Patriots host Musselman

PARKERSBURG -- The atmosphere at the Erickson All-Sports Facility is sure to be rocking with a semifinal berth in the Class AAA playoffs on the line.

Now, the Parkersburg South Patriots (10-1) do battle with the Musselman Applemen (9-2) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday for the opportunity to move on.

One year is often brought up when discussing the history of the PSHS football program, and that year is 2003. Not only was it the last time the Patriots won the state football championship.

It was the last time the team advanced to the semifinals.

The chance to make it back isn't lost on this team, and its performance last week against South Charleston left no doubt that the Patriots deserve to be participating in this No. 4 seed – No. 5 seed matchup.

Running back Devin Gaines tallied 109 rushing yards and a couple scores on the ground, while quarterback Brandon Penn led in scoring with a trio of rushing touchdowns and two scores through the air in the 47-13 victory.

Those numbers came with Black Eagle defenders keying in on Gaines and Penn, and head coach Nate Tanner knows the Applemen will enter this contest with the same mindset of stopping both players.

"Something we've been trying to do since the beginning is to get the ball out to our skill guys," he said. "I think whenever we're able to do that, it opens up the run game. If you stack the box with too many people, we make you pay with a pass. That's what we did against South Charleston... We had some pretty big plays in our pass game."

Some of those big plays he talked about were an 84-yd touchdown to Levi Rice and a 50-yard touchdown to Dylan Day.

Offensively, Musselman runs the ball knowing its strengths. Running back Blake Hartman leads the team and is making his mark on the entire state. Last week, the Applemen bounced the Parkersburg Big Reds out of the playoffs. Hartman scored three times on the ground, including a 65-yard rumble on the first play from scrimmage to start the scoring in the 48-29 MHS win. Head coach Brian Thomas talked about the offense running through their star halfback.

"We hang our hat on our offensive line. Last week against Parkersburg, we ran for more than 500 yards," Thomas said. In my opinion, we have the best running back (Hartman) in the state of West Virginia. Everyone who follows football in the state of West Virginia has heard of Blake Hartman."

The winner of this game plays the winner of the Martinsburg-Spring Mills matchup, as the stakes are nearing their highest. A game against the defending champions in Martinsburg is a very real possibility for the Patriots, and Tanner believes his team can stay focused on what they need to do against Musselman with a larger playoff game looming.

"I'll be honest, I don't think it's very hard (for the players to focus) because of the way our guys are conditioned, mentally," Tanner said. "They take it every week, one week at a time. We have a motto that we're 0-0 every week. The goal is to go 1-0, and we've been doing that ever since we played Ripley."

Contact Josh Hughes at jhughes@newsandsentinel.com