Week 7: Swing Games

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1:00Sports fans, it's time for the Friday free fall! Over the next two hours, we'll bring you all the latest from across the region in high school and college sports. Brought to you all season long by Dan Cavattoyota World. Here are your hosts, Michael Minick and Alex Wheater-Spiel. Week 7 has arrived. We are in prognosticating season, if you will. Welcome in everybody. This is the Friday free fall. Brought to you by Dan Cavattoyota World. Alex Wheater-Spiel, Michael Minick, and a whole cast of crazy characters are going to join us today on the Friday free fall. Brought to you by Dan Cavattoyota World. Mike, what's up, man? Yeah, just excited to watch the great football game last Friday.

2:00I'm interested to see how this Friday goes as well with Bridgeport and Spring Valley. Following the results around the areas, it's always fun to get, oh wow, that games this score. That got these guys one by a lot. That's a fun part of every Friday night for me too. It's like a scoreboard watching. I love scoreboard watching. I'm not going to apologize for it. We do a scoreboard segment during half time. Listen, half time can be a slog. I do think I've been on record saying this. I'll keep saying it. I think 23 minutes is way too long. For half time, I understand there are certain requirements. I still think outside of homecoming, I really believe we can get high school half time done in less than 23 minutes. 23 minutes is basically a half of football. With the exception, obviously, there's stoppages on the clock during these games. South Harrison and Doddridge, I'm just going to be honest. They're going to run the ball so much this weekend that they might be almost as quick as a half time.

3:02I think it's a little long. I do think it's a little long, but even that aside, as I go down on my tangent here, let's do a couple of things. First, let me set up who's on the show today. We've got a good cast of characters who are going to bounce around with us today. We are of course going to hear from Fred Persinger. We are going to talk with John Bord from Graften. We are going to talk with Brian Bibi from Phillip Barber, Sean McNamara from North Marien. We're going to talk with Travis Jones and Chris George about Bridgeport. Chris George is going to also chat with us about a whole host of other things as well as he tends to do in the nine o'clock hour. We're going to talk with Craig Dutton about Lincoln. They have some pretty big games coming up on the docket. Of course, we're going to talk with Bill Nester about Robert C. Bird who got a nice rebound win last week over East Faremont. That was a game that they dominated from start to finish. They really needed a game like that after what happened against Bridgeport. Speaking of Bridgeport, so I did mention Mike, it's a prognosticating season.

4:02So, I have started the process of trying to figure out what games do I need to watch for teams like Bridgeport and RCB. Now, in RCB's case, they're more in control of their own destiny at the moment. But in Bridgeport's case, if you look at what they've got on the calendar here, they've got a Grafton and Faremont senior team. Let's say Bridgeport wins out. I think any assumption of helping yourself starts there. But they have a Grafton and a Faremont senior team who could actually both help them out quite a bit as well as both those teams will play teams who are ahead of Bridgeport in the standings. But at the same time, we'll get them bonus points if they win those games. And in Grafton's case, if Grafton were to find a way to upset RCB, that's doubly helpful because Bridgeport gets the bonus point from that game no matter what, but RCB also goes down. And since they are chasing RCB in the playoff ratings, I know I probably seem like the guy from always sunny right now. Pepe Silvia, Pepe Silvia. But that's the basic premise.

5:04I've started looking at that for a bunch of teams. I don't think the prognosticator tool is available, but I'm ready for it. Yeah, you'll be first in a line when they get it going. And yeah, I think Bridgeport still is in good shape mathematically. The only two lost him ahead of them right now is Toth Charleston. And there's a lot of teams that play each other. You mentioned Bird playing Grafton, Bird playing North Marion. Oaken's playing a couple of these teams. Toth Charleston is playing a couple of these teams. There's a good chance to move up. And then you've got a program like Brooke, who has got enough to a great start. But now is going to the meat of their schedule. John Marshall, East Liverpool, Oaken's. That's another one. That Brooke Oaken's game, weirdly, might be big for Bridgeport City because both of the teams are ahead of them. So I think it's one of those things. Bridgeport can just kind of take care of their own thing. There's still more points than anybody in AAA. They've got the six fewest points in AAA. Like the numbers are good. It's just that two in the lost column because they'll play two really good teams that kind of sticks out as a bad thing. But everything else has turned it up for Bridgeport this year.

6:05Not a bad losses also when you consider they're both not at all. Potentially, you know, they're going to be going on deep playoff runs in their respective divisions in states, Martin's Burgon Fort Hills. So on that note, we're going to get into all of it. We got to take a break. And when we come back, we will start with the Bill Nester of Robert C. Bird. That's coming up here on the Friday. Free for all brought to you by Dan Kava Toyota World. That's all coming up next. This is the Friday free for all coverage of high school football and other local sports brought to you all season long by Dan Kava Toyota World. Friday free for all brought to you by Dan Kava Toyota World, Alex Wheeter, Spiel, Michael, Minick. Now because of a scheduling conflict, we caught up with Bill Nester a couple of hours ago. Okay, maybe not a couple of hours ago. We caught it with up with him early. So this is a pre-recorded conversation. So it's just me and Bill, but let's hear from Bill about RCB's big win last week and what's ahead?

7:08Bill Nester is now with me, the play by play voice of Robert C. Bird. The Eagles got a big win last week, taking down East Faremont in a game that they essentially dominated from the jump. Obviously a bit of a down year for East Faremont and Coach Shane Echoe, but really good timing for East Faremont. They really needed a bounce back, Bill. Yeah, Robert C. Bird got going early and often using big plays. After the first time this year, six TDs of 61 yards or more in the contest, the defense pitched a shutout with over 10 tackles for losses in the game, also three takeaways. And Azayah Hefflin really, as continued, has great play, considering the fact he was a little dinged up coming out of that Bridgeport game, had two passing TDs, one rushing TD, one interception return for a touchdown. In his 94 yard run for a score was the second longest TD in school history. So he really did a great job in all facets of the game.

8:09And Robert C. Bird has a whole played extremely well, especially in the first half of the play. And running clock in the second half, aided in a better the cause for Robert C. Bird, who really needed that win, the big pick me up after that loss to Bridgeport the week prior. Wow. So it seems like to me, they must have been really focused heading into this week. Like I feel like did that Bridgeport loss refocus the team at all after obviously, Bridgeport does to many teams getting humbled by the Indians. I think it did. And you know, the thing about the Bridgeport game that, and when you play Bridgeport, you either rise to the level of the Indians or they just trounce you. And what Bridgeport does so well is they're so explosive off of the ball. When the ball is snapped, they're just so quick and they're so fundamentally sound. And that's what I really was impressed with Robert C. Bird against these farmland. They were so quick off of the snap on both sides of the football and it paid huge dividends for them. And I thought that was really crucial in this win. Also Sean Adams, the receiver,

9:12coming out, party two receptions, 125 yards and two TDs. So we had a huge game in the passing attack. They really kind of keyed on Junior Smith and kept the bottom of his hands, but Sean Adams stepped up in the passing attack as well. So you saw a lot of positives in this contest, Alex, all the way around the board. No kidding. RCB this week, this is going to get interesting because this is a game that I think if RCB is at their most focused and at their best at home, I think they should be favored in. But you and I both know Lincoln has had a history of giving RCB even in games that Lincoln hasn't won. They have a history of giving RCB kind of a tough time. What has been sort of the animus behind that? What's been the driving reason that has made Lincoln so difficult for RCB in the past? I think here in the last five years. That's when it's really happened. Before the last five years, Robert Seabird has really dominated the series. It's been the last five years of play and I think

10:16why that has to do with coaching. Rob Hawkins is in an excellent job at his alma mater. But they've had a lot of great skill players and they still do. And so the the cougars have been able to spread the ball out, spread the field out and make Robert Seabird cover the entire field and they put up some big numbers in the last five years of play. I think that's been the key thing. And they've also done a great job in the trenches as well. But you know with you know with a new quarterback in the system this year as opposed to last year with Bart you know graduating. We've seen Bear Sob really coming into his own throwing four TV passes last week and of course Connor Rice one of the most prolific backs in the central west Virginia. So they've got a great balance of run and pass and they've had that in the last several years. They've been extremely hard to defend and they've put up big numbers. And so Robert Seabird has been aware of that. Obviously the last few years of play they've had their hands full with the cougars. And I think that you know going

11:18into this game tonight the big key is to try to make them predictable. And so you want to put them behind the chains, put them in second, long, third, long situations and kind of force them to pass and predictable downs where you can pin yours back and and get after Sob and try to put pressure on him. And if you can do that I think you'd get a better chance or have a better chance to get the win. But if you if you allow Rice to pick up big chunks of real estate and you allow them to get ahead of the chains then you put yourself back on your heels and you allow them to be the best version of himself. So that's kind of what you're looking at in this game because it really Lincoln has got so many weapons on the perimeter with with Edwards and Bart, you know, and Barnes. These guys are really good on the perimeter. No doubt about it. So RCB's got their hands full with this one. Yeah, no, I it's it's I saw Lincoln. I thought they were pretty good in the game that I saw and and Baresob was was pretty impressive. His first start of the year against South Harrison. You know it is interesting going back. You know you had mentioned about how the RCB historically has owned this this series.

12:25And due to a weird kind of scheduling quirk the last two games have been on the road as I understand it. But the last time they're the first time I should say that Austin Scott coached against this Lincoln team. It was the the first and worst obviously loss that RCB had ever suffered at home against Lincoln. A 42 to 6 loss in his first season on the job. I feel like RCB has come a long, long way since that point. And I there is a part of me. I know that most of those kids are gone from that team. But if you were a freshman on that team and you're still here, there is a part of me that feels like you've got to be looking at this one. You've got to circle this. You've got to remember that this Lincoln team embarrassed you at home way back when. This is the story of the one, the shipping manager who's there before the first truck backs in and the first palette is loaded, coordinating schedules, clearing bottlenecks, keeping freight moving. He counts on Granger for the industrial grade products he needs to stay ready from shipping supplies to PPE to hand tools.

13:30So when the doors roll up, he's ready to roll call 1-800-GRANJER-clickranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. You're looking at guys like Logan Ford I, so four-year starter who definitely remembers this. And you've got some other guys that saw some time that definitely remember it. And so yeah, that memory is something that the definitely coach God is not going to let those guys forget. And some of these new guys, he's not going to let them take this game lightly either because you can come into this game. This is a huge game. It's one of those games where as you look down a stretch, hard to believe, only four games remaining. And this is the second to last home game on the schedule for Roberts. He've heard next week against Graffin will be the last home game at one of your way. So you've got to try it to do your best to take care of business at home when you can. So you can't take anybody lightly and obviously Coach Scott knows well and hand what Coach Hawkins can do. So he's not taking this lightly at all and he wants these guys to be ready to play.

