EIGHT VALLEY TEAMS HEADED TO PLAYOFFS NITRO, CAPITAL TO MEET IN OPENING ROUND

Publication: THE SUNDAY GAZETTE-MAIL
Published: 11/06/2005
Page: 1C
Headline: EIGHT VALLEY TEAMS HEADED TO PLAYOFFS NITRO, CAPITAL TO MEET IN OPENING ROUND
Byline: RICK RYAN

List of first-round matchups, 6C
Final ratings, 2C

rickryan@wvgazette.com

Who said Kanawha Valley football was washed up? And who said Laidley Field is the loneliest place in the state come playoff time?

The Kanawha Valley, without a Class AAA champion since 1998 and with a dwindling number of playoff entries the past few years, turned in a bumper crop of postseason teams this time around.

Eight of the 12 football-playing schools in Kanawha and Putnam counties wound up in the playoffs, four of them receiving choice of home field for the first round.

Official game assignments, including date, playing site and kickoff times, will be determined today in a meeting at the SSAC office in Parkersburg.

In Class AAA, Nitro (9-1) finished in the No. 3 spot and Capital (6-4) wound up at No. 14, so the Kanawha Valley neighbors will meet in the opening round next weekend. It will be a rematch of their Sept. 23 game, which resulted in a 34-7 Wildcats victory.

Nitro intends to hold its first-round game at Underwood Field, but rumors persisted after Friday night's 42-21 home win against Parkersburg South that the team the Wildcats drew might challenge the muddy field conditions there.

"It doesn't look pretty," said Nitro coach Scott Tinsley, "but I think it's very playable. I didn't see anybody slipping or sliding or anything like that."

Three other Class AAA matchups will feature Kanawha Valley teams:

s No. 8 South Charleston (8-2), riding a seven-game winning streak and in the playoffs for the first time since winning the AAA title in 1994, will play host to No. 9 John Marshall (8-2).

Black Eagles coach Vernon Redman said last week that his school has decided to play its first-round game on the artificial turf of Laidley Field instead of its own home base at Oakes Field, which was expected to be an approved site.

s No. 12 Hurricane (7-3), which has won five in a row, makes the long haul to the Eastern Panhandle to meet No. 5 Martinsburg (9-1). The Bulldogs have played in three of the last four Class AAA finals.

s No. 16 St. Albans (6-4), in the postseason for the first time since 1997, drew the toughest task, a road trip to top-ranked Morgantown (10-0), the defending state champion. It'll be a homecoming of sorts for Red Dragons coach Derek Christian, who played football at West Virginia University.

That gives the Kanawha Valley five Class AAA playoff teams, one more than each of the past two seasons.

The number of Mountain State Athletic Conference teams also went up, as eight league teams qualified, representing half the AAA field. Also vying this weekend will be No. 4 Woodrow Wilson (9-1), which plays league foe and 13th-ranked Cabell Midland (6-4), as well as No. 11 Parkersburg (7-3), which will travel to take on No. 6 Buckhannon-Upshur (9-1).

Seven MSAC teams advanced to the playoffs last year and six made the grade in 2003.

Riverside (5-5) and George Washington (1-9), which had shared Kanawha County's longest consecutive streak of playoff appearances with six, each missed out this year. That distinction now belongs to Nitro and Capital with straight three years each.

Class AA

Herbert Hoover (9-1) chalked up the third spot in the final official ratings released Saturday, meaning a home game against No. 14 Grafton (5-5).

"I know very little about [Grafton], if anything," Huskies coach Steve Stoffel Sr. said Saturday evening. "I really haven't seen them on film or anything like that. I know they've been a good program over the years and that they've been in the playoffs a lot the last few years."

Hoover, which has secured the homefield edge for possibly two rounds, intends to play its first-round game at Laidley. Stoffel had originally planned to hold home games at his field in Falling Rock.

"We didn't get our field approved," he said. "There's no way to get the 600 bleacher seats in there that we needed. I talked to [SSAC executive director] Mike Hayden last week and told him. It was just too close to game time to get them done."

Winfield also sneaked into the AA field at the No. 15 spot, giving the Generals a first-round game at unbeaten James Monroe (10-0), the No. 2 team. Winfield was one of four 5-5 teams to advance, a first for AA.

Two neighboring schools also qualified in AA, No. 5 Scott (9-1) and No. 13 Logan (5-5).

The Skyhawks may also be interested in staging their first-round game against No. 12 Berkeley Springs (5-5) at Laidley, which would give the Charleston facility three games on the same weekend for the first time in several years.

Logan will be making its first playoff appearance since 1990 (when it was a Class AAA school) and just its second ever.

Class A

Buffalo capped its first 10-0 regular season Friday night with a 46-16 win against Valley at Martin Field in Montgomery.

The Bison finished in the third spot and will hold its first true home playoff game this weekend against No. 14 Midland Trail (7-3), a team Buffalo beat 28-13 in Hico on Oct. 7.

Midland Trail lost a tie-breaker with Madonna for the No. 13 spot, one of nine tie-breakers used in the three classes that kept SSAC calculators busy over the weekend.

Hamlin (9-1), which vaulted in the No. 8 spot by winning its final game while Calhoun County was falling out of the top eight, picked up one more home game against No. 9 Man (7-3).

The Bobcats are playing in their final season before becoming part of the Lincoln County consolidation next fall. Hamlin hasn't ventured into the postseason since 1998 and hasn't held a home playoff game since 1995.

To contact staff writer Rick Ryan, use e-mail or call 348-5175.