PioneerPA

Agree whole-heartedly. Tonight is no basis for comparison between Bluefield and Magnolia, the two best AA teams this year.

GMan, CCD does have MAJOR advantages over public schools, but unlike WV private schools such as Wheeling Central, who has several upperclassmen who can play magically appear on the roster every year, CCD is a LARGE private school full of affluent kids who start there in elementary schools. They do NOT grab the best athletes Charlotte has, and their roster is consistant year-to-year. Bluefield competed with them VERY well last year...but CCD's big strength this year happens to be Bluefield's weakness.

Jake Lilly from Bluefield was the best football player on the field last night, bar none. I was glad he was playing on the team I was hoping would win for a change, haha.

I hope Bluefield and Ironton could work something out... living here, we hear all about the greatness of Ironton and how they're easily the best team in this area. Their coach has more wins than any coach in Ohio HS history. I'd like to see Bluefield smack them in the mouth. Wayne scrimmaged them in 2005 at Ironton...they wanted to simulate game conditions. Wayne was up 20-0 through 3 quarters, when Ironton was so physically beaten, they decided to start the JV portion...Wayne won that 19-18. Yes it was a scrimmage, but it was highly competitive and had a huge crowd. In all fairness, the Ironton 2005 seniors played Wayne's 2005 seniors when they were all in 8th grade...and Ironton won 44-0. They had a kid who wore #32 and in those Cleveland Brown style uniforms, he looked like little Jim Brown running over, through, and around us. The ensuing middle school games were all down to the wire. The following year, Ironton decided not to show up at Wayne for its scheduled return scrimmage...they replaced Wayne and didn't bother to tell anybody until the week before. Wayne had to scramble and ended up having just 1 scrimmage because of that garbage. The two schools played a highly competitive middle school series until that point. That ended the athletic relationship and we haven't played in anything since, including basketball. Ironton is definitely a good program...would be AA in WV. Have had some killer teams through the years (they dumped the Randy Moss DuPont team 32-6 in the early/mid-90s), but they're not the dominate team they used to be. Run straight T, straight at you...good physical football. This would be a fantastic football game...they're pretty good, but I think Bluefield is better.

Hard to leave off Boulet as well...he was among the state leaders in TD catches. Actually was a more effective WR than Rollo this year (mainly because it's hard for a WV AA school to account for 1 great [Rollo] and 1 VERY good [boulet] WR...Bluefield is one of a VERY few that actually could do this). I agree all 3 should be first team. It is always interesting to see how this goes. I do like the UTL positions though, because especially in HS football, it is hard to leave off a kid who is a great QB but not the best, and a great DB but not the best in his classification. I think all of the linemen mentioned played both ways, and were darn good on both sides. I would be surprised if I missed more than 2 first teamers with my list. I'm sure I left off some great kids from James Monroe, but I didn't see them play this year (and for that matter, didn't get to go to Lindside for the Wayne game last year). I would make Lilly the Defensive captain and Davis the offensive captain. An offensive lineman as captain is perhaps a stretch, but the kid was great on both sides of the ball, and I'm not sure anyone had just awe-inspiring offensive numbers in AA. I'm pretty confident in Lilly, but I think Treadway may be the offensive captain. I do know this, THIS year, Justin Fox should NOT be the offensive captain, but he should be first team offensive utility. He's a great player but his numbers are not captain-worthy.

Just from the team's I saw...I do not intend these to be exclusive to 1st team...but just the best that I saw personally, or know a lot about (Magnolia, for example). This is a VERY LIMITED list. Offense QB-James Jones, Frankfort QB-Cole Starcher, Ravenswood RB-Corey Damron, Wayne RB-Nathan Roberts, Point Pleasant RB-Chance Rowland, Oak Glen TE-Blatt, Magnolia WR-Tyler Reed, Oak Glen WR-Luke Murray, Ravenswood OL-Mike Davis, Wayne OL-Gibson, Bluefield OL-Small, Ravenswood OL-Garrett Rowe, Wayne OL-Westfall, Keyser UTL-Justin Fox, Magnolia UTL-Levi Beckett, Bluefield UTL-Seth Barnhart, Oak Glen Defense DL-Justin Ruggles, Wayne DL-Keith Ferguson, Bluefield DL-Brooks, Bluefield DL-Clay Krebs, Point Pleasant LB-Jake Lilly, Bluefield LB-Treah Keller, Magnolia LB-Jonas Jelich, Ravenswood LB-Todd Terry, Chapmanville DB-Austin Mills, Wayne DB-Marcus Patterson, Bluefield DB-Damien Price, Bluefield DB-Dylan Wiley, Chapmanville UTL-Adam Frazier, Wayne Again, there will be some GLARING omissions from that list, and for that I apologize

If you ever do the river route up there, I would recommend hitting Rt. 2 from Parkersburg to St. Marys, crossing the river there, and taking Ohio 7 the rest of the way. I believe that's probably the quickest way to navigate that area.

