Wheeling Central begins its quest for a third-straight West Virginia Class A championship Saturday afternoon at Wilt Salmons Athletic Field in Fort Gay.
Awaiting the No. 10 Maroon Knights (6-4) following a lengthy four-hour bus ride is the No. 7 ranked Tolsia Rebels (7-3).
It will be the first of potentially three straight road games for Central if it hopes to get back to Wheeling Island Stadium and the Super Six.
Not ideal, but it’s a road the Knights have traveled twice before – in 2005 during Young’s first season as head coach, and again in 2017.
In fact, three times Central has entered the postseason with a 6-4 record under Young, only to rattle off four straight wins and stand victorious on the turf at Wheeling Island.
It’s a byproduct of tradition and a brutal schedule that year-in and out has Central battle-tested and ready for the postseason.
“Winning six games on our schedule, it says a lot, especially after losing Curtis (McGhee),” Young said. “It says a lot for our program and for our kids that they’ve been able to stay focused and keep playing.”
Central’s opponents have a combined 61-40-1 record. They defeated two playoff teams in Williamstown and Shadyside while losing to two others in St. Clairsville and Fort Frye. Tolsia’s opponents, meanwhile, are a combined 43-57, though the Rebels did defeat No. 12 Tug Valley during the regular season.
But neither tradition nor schedule alone win football games and Young knows his team will be in for a battle come Saturday.
“We have our work cut out for us,” Central head coach Mike Young said. “They are a good, physical team that runs a power-type offense. We’ll try to match our quickness up against their strength.
“It will be a challenging game.”
Fortunately, the Knights have grown accustomed to overcoming challenges.
They endured tough losses to rival Linsly and unbeaten Fort Frye. Then, suffered defeat at the hands of Martins Ferry in a game that saw all-state QB Curtis McGhee III lost for the season with a knee injury.
Losing an experienced athlete of his ability, along with his leadership capabilities required some shuffling of offensive personnel and priorities. Compounding matters was a similar knee injury suffered by junior lineman Jude Cottrell (6-foot, 280) against. St. Clairsville.
Central has managed to make adjustments and push forward just the same.
“We’ve spread the ball around more than what we would have been doing because Curtis was such a playmaker,” Young said. “Jacob (Rine) is our leader and he can throw and run the ball and is capable of making reads and making the passes we need to make.”
Rine has thrown for 318 yards and six touchdowns in three starts since taking over for the injured McGhee.
Fellow senior Jordan Waterhouse has transitioned nicely to feature-back status, totaling 794 yards and nine TDs on 98 carries. He’s also the team’s second-leading receiver behind senior Jalen Creighton.
Two-time Huff Award winner Adam Murray also has been called on more in the last few weeks, responding with touchdowns both on the ground and in the air.
Young’s team has 11 seniors who were in this same position two years ago as sophomores. He will need them all if the Knights hope to capture their 11th Class A title since 2000.
“We have 11 seniors and some of them are playing at the next level, but the majority aren’t,” Young said. “They don’t want this to be their last game. They know there is a lot at stake being the two-time defending champs.
“There is a target on our back. But our kids have played their hearts out to maintain that great pride and tradition at Wheeling Central.”
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