14:34And it can be, and when you look at what Lincoln's doing, taking the ball away, the giveaway takeaway marks that they've had, blocking kicks, the special teams play they've had, it's been exceptional. Now for Roberts, he bird, that's been a key for them. Up until Bridgeport, they had done an excellent job of staying ahead in the giveaway takeaway department, but they gave away the ball three times in the Indians. So you saw him come back at each West Stadium last week and get that plus three in the giveaway takeaway. So they're back on track of that regard. And I look at this game and you look at penalties and you look at turnovers, I think it'll be two pivotal things that are going to take place that are going to determine the outcome of this contest. Ultimately, this game does not have as big of an impact. I feel like on playoff positioning is some of the others on our CB schedule at this point might, but we are now at the point of the season where we can start doing a little bit of prognosticating. And so the last thing I'll ask you before I let you go,

15:39RCB has managed to stay around hovering in that top four for most of the season since the first playoff ratings have come out, even with the loss to Bridgeport. And so I guess I'm curious, what does RCB need to do to maintain that? Because I think an opportunity to be playing into the second weekend and potentially with at least two home playoff games, that's an enormous step for this program, considering again, where they were in year one under Austin Scott to where they are now. Well, this is a great opportunity, a golden opportunity. And so let's fast forward and then let's come back if we can. We'll circle back after we fast forward fast forward to the North Miring Game where there are a lot of bonus points to be had against the Huskies. And then you look at the last game of the season, but can it up? Sure, where you're playing up in a QA. So you've got opportunities for points there. Those are two huge pivotal games point wise. So this week with Lincoln, as we circle back this week with Lincoln, and then next week with the graft and obviously you're playing

16:45down, but the key is you want to maintain momentum moving forward. You're back on a win streak with going over the bees. You want to try to get momentum moving forward into those two key games against the Huskies and the box. So that's why this game with the Cougars is so federal and then looking ahead of the bear cats. So the momentum, not as much the points and obviously you're not going to get, you're not going to go on over much by playing down, but what you can do is maintain and build upon the momentum that you've got going your way. So there are two ways to look at it and that is number one, what can you get out of it and also how can you keep the train rolling? And so you're not going to get out as much as you want out of these next two games, but you can definitely keep the train rolling. Easier said than done because obviously you're looking at a really tough team this week with the Cougars, but you've got to try your best to keep it rolling. And with homecoming and all of the pageantry and everything going on at one equal way, that should bring a big draw crowd wise,

17:47and you want to feed off of that home field advantage, you're going to need everything you can heading into this match up tonight against Lincoln. Yeah, and you're right. I'm just looking at that North Marion rest of their schedule and there are some opportunities to garner some bonus points there where there really isn't with grafting just because the schedule is primarily everyone, like everyone who is on grafting schedule, you guys have already played. So even if grafting were to somehow upset North Marion, well, if you guys sweep both those teams, then it wouldn't even matter in that case. And I don't think that's super likely, but not out of the question. So that North Marion game, and then maybe even the Buckhanded Upshare game, since they do play actually, no, no, even looking at that, the big 10 really has the schedule pretty well done this year. So that that North Marion game is probably the one because they play Nitro at the end of the year. That's the best chance to garner some really serious bonus points, not just from obviously beating North Marion, which would be a big win in itself, but the number of wins that they have. So fascinating.

18:50I'm glad that we're at this point where we get to actually talk about this stuff and we'll get more into it next week. Bill, remind folks, they can catch the broadcast. Sure, you can catch us on one on one point three FM one on one three, the bear dot com. Join Dress Nutter and meet 635 and 7 for the kick. That's Bill Nester play by play voice of RCB. We're going to talk much more about this coming back up here in just a moment as RCB and Lincoln play tonight. And thus they are our first two segments of the show today. Craig. Next here on the Friday free for all brought to you by Dan Cavattuto. World he's Mike Minick. I'm Alex Wheeler. We're back after this. This is the Friday free for all coverage of high school football and other local sports brought to you all season long by Dan Cavattuto world. Greg Dutton is on the line with us now. The Lincoln Cougars are the focus of the start of this segment here on the Friday free for all brought to you by Dan Cavattuto world and Lincoln as

19:50can they're continuing their tradition win one lose one. Boy, would they like to change that this week last week of 40 point margin of victory over triple a Lewis County good win for Lincoln. But if they want to seriously stamp their place in the playoffs, they have a chance in the double a playoffs. They have a chance to do that this week. There is no game on their schedule more valuable left than the one this week at Robert C bird. Craig, what's up, man? Hey guys, I definitely agree. Coach Hawkins add to that this week when we talked to him in pregame or he was really impressed with how Lincoln responded following North Marion loss because that was the biggest concern. Like you had a really good week versus Nicholas County. You had a really good performance versus North Marion. You outplayed them for the entire game and it got to the point where after the game, there was concern like, oh, is this going to hold over into the next week? Well, they came out firing versus Lewis County. The only adjustment they had to make was on the offensive line where Connor Rice

20:53was stopped in negative yards on three consecutive plays. Well, they called a timeout, made the adjustments on the line. And since then, Lewis County had so much struggle, so much trouble on the defensive side of the ball trying to stop Lincoln in the past game and then in the run game to end the first half. And then the special teams play just kept coming alive. Had a blocked field goal by Trent Moore that went into the hands of Brody Anderson. So Anderson and consecutive weeks has an onside kick to return for touchdown versus North Marion and has a 70 yard blocked field goal kick for a score to end the first half versus Lewis County in his first year as a letterman for Lincoln. So they have really jelled together as a team. This week's going to be a big test for them, but if they can that energy, it should make for a really fun battle between the Eagles and the Cooters. Craig, you know well that the best Lincoln teams have been the ones that can balance things that can give you a dangerous passing game and a dangerous run game. So to see that, though we can afford the bird game, how encouraging is that that sob thirst for four touchdowns

21:55and then the run game gets three touchdowns as well. I have to be very impressed with how bear sob does enough when it comes to the run game, I mean to the past game. He brings just enough for Lincoln to allow the receivers to do their jobs and make big plays. The run game has come alive. We saw a lot more faces versus Lewis County. It was proven at Cade and you know, Cade Mooney, a very reliable backup Trent Moore got some substantial carries and he's going to be a threat out of the run game. If they run him more in the second half of the season, you have a really good trifecta in the run game. Four Lincoln though, their offensive line will get tested this week. They will be up against the Robert C. Bird team that has done very well this season and trying to show, you know, and trying to sell in on the offensive side other than the bridgeport matchup and they have been able to grow to the where they work this point. So I think Lincoln understands that and they have a lot of threats in a run game. Their whole running back staff is

22:56back this week and junior Smith has been very much of a threat when they throw out to the flat to him and will just let him do what he does best as a receiver from the line scrimmage work his way down the field for the RCB offense. This has been a a strange couple of years for RCB and Lincoln because RCB has really kind of struggled with Lincoln these last three seasons one and two for RCB. Lincoln is actually it's the first time they've ever had a three year stretch where they've won multiple games and you know, the last time Lincoln played at one Eagle way, they blew RCB out 42 to six. It's the only time that Lincoln has has ever won at one Eagle way. Now any of the kids remaining from that game were freshmen. So their seniors now. Is there anything that like any message from coach this week that that Rob Hawkins has talked about with regards to know kind of knowing that this is going to be an RCB team that's probably got this one circled because they're

23:57not happy with the way this has gone the last couple of years where Lincoln's kind of had the edge. He actually has been rather pleased at the fact that the boys going into this season. Won't treat it like a game like a bridge port or North marion where their opponent is just completely dominant in the series. That's how the series has been. Overall 22 for advantage for RCB over Lincoln. But the last four years Lincoln has secured three wins out of those four matchups. And I think for coach Hawkins, he kind of agrees with the fact that it has kind of turned into a rivalry, rivalry even more with the Liberty transfers coming in. You know, Lincoln's former big rival and Liberty. Most of them are there RCB. Some kids are on this Lincoln team as well. And he understands now that the kids are coming in. If they're happy to play this match up, they're looking forward to it. And it has turned into some one of a bit of a rivalry in recent recent years even though, you know, RCB is a triple A and Lincoln's a double A opponent. He's more pleased with that fact

24:58that they're coming into this week. Not so much overconfident, but understanding that it is a matchup like, hey, we can go into this and play a very good matchup. If we go in confidently and try to focus on what their game plan is, they might be able to secure a win over the Eagles. And you're probably right. RCB's got this game circled on there in. They don't want to let this one by, like they have three out of the four last years. And they want to try to prove everyone wrong, you know, in terms of the state. Because this is a big match up for both these programs, especially in the big 10 and for playoff on. Okay. Do you think this quarterback matchup is where SABB, as you said, is kind of grouting confidence to share, but half one's a multi-year starter, two different schools now, and the guy that can run it as well as throw it. I think SABB does bring that different element. You know, you're going to see a lot of play action out of him just because it's so much easier to line up looking like you're going to run if you're Lincoln. And then he could just pull a bootleg on you. And then he's got so many options available in recent weeks with senior

25:58Braden and minor and junior Trent Moore really coming out in the past game. It really has helped you know, bear SABB in that passing game. You don't want to expect a lot of him. He's learning a new system with this Lincoln program, but he has fit so well into it. And comparison what, you know, Hefflyn does on the other side. It's a run heavy offense. You know, they'll pass when they need to, but you know, Hefflyn's very confident in that role as well. Hefflyn, you would have to say would have the upper edge just based on his years of experience between Liberty and RcB is a starting signal caller. But I think SABB will do this efficient job. He always does a really good job placing the ball in a place where only receivers can get to it. Last week he had made one mistake versus Lewis County had one pick, but that came early in the game when he was just trying to make up a third and long. So he understands their situations. You know, he will try to fix those throughout the week and going into the matchup. So he's looking forward to this matchup like any

27:00other. He was on this team last year for RcB as well. Craig, remind folks where they can catch tonight's broadcast. That's a night's game will be on 93 5 FM WFBY dot com slash Lincoln sports and also on the WVRC media. Very good. Craig, much appreciated and I don't know if we'll be talking to you next week. I know you've got some exciting potential family news that you're kind of waiting on a phone call for. But if we don't get a chance to talk to you here in a little bit, congratulations and I'm sure more will be revealed as time time goes on. But looking forward to seeing how the outcome of this game is tonight nonetheless. Thank you. I appreciate guys. If not, just call mudcat. He'll talk Lincoln football. Maybe some girls basketball with you guys too. Love to hear it. Love to hear it. Don't tell me with that. We'll never talk to girls basketball. With you in or with him. I'm good with that. Yes, we are. We are not that far away. We are not that far away from talking basketball guys. It's it's much, much closer than I think anybody is willing to admit. That said, we're going to go ahead and take a break. We got to talk a little

28:04bridge port football next here on the Friday free for all brought to you by Dan Cavattayota world. This is the Friday free for all coverage of high school football and other local sports brought to you all season long by Dan Cavattayota world. So now the bridge port Indians are going to have some work to do. Welcome back in everybody. This is the Friday free for all brought to you by Dan Cavattayota world. Alex Wheeder spiel, Michael Minnick and now Travis Jones joining us here on the phone. The play by play voice of bridge port and they're going to have work to do because of a wild finish to what seemed to be a pretty wild game out of state bridge port takes the trip to Fort Hill Maryland and a very difficult Fort Hill squad and bridge port led through a large part of this game ultimately falls 43 to 42 Travis before we get into what's next for bridge port. What happened in this one? Well, as you mentioned, you know, a game of a lot of uncharacteristic play

29:08from bridge port first and foremost. Very rarely do they surrender a 14 point lead in the game. Much less a 14 point lead at half time. But get Fort Hill credit came out in the second half was the more physical football team in the second half and you mentioned bridge port led the large majority 40 hills. First lead of the game came with 51 seconds to go on a two point conversion that put them up 43-42. The Indians had a time out drove the field and got into position for a game winning 39 yard field goal but it sailed to the right. No good. You know, you look back. There were probably four plays in the game that could have reversed the outcome and favor of the Indians and all four plays. They were in position to make a play and didn't and that's you know, something that we're not used to. Usually this team when giving opportunities will seize those opportunities but you know, less and learned and you know, it was a disappointing outcome certainly not to take anything away from Fort Hill. They probably are the odds on favorite to go on and win the class

