showing last week. Todd Burner’s team handed PHS and Ripley mercy-rule defeats of 14-2 and 12-2 respectively. South’s offensive firepower was on display as the Patriots’ racked up double-digit runs in every game with the smallest margin of victory being ...

Big Reds’ Ian Domenick just felt like running

Ian Domenick without a doubt stands as one of the most talented cross country and long-distance track performers to ever come out of Parkersburg High School. The Big Reds senior possesses an edge in competition you can’t help but admire. PHS head track coach Rod O’Donnell called him “one of those guys who comes along and you are just fortunate enough to have him and one of those kids you get excited about. “You can talk about potential all you want to, but you want to see them (the kids) come into the program and get better every year and that is what he (Domenick) has ...

This week in MOV athletics

Mother Nature hasn’t been the most cooperative so far this spring sports season, but the prep campaign powers on regardless of delays and cancellations. PHS and South baseball try again for the first meeting of the season at 7 p.m. today after the Patriots field wasn’t ready last week. Not only do the two rivals do battle, but each welcomes in a Class AAA top 10 opponent as well. Neither of those bigger then when Alan Burns’ Big Reds play host to reigning state champion St. Albans at 4 p.m. Saturday inside Bennett Stump Field. Rick Whitman’s Red Dragons, currently ...

Buckeyes fill holes in spring

With Ohio State already two-thirds of the way through spring football practice, there are still holes to fill for the upcoming season as there usually are yet in the spring. Of course, the No. 1 question on offense is who will take over at quarterback for J.T. Barrett, with apparently just two candidates that head Buckeye Urban Meyer will have to decide from. The finalists are Joe Burrow, from nearby Athens (Ohio) High School, who “has been excellent in limited opportunities the last two seasons,” wrote Steve Helwagen of 247sports. com, with the second nominee being Dwayne ...

This week in MOV athletics

The completion of the spring tab means a return to a somewhat normal schedule for yours’ truly. In additon, I can finally turn my full attention to the spring athletic slate which means I once again bring you the sporting events to keep an eye on in the area. Several local baseball teams are off to hot starts, but no one may be en fuego more than Adrian Duelley’s Gilmer County club. Titans’ players and coaches have worked through a schedule mixed with Class AA and A clubs to the tune of an 11-2 record. Holding 2017 state runner-up Ravenswood, who has eight seniors ...

Pride of the Devil

One of the best things about working in sports are the relationships one builds over time. That goes for myself personally, but also for a plethora of coaches. In the case of veteran Ravenswood head boys basketball coach Mick Price, things are definitely going to be different next winter. “On a personal note, coach Don Brown, my assistant coach, is retiring from coaching,” Price said following the Red Devils’ recent Class A state title game loss to Wheeling Central. “He has already been retired as a teacher. He and I have been together for 37 years. He was instrumental in ...