Raiders try to defend WSB Bowl title Friday

Raiders try to defend WSB Bowl title Friday

By Dan Stillwell
Register-Herald Sports Writer
Jeff Alexander has great memories of last year’s inaugural Whitesville State Bank Bowl game.

“The crowd was electric. Both sides of the bleachers were packed with people,” the Liberty football coach said. “We came out with the win and it felt pretty good.”

The visiting Raiders lived up to their name, beating Sherman 26-16 in Seth. The new trophy, as well as bragging rights between the two old rivals, have resided at Glen Daniel the past 12 months.

Friday night they’re all up for grabs again, however, as Liberty hosts the Tide in the latest edition of the WSB Bowl.

The Raiders are 4-0 and ranked No. 4 in the latest Class AA ratings compiled by the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission.

Sherman is 2-2 and holds down the 19th spot in the AA rankings. But records mean little when the teams square off, Alexander said.

“These games were always dogfights long before there was a trophy,” he said. “They’re hard-fought games that go down to the end.”

Senior running back Tommy Newman ran for two touchdowns and Josh Hodge caught a TD pass from quarterback Austin Wright to key last year’s victory.

Newman graduated, but Hodge has taken up the slack at tailback with 200-yard-plus performances in three of the Raiders’ four contests. Halfback Nick Hylton has also risen to the occasion, giving the Raiders one of the best one-two punches in the area.

But Alexander stresses Liberty isn’t a one- or two-man team. Wright and blocking back Dominick Cangemi, both juniors, are important cogs as well.

“Austin is getting better,” the coach said. “He threw a nice touchdown pass to Adam Ellis at Oak Hill and could have had another one, but he overthrew Hodge by six or seven inches.

“We can’t expect Hodge and Hylton to do it every night, and that’s where Austin has got to step up and play big for us.”

Alexander calls Cangemi the team’s unsung hero.

“Dominick leads the way for Hodge and Hylton,” he said. “You don’t hear his name in the end zone; he doesn’t have 100-yard games. But he sticks his nose in there, and he doesn’t cry and moan about his role.”

Liberty scored 42 points in each of its wins against Westside, Summers County and PikeView. But two weeks ago the Raiders struggled to edge Oak Hill 8-6.

Alexander was glad to have last Friday off.

“We were a little bruised up, so it will help us,” he said. “(The Tide) also had the week off, so both teams are rested and probably healthy.”

Sherman opened the season with a 48-40 loss at Mount Hope and a 21-20 defeat at home to Independence.

The Tide got into the win column with a 22-8 decision over Tolsia. Two weeks ago they came away from Petersburg with a 23-12 victory behind 172 yards and a touchdown from running back Brandon Treadway.

The senior, who scored both touchdowns in the loss to Liberty last season, has run for 795 yards.

The game is also Liberty’s homecoming. It should be a charged atmosphere for the Raiders, but Alexander knows the Tide will have blood in their eyes.

“I’m sure they’re thinking revenge and taking the trophy back to their place,” he said.

“We’ll have our hands full.”

Local Roundup

From staff reports
n Middle School Soccer

Park 10, Bluefield 0

Ben Stafford 3 had a hat trick (three goals) and Michael Zutaut added two in Park’s shutout win Wednesday.

Brittany Thompson had a goal and four assists in the win.

Rachel Gunther, Evan Foster, Tanner Pheiffer and Justin Maust added goals.

Ashley Ayers, Brandon DeWese and Andres Espinoza had assists.

Park (5-1) hosts Princeton Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the YMCA Youth Soccer Complex in Beckley.



Beckley-Stratton 3, Eastern Greenbrier 0

Carl Bou-Abboud, Ryan Kissinger and Drew Litton had goals in the Bulldogs shutout victory Wednesday night.

Litton also had an assist.

Stratton outshot Eastern Greenbrier 11-1. Rhys Rogers had seven saves for Eastern Greenbrier.

Logan Powell got the shutout in goal for Stratton.

Beckley Stratton (6-1-1 hosts Athens next Thursday.