30:11single-a title in the state of Maryland. Certainly I think the deck is clear for them to go undefeated bridge boards got to you know, get turned around tonight starting with the spring valley. Got four games left including tonight. Still got opportunities to you know, get back into the the upper half of class triple A and but you know, now your destiny is kind of taken out of your hands in terms of the the one or two seed. Travis, I feel like we're almost picking midst at this point because this is Bridgeport like the expectations are high. You you've lost to two teams that very well could win state championships this year but I've just been surprised by the penalties they've picked up and the fact that in the second half of these big games they've kind of lost momentum and gotten pushed around a little bit. How concerned are you about those things? Yeah penalties I've talked about it all year. So I think it's been a point of emphasis. You know, I don't think that was Bridgeport's undoing on Friday. There were you know, a couple of calls certainly that

31:11that hurt them in key situations but you know, for the most part I thought they played fairly disciplined in terms of not the penalties. Now the other part of it, yeah Mike is is concerned. I mean this team in the Martinsburg game and in the Ford Hill game where they had to strain for all four quarters I felt like they kind of got a little tired and when you get tired, you know, the blocking starts to be higher. The tackling starts to be higher and I think that was an issue for them on on Friday. They were going way too high trying to tackle Carson Bender and and really on the two-point conversion the game's sealer. You know Bridgeport's got a player standing at the two-yard line waiting to make the tackle and tries to tackle up high and because of that you know, just can't get wrapped around and and gets kind of carried into the end zone. So you know, there's fundamental things that have to be got to be cleaned up. The you know, it's funny Tyler Ferris last year thought that this team peaked in the Ford Hill game a year ago

32:12and played their best football, you know, of the of the season in that game and and didn't perform as well at the end of the season and into the playoffs. Well, I don't think he's got that concern this year because this team that performance on Friday night was certainly not not anywhere near how well this team complex. But I also feel like this schedule was was made, you know, last year and this year with with the thinking of we want to find this out now and not find this how they can just chat and build the stakeholder finals. Yeah, and it's a balance as you know, you know, when you when you toughen up your schedule, which I think Bridgeport did on purpose, you know, they could have gone 10-0 and felt great about themselves going into the playoffs and not been tested and that's kind of what we saw last year, you know, Bridgeport put everybody on a running clock and then, you know, got into a into a dog fight with Chapmanville and you know, a lot like last Friday night, you know, there were again a handful of plays in that game that Bridgeport could have made and they didn't and it ended their season. So I think the mindset was different this year. They wanted to be tested, but that comes at a cost and that cost is as you

33:16suffer two losses and and you know, now you got to work your way, you know, try to work your way to Charleston in the postseason and probably have to do it. I'd say it's a very leasing the semi-finals on the road, you know, but a lot of football to be played. That's assuming there's not upsets, but you know, we'll see. I mean, Bridgeport's tried it the previous way. Now they're going to try it a new way. We'll see ultimately, you know, which you know, which pays off or if there's any difference. Bridgeport, Lynch, Spring of Iowa last year had a great first half, had a, you know, I would have 35 point lead at the half one decisively. When I think about Spring Valley, I kind of think about the Wyatt Miloam type, just like a big physical line. How similar is this Spring Valley team to those wings that we've seen the past that were playing Martinsburg for for triple titles? Yeah, I mean, the same style, but certainly not the same type of players. I mean, that Spring Valley team that came to Bridgeport in 2020 and really that group was kind of like the state championship team that Bridgeport had a few years ago. They just had all the pieces. They had,

34:17you know, great Lyman, great Bax, great quarterback, athletes and so on and so forth. And they've been in a little bit of a rebuild, you know, admittedly, you know, last year had a great, you know, had a really good year in a rebuild year. And that's that kind of speaks to the program that Brad Dengus has that even, you know, when they're re-tooling, they're still making, you know, runs into the playoffs. And I think, you know, obviously this team for Spring Valley will be in the playoffs and they'll have an opportunity also to make a little bit of noise as well. And from, but from a stylistic standpoint, I mean, they're the same. It's, you know, wing T. It's going to be primarily run. You got to stop the fullback dive in Washington first and foremost. And, you know, Bridgeport certainly didn't do that last week with Carson Bender rushing for, you know, 200 yards. And then, you know, then you got to slow down Spring Valley's tail back, who's been excellent. You know, 800 yards rushing on the season for Bayley. So that's, you know, a kid you got to really, you know, pay attention to and try to get to the ground. And, you know, again, it's going to be

35:18strength on strength and kind of what we thought that was, you know, going into last week and it ended up being that way, you know, you know, Bridgeport's pumped out about losing, but I'm sure Ford Hill also on Saturday when they put the film on there looking at some of their defensive issues as well because, you know, Bridgeport moved the ball well against them as well and just kind of basically ran out of time in the game. Looking at the Spring Valley team, very similar to Bridgeport in terms of their losses. They're really good teams. Heinrichs and GW, Cabo Midland. These are two teams that I think look at this as almost like a playoff, pretty like a quarter final sort of game. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, certainly could be a first round playoff game and have that type of feel as you mentioned. And, and yeah, I think that, you know, Spring Valley, you know, talking, no Chris talk with Brad Dengus this week, you know, kind of about what they've experienced this season and he felt like they were getting better week by week, you know, they only returned, they only returned to starters from last year onto this team and one being their quarterback,

36:23Kate and Lovejoy. So, you know, Landon Spencer, who's had a great year in Colton, Mathis, so I just mentioned the junior tail back, you know, it's really his first year as a feature back in their offense, you know, their offensive line. I think all be at one starter back from last year. So, you know, they're probably just now, you know, rounding into where they feel like, you know, they are finally in a position where they can, you know, take this challenge onto the delface tonight head on with Bridgeport and, and, you know, play well against, uh, stiffer competition. As you mentioned, they, you know, so far this season, not that they've not been competitive, they've just not been able to, to defeat a team, you know, yet with the winning record. Last one for me, Travis, in the last few, you've had the last couple weeks, where has Gavin Williams health wise obviously got a little bit banged up on that last job, especially against Fort Hill, had to come out for a player to the house, how is he looking for what you've heard? Yeah, fine. That was just cramps, um, just cramps. So he was cramping up and, uh,

37:23Gabe Martin also, you know, just tweaked, uh, had a little tweak there, but both, both are fine, and both will be good to go, uh, tonight against, uh, against Spring Valley, and hopefully, Bridgeport also can, you know, slowly start to get those, you know, it's tough when you play 10, 10 games in 10 weeks, uh, to get the bumps and bruises healed up while you're, you know, in the midst of game action, and you don't get that off week until, you know, the week before the playoffs begin, which also brings another, you know, while you're getting healthy, you're also worried about the timing of this offense, you know, being off. So I don't think the off-work, come off-week comes at a good time, but, you know, as I'm talking with Tyler on a show on Tuesday night, really out of their control when you're in a situation like they are just trying to get 10 games. Anyway, they can, they just have to slot in. Anyway, they slot in the schedule and the off-week falls where it falls, and it just so happens that it falls in, uh, in week 11. But I think, you know, all things considered, you know, you miss Gavin for a game other than that, you know, none of your key contributors,

38:24you know, knock on wood have missed, you know, much time. So they've stayed pretty healthy and, you know, this team with, when you started the season, it was kind of, well, you know, had depth in certain positions, but, you know, I'm not on like any other team. They were kind of lighted other positions. They've been working on that depth and getting better, but, you know, health is always a critical key for Bridgeport to have a successful season, and so far that's gone the way that you needed it. I don't want to get too deep down the, the playoffs prognosticating rabbit hole. We're still a month away, um, and not even actually like, like, we have, uh, by weeks as well for folks, or really five weeks away from the end of the regular season, but just to clarify for, uh, listeners who, who may be curious about this, if you're a Bridgeport fan at this point, what you're basically rooting for is every team that you've beaten, you want them to win, but you want them to lose if they go head to head with another team that Bridgeport is beaten. Is that like the teams that they're chasing in

39:26this case, like Robert C. Burke? Well, I think you want, you know, the, the, the simple way to put it is you want every team that Bridgeport is beaten to win. You want every team that has beaten Bridgeport, Martin's Burgon Fort Hill to also win. Um, that, that's how you get maximum points and, uh, every point matters. We've seen that. And yeah, as you mentioned, it's way too early to start, you know, looking at prognostications, what's there's just too many awesome games, uh, you know, remaining, including, you know, this week, uh, there's a handful of awesome games that could affect Bridgeport, including Martin's Burgon Morton Town, the big one up to the road. You certainly want, if you're Bridgeport, you want Martin's Burgon to win the game. So still too early, but like I said, it kind of just looking at it, I, I do think that there is a pathway for Bridgeport to get back to the least number three. Uh, the, the stars would have to align for them to get into the top two, not completely, uh, out of the realm, you know, could happen, could happen, but probably more likely the Bridgeport ends up somewhere in the top four,

40:30heading into, into the playoffs here in a couple of weeks. Yeah, I was just thinking in general, I was thinking about RCB, Graften is one where Bridgeport's beaten both of them. So Graften winning would probably be preferable in that case. Uh, and then South Charleston plays Spring Valley. So there's a chance for, uh, not just a bonus point for Bridgeport if they've been to Spring Valley, but also South Charleston is currently slightly ahead of Bridgeport. So kind of things that are all getting on my radar now as we get into the stretch run here of the season. Travis remind folks where they can catch tonight's broadcast. All right. Right here. One of three three KMZ Bridgeports sports radio app, airtime 606 kickoff at seven. That's Travis Jones. Play by play voice of the Bridgeport Indians caught up with Chris George earlier this week. Let's play that conversation for you now. Chris George now with us, the analyst and WKMZ contributor for Bridgeport football. And we're going to, we're going to dive into Bridgeport first. Then Chris is going to join us again in the nine o'clock hour. We're going to really just, just, just rip the bandaid off and just go ham

41:30on the entire region and see how much we can get into. But Chris obviously, I mean brilliant game of football for, for, if you were a neutral fan, which I can't imagine there were many. I bet last week was a ton of fun. Like that's the type of game that the NFL thrives on and college football thrive off of putting on TV because neutral fans get to watch that and be entertained. But boy, if you were a Bridgeport fan last week had to be absolutely, you know, gutting. Yeah, it's been a long time since Bridgeport lost the game to a team that is similar to them. You know, Bridgeport allowed well over 200 yards to Carson Bender 200. And that's the first time Bridgeport has allowed a 200 yard rusher since Jeremiah King was a sophomore at Robert C. Bird. And, you know, in fact, you look at, and back then Bridgeport won the game. This time Bridgeport found a way to lose this game. And they're leading by two touchdowns at the half. Game was tied at

42:30the end of three and using Bridgeport just doesn't lose when you're tied at the end of the third or leading by whatever score at the half. And it's time they did credit Ford Hill. They had some great adjustments in the second half. I thought they played really well. I thought they tackled well. I thought they strained. I thought offensively they executed every fast of their, of their, of their offense. They blocked well. It backs ran hard. And Bridgeport did not play nearly as well. In the second half. And it's the second time this year on the row, Bridgeport just does not look like the same team we've seen at home. And it all starts up front. I thought the first half Bridgeport's offensive line came firing off the football and looked really good. I thought the second half the offensive line looked really average. I thought the defensive line didn't look as good either. I mean, I don't want to just pin on the lines. There's other parts of the, of the Bridgeport defense that did look good. And think the tackling was good from the second from the third level, the secondary. I thought it was, I thought it was pouring a second half. You know, just all in all. You know, you play like that against the team, my Ford Hill.

