Doddridge County’s Jerod Trent (11) eludes a Williamstown defender during a game earlier this season in West Union. No. 5 DCHS hosts No. 12 Wirt County in a Class A first round playoff game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Also in Class A, No. 11 Tyler Consolidated travels to No. 6 Sherman. Game time is set for 7 p.m. on Friday. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PARKERSBURG — The Class A state playoff bracket has quite the familiarity.

Three area schools from the 16-team field call the Little Kanawha Conference their home.

As determined by the original points system, No. 5 Doddridge County (8-2) hosts No. 12 Wirt County (7-3) at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, while No. 11 Tyler Consolidated (6-4) plays at No. 6 Sherman (8-2) for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday

Making its eighth straight postseason appearance, Doddridge County’s only losses were to unbeaten Wahama in Class A and two-time defending state champion Williamstown in Class AA. The Yellowjackets ended the Bulldogs’ postseason the past three years.

“We played a real good Wahama team early on in the season and I know there are a lot of other good teams in the playoffs,” DCHS coach Bobby Burnside said. “Williamstown included, almost the whole month of October we have been playing playoff teams. It’s been a grind.

“What impresses me most about this season – we lost two first-team, all-conference, all-state caliber players to torn ACLs. One in Week 3 and a second in Week 5. The guys have just kept battling and put themselves to have a home playoff game.”

DCHS closed out the regular season defeating Tyler Consolidated 21-20. The Bulldogs made a stop on the Knights’ two-point conversion attempt in the final four minutes of the game.

“It was good to see our guys hold on,” Burnside said. “Both teams played a good game.”

Tyler Consolidated second-year coach Kyle Ritz doesn’t second-guess his decision to go for the possible go-ahead two-pointer. It’s a trademark he has brought into a program which qualified for the postseason for the second straight year.

“The decision behind that call, we trust our kids and we wanted to go for the win,” Ritz said. “We don’t let them make the calls, but we saw the look in their eyes and we knew they wanted to go for the win.

“We still had three timeouts in our pocket and our defense had played tough that night. The Doddridge end got his hands up and forced our quarterback to change his arm slot – he just threw the ball a little low and away. If we could go back, we would do the same thing.”

Last year’s appearance in the playoffs provided enough insight for Ritz that he feels in more of a comfort zone with everything that goes on outside the lines and before gameday.

His players also have been through the ringer. Coach Ritz said two dozen of his players returned from last season.

“Last year, I thought just another week – but you have the extra media, the extra calls from people going to the game,” Ritz said. “It was just different stuff on your plate. This year we are hosting.

“I don’t how different it will be, but having been through that experience of a super competitive postseason game, the kids especially know the implications of what it takes.”

Wirt County, meanwhile, has a recent encounter with Tyler Consolidated. The two schools met during the regular season last year with the Knights pulling out a 34-30 win. Tyler leads the all-time series 4-1.

Even though the Tigers had a bye week as part of the final week of the regular season in West Virginia in addition to the days as part of the WVSSAC’s postponement, coach Jason Hickman won’t use rust as an excuse regardless of the outcome.

“Having a bye week as the final week has never happened,” Hickman said. “With the reclassifications and trying to get the schedule to work out. We didn’t really choose it that way.

“There are some good things that come with it, like healing up before the playoffs. But we didn’t have anything major.

“But you do have to get the energy back, and that’s a new experience for us. I think our kids will be ready.”

During the regular season, the Tigers were on a roll – winning seven games in an eight-game span. In their final game, they let a 14-point lead slip away against Sherman and lost 24-22.

“We were rolling pretty good then we went to Sherman, but we had a couple of turnovers in the red zone,” Hickman said. “Then we see Sherman turn around the next week and absolutely obliterate a double-A opponent.

“If we play our game and don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, and don’t make those mistakes we made against Sherman I think we can be competitive with most of the teams in the field.”

Wirt County’s success rests with holes the offensive line creates. The guys in the trenches have provided protection for their quarterback as well, so the Tigers can hurt teams in many ways.

“What our offensive line is impressive,” Hickman said. “For two years in a row, we have broken the school rushing record – which is a big deal.

“We also have some weapons out there. We have a quarterback who can throw, so we keep teams guessing what we are going to do and how we are going to attack.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com