I'm of the opinion that weather and field conditions were a factor from the 1950's through present, and that's just part of the game. Part of being the better football team is being able to handle adverse field conditions. Both teams play in it. That said, I'm hoping Pioneer Field gets turf soon...it's been drilled by weather on gamenights for over a year now. But I do believe NATURAL field conditions should play a part of the game (i.e. no watering down the field). If we go to turf for all postseason games, where do we stop? What's next, nothing but domes for use in cold weather?

To me its all about defense. I'm sure the Beavers defense will get tougher between the tackles. That alone will make them 1-2 wins better than last year. The offensive weaponry is absurd.

Ed, the issue in the past has been that the MSAC didn't always make Spring Valley-Huntington, Spring Valley-Cabell Midland, Spring Valley-Hurricane, Huntington-Cabell Midland, Huntingtob-Hurricane, and Cabell Midland-Hurricane as conference games. When they were not scheduled to play MSAC games, they pretty much always played non-conference (except 2005, when Spring Valley did not play either Huntington or Hurricane, but did play Princeton and Greenbrier East in conference, and John Marshall non-conference. Perhaps if the schedule is regionalized, Wayne could get one of those teams on a future schedule.

I wish Wayne and James Monroe were closer to each other...I didn't get to go this past year (was broadcasting the Marshall game at Wisconsin the next day...51-14..yikes) but my Dad said it was a real nice place to watch a game and the people were very nice. Wayne and James Monroe have different manners of going about playing football, but they're similar in that they're hardnosed country kids who work their tails off to be as good as they can be. Makes for good matchups because generally, the athletes aren't a lot different, and both are well coached. Wayne's junior linemen last year did a number on James Monroe's sophomore linemen, but JMHS was obviously still figuring out how to run the Jackson style of offense. Their run later in the season proved that (they had a good draw in the playoffs, but going on the road 3 weeks and none of them very close is difficult). Wayne ended up signing a 1-for-1 with Keyser in that spot...picked up a good opponent but went even further away. I understand James Monroe's geographic problems. Wayne has MSAC issues...it's almost impossible to schedule Spring Valley, Huntington or Cabell Midland because of the MSAC schedule. Wayne plays the local AA's already...all of them along I-64 between Huntington and Charleston. I understand this to be the last year of the Wayne-Logan series...so looks like Week 11 becomes available in 2010. I THINK the rest are contracted games...have played Chesapeake, OH for a long while...would kind of like to maybe substitute that game since they've dropped off, although they could beat Wayne any given year...well coached program, just a small school.

My one complaint with Metronews having exclusive coverage of the Super Six is that the two guys calling the game (who do OUTSTANDING work, btw), have not seen either team prior to the championship game. I would propose the home station of each team get to do their own broadcasts, then Metronews do a state-wide broadcast (as it does now) for the stations that are not the home stations across the state. As a young broadcaster, it would be terrible to call a team's games all the way to Wheeling, then get frozen out of the title game itself.

Tip of the hat to the Beavers from this Pioneer fan. Great team, great fans (who it was obvious had watched Bluefield make so many spectacular plays, they looks routine), and the benchmark program in AA. It means a whole lot to win that game tonight. Bluefield's youth showed up on defense, but Lilly and Ferguson are outstanding, and those kids are just going to get better and better. Can't say a bad thing about Will Cole. Amazing player, and had a chance to get a quick word with him after the game...class act. I didn't play football but he wouldn't take his helmet off and I understood that exactly. I think it summed up that kid's heart and desire. He tried to will them back...Wayne just caught them with a hard blitz on 4th down (Wayne hadn't blitzed hard all night) and forced him to try and throw it...had no chance to make a play. But man everytime he had a chance, he did. Like I said, amazing game and Bluefield continues to have my utmost respect. And just so you know, field conditions weren't a factor at all. The ground froze and it was harder than FieldTurf...lol. One thing I noticed...Bluefield was not as aggressive on defense as they were when I saw them in 2002 and 2004. LB's played deep in a 3-5 set...Wayne's offensive line stepped up and played very well. That was an outstanding high school football game, and I would have said the same thing had Bluefield scored a TD to win at the end. Congratulations on another outstanding football season.