43:32You're going to get beat, especially on the road. You know, Ford Hill, a very good football team. It doesn't lose at home. That has a ton of talent. They're undefeated. They got a very big and large senior class. I thought it was a better Ford Hill team last year that we beat. But I think Bridgeport has shown that they're nowhere near where they worked this point last year. And that might be a good thing when it's all said because Tyler Ferris has reached time and time again. He went 16 to peak at the end. He wants them playing their best football when it counts in November. And well, that's, that's what's going to have to be because right now they're nowhere near at the level they want to be. And you can argue they're a little behind schedule right now. A lot of work to do starts the spring valley coming up here here tonight. And we'll see what happens. I think they'll be okay tonight. But who knows? Because it's Bridgeport team. It's got to go out there and they got to get that murder. They got to get that motor pern for four quarters. And they got to get back to playing Bridgeport football, both sides of football

44:33and consistently execute. And I think they'll be okay if so. Yeah. You know, it's interesting, though, because this does feel like in a lot of respects. This is what it's all about, right? Like, you want to learn these type of lessons in October, not in November. Yeah, you do. It's some of the things that worry me a little bit. You know, we talked about a time and time again. Defensively has been an issue at times this year. A front has been good. It's been average. It's been bad. Some tackling has been good at times. And tackling wasn't as good. Back on Friday night. And that was about all between five and seven players. I didn't think played their best game on really other side of the football. But I do want to make note of one kid that I thought went out there. And he wasn't the only one. There were others that played extremely hard. And that was Gabe Martin. That kid was really walking on one leg. And he was still forcing himself

45:33onto the field both sides of the football. And just taking every snap and giving it everything he had. I got chance to talk to him back on Winston. He's good to go. He says that was just bumps and bruises. I was tired. My whole body was hurting, but I wasn't coming out. He didn't. So I got to give him credit. But there were others as well. And Jalen Brown, I mean, he's going to be thinking about that for a long time. You know, that miss field goal there could have won. The 39 yards a little bit wide at the right. And, you know, and just didn't go for him. And, you know, of course, Gavin Williams, the normal starting kicker had been running five or six straight go routes to try to get down the field and not just get him in field goal range. They threw the in zone a couple of times too. And very close plays. It could have been caught. And then Gavin started cramping up there at the end. So learn from it. Move on. It's all Bridgeport can do. Thankfully, there's still a season left. This isn't the postseason. This is the regular season. Learn from it. Get better this week. Bridgeport faces spring valley this week. Chris and I are going to touch much more on that coming up during the nine o'clock hour. So during the bonus segment

46:37plus a whole bunch of other things. So folks recommend you stick around for that. All right. Thanks, Chris. He'll rejoin us during the nine o'clock hours. We're going to take a much deeper dive with him over the whole state of the region and the state itself on high school football. But we'll take a much deeper dive regionally more importantly about some of the teams that we don't always get to hit on during the main show. That's next here on the Friday free for all. But first, we have a lot of good stuff still coming your way. We are going to talk Philip Barbara. We're going to talk North Marion. That's coming up next. We are going to talk South Harrison. We're going to talk grafting. That's coming up in a little bit. And of course, we're going to talk with Fred Persinger. That's all ahead on the Friday free for all. Brought to you by Dan Cavatoy at a Buick GMC. This is the Friday free for all coverage of high school football and other local sports. Brought to you all season long by Dan Cavatoy out of world. Friday free for all rolls on. Brought to you by Dan Cavatoy out of world. We got a two for in this segment. Philip Barbara and North

47:39Marion. We're going to start with the Colts coming off a very, very important win a week ago. Finally going up against the double A opponent. And boy, it doesn't get much more difficult than having to play a team that loves to run the football on natural grass when it rained pretty much the whole time heading into heading into that game. Didn't rain as much during the game. Philip Barbara trailed at halftime comes back with a third quarter touchdown on their opening drive of the half and then hold South Harrison off the board on their ensuing possession, fumble in the red zone, Colts jump on it. And then it was just a trench warfare battle back and forth. Brian Bibi meant we caught a great game. It was great to get a game like that. But boy, oh boy, I bet those kids were pretty worn down at the end of that football game. That fourth quarter was pretty brutal. Oh, for sure. It was just a matter of attrition at that point. Tom Alex, we got to we got to see that firsthand. And boy, did we get treated though to two of the best running backs in the state of West Virginia class, double A maybe in all classes to be quite honest.

48:43I keep calling landed carpenter Fred Taylor. That's that's the one note I wanted to I've been going with that all week. That kid is a bowling ball who cannot be brought down. Oh, I agree. Yeah. And just to have a chance to see Shepard Paul and how he just physically imposing, but going back to your initial question you posed. Yeah. It was a matter of attrition up front that line. I mean, we definitely had some guys that were buying up after that ball game. And I, it was just a battle all night long. And what a heck of a ball game to get an opportunity to call like yourself. And just as a fan to truly watch was so enjoyable. Certainly, you know, obviously, on my end, it's it's a lot nicer when the guys can either win. That's for sure. But I will tell you my hats off to both teams because those guys played their their played their hearts out. Is quote unquote holding Shepard Paul in 147 yards. Good. So this defense. Yeah. Yeah, Mike, it is. I mean, I think I think that's a win for us, you know, and quite frankly, you know, I was worried after that first drive. I think it was 17 played drive about nine minutes. I told my my color guy,

49:47Tyler Rogers, it's a Tyler. We may only get four possessions tonight. And I meant that, you know, but you know, think settle down there a little bit, but it's so hard to defend South Harrison stick out. They just pound and ground it to the into the ground. And, you know, it's it's a very, very difficult offense to stop, especially when you have such a talented back like Paul back down the back. So now this three game road trip concludes with the third game of three. And it's of this stretch of games. You know, we talked about even going back to the last of the four game homestand against bridge port. You know, you had those three heavy running teams in a row between bridge port, Elkins, South Harrison. This is easily, I think, the team that will throw the ball the most probably there's a chance Peter's book will throw up more times combined than bridge port Elkins and South Harrison did. Oh, there's no doubt. I was, you know, just in preparation for this ball game. They're a quarterback, Matini. He's a ball player. Talking with coach Maley and

50:52watching the film. I mean, this young man can extend plays like nobody's business. And he will do just that, you know, tonight and it'll be interesting to see how the coach secondary holds up. You know, as coach Maley, you know, he talked to me and he talked to the team, you know, the last three weeks as you stated, Alex have, you know, the line and the linebackers have just had their hands for all night long. And you know, it's now that it's now the secondary's time to shine. And they're going to get their work cut out for them, especially that back that back portion. So, I think the last time we saw all something like this was probably the buck cannon game. That was game number two, the season. And that feels like a lifetime ago already. But they're going to be prepared because this, this young man and this wide receiver is they will sling it all night long. I know you talked about scrimmages and how impressed, how impressed and more food was. Peas were a beat that more fill team. So that's even though Petersburg lost by a lot of us, that's got to, it's got to ignite some warning signs for this full of barbartoon. They can't take this game lightly. Mike, absolutely. And as we talked about earlier in the year, the secondary for the colds, it's,

51:56you know, it's young. You know, you've got some talented athletes back there. But, hey, they had six interceptions against that buck cannon game. I don't ever expect to go into any game and get six interceptions, but they know they're capable of doing that. And so we shall see, it will be important to get pressure on this young man. Keep them contained because if you don't, he's going to take off for 15, 20 yards. It'll just, it'll be a heartbreaker all night long. I look at this Philip Barber team three and three now. And the losing streak comes to an end. And certainly the thing that that really helps is, you know, you look at who they beat. And I think they're probably going to get some nice bonus points out of South Harrison. I still think they're going to get bonus points out of graft. And I think there are still some wins for them to pick up. But you look at some of what's left on the schedule. If Philip Barber is now going to make a real run at a home playoff game, you know, these become must win games, particularly when you look at a team like Lincoln at the end of the season. This is sort of a, I don't even think, Jekyll and Hyde is fair to refer to Lincoln as this year. I think they really are consistently,

52:59like a pretty solid football team. They just play a very difficult, difficult schedule, much like you guys do. And that makes that game particularly fascinating for me. But so over the course of this next month, what is, what are, what are kind of the critical components for, for Philip Barber to string together enough points that they're going to get or at least find themselves flirting with a home playoff game? I think number one, you have to stay healthy, Alex. You know, starting to get bind up a little bit, but I know we're down at least one young man, and I don't know if he's going to make it back this season yet or not. But we have to stay healthy. And then number two is talking with Coach Malia. I mean, they've got to find some guys at the wide receiver position to step up other than Tristan Price and Kent Rowan. They've got to get some guys involved in that passing game that can help alleviate and spread the field out. I think there's really two biggest things for the coaches they move forward. All right. Hey, Brian, go ahead and tell us where folks can check out tonight's broadcast and what time pregame starts. Yeah, I appreciate that guys. Luckily 1240 AM and 99.9 FM WD&E. I highly recommend the WRC Media app.

54:05Just go down to the Elkins listing stations and click on WD&E and you'll get that anywhere on your phone or your tablet. And then if you're in front of the computer, you want to hook up to the internet, just go to www.wd&ethm.com and go to Philip Barber Sports Stream and you can catch us there pregame 640 kick off 7 o'clock from Petersburg, West Virginia. That was Brian Bibi play by Play Voice of the Philip Barber Colts. We're going to check in now with Sean McNamara. Actually, we had a chance to catch up with him earlier this week. So let's play that conversation for you now. All right. We're now going to take the next five or six minutes to talk about the greatness of Kenyan Sedeek, New York Jets tight end. Sean McNamara is here with us play by Play Voice of the North Marion Huskies and Sean in lieu of Kenyan Sedeek. Why don't we talk a little bit about North Marion football, though I know there will be better weeks to talk about Kenyan. So the Huskies were off last week and before I get into anything North Marion and Elkins related, what do you think

55:05was the biggest thing that was accomplished during this week? Was it resting? Was it anything special? They didn't practice? I think it's probably a combination of everything and thank you for having me. I should always lead off with that. I think it's probably a combination of everything. And I think, reping some new things and maybe find installing some stuff that they haven't shown yet. I'm not sure what that is or what that looks like, but I could see that they've had some sputtering offensive moments and some things that maybe they wanted that they wanted to try that haven't worked. So I wouldn't be surprised to see Coach Taylor, the OC come in and install some new stuff on offense. And yeah, just getting healthy and kind of regrouping a couple real emotional games in a row and now now head it down to Elkins tonight. Class Triple A game of the week for Metro News. This is a big one between North Marion and Elkins. And these are two teams who are kind of fascinating because we're not totally sure. We know both these teams are good. What we don't know is how good. And so going ahead to head with one another, we'll get at least

56:08some kind of an idea. At least right now at this point in time, who is better at North Marion, of course, coming off the buy, but two weeks ago had that incredibly narrow win over Lincoln. Elkins, I think we were all a little taken aback by that early season lost to Morfield, but they have really come back with a vengeance since then they're not just winning games. They're dominating games. Yeah, Elkins a very good team. You mentioned coming off the buy week for North Marion, when you're going up against the team that is as unique as Elkins and what they do, I guarantee that co-chays and the Huskies were happy the buy week came at this time to have a chance to prepare for how that offense runs. And yeah, two good teams and two teams very familiar with each other and doing some of my research. Elkins North Marion has scored more points against Elkins than any team in school history. They have the second most wins over Elkins in team history compared to any other team and it's the team they've played the third most amount of times. So two teams are the great history they've played every year since 1983,

57:13saved for the 2012 and 2013 seasons they took off. North Marion's won all of those matchups dating back to 2016. However, after a couple of lopsided victories early in that streak, Elkins has obviously improved tremendously as a program at 2.1 in 2024. And a big win last year, 41 to 13, but I think anyone at that game knows that that was kind of an anomaly the score the way it was. So yeah, Elkins a good team really looking forward to this one against two familiar teams and an Elkins team that is that is rolling right now. And one last question sort of an obligatory playoff positioning scoreboard watching question. The coaches, whether they admit to it or not, whether they do it or not, we fully admit to doing it. I love scoreboard watching. It's one of my favorite things about this time of year. North Marion won just two unbeaten teams remaining on the in-class AAA. And what's fascinating is, you know, there are full two points, almost a full two points back of Herbert Hoover. They're much closer to the number three spot than the number one

