Class A No. 3 Mount Hope keeps ‘special’ season going

By Dave Morrison
Sports Editor
Not even poor lighting can stop Class A No. 3 Mount Hope’s air-tight special teams.

The Mustangs are the only team in the county — and they play in the area’s nicest stadium, bar none — that plays with incandescent lighting. All the other schools play with mercury vapor lighting.

Yet the Mustangs (5-0) have, according to coach Eddie Souk, “caught the football” on a consistent basis.

Attention to detail in practice — which includes spirited competition for valued kick return spots — is the main reason, the coach said.

Thursday is special teams day at Mount Hope practices. And Souk makes it special.

“Every day in practice, it’s, ‘Am I going to be on return, am I going to be on return,’” Souk said. “We tell them whoever catches the ball is in there. You’ve got to catch the ball on punts and kickoffs. You can’t let it bounce around where it’s going to cost you 15 yards. Look, we don’t do anything that other coaches aren’t doing. We’ve just caught the football.”

Sometimes, to the coach’s chagrin.

“There are times when I think they should signal for a fair catch or let it go,” Souk said. “It’s, ‘Ah, coach, I don’t want to fair catch, I want to run the ball.’ They don’t like fair catch situations. It’s nerve-wracking.”

Souk points out that none of those plays resulted in touchdowns.

“But they took some hits,” he said.

But the Mustangs have scored on their share of returns.

Four kicks have been returned for scores — by three different players.

Davon Marion has a pair — 82 and 83 yards — and Channing Lowe (83, along with several long runs from his halfback position) and Bryan Allen (70) have the others. Allen held the job last year and started this year. He suffered a broken arm — and has continued to play — but lately Lowe and Marion have handled the chores.

Mount Hope travels to mercury-vapor lit Martin Field in Montgomery to face Valley.

The Mustangs are averaging 48 points per game through five games.

Nicholas County is enjoying some long-awaited success on the gridiron this fall.

The Grizzlies are 4-1 and ranked No. 12 in Class AAA. Those numbers are the best in the Morris era.

“Our goal when we took over the program was to be competitive on the triple-A level,” coach Gene Morris said. “Nicholas County has some good athletes. A lot of times our problem had been not with our first wave of kids (starters) but our depth. And that’s something we’ve worked on.”

So far, so good.

The Grizzlies face their toughest test Friday, traveling to Robert C. Byrd in Clarksburg. Nicholas upset the Flying Eagles last year in Summersville, the team’s landmark win under Morris.

“We’re going up to One Eagle Way and that’s always a feat to go up there and pull one off at their place,” Morris said. “But we have to play with confidence. We can’t worry about anything bad happening. They’ll be shooting for revenge, I’m sure. But once the game starts, all that hoopla goes out the window.”

A win would be significant.

“It puts you back in control of your season and in control of your goals, which is the playoffs,” Morris said. “A win like that can catapult you to a real good season, like last year.”

Pocahontas County’s Jesse Burdette just laughed at the numbers: 658 yards and 10 touchdowns.

That’s what Matewan’s Paul McCoy had in a win over Burch last Friday.

“That’s pretty good, but you really don’t know unless you’re there,” the Warriors’ senior said. “I’d like to do that. I’d love to. But that’s a lot of yardage.”

Not that Burdette is a slouch.

He has a career-high 393 against Paden City last year.

And he put up over 300 in a win at Richwood two weeks ago.

In the last two weeks, Burdette had over 450 yards and nine of his 12 touchdowns this fall.

“We’ve been working hard in practice,” Burdette said. “We were trying to get a line situated. We’ve got people in there now who can block. And I think that’s the main difference. We’re set at the line.”

He hopes that leads to a second playoff berth for his team. The Warriors fell 22-20 to Parkersburg Catholic last year.

“I’d love to go back and make it to the second round,” Burdette said. “From there, who knows? A state championship? That would be nice.”

One of the better games in the area Friday will pit Class AA No. 2 James Monroe (6-0) at No. 10 Liberty (4-1).

The two old foes know each other well.

It is the fourth meeting between the schools in the last three years. The Mavericks have beaten the Raiders in each matchup.