In the press box at Point Pleasant High School (which, by the way, has the nicest high school football complex I have seen in the state of West Virginia), someone referred to Greenbrier West as a “powerhouse.”
He’s right. The Cavaliers have established themselves as a legitimate player in prep football. This year’s senior class alone — Tyler Parker, Aaron Winals, Zack Johnson, Josh Bridges, Josh Martin and Zack Grossl — won 37 games, had an undefeated regular season and three trips to the playoffs, advancing to the Class AA semifinals in 2010.
Their careers came to an end Saturday with an agonizing 21-12 loss to undefeated Wahama in a Class A quarterfinal playoff game. West, which finished the year 10-2 and was rated sixth in the state, played the White Falcons tougher than any team had through their first 11 games, but two turnovers and a couple of big Wahama plays sent the Cavaliers home earlier than they would have liked.
“I’m disappointed for them,” West coach Lewis McClung said of his players in general and seniors in particular. “We wanted to make a little deeper run than we did, but I’m real pleased with the way they played. This group of seniors, they have a lot of character and have been great leaders for us.
“We hope that our junior group is going to step up and show us that kind of leadership.”
The juniors who will be seniors in 2013 — the likes of quarterbacks Malik Boatwright and Mike Goddard, running back Corey Cox, fullback/linebacker Chase McClung and linemen Chris Gabbert and Justin Hamrick, just to name a few of the 15 — give the Cavalier faithful reason for continued confidence and provide an example of why the team is a perpetual contender.
West seems to never stop reloading. From Dylan Trout, Jabez Fleming and Janeek Wiggan, to Brian Gray, Bryan Spitzer and Chris Fleming, Charmco keeps churning out talent.
At times, it seems the only thing that can stop the Cavs is the Cavs themselves.
They have only lost nine games over the last four seasons, and the last three can be directly attributed to turnovers. They proved deadly in an upset loss to Braxton County in a Class AA first-round playoff game last year, and six turnovers cost them a 29-20 loss to Buffalo this season.
Against Wahama, West turned the ball over inside the White Falcons’ 10-yard line to kill what looked to be a sure scoring drive. Another fumble near midfield came after Wahama went ahead by nine with 5:02 to play.
“Turnovers have killed us this year,” McClung said. “We typically, in years past, haven’t turned the ball over. We’re pretty reliable. But we have turned it over a few times this year, and it’s really hurt us when we have.”
That doesn’t take away from what Greenbrier West has accomplished, but McClung wants more. He wants the team’s reputation to expand beyond the PikeViews and Richwoods and Pocahontas Counties of the world.
“We continue to look for a signature win,” McClung said. “We try. We thought we had a good opportunity here (against Wahama). We fought hard but we didn’t get it.
“We’ve established ourselves in the southern part of the state. Now we want to take it to a state level where we can compete with anyone in the state.”
— E-mail: gfauber@
register-herald.com
Today's Sports Front
McClung wants Cavs to take the next step
- Today's Sports Front
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Woodrow downs defending AAA champs
It’s a play that Woodrow Wilson has practiced everyday this season and has rarely had to utilize.
It’s a good thing the Flying Eagles did practice it; it saved their season and led to a 2-1 victory over defending state champion Princeton. -
No repeat for Warriors
Independence has been on a tear offensively the entire month of May. It didn’t stop Tuesday, even against Wyoming East ace Derek Thornton.
The Patriots led 5-0 after two innings, and Brian Sexton — backed by that very offense and some sparkling defense — gutted out a complete game in a 7-5 win in the Class AA Region 3 semifinals Tuesday night. -
’Hounds hold off upset bid from Man Hillbillies
Valley’s potent offense never came to life, but the Greyhounds are still alive.
Valley (22-7) — with several players hitting .400 or better this season — could muster just three singles against underdog Man (6-20-1) in one of two Class A Region 3 baseball semifinals Tuesday, but the ’Hounds manufactured two runs in the crucial fifth inning to finally go ahead of the stubborn Hillbillies and escape with a 3-2 victory. -
WVU baseball team helps tornado victims
West Virginia University head baseball coach Randy Mazey was having lunch at an Oklahoma City restaurant Monday afternoon, keeping a close watch on the television set.
With every passing minute, the tornado that devastated the Oklahoma town of Moore, was moving closer and closer to his location and its path was being documented by a local television station. At one point, the coach even looked out the window to see if he could see the approaching funnel. -
Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship Format Changed
In the wake of this week’s devastating storm in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, the Big 12 Conference is postponing the start of the 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship. No. 3 seeded WVU scheduled to take on Kansas at 4 p.m. (Central) on Thursday.
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Patriots, Warriors meet in anticipated matchup
The matchup many people expected will take place today.
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Fayette teams, Cavaliers vying for Class A spots
Two Fayette County baseball teams have advanced deeper into postseason play and will begin Region 3 tournament action today.
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Epling already having a busy week for Miners
At this point a year ago, Sam Lewis was the only player on the West Virginia Miners roster to have reported to Beckley. All he did was pitch two no-hitters, and the Miners won the 2012 Prospect League championship.
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Confident Mavs headed to states
From the outset, James Monroe’s mission was clear: Get to the state softball tournament.
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Eagles get 2nd shot at Tigers
The road to the Class AAA state championship for Princeton last year went through Beckley. A repeat would require the same stop, but Woodrow Wilson is looking to put up more resistance this time around.
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