58:18spot. Now that's not the end of the world. There's no there's nothing for really only pride purposes. Do you actually need to get into that number one spot? It's all the same about home games if you're one or two and you win all of your games in theory. So I guess my question to you is what outside of simply winning? What are the most important things that North Marion needs to do or needs to happen on the scoreboard elsewhere for them to hold on to that number two spot? I think you look at North Marion and you look at the, you know, what could really help him as some of the teams that they've beaten, picking up some wins. And, you know, the schedule is what it is, you know, it's made years in advance, but you, you know, you look at the bonus points, for example, on the class 3a ratings. North Marion has 11 bonus points right now. Fairmont Senior, the track number 15, they have 24.6 bonus points and they're ranked at 15. And so then you go all the way down. And with a few exceptions, you know, you have, you have Princeton who only has,

59:20who has under 11 bonus points. You know, you have some teams like that, John Marshall, sitting at five and one rank number nine, they only got four point four. But once you get below that, almost every team has more bonus points. I think North Marion could be, could benefit from some of the teams that it's defeated, winning some games. And then, you know, you, I'm sure they hope the teams around them lose a couple as well. The game over Elkins, this is going to be a big one. There's a lot of points on the line against the Tiger team that barely has any more bonus points than North Marion. They've got 11.8. So I think that's, that's kind of what you're looking at right now. It would be interesting. If the playoffs started today, which thank goodness they don't, I'd like to watch a lot more regular season football. And it would be very silly to start the playoffs after six weeks. But it would be North and Fairmont Senior, which I think would be a lot of fun. Sure would. I don't think North would be thrilled with that, but it would be, would be great fun. Sean much appreciated and remind folks that they can catch the game. We can get the audio on YouTube at the Husky Corner, Steven Harbor by color analyst. It is his YouTube page and on

1:00:23Huddled fan as well search North Marion. You'll find it there. Thanks to Sean for catching up with us. When he had some time, we appreciate that big game for North Marion this week. He's Michael Minick. I'm Alex Wheeder's Spiel and we're going to talk some South Harrison plus Graften coming up here on the Friday free for all brought to you by Dan Cavatayota World. That's next. This is the Friday free for all coverage of high school football and other local sports brought to you all season long by Dan Cavatayota World. They were so close, so so close. Welcome back everybody. The Friday free for all brought to you by Dan Cavatayota World. We're going to dive into the little South Harrison and then John board from Graften is going to join us on the back half of this segment. This is sort of a two for here. Graften's on a buy week this week I might add, but this is probably a in many ways very appropriate. We're talking about the two teams who came awfully close to knocking off Philip Barber and just could not get the job done late in the game.

1:01:26And very similar stories in fact to the way that went down. But South Harrison loses to Philip Barber last week 22 to 16. And now the Hawks really get into the thick of their schedule. It does not get any easier. These are the three toughest games. Really the four toughest games all back to back to back to back and they get progressively tougher. Themingly with each week going clay county Philip Barber Dodger's County Williams town this week. They are on the road at Dodger's County. We'll get into that in just a minute. Mike, I we talked about this Philip Barber South Harrison. Did were you surprised at all by how close it was? No, I think this is what I expected that both of these teams are kind of coming in on a little bit different to Jack trees in terms of South Harrison had played well but against weaker opponents. Philip Barber has struggled a bit against better opponents. I figured it was going to kind of meet in the middle and it did. And I figured also with the weather and the way that it was, it was going to be a smash mouth running game no matter what. But that might slow down some of the big plays. And that's what we saw with three touchdown three scoring plays each way a six point game.

1:02:30Yeah, and they had every chance. I mean they led 16 14 at half time. So if that gives you any indication, but the star of this show, like it ultimately, you know, it's funny. I think it was you who said, you know, whichever running back has 150 yards and I think they both wound up having 150 yards. But the spirit of that statement still came true because it was essentially which running back is going to outrun the other and landed Carpenter with the slight edge over Shepherd Paw. I know Shepherd was pretty banged up in the in the fourth quarter there. I might have just been kind of wearing tear stuff. But yeah, it was a it was kind of a wild set of circumstances because land and Carpenter, man, that dude's just a bowling ball. Like he is so difficult to bring down. And for a Hawks team that runs a lot of two way starters, you could tell it was really, you know, that's one of those instances where Philip Barber winning on the offensive side of the ball also helped them on the defensive side of the ball. Yeah, kind of imposing that will. And that physicality is really important for the way these two teams like to play. Foo a barber did a better

1:03:34job that. And I also think Foo a barber's been really smart with Carpenter where they had a couple weeks where things are going well. There's no point in banging him, he's heading us off 30 times, you know, get him out of the second half against Bridgeport, you know, kind of road to him a little bit against Alcans. I think that pays off again like this where he's a little bit fresher and a little bit more physical and that makes a difference in the game against a South Asian team that wants to do something that you do, which is to control the trenches and run the ball. Speaking of which very similar identities this week between South Harrison and Dodgeridge County. Now South Harrison is averaging three and a half passes a game, which I think is actually up from last year, but they have thrown the ball 21 times this season so far in six games. Dodgeridge County is thrown at a little bit more. I think I'd double as much, but they are in 80% to 20% breakdown. So four runs for every one pass. Dodgeridge County. So this feels a lot like last week where it's going to be a lot of running. The weather is going to be much nicer than it was a week ago, but the big thing here is, and this is where I think the challenge for the Hawks lie. I think Dodger

1:04:38is probably deeper at this point than Philip Barber is. They are and, you know, we talked in the open about Schoolbird watching and interesting results. Dodgeridge County being pitied as we're by 40 jumped out to me as well. That was one of the biggest wins not just in terms of the margin, but in terms of the important. Petersburg had just beaten more fairly before. It seemed to be at outkits. So to go on the road, no less to Petersburg, which is the IDG place to play. Score 52 points. Hold Petersburg to 12. That really impressed me. And I think the defense has been where Dodgeridge County has made its money. Even the Rome game, they lost the only give up 26, but since then just 44 points a lot. They've been one of the best defense teams in double A this year. And I think that's going to be really key against South Harris and slow paw down, make some plays on offense. And I think that's the game playing against South Harrison. I know the Hawks are also nursing some injuries this week. So there are some folks who are going to play, but not necessarily be at 100%. So this is a tough one for South Harrison. No doubt about it. Now, the situation for the Hawks, it looks awfully similar to last season at this point with the

1:05:43exception being that, you know, they got a pretty big win over Clay County that they did not get last year. Now, it ultimately meant the same thing. It meant a four and one start, but this is how the schedule shakes out the four most difficult games are back to back to back to back to back last year as well. The difference was early in the season last year. South Harrison did not have as many bonus points like they got some from beating Lincoln, which they didn't do this year. But there's an argument that that Clay County win will wind up being more beneficial for them playoff-wise than beating Lincoln was last year. Yeah, and Clay just beat a little continue that's kind of on the ballboard right now on the wrong side of the 16 point line. And it is significant to note, yes, South Harrison is 12th, but they almost have a two point edge on the last team out of the playoffs right now. I've been in one trail. You mentioned the bonus points. They've gotten nine. Nobody out of the playoffs right now has more than seven. So they have set themselves up well. Even if they lose

1:06:44one or two of these games, I think they'll still be in good shape. And again, losing to good teams helps you in a way because you get those strengths and schedule points. So I feel like South Harrison with those four wins already in the bag or in a good position. And I feel like there is a pretty core line between the teams that make it and the teams that don't. So I think I think mathematically they're in a good spot right now. Yeah, I think the only time you would probably really start panicking is if they don't beat Tyler consolidated in week number nine, that would probably be the big concern. And of course, you know, looking ahead a little bit, prognosticating a little bit to worth noting that the similarities between South Harrison Tyler and South Harrison Philip Barber are very similar, but the rules were reversed, right? So in the case of Tyler consolidated, they're going to have that game on the schedule because they're lost at home last year to South Harrison, who came from behind to win that game. After really looking kind of dead in the water in the first 12 minutes or so of that game, they're going to have that game circled that kept Tyler out of the

1:07:44playoffs. And on top of that, Tyler's going to get so much like with Philip Barber having three very difficult opponents before coming and playing South Harrison, that's what Tyler's going to get where the hawks have just played for really hard football games and haven't had their by week yet either to boot. In particular, I mean, even if you wanted to say maybe the clay game wasn't as hard because they were able to rest some guys in the second half of that one. Philip Barber, Dodger, and Williams town, you're not resting anybody in any of those games. That's going to be three very physical football games, no matter what happens. And the other thing with Tyler, is there a point by knowing that one, this two games issue and comfortably, so I think they're going to be rested for South Harrison. Right. And so in if you go to do you look at that game now, right now, that does feel like the big swing game in double A. Now that losing that as you pointed out, that does not necessarily guarantee anything at this point. We don't know. There's too much, you know, prognosticating and certainly, you know, Clay County could continue helping out the hawks by winning. And Oak Glen

1:08:50has actually despite, I think not playing a there. They let me put it this way. They didn't play their best game in Lost Creek. They've won their last two games, including shutting out St. Mary's. So you are picking up some points there from Oak Glen as a result. And, you know, I believe Oak Glen actually plays Tyler consolidated before South Harrison does. So if Oak Glen were to somehow beat Tyler consolidated, that also changes the whole formula as well. So not to get too far ahead, but these are two very difficult games. But the hawks are still kind of in control their own destiny, even even with how hard these next two of the potential will be. Now you win one of those. And that would change the entire discourse about South Harrison. Yeah. And I think then you're talking about can we get a home game? If you go in one of those, you're going to be in a decent position to get a home game. And I also, I think the schedule sets up well that if South Harrison can win one of these next two and then beat Tyler by week and then a Ravenswood team, they should be easily. They're going to be I think in a good

1:09:53position with the first round of the playoffs in terms of physically, mentally, they're going to be in good shape. Yeah. So again, it, you know, they obviously kind of let one get away from them against a pretty good Phillip Barber team last week. I'm sure they would like back some things that happened in the second half. But hard fought physical football game. It is what it is. And if you're South Harrison now, I just got to focus on what is next because again, still very much in control of your own destiny. All right. On that note, let's go ahead and transition over to grafton. John Borde is on the line with us now. Grafton, Bearcats, pick up a tough one last week, falling to Elkins 49, 21, which means the by week comes at a very good time. The schedule does not ease up here. The rest of the season and John Borde, the play by play voice, also strengthen condition and coach is here with us on the line. John, what's up? How are you, sir? We're doing, yeah, grafton's doing okay. We knew Elkins may be the second best team on our schedule. They've got

1:10:56Hatfield, Robinson, Compton, Quarterback. They've got a lot of speed and a lot of power. John, it seemed like just kind of reading about this game looking at the stats that grafton had to throw a lot more than they wanted to just because Elkins got the leader right. But it seemed like they're pretty effectively 10 completions for two touchdowns of 141 yards. What did you see from the passing game having to kind of do more in this game? We were able to throw, we were able to throw short passes on them. The thing that happened was we got two behind the first half. The second half, we adjusted to what they did. If you look at the score, it might have been 147 in the second half. We adjusted to what they were doing. But I'll tell you what, Hatfield is the real deal. He's got speed. I mean, he just ran by people. He's an incredible player and I'm sure. Very incredible. And I'll tell you what, Elkins, when you look at their offensive line and their defensive line, they're huge for a high school program, even in a triple way, they're huge,

