Oh look, Wheeling Central and Williamstown are one game away from reaching the Class A state championship game.
In other breaking news, the sun came up today and water is important.
It must feel like deja vu for Class A as a whole and for No. 1 Doddridge County and No. 3 Pendelton County in particular, since they are tasked with stopping the two most dominant Class A programs this century from making yet another march toward Wheeling Island Stadium.
Since 2000 when Wheeling Central, then under the direction of legendary coach Jim Thomas, knocked off Moorefield to begin a stranglehold in Class A, the Maroon Knights have reached the state championship game 11 times, winning 10. The lone loss came against Moorefield in 2001, a defeat they quickly enacted revenge for during the following season.
Followed close behind is Williamstown, led by head coach Terry Smith since he was hired in July of 2004. The Yellowjackets have reached the title game eight times, all but one with Smith guiding the ship. Smith’s teams won titles in 2008 and 2014. The next closest in appearance is Weirton Madonna with five and Moorefield, the king of Class A during the mid-to-late 1990s, with four.
There have been 19 title games this century and either Central or Williamstown has taken part in all but five of them, missing out in 2010, 12, 13, 15 and 16. Six times they’ve played each other, with Central winning all six.
What that means is 50 percent of the time, one or the other will be playing for a state title. The fact both teams share a color scheme—Maroon & Gold—likely only adds to the “it’s them again” feeling for the rest of the Class A field.
Will history hold service this season?
Their opponents’ playoff histories don’t quite measure up.
Doddridge County, a consolidation of West Union and Carr high schools in 1933, was voted the overall state champion in 1936. The Bulldogs have never won a championship on the field, nor have they reached the title game since 1978 when they lost to Duvall, 27-14. They made the semifinals last season before falling to Wheeling Central.
Pendelton County, meanwhile, has never reached the state championship game. The Wildcats have twice lost in the semifinals, once to Moorefield in 1998 and, most recently, to East Hardy in 2016.
Circleville and Franklin consolidated to make Pendelton County. Circleville never reached the playoffs and while Franklin did, it lost in the first round all six times.
History may be stacked against both teams, but history means next to nothing come kickoff. These are the 2019 teams in the 2019 playoffs playing with the 2019 players.
That’s why they play the games.
One bit of history that may give Doddridge County (12-0) a bit more confidence is the fact that a few weeks ago, the Bulldogs beat Williamstown 20-7. In that game Kennedy Award candidate and do-all running back Hunter America ran for 217 yards and two touchdowns while a stingy Bulldogs’ defense forced five turnovers and held the Yellowjackets to a mere 102 yards on the ground, 174 total.
If Smith’s crew hopes to reverse its fortunes, it’ll need to take better care of the ball and get more production out of running back Ty Moore, who was held to 53 yards.
That may be a tall order as the Bulldogs boast the top defensive unit in Class A to go with the rushing of America on offense. Doddridge allows only 6.6 points per game on average and has five shutouts to its credit, allowing only double digits in points twice.
Williamstown’s other loss this season came against Wheeling Central in Week 1.
Wheeling Central and Pendelton have met three times in the Class A playoffs, with the Maroon Knights sweeping the series that started with a 61-12 beat down in the 2000 quarterfinals and, most recently, a 42-28 triumph in 2015.
The Maroon Knights are looking to repeat another bit of history, replicating the path they took to a 2017 championship via three road playoff victories battling out of the No. 10 spot with a 6-4 record.
This postseason, the Knights offense has scored 13 points twice in wins against Tolsia and Ritchie County, generating just enough to advance as they’ve adjusted to not having all-state QB Curtis McGhee III running the show. Senior Jacob Rine has performed admirably in his stead and Rine’s teammates have rallied around him.
It helps that the Maroon Knights defense just shut down the second-leading scoring offense in Class A last week in the Rebels. Led by two-time Huff Award winner Adam Murray, the Maroon have been tough to move the ball on this postseason.
The Wildcats advanced to the semis with a commanding defensive performance against St. Marys. The Blue Devils two points came on a safety as the PC defense held the visitors scoreless. Offensively, Pendelton operates primarily out of the shotgun with junior QB Isaiah Gardiner a threat to beat teams with his arms or legs. Gardner also has the benefit of a sizable offensive line and the services of receiver Javin Kuykendall.
