WAYNE -- The last time a Wayne High School football game was in doubt entering the fourth quarter the Pioneers reeled off 16 unanswered points and defeated Herbert Hoover, 27-16. That was exactly two months ago on Wednesday. The Pioneers have won by an average margin of 36 points per game since that Sept. 9 victory and finished a second consecutive undefeated regular season (10-0). Herbert Hoover (9-1) also won its last seven games. But the Pioneers starting players had few tests the last eight weeks.
Wayne (10-0) expects that to change with the Class AA playoffs beginning Friday. The Pioneers enter the AA playoffs as the top seed with a first-round game against No. 16 Liberty-Raleigh (6-4) at Pioneer Stadium on Friday. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. Liberty-Raleigh is a Raleigh County school in Glen Daniel. "We don't take anybody for granted and don't expect to cruise through anything," said Wayne offensive lineman John Dunkle. "We come out to play hard and take every game as if it were our last. "Nothing is really different this year. We know what we are supposed to do, we just have to do it. ... We lost a lot of good guys off last season's team, but we have stepped up and it should be interesting." Wayne returned much of last year's team that finished as the AA runners-up to Bluefield. The Beavers beat Wayne, 69-24, in the title game. Dunkle said the players don't dwell on the disappointment from last year but the embarrassing loss serves as an example of what not to do. The Wayne offensive and defensive starters have only played in the fourth quarter in a handful of games this season. Their season opener was a 27-0 victory against Lawrence County (Ky.) in which the Pioneers led only 14-0 entering the final period. Two weeks later they faced a similar situation against Herbert Hoover. The Pioneers had a 13-7 halftime lead trimmed to 13-10 early in the third quarter. After quarterback Nick Newell scored to stretch the lead out to 21-10, Hoover's D.J. Taylor scored from 18 yards out to cut the lead to 21-16 at the end of the third quarter. That's when Wayne responded. And Wayne coach Tommy Harmon is confident his veteran players are battle-tested enough and in condition to play a competitive four quarters. "Each year brings a different challenge," Harmon said. "We're just focused on the small things. If you spend your time thinking about other things, chances are you won't advance one round. "To be quite honest, (winning blowouts) is better than the alternative. But there is something to be said about having to compete for four quarters. It's not like we don't understand that, though, because we have veteran guys that have been in tough ball games before. And there's also something to be said for not putting yourself in that situation to begin with." Wayne averaged 49.4 points per game and only allowed 15.3 points per game. Liberty-Raleigh's highest single-game point total this season was 47 points against a winless Tug Valley and were held under 20 points three times. Wayne was only held under 40 twice. Liberty-Raleigh started its season with five straight wins, but the Raiders lost four of their last five games to squeak into the playoffs as the 16th and final seed. The Raiders did not beat a single playoff team this season, and they only played three -- all losses to No. 2 James Monroe (10-0), No. 5 Scott (9-1) and No. 10 Independence (7-3). The Raiders beat Westside (5-5), Summers County (0-10), Pikeview (1-9), Tug Valley (0-10), Sherman (2-8) and Shady Spring (2-8). Liberty-Raleigh will be a major underdog, but the Pioneers still insist they won't take the Raiders for granted even if Super Six contenders like Magnolia, Mount View, Scott and Weir are looming. The Pioneers would play the Magnolia-Mount View winner next week if they beat Liberty-Raleigh. "We know what we need to do by now, and we know we can only beat ourselves," said offensive guard Nick Dolance. "We just have to play smart football." |  |
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