1:11:58they're big. And we had to contend with that. But the second half, we played extremely well. The first half that got us. And the final score of that one was 49-21, grafted now three and three. Four games left on the schedule. They are not, you know, certainly the Bridgeport one is going to be a challenge for anybody. But they are not unwinnable, Robert C. Bird, North Marion, Lewis County. RCB and North Marion have both, occasionally at times, shown some imperfections this year that I think would allow a team like Graften under the right circumstances. I think to have a real shot, especially with how improved Graften is this year. Now, I will say, I don't know that RCB is going to let Graften sneak up on them like last year. The Bearcats, of course, nearly upset them a year ago. That game coming up in two weeks, Graften is on a buy. When you look at these last four games, you know, what is the message from Coach as I assume this is still a team that believes they can make the playoffs? We, I think that

1:13:03right now we've got our eye set on winning two of those games. Now, it's definitely not going to be, you know, Bridgeport, that's a real stretch there. But in regards to Bird, North, and Lewis, we think we can win two of those games. Now, I don't know which two, but I know that their preaching, you know, we're there. And, you know, if we play the second half, the way we played the second half against Delkins, if we played against Bird or North, it's going to be extremely competitive. We will be competitive. This game was Cache Nester, who someone who's been a little bit banged up the shirt. He was the guy last year seeing him run effectively in this game, had to be encouraging for the future too. Sure, because I don't know if we talked about it last week or not against Berkeley Springs. He got hurt in the fourth quarter. He didn't play. And he took away a real piece of our run game because he, you know, he's, he weighs 220 pounds. He can run

1:14:09the football and he can run it hard. And he and the linebacking position that he plays, the inside, linebacker. I mean, there was losing him against Berkeley Hurt, but he was able to come back and play against Elkinson and actually didn't do a bad job at times. What do you do? What is your, what is your, actually, before I ask you your personal plans, what does the team do? How does, how does Coach Beltoner now first, first, obviously not a first time head coach because he coached a lot of these kids in middle school, but first time head coach of Grafton High, what's the process like for a bi-week is, is it a little bit more time off to rest and recuperate? Do they focus on different parts of practice, more game film? What's the, what's the process like for his first ever bi-week as Grafton said coach? We practiced three times this week. We practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be off Friday. We were off Monday. And then we'll get right back into it on Sunday evening with Coach's meeting.

1:15:13And so my other question is then for you. What are you going to do with your off weekend? My off weekend, I am going to Virginia with my wife so that I can have peace in the family. You know, it's one of these things. We start in January and we go all the way through to December and most of my weeks are completely tied up if it's not work. It's in the weight room. In the winter time. So I told her any off weeks we had, we could get some place. It's a smart guy right there. You got to learn. You got to do something. You got to keep peace. As long as I have peace, I'm fine. I intend to follow your suit with South Harrison. It's on a bi-week in a couple of weeks here for I think it's week 10. I'm going to follow your example here. Hey, real quick, I mentioned I got to see your Washington and Jefferson presidents again. They had another blowout victory as they continue to really dominate the pack conference.

1:16:18But man, oh man, they are good. They have a kid that they recruited started a true freshman at quarterback and he kind of worked his way up and stole the job. For folks who don't know anything about D3 football, I feel like that's a true freshman starting at Michigan. This is the third winningest D3 program. In history and this kid is worked his way basically took the job from a kid who hadn't played all that badly. You know, I was reading about him. I haven't seen him now. I'm going to see him in two weeks. They are, I can compare them to almost Bridgeport. They are consistent winners across the board. We have one of D3 championship yet. We've come close twice but we have one one yet. And that's a goal to coach Cereana. We want to play for championships. Makes sense. Hey, John, enjoy your time off. Thank you, sir. And we appreciate your time as always and we'll talk with you soon, all right?

1:17:21Gotcha. Thank you. Got to take a break. Fred Persinger coming up next to wrap up the 8 o'clock hour here on the Friday free for all our main portion of the show next. This is the Friday free for all coverage of high school football and other local sports brought to you all season long by Dan Cavattoyota World. End of the 8 o'clock hour, which means Fred Persinger is going to join us here and we in fact have Fred on the line with us now. Good morning, sir. Good morning, gentlemen. And I used to word loosely. That's probably to start to show probably probably fair though if we're being honest. I think you got the beat on us pretty good week seven. It's hard to believe we are every team is halfway through their schedule essentially at this point or more for that matter. There are a lot of coaches as we know who don't like to have their buy week until the second half of the season anyway. So every team essentially more than halfway through their schedule.

1:18:21We're at that point now where I mean, I know the coaches aren't really doing this or at least they're not going to admit to doing this. But Mike and I certainly are doing this. Scoreboard watching is fun this time of year Fred. Yeah, you're right, but every coach trust me. Every coach is doing it because they need to know. Let's be fair. They need to know that you don't start, you know, those hot two of days and August just well, I'll wait until the end of November to see if I'm going to make the playoffs and I come on, give me a break. You know, they know they watch the scoreboard. They know they know the rankings. There's not a coach in the state now with the way everything is that does not know the rankings after the final game is played on Saturday night of that week. They don't have to wait until the SAC releases it the first part of the next week. They know them. It's that easy anymore to fix the rankings for everything we can do it with. So they know they know how important it is this time of the year. That's of course in class. Quadet. You know, you're in probably if you've won one game already in Quadet. So, but triple A, double A and single A very, very important and these coaches

1:19:25know it and it'll all and in fact, even in Quadet, it's important to finish in the top eight if you can because you want to be home at least one week and through the playoffs will be nice, but at least one week you need to get that first playoff game under your belt at home if you can. I think two teams in no matter what happens this week are going to be home for reasonable or two rounds of the playoffs or our Marsbrick and Morgantown for a game of the week might be the game of the season in the state. I think it has a chance, Mike. I really do. I and I don't know who wins. I don't think I will guarantee as of right now this morning is that LHS is going to win. Obviously that. I don't know how it goes after that to be all with you. You know, we go back to last year's championship game, heck of a ball game. I don't know. I just I just think Martinsburg, Morgantown are two solid teams. They've proven it to veteran coaches and Sean Bizer and Dave Walker. Both have some great skill positions. Both have season lines. It's everything you would want. If you were just a fan of high school football, you just want to

1:20:30go watch that game because I don't think anyone can tell you how it's going to end right now. You just can't live too close, I think. There's another game in Quade before we switch over to Triple A. Just kind of curious. Well, I guess this is a Quade AAA matchup, but GW in Princeton seems like a pretty intriguing one for Friday night as GW undefeated Princeton 4 and 1 out of Triple A. That obviously seems like a tough tough trip on the road. It's not necessarily a long ways from Princeton to GW. You know, just up the interstate and you're there. Princeton, how do they bounce back from that first loss at the hands with Nathan Tatterby and the head coach when they got beat by Graham Virginia? I think that shows how good Graham is. Princeton is very, very good. GW though, to me, they may have the best or at least the second best running back in the state and Jaden Black and the sad news for everyone that follows any other team except George Washington. Jaden has a younger brother that got in the game the other night in score to touch

1:21:30down. That's after Jaden scored six touchdowns on the game. His younger brother came on his score to touch down. So they're loaded. There's no question. I think GW wins. I think they protect home field advantage, but you can't sleep on Princeton. Nathan Tatter has proven that. He beats teams. He feels he should and then he sneaks in one. He probably shouldn't. This would be one in my opinion that he probably shouldn't. I would not be shocked though if he did, but I still think GW is favorite to win it tonight. Now Fred, I will tell you Chris Lawrence pitched that as a heartwarming story. Yeah, right. Chris Lawrence, who likes to pet animals on the backside too. It's not heartwarming for anyone that's not attending George Washington. I mean, Jaden Black is legit guys. I mean, he really is. He's legit. I mean, he and Day Day Robinson could easily beat the two best running backs in the state this year, but I don't know. I did. Jaden Black has got so many crazy moves to be a youngster and the thing is he had a little brother coming on

1:22:31strong too. I think of the consensus for me at least voting in 3a and it seems like the voters too is that Princeton and Bridgeport and Herbert Hoover are the three best teams. If Elkins, if it's not very meets Elkins, do you feel like North Marion joins that group? I do. I mean, let's face it, Darren Hays has manned over the years. It's just been tough. We all can go back to that championship game at the Island in Wheeling and on and on. He's like, so close, but yet. And then, you know, they almost bit the dust when they almost got beat the other night. That was a couple weeks ago by Lincoln. So, so close, but I think this is an important, important game for the Huskies on the road. Chad wears ball clubs legit. Don't let anybody kid you five and one Elkins is a good football team. And certainly North Marion has their hands full coming up when they have to travel to Elkins tonight. That is an Elkins team that has seemingly gotten better too as the year has gone on. That is always tough to contend with when

1:23:32you have a team that's actually seemingly getting better week after week. One team that I think, I'm not that any of us are surprised by it. I know Mike is I can already I can I can feel I'm predicting a mic mimic eye roll here because he's a Kaiser guy. But Frankfurt somehow, some way doesn't matter how many players they lose. Frankfurt don't lose games. And they are five and no. They head on the road to face John Marshall five and one in class AAA. So going up a classification, how tough a test is this for Frankfurt going up to AAA, John Marshall? It's good test. It's real good test. I think Frankfurt wins. I do. I just think you know you won 33 on a row. If you're Kevin Whiteman, you're doing something right. And they certainly are with the Falcons. However, I think what they have to be more concerned about is the fact that man, they have got some tough games the rest of the way. Not only do they have John Marshall tonight, they still got to worry about wahama coming up in a couple of weeks. Then they've got independence coming to their place in a couple of weeks after that. It's not an easy schedule the rest of the

1:24:32way for the Frankfurt Falcons. But again, Kevin Whiteman is one of those smart coaches. Yes, you want to go undefeated definitely. And they may they may go undefeated again, but he's going to get better by playing teams like wahama. I know wahama is a single late team. Man, they're offensive mind to talk. Go on. I like how you stop on. I like how you slow them down. They're scoring 63, 63, scored 67 last week. So that'll be a tough one in a couple of weeks. So he's just going to get better. And he'll be in the playoffs, no doubt about that. And then I think that's where he likes to do his damage. So we'll see if he can win back to back to back. Cool. That'd be something. We've talked plenty on this show about spring value bridgeport, but wanted to get your kind of statewide perspective on that game. Do you feel like spring value is a team that can come in and be birchport? No. I talked to Brad Dingas earlier this week. And Brad Dingas is well, quite a playing better football. And they opened up with a tough, tough part of their schedule. However, if you remember last year bridgeport went to spring valley and just

1:25:35spanked, but timber wolves pretty good. Now spring valley has to get on the bus. They leave the friendly confines of the wolves, Dan, that's got all that natural grass surface they play on. And they go to a much quicker track when they head to bridgeport. I just think bridgeport being beaten. Last week, I think bridgeport's going to be ready. And I think honestly, you know, Brad Dingas knows that he's got a good football team, but I don't think he feels he's got as good a football team as he needs in order to beat bridgeport this year. Class AA game of the week one that I am, I think both Mike and I are pretty intimately familiar with two teams. Good rivalry. Historically, they like to play at the start of the season. That's not in the case the last couple of years. But South Harrison, Dodgeridge County feels like a very big, big game for for both of these teams. Dodgeridge County gets it at home. South Harrison, looking their wounds after letting one get away from them. That would have been maybe a kind of a season defining win last week. And this is a good one between two teams, both hoping to get a home

