Doddridge County, East Hardy going to be a physical game
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WEST UNION -- East Hardy head coach Devon Orndorff selecting 1:30 p.m. Saturday for his Cougars' second-round playoff game with Doddridge County was an easy decision to make Sunday afternoon.
Midland Trail selected the same time for the first round matchup in Baker one week ago. Ordorff's team played in an extremely physical contest at home, but this time was traveling three hours away to the top-ranked team in the tournament.
"We don't have a whole lot of bodies and the rest is extremely important for us. Saturday is pretty routine for us as well and we look forward to playing on college days. The boys really look forward to it," said Orndorff.
And rightfully so, one season after seven starters missed time with injuries and the team finished with 2-8 record, his Cougars are back in a familiar position Ordorff is used to seeing around the program. He has been on the coaching staff for eight seasons and experienced playoff success and back-to-back trips to the Class A state championship games in 2016 and 2017.
"This team really outworked those two teams as a whole to get were we are," said Orndorff.
Midland Trail received the first taste of the physical Cougars in a 12-7 defeat.
"We played pretty well and were happy with the win from last week," said Orndorff. "It didn't come in the fashion we wanted and we didn't capitalize on a lot of possessions we had including three empty trips into the red zone."
Now, East Hardy faces a team fresh off a 50-point victory over No. 16 Madonna.
"It was a solid all-around effort and a good way to open the playoffs," said Doddridge head man Bobby Burnside. "Now it gets a little harder being in the Elite Eight, again."
The challenge facing Orndorff and company is simple.
"We have to be able to establish the run against a very physical football team if we want to win the game. We struggled last week against Midland Trail," said Orndorff.
East Hardy's spread concept had included a pretty nice mix of run and pass. Burnside expects things to be the same this week from the spread set. "They definitely run the ball more," said Burnside.
Running back Alex Miller and Christian Dove lead the running game. It is a brutal beat-you-up kind of attack. Each picks up small chunks of yards to add up to something bigger. Miller averages 5.3 yards per carry, while Dove averages 3.1.
If the Cougars need to throw the ball, they can but probably won't a lot. Dove has thrown just 94 passes on the year and completed 50 percent of them.
When the ball is thrown though Burnside mentioned defensive back Griffin Devericks needs to be prepared for a battle with receiver Andrew Tharp. The brother of multi-time all-state receiver Brett Tharp makes big plays happen. Andrew averages 19 yards per catch and has scored five touchdowns. Noah Lang helps take some of the pressure off with his 27.6 yards per catch average.
"We just need to stay the course and be ready for a battle. East Hardy has a pretty good defense, too," said Burnside.
His Bulldogs enter the game with the usual bumps and bruises, but are ready to go.