Coalfield Conference Meet

at Coal City

Boys

Team Scores: PikeView 39, Webster County 56, Shady Spring 61, Richwood 98, Independence 99, Sherman 166; Others: Liberty, Oak Hill, Greenbrier West

Individual Results: Skyler McCoy(WC) 18:41, Nick Lucento (SS) 19:55, Dustin Wood (R) 19:55.9, Bent Roark (PV) 20:08, Jordan Weitzel (PV) (20:24), Josh Easter (PV) 20:53, Ethan Wood (I) 20:55, Zach Crawford (WC) 21:13, Craig Smith (I) 21:28, Michael Sanson (WC) 21:32, Josh Shorter (PV) 21:42, John Farmer (SS) 21:45, Matt Scott (PV) 21:46, Nick Basham (SS) 21:47, Matt Traybor (SS) 21:48, David Martin (GW) 21:49, Matt Hypes (R) 21:58, Mitchell Sanson (WC) 22:09, Rob Peters (GW) 22:09.5, Stephan Cantley (SS) 22:13, Caleb Wills (SS) 22:23, Corey Smith (OH) 22:28, Cody Perrine (WC)22:47, Trevor Harrison (Sher) 22:48, Ben Nelson (SS) 22:51, Jesse Hammons (R) 23:24, Mike Coughlin (GW) 23:27, Derrick Chaffin (R) 23:29, Tim Parker (I) 23:42, Wes Blake (PV) 23:50, Brandon Green (WC) 23:54, Shawn Sexton (I) 24:11, Albert Barbery (PV) 24:20, JayTee McMillion (I) 24:24, Andrew Lowe (Sher) 24:26, John Brugnoli (R) 24:54, William Gittman (WC) 25:10, Charlie Clinebeil (I) 25:48, Kendall Wolford (WC) 25:51, Caleb Hensley (Sher) 25:58, Zach Lambert (PV) 25:59, Donald Bailey (I) 26:21, Josha O’Dell (R) 26:41, Tim Terry (R) 27:12, Isaiah Dishner (PV) 27:34, Kevin Howard (R) 27:43, Austin McKinney (SS) 27:53, Greg Tolliver (L) 28:08, Zach Smith (WC) 28:43, Kurt McCourt (WC) 28:44, K.C. Daff (R) 29:07, Cody Washington (Sher) 29:27, Matt Stoots (I) 29:27.5, Nick Weaver (Sher) 29:42, Fernando Malandano (OH) 31:03.



Girls

Team Scores: Shady Spring 28, PikeView 31, Richwood, 91, Webster County 100, Independence 130; Others: Liberty Greenbrier West, Sherman

Individual Results: Laken Coburn (PV) 23:20, Trish Galligher (PV) 24:18, Chelsea Callaway (SS) 24:37, Emily Osborne (SS) 25:22, Katie Backus (SS) 25:31, Kelsey Paine (SS) 25:35, Sabrina Slone (PV) 25:45, Brandi Wiley (PV) 26:07, Laura Spencer (R) 26:45, Brittany Bolen (GW) 27:02, Hillary Smith (SS) 27:22, Kayla Wolford (WC) 27:26, Amanda Busby (SS) 27:33, Kayla Adams (PV) 27:44, Rachel Weatherly (PV) 27:57, Donnie Kirk (Sher) 28:34, Emily Daniel (SS) 28:39, Crystal Honaker (SS) 28:41, Lexi White (WC) 28:46, Paige Hacker (R) 28:57, Kaity Cole (R) 29:02, Demi Kirk (Sher) 29:20, Kate Alvarez (PV) 29:21, Tracy Adkins (WC) 29:32, Rachel Sommerville (R) 29:47, Nikki Massey (I) 30:14, Holly Overmiller (SS) 30:22, Moran Miller (WC) 30:49, Samantha Workman (GW) 30:54, Amy Walker (I) 31:13, Alycia Wilson (L) 31:16, Haley Augustson (PV) 31:19, Kristen Mills (I) 32:36, Amelia Shaffer (R) 33:40, Caity Richwood (R) 34:44, Miranda Daniel (L) 36:12, Marissa Johnson (R) 37:31, Mara Miller (R) 37:39, Mickie Radcliff (R) 39:16, Natasha Phillips (R) 39:16.6, Cassie Bradley (R) 42:53, Whitney Richmond (R) 42:53.5, Kayla Cuthbert (I) 43:28, Jade Crist (R) 44:45, Lori Boley (R) 45:09, Taylor Dodrill (Sher) 48:45.

Seniors step up for Mustangs

By Dave Morrison
Sports Editor
Mount Hope’s senior leaders knew coach Eddie Souk’s mind wasn’t on football after the death of his father-in-law, Bill Boyd, last week.

And they took it upon themselves to get the job done against Greenbrier West. In a game matching teams tied for No. 2 in Class A, Mount Hope won easily, 39-18.

“The kids kind of picked up on what was going on,” Souk said Tuesday. “Football was the last thing that was on my mind. But they played the game and executed the plan we had in place the way we planned it up on Monday. They could see I was going through a tough time, so they took it upon themselves to make sure they did the right thing. They pushed each other. The seniors kept them going.”