1:26:36playoff game if possible. No doubt. I know South Harrison gets beat by Lincoln, a team that I don't think he really wants to play right now. That's Rob Hawkins' ball club. And then they lose to Phillip Barber's. You imagine I think Phillip Barber started off great, then they slipped and now they're starting to come back and play better. You look at Dodgeridge County. They all set first game of the season of their own county. Nothing to be sad about that because their own county good football team since then. They've won four in a row and you know they've closed years. Mike, they haven't beaten world beaters in those last four games. But you want to get confident. Once you start winning, I don't care if you're playing the sisters of the poor, you believe you can beat anybody. And I think that's what we find. Bobby Burnside and Dodgeridge County right now. So I think he's going to heck the ball game. That's why in fact I got to select that one last night on Wednesday. I think it was on our show. And I think this is going to be a great game of the week. And I think it will be. I think it will be a

1:27:36really really good football game tonight. You don't normally look at two and four versus three and three. And so this is going to be interesting. I thought you Nitro willing Central is going to be interesting. Do you agree? No. I'm great. These quick answers this morning on it. You know, Nitro last year once they finished second and they had all that talent. Then a Boone McKenney, their head coach decided he was going to hang it up and he did. And then they graduated so many of those great players from last year. They knew he knew he's going to need a game. And Mike Young, if we don't know, Catholic will play anybody. We all know that. So they scheduled that game. I think Nitro has got their hands full. I really do. I know Nitro won last week, but still, I think they've got their hands full when they've got to play Wheeling Central Catholic. Catholic is really playing good football. They've played a tough schedule at anybody in the state. No doubt. So I think I think Mike and small club, they're so talented. Niko Kusik is good a quarter back as there is. I like Wheeling Central Catholic a lot tonight. One quick note, of course,

1:28:41the Metro News class A game of the week is Wohama, Calhoun County. And listen, I think Calhoun County has been a phenomenal story this year. This is definitely a stress test for anybody. Maybe the one thing working in their favor is Calhoun County is not an easy place to get to from Clarksburg. So you're coming all the way from Wohama. I got to imagine that's going to be quite the trip. They have quite the trip James Tootsball Club though, they like to travel. There's no problem there. Calhoun, they lost on the road at Sherman, had to go to South. That's a good tough place to play. So other than that, they have played well. But Calhoun is like you mentioned 4-1 and we were looking for what could be a good game in single A. Unlike the other three classes, there's not a really a lot of, I didn't think competitive matchups in single A this week. So you look at two teams. I've got competitive records in both due. I think Calhoun, though, while they're going to have their hands full, I mean Wohama, with a white Falcon, they just,

1:29:47they scored half time, you can do careful. I mean, really, they'll score half time on you. So they're tough. They are very, very good. Yeah. Like the band has a good quarterback, even even even even there in Wohama, the band's able to get some points in the board. That's right. Yeah. A Wohama with a pedestrian 57 points in their opening week performance and they have exceeded 60, 62 every week since the I mean, it's, it is pretty wild. What they are, what they are doing offensively is pretty bonkers. And what you have to understand is a lot of loose games, that clock in the second half has been running. So they're doing it, not with the allotted 12 minutes per quarter. They're doing it sometimes with eight minutes per quarter. They are just quick. They are on a tremendous offense and the very, very talented, very talented. So I don't care how far the bus trip is. Of course, you'd much rather be playing them at home. And you know, hey, Calhoun, hey, they can bow their backs and say, come on, let's play and see what happens.

1:30:48But on paper, you've got to believe that Wohama is in for another relatively easy win. I was to put that in perspective. Wohama is scored a hundred and thirty-nine more points than anybody else's single at the share. There you go. And play probably fewer minutes if we get our figure that far out. If we knew when the games were, you know, being sped up and when the clock was running and all that, they probably hadn't had nearer much as much time as most of the other teams in single. Yeah, that is, it is, you know, we, I do love a good efficiency stat. We'll have to find some points per 48 is what we'll have to come up with for, for, for our high school level. Hey, one quick note on Calhoun County just because I, again, I went there a couple years ago for a South Harrison game and I mean, I, they were really, really up against it in Mount Zion at that point. They've had a rough stretch here. So probably not going to happen this week, but they have a very good chance of matching their best win total since 2015 with their next win and more than likely, if you look at the rest of their schedule, they have a real good chance

1:31:52of exceeding it. Have not made the playoffs in nearly two decades. So Calhoun County, like I said, that's a great story. Happy for them and, and hope that they get an opportunity as this season goes along to be featured against other teams other than Wahama. Because that's, and that's, I don't want to see anybody get hurt tonight or tonight against Wahama. Get through the game. If you get beat, you were expected to get beat and you move on and try and win some of those other games as you talk about Alex. If they can do that, hey, get to the playoffs, see where you can go. How big a thrill would that be for the folks at Calhoun County? If they could get to the playoffs, you never know what happens once you get there because now you start eliminating teams right and left. So we'll see, but just don't get hurt tonight. Play the game. Play tough. Play hard and come out on the other side and get ready to tango with Valley What's the next time out? Now, as I understand it too, and I want quick final note on this, they've been playing football in some capacity at Calhoun County since 1923. I, if I am reading this right, they have never won a playoff game before in the history of that

1:32:54program. No time like the present, right? Yeah. Absolutely. Fred, appreciate your time, man. Hey, telephokes, as always, you know, just in case there's someone out there who does not know at this point, where can they find high school game night? Anywhere in the state, really, 53 radio stations. And of course, we do video and the whole nine yards on YouTube, on Metro News television, Facebook. It's there. If you're looking for a score, I promise you, after 10, 20, I'll have every final score. That's quite the guarantee. We're going to start calling you Mark, Mark Messier, Joe Namath. I don't know. These are New York sports icons who guarantee stuff. Fred, you're in you're in rare fight air, my friend. We appreciate you as always. Anytime, guys. All right. That was Fred Persinger, the host of high school game night, Alex Wheaterspil, Michael Minnick. And that's all she wrote for the main portion of the show, Mike quickly before we get out of here. Big, big thing you're looking forward to tonight. I want to see how for real all consists. I know they lost to a pretty good more field team, but I still have and question them

1:33:58a little bit because of that. If they can beat North Marin, then that I think my questions are answered. And this is a legit team. All right. I honestly, that's, I think that's, that's a very, very good question. And I don't know the answer to that. I'm going to, I'm going to be a little bit, a little bit of a homer. And I'm just going to look at that South Harrison Dodgeridge county game and say, boy, a, a, a, can South Harrison finally find a way against Dodgeridge County. It has been a long time since the Hawks have beaten the Bulldogs and they very nearly found a way last week. Let's see if they can bounce back with very difficult back-to-back opponents. On that note, we have got to step aside, but there will be bonus content coming during the nine o'clock hour. So don't go anywhere. This is the Friday free for all brought to you by Dan Cavatay out of you at World. And we'll see you all either next week or just right after this commercial break. It's up to you really. And of course, the shows and podcast form at your preferred podcasting platform. Peace! This is the Friday free for all coverage of high school football and other local sports brought

1:35:17to you all season long by Dan Cavatay out of world. Now back to the morning spiel brought to you by Royal Water on WKMZ. Chris George is back with us here as we dive into our bonus segment of the Friday free for all. And Chris, I as always appreciate you pulling double duty on the program, which admittedly I know for radio listeners and podcast listeners does sound a little bit different. But as this is the flagship station of Bridgeport football, I feel like it's only right that we spend a little bit more time than we had on the actual game coming this week. And we obviously talked with Travis some about it. But Bridgeport Spring Valley, this is obviously one that, you know, your Bridgeport, this is a get right game for you after what happened last week. And this is a Spring Valley team that if you look at what's left on their schedule, they've got some bonus points sitting there ready to kind of be collected. And potentially,

1:36:20there is a there is an outside shot. I'm not saying they will. There is an outside shot that if you look at that schedule, they could actually win out. Yeah, they've got a couple of really tough road trips against capital and hurricane who are not playing their best at the moment. And then their toughest game left on the schedule is actually at home. So none of those are a gimmie. But if you if you're thinking about how can Bridgeport start climbing those rankings back up at least find themselves getting into the top four where they might have a chance at two home playoff games, it starts this week against a team that could potentially be very, very helpful in the bonus point category. Yeah, could the first things first Bridgeport has to go out and win this game. And I'm more important. I'm really I think it's more important to look what Bridgeport does see how they play. You know, they can't feel sorry for themselves anymore. They're in rare territory. They haven't been forward to at this stage of the year in a long time. Okay. So learn from it, move on, come out to new day. It's new game. This is a big game. It's a good it's it's not the Spring

1:37:22Valley team that we've seen the past. I mean, you can argue Spring Valley may be a little bit there last year. It's a game Bridgeport should win, but I'm telling you right now, Bridgeport doesn't come to play for four quarters. It's a game Spring Valley can win. So that's kind of what we're talking about here. They're on their home field Bridgeport's play good football in their home field all year long. I expect that to continue tonight, but it starts at Bridgeport. They got to go out there and get the dubbing. I think it's important that they start showing what they're made of now. You know, let's just start getting better tonight. This is a get this is a get well game here. But out there get better get well and move on to the next week and then the week after that. It's time right now. I'm sure the coaches have expressed that to their team. They're going to respect their opponent. Bragg Dengus is one of the best coaches in the state. He's got a top-notch program. You know, it's what he's doing. His kids are going to be strong. They're going to be tough to move in the trenches. And this will be a good match up tonight. But I think it's time for Bridgeport to get back to do what they do. And I want to see this defense come out fired up. I

1:38:23want to see them establish themselves defensively against the run, set the edges and then control everything in the middle. And whenever there's any passes, be out there and again, Kate loves joy. It doesn't throw the ball at the time, but spring valley will fill it. But I think this is a similar team that we saw in Fort Hill as far as what they do offensively, but not the athletes the Fort Hill has. But I think it's good that Bridgeport can see more of a wing T power out formation type offense for a second week in a row because I think that's what they're going to see. Only tonight could be in the future as well. There's a couple other teams in AAA to do run, you know, various formations and various styles. So what we've seen, not just with Fort Hill, but with spring valley. So it's good for Bridgeport tonight to see it again, I think. One quick note just on the sort of prognosticating since we're going to start getting into that game here in the next few weeks. Bridgeport fans will likely become the biggest graft in fans if after week nine or week 10. I think that's week nine. Actually, the Indians get the win there.