I'll go ahead and say it now before I get busy tomorrow and forget... For all the Beaver fans coming up, I wish you all a safe trip! And once again, if you want information on places to eat, PM me and I'll give you information! For the record, the visiting wooden bleachers at Wayne were taken out and new metal bleachers were installed in 2006. It's a little higher than it was when you guys came in 2002, but it's not quite as high as I would like, so you may need to get there early to get on the top 4 rows. I think they went a few feet longer on each side and two rows higher now than they were before. Also, we have brand new lights this year, so hopefully one bank won't go out like it did in 2002 (which ironically happened like, 3 times in 18 years...just happened that night). Does anyone have an e-mail address for the Bluefield radio crew? I will send them some additional information for their broadcast. I couldn't locate an e-mail address on their site

Mercy *shaking head*...that's all I'll say...

From I-64 West, Take Exit 8 (5th Street East) and make a left onto Rt. 152 South. You'll drive on 152 for about 10-12 miles. After you cross the railroad tracks for the 4th time, you're almost there. Keep on going South through the red light at the KFC. The school is located across the bridge on the right on Craig Road, which is about a half-mile or less past the red light. There is a pretty good amount of paved parking, but if you're running late you may end up in grass/mud. You'll see the lights...you can't miss it.

I think the world of Bluefield's program and look forward to welcoming the Beaver fans back to Pioneer Field. You'll be happy to know we put in new visiting bleachers in 2006. They're not much higher than they were in 02, but are a bit higher and are better quality. Bring a quilt though...as you know, metal gets cold. I hope you are treated well and have confidence you will be. There are tons of places to eat between Huntington and Wayne, and if anyone is interested, PM me and I'll give you suggestions and so forth. The field is in as good of shape as can be expected. Wayne's final 3 home games (Poca Oct. 24, Logan Nov. 7 and Shady Nov. 14) were all played in rainy conditions so its obviously not perfect. It snowed/rained here today as well, and is supposed to tomorrow too. You won't lose a shoe though...and it's not soupy...lol. Here's to safe travels Friday night!

Nah, it really wasn't speed. It was quickness...speed in short bursts as opposed to long-stride foot speed. There's a difference. Unfortunately, Bluefield was equally as quick as it was fast that year.

The 2004 state title game never happened...at least, that's what I keep telling myself. I occasionally watch the first play...then stop the tape, lol. Bluefield so thoroughly whipped Wayne's offensive line, I really was half expecting a Beaver to catch a shotgun snap sometime before the QB did. It was that bad. Congrats to Bluefield on victory #5...worth 14 points too.

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I just got to watch this game (I was in Wisconsin over the weekend) and here are my impressions. 1. Wayne dominated the offensive line of scrimmage the first three quarters. 2. James Monroe was more successful when Ballengee was QB under center. 3. Taylor Robertson had a very good defensive game for James Monroe. 4. James Monroe played much better in the third and fourth quarters. My thoughts? James Monroe seemed to improve as the game went along. Wayne scaled back what it did, but James Monroe was very good defensively in the 4th period. I think James Monroe will get things straightened out on offense as the season progresses. I think the Mavericks are going to be a force come playoff time. Good teams make in-game improvements, even when things are going bad. James Monroe was able to do that. As for the officiating...it was good 90% of the time. I noticed one very generous spot in Wayne's favor, and one terrible spot in James Monroe's. Wayne's QB scrambled, went beyond the stick and stepped out of bounds...the ball was marked back behind the stick. next play, Wayne's RB gets a big run, but there's a downfield hold called. Upon watching the play, Wayne's WR engages the DB, who pulls the Wayne WR to the ground (hands were always inside and he went straight down, not sideways...the appearance was that he got pancaked, even though he pulled the Wayne WR down on him)...same official who made the bad spot the play before comes in and drops flag as he runs downfield. Same series, Wayne throws a pass down the right side incomplete...lot of contact. Flag is thrown for pass interference, but waived off for a "tipped" pass. It was not tipped, nor was it even close to beind tipped, and the ball even had a tight spiral. Wasn't even questionable. Also, Logan Ray was flagged for a late hit earlier in the game, but that flag was also picked up and waived off. But as I said before, James Monroe will be a factor come playoff time. Robertson, Kiessel, Ballangee, etc are too good not to be, and the lines got better as the game wore on.