Which is what Souk has preached all along — senior leadership.

He said he couldn’t compare this team (4-0) to the 1989 team that won the state title. Both are similar in that the seniors played a lot early and took their lumps.

“Times have changed, kids have changed and attitudes have changed,” Souk said. “But these kids put their time in. They’ve taken their bumps and bruises. We’re on a pretty good roll and we’re working well as a team.”

Mount Hope will face Williamson for homecoming Friday.

“The feeling I get about this team is that they want to show up Friday and play football,” Souk said. “The seniors are staying on these guys pretty good.”

Souk said he and wife Pam and the rest of the family are “getting by pretty good.”

“My father-in-law was a good man. He was with us all the time. He followed Mustang football. He loved watching the kids working together as a team and really appreciated the effort these kids put in.”

Mount Hope is No. 3 in this week’s SSAC ratings.

Another week, another top-ranked Mountain State Athletic Conference opponent for Woodrow Wilson’s young football team.

First it was Capital that was sitting in the top seat when Woodrow traveled to Charleston to face the Cougars. Of course, the SSAC ratings hadn’t been released yet, but Capital was No. 1 in the first poll two weeks later.

With Capital’s 14-9 loss to Nitro last week, St. Albans (4-0) has climbed into the top spot.

“The shoe’s on the other foot now,” Woodrow Wilson coach John H. Lilly said Tuesday evening. “Last year at this time, we were No. 1. Now they’re it. It’s just another challenge for our young football team. And we’re going to do nothing but get better from it.”

Last year’s team was loaded with seniors. The Eagles lost 23 seniors and three other players to grades who would have been factors.

Woodrow Wilson (1-4) is coming off a 20-12 loss to Cabell Midland last week, a game the Eagles led 12-0 at the half.

“Our kids played hard,” Lilly said. “They’re trying. We’re getting the effort. It’s just disappointing that we haven’t seen the reward. But we’ve gone through this before (2002) and it paid off for us then and it’s going to pay off for us again.”

Woodrow doesn’t have a senior starter on defense.

Friday’s game will be played at St. Albans.

The playoffs are likely out of the picture. The Eagles would need to run the table and they still have games with No. 7 Nitro and No. 18 Huntington.

“Our kids won’t quit,” Lilly promised. “And they won’t be intimidated. We’ve played Capital, Parkersburg, Cabell Midland and Riverside. Four of our first five opponents have been top-notch programs.”

There are shootouts.

And then there was Pocahontas-Richwood Friday night.

The 54-34 Pocahontas win featured 1,114 yards total offense. Pocahontas County’s Jesse Burdette rushed for 362 yards and five touchdowns. Richwood’s Noah Holcomb countered with 206 yards rushing.

“One of the officials told me that he felt like they’d done a whole game by the half,” Richwood coach Pat Whitlock said. “It was a lot of running for those guys. And not a lot of tackling by either team. It’s one of those games that, for a long time, it seemed like whoever had the ball last was going to win.”

Whitlock was impressed by Burdette.

“He’s a good one,” the coach said. “He’s shifty. They have a bunch of good backs who run hard. He had a lot of big plays and we didn’t help any with some poor tackling.”

In the game, Dustin Vance was credited with his second safety of the season for the Lumberjacks.

Richwood hosts Independence Friday while Pocahontas and Burdette — closing in on 5,000 career yards rushing — are at Van.

A couple of teams are on the comeback trail.

One of them is Midland Trail.

The Patriots (4-1) are No. 10 in the latest SSAC ratings.

Trail’s strength is a full-house backfield that runs behind a great line.

Anthony Grimmett is the team’s bruising fullback. He had 149 yards and two scores in the Patriots’ 41-0 win over Summers last week. He is joined by left halfback Logan Caudill and right halfback Jeff Petitt. They run behind a line consisting of Raymond Benson, Caleb Nuckols, Brian Simms, Justin Moore, Eric Belcher and Darrell Kincaid.

“It’s nice (for the backs) when your line is opening up holes like they have so they can run,” coach Joe Dean said. “When you have guys running as effectively as they have, you have to have guys up front opening holes.”

In the win over Summers County, Caudill had 58 yards and a touchdown and Petitt added 57 and a score.

The other comeback kid is Wyoming East, which is 4-1, its best start since 2000, the year after it won the Class AA state title with a 14-0 mark.

The Warriors are No. 13 in this week’s ratings. Wyoming East faces a tough task this week, with James Monroe coming to New Richmond.