Wheeling Park begins its ninth straight year in the West Virginia Class AAA playoffs Friday on Wheeling Island against old friend Capital, and if the Patriots are going to advance to the Super Six they’ll need to win some shootouts.
Park (8-2 record) earned the tournament’s sixth seed with a quick-strike, 48-28 win over rival John Marshall Friday in rubber-stamp fashion. First off, it was the 10th straight win for Park over JM. Secondly, Park flashed its trademark explosiveness on offense, while posing some familiar questions defensively.
Let’s start with senior QB Alex Dunlevy, who this year has thrown for nearly 2,500 yards and has 27 TD passes against just two INTs. He’s a strong Kennedy Award candidate and gives this team a chance to win any game, on any field. Against JM he completed TD passes to three different receivers, and the shifty scrambler ran for another. Dunlevy can throw the deep ball, to the intermediate routes, and is comfortable checking down. He’s the complete package and he’s in total command of this frightening attack.
Park also has two quality running backs in Kenya Robinson, a 170-pound blazer, and Rapheal Robinson, a 205-pound bruiser. Junior Shaheed Jackson really sticks out: He’s simply dazzling whenever he handles the ball, and Capital would do well to kick away from him on special teams.
Diverse? Park’s first six scores against JM were from six different players, including placekicker Andrew Glass, a junior who will be hearing from college recruiters (if he hasn’t already). The next holiday Leg Lamp you buy will be made of Glass.
Defense is another story. Now, Park’s two losses were by a combined five points to playoff teams St. Clairsville and Musselman, so it’s certainly not a calamity. The Patriots, though, gave up 22.3 points per game this year and state championships usually run through the defense, especially during these cold-weather games.
I like the Patriots’ defensive line, especially 6-2, 290-pounder Matt Reinacher, and the secondary has the customary Park speed. I’m just not sold on the linebacker play. When Park beat Capital in the 2015 championship game, Clay McDonald covered sideline-to-sideline and was a huge factor. Coach Chris Daugherty needs someone to step up.
And a quick hat-tip to John Marshall, which ended its year at 4-6. The Monarchs got better as the season progressed, despite losing its best lineman (Bradlee Clark) in preseason and its top RB (Derrick Derrow) in the opener. This team developed into a handful by the end of the year.
Coach Jason Willis and staff did an excellent job with this squad and has the program pointed in the right direction. JM will miss seniors like Justin Frohnapfel, Zach Bishop, Jace Boggs, and Colby Cusick, but will return top rusher Alex Burton, WR Dalton Flowers and DB Reid Wiley, among others, next year.
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In Morgantown, it’s time for Coach Neal Brown to make the change at QB. Granted, the sample size is small — one quarter of play — for backup Jarret Doege, but the resume, results and eye(sore) test from Austin Kendall are enough for me. Egads, let’s put this to rest.
It doesn’t sound like Brown is ready to make the change. After the gawd-awful, 38-17 setback to Texas Tech on Saturday he offered this: “I wish quarterback was our problem that needs fixed.”
And, yes indeed, the offensive line has been WVU’s big disappointment this year, and the young receivers have dropped passes, broken off routes and simply looked lost a lot of times. And the running game is a complete disaster.
But, yesterday aside, the Mountaineers can steal a win or two with some solid QB play. WVU wins the Baylor game and maybe the Texas game with a viable playmaker behind center. Kendall ain’t the guy. He’s underthrows deep balls, is not particularly accurate on intermediates, and can’t outrun my dead Grandma. It’s weird to marginalize a QB after he just threw for 355 yards, but I was there. There was so much more left on the field. It was hard to watch.
I’m not in the habit of ripping on 21-year-old college kids, but WVU isn’t going anywhere this year. There are three games left: Let’s let the Doege out and see what we’ve got.