1:39:24Grafton has the opportunity to really help Bridgeport out if the Indians do wind up in fact beating Grafton, which obviously they should still many weeks away. But Grafton and Faramon senior are probably the two teams along with spring valley who could most help Bridgeport at this point realistically speaking, you know, they can get help from RCB obviously, but they also need RCB to lose some games. So interesting, interesting situation developing here. That's a tough loss for Bridgeport for a lot of reasons, but again, we talk about it. It's better to learn that lesson now in the first week of October that it is to learn it in the second week of November. But I do want to talk about some other teams who are in the process of learning lessons as well. We're going to go kind of rapid fire here and let's stay in Harrison County, but we're going to drop down to double A for a moment because I feel like a team that learned a lesson last week was South Harrison. They had a 16 14 lead at half time. In many respects, I feel like that game went

1:40:32almost exactly how you and I thought it would go. And the big question would be would South Harrison be able to hold on to this game. And typically the Hawks that play really, really well with a lead. The challenge is always when they are not as deep as their opponent. And I felt like you could really see it in the fourth quarter. Landed carpenter was wearing down a lot of their two way starters with his just punishing runs. And ultimately the Hawks didn't score a point in the second half as a result, fumbled once in the red zone and couldn't get anything done in the fourth quarter and what turned into a kind of a field position trench warfare game despite the fact that the weather was better than many of us thought during the game itself. So Hawks learned I think a valuable lesson last week about how difficult it is to close out good opponents. Yeah, I thought that was a very good game playing from head coach Nick Malion, Phillip Barber last week. Landed carpenter more healthy than he was a week ago against Delkins. They just wrote him. They just wrote him in the second half. They just they just took that horse and went with it. I think it's smart. This Phillip Barber just doesn't have the

1:41:36doesn't have the receivers in the passing game that they had a year ago and sometimes they struggled feeling the ball. In fact, maybe more than sometimes maybe most of the time. So Landed carpenter was healthy. They rode that horse and boy, did it look good? And that's credit. Phillip Barber's defense too, you know. Phillip Barber's defense inside the tackles has been pretty hard to run on this year. And Mason Jones at five foot six is one of the smallest slimebackers, but he's one of the toughest slimebackers you'll see in the middle. He does a great job really. He does getting in there. He's hard to see. He's hard to block. And you can get some you can get some yardage on the outside against Phillip Barber's defense. But in the interior, they do a heck of a job. And you know, let's give them credit. Phillip Barber had had lost multiple games in a row here. They had probably played their worst game of season against Delkins the week prior. They could have came in here and laid down. They did that came in there and they played hard. In fact, they really played hard. End of one in this game. I think it's good for both teams. You know, I think it's good for South Harrison. I think it's good for Phillip Barber's going to

1:42:39give them a moment as they take on Peter Spur tonight. I think South Harrison's going to learn what from this as well. I think all tough in them up as the rest of schedule waits the hawks. So South Harrison has Dodgeridge County this week. I want to look at things from sort of Dodgeridge County's perspective for a moment. The bulldogs have won four straight. All of them have essentially been been blowouts. Not a who's who? Not a murderer's row. Obviously Ravenswood is, you know, not having a great season, which has typically been the norm there. Richie counties, a little better than they've been the last couple of years. They've won three straight. And Tyler consolidated. I don't think that's a I don't think that's a team that's super reflective of their record. They've had a really, really difficult schedule. There are three losses or two Williamstown Dodgeridge County and Wahama that a lot of teams are going to lose to those three. Point being though, when you look at Dodgeridge, the second half of their schedule gets a bit more interesting with South Harrison

1:43:40on the schedule with Williamstown on the schedule with Lincoln on the schedule and Mingo Central. The other opponent Braxton County, I think they should handle. Even though that's on the road, they should handle fairly easily. Braxton is better than I think they get credit for, but they're not going to be good enough. I'm pretty sure they're not going to be good enough to hang with Dodgeridge. Point being though, is you look at this. This is a big, big second half for Bobby Burnside's group. And I think they could really change the narrative on their season a little bit because obviously the the thing that stands out above all else is still the kind of non competitive game at Roan County to open the season. Yeah, really, this Dodgeridge County team is getting better each week. And it kind of figure they would, right? It's a great, it's a program Bobby Burnside's on the excellent job there with this program plus the kids in the weight room. That was an impressive win at Petersburg last week. Now, I know it's Petersburg team. It's awesome. Gaines this year, but it was that same Petersburg team that just two weeks ago beat more field and they want to add more field. I know

1:44:40more field suffered some injuries since the feeding Elkins back a week too. And this Warfield team was rolling through their schedule in Petersburg and and and and and Peyton Muthini, who's a really good quarterback, went up there and beat more field on a Saturday. And then they were hosting Dodgeridge and Dodgeridge just took it to him. I mean, just pounding the run right at him. They helped, held a very good passing offense of Petersburg to 12 points. So, you know, I did pick Dodgeridge to win this game, but I didn't think it'd be the lost side of the result it was. That tells me that this Dodgeridge team is really getting better and no surprise. Now, and you know this, and I think the team, the people in Harrison County, Dodgeridge County know this, this game with South Harrison. This is a huge rival. South Harrison in Dodgeridge County, it's a bitter rivalry. And I learned this over the summer with some kids that, you know, we're playing baseball, they had played for previous, but they either played for Dodgeridge or played for South Harrison. This is more than just a rivalry. This is a bitter rivalry here. There's a lot of, I don't

1:45:40want to call it hate, but there's a lot of, there's a lot of respect for both teams and kids respect one other, but there's a lot of competitors and competitive play here. And there's a lot of, a lot of will to win this game by one side or the other. And this, this could be a dog fight literally tonight. I think South Harrison's eager to get back on the playing field after what happened against Phillip Barber, but they're going to run against the Dodgeridge County team. It's really starting to play some good football. I think the Hawks probably wish they could have caught them earlier in the year like Roan County did. This is going to be a tough test night, only for both teams, but I think especially for South Harrison, but we'll see what happens. Let's talk about, let's go to triple. Let's talk about the Metro News AAA game of the week, North Marion and Elkins and North Marion number two in the playoff ratings. Elkins number five. They're both, they've been regular in the playoff, or sorry in the power rankings, the Metro News power rankings. They've been regulars there. This is a fascinating game in some ways, right?

1:46:41So Elkins blew out a Phillip Barber team that pushed North Marion to the limit. North Marion has been interesting. They haven't always had their best stuff weekend and week out, but they've been good enough to figure out how to close football games, you know, whether it's multiple defensive touchdowns against East Faremont, whether it's obviously closing out Phillip Barber and closing out Lincoln and closing out Faremont senior. It is pretty wild. You look at their last three games. They've all been coin flip games and the coin is all flipped the right side for the Huskies. So that by week in a lot of ways couldn't have come at a better point than it did. It gives them a chance to kind of reset this tough. They're on the road. They're at Elkins. These are two teams that have played a lot of football against one another. Sean McNamara detailed for us, but I can't help but think that there is a slight edge for Elkins this week, even though North Marion might be better rested. I think Elkins is getting better every single week and they're going to be awfully

1:47:41motivated at home against an unbeaten North Marion team, knowing that they, you want to talk about, you know, games that you should have circled on the calendar games that could mean serious point accumulation. This is a big one for Elkins in a lot of ways. They could potentially secure multiple home playoff games with a win over North Marion this week. Yeah, and you've seen Darren Hays' quotes that he's the most unhappy undefeated coach anywhere in the state because I think he knows. Well, I think he knows that you had two picks, six return, two interceptions return for touchdowns against Faremont senior. You had the ball bounce your way multiple times against a couple other teams on the schedule. And I don't want to say they've been doing a bus smoke and mirrors because they've been doing a good job passing the football and of course point extra. We know what he can do running the football. Although this is the interesting matchup. Jane Hatfield has really ran the football well for the Selkins team. He's

1:48:43made a difference for this team. Again, he didn't play those first couple games of the season against Lincoln and Morefield. And you're seeing what a difference Jane Hatfield does to the Selkins offense. Him and Seth Robinson paired in a backfield together as a deadly one to combo. But I think the week off here for North Marion's really going to help them kind of get refocused. And it's going to give Darren Hays. And I know it. I know he took that extra week to really home him on the fact that his team has got to get better. They have to execute better. They got to be more consistent with their game plan both offensively and defensively. Yes, there's talent there. Yes, they have the ability. And I think it might start tonight. This is interesting because I think I think Elkins might be the favorite here. I think they could win this game. But I think in the back of Elkins is mine at home. There's a lot of pressure. I think there's a lot of pressure here for Elkins to succeed. They haven't beaten North Marion in an awful long time.

1:49:45And it's spent, you know, last time they beat North Marion's with North Marion was a struggling football program. So this adds to this game. So can Elkins, does Elkins believe they can win against North Marion at home? That's number one. Number two, can North Marion be balanced enough to go to Elkins and be able to slow down the run game enough to make a difference? This is going to be a little bit harder of a front for Elkins to run against than they've seen the last handful weeks. There's no doubt about that. This is a stronger North Marion front. I think North Marion is going to score in this game. I do. I think there's going to be a lot of points in this game. I think both teams are going to score if the quarterback for North Marion, Colson Brown, if he can avoid a turnover bug, this is going to be an interesting game. No doubt because I think I think North Marion's more of a balanced team. Before this is going to be a fun one, if I had a chance to be somewhere and be at this game, it's not for the Bridgeport game.

1:50:45I want to end on Bird and Elkins. Bird and Elkins Bird and Lincoln. Yeah, it's a huge, huge game. I can't really decide who it's bigger for because if you're RCB right now, now you're really, you've been given a little bit of a gift with Bridgeport losing that game because you have a chance to finish ahead of Bridgeport in the playoff ratings, especially if you win out. I think if Bird wins out, almost no doubt that they're going to be somewhere in that top three, top four with a nine and one record that would include beating North Marion who potentially could offer a ton of bonus points for them. I think you look at some of the other wins. Kaiser has already won a bunch of games. They've got a chance to collect more bonus points there as a result of that. Bird is in actually a nice spot to be in. In some respects, you think they're probably super motivated because they know that this is a Lincoln team that has upended what previously had been Bird dominance the last three years with

1:51:49two Lincoln wins and one very narrow RCB win. The first ever Lincoln win at one Eagle way three years ago and all of that taken together, you look, you feel like this should be a very motivated Bird team. And yet, even as I say all of that and lay all of that out for you, Chris, I can't help but be intrigued by what, and I know I'm not the only one intrigued by what Lincoln has to offer here, you know, the narrow lost in North Marion, they just feel like a different team since the lost to grafted. They are literally one play away from having one three straight games. And this is a game that they probably have circled because you win, I think you win one of these three games against Bird Dodger, Dr. Philip Barber. And there is probably a legit conversation to have about whether or not Lincoln is hosting a playoff game, even at five and five. So I feel like they both are super motivated for this one. Yeah, they are. And I think Barosov is big time motivated

1:52:51for this. He gets to play against his former team. You know, that's another aspect we didn't talk about was the starting quarterback for Lincoln played at RCBA a year ago, transferred to Lincoln. I just think basically without knowing the reason, obviously, is he's looking for a chance to play because he knew that there was a starting quarterback position opening up in Lincoln because AJ Bart had graduated and Lomba Hold here comes Barosov and he's taken over the the quarterback duties and you're able to keep Jacob Bart and Colton Edwards on the outsides. Boy, offensive funny in this one, right? Both ways, both have both teams have outstanding receivers. Both teams can run the football. I think the, I think the answer to this game is which defense is going to play better? Will it be Robert C. Bird's defense or will it be Lincoln's defense? I think Lincoln's defense has starked year really struggled. But here in the last couple weeks, I know they give up a bunch of points to North Marion. I understand that, but I think that this Lincoln defense has a much improved defense on what they were to start the season. Robert C. Bird, very impressive win

1:53:53last week over East Pharemont. It was expected that they would win, but they were dominant. And who knows? You just didn't know what they were going to do after that tough big loss to bridge port. I think bird might have the edge here. This is because I think they're a little bit more confident of a football team after where they played at the end of the last year and also this year. The man Lincoln's just in every game, aren't they? No matter when or lose, they're in every game. And I expect them to be in this game and might come down to the end. Who has the ball last maybe? We'll see. I think it's going to be a fun one. Yeah, is this the game that a couple years ago came down to a goal line state? Our RCBs had so many of these tight games. Maybe I'm thinking of RCB Elkins, but RCB Graften has been close to the point is RCB and granted they are much better this year. The consistency level is significantly better, but this has been the part of the big 10 schedule that I think has given them some trouble in the past. And I think what we'll be curious here is if they have truly grown, sort of exercise those demons, you know, in theory on paper,

1:54:58the old like RCB should be able to win this game. Gotta see them go out and do it. And preferably I think if you're an Eagles fan, you want to see them do it without a struggle. You do, but here's our factor in this game is turnovers. Robert C. Bird, turn the ball over a little bit too much against Preston. And that's what kept Preston alive and acting against RCB. And I think Lincoln's going to try to gain extra possessions here to try to do something. I think special teams might be Lincoln's advantage here. We saw special teams and what they could do for them against North Marion. Again, this is going to be a fun matchup. Two good ones this week in our area. Elkins hosting North Marion and Lincoln and RCB. These are two very good matchups in this area. And both both could see a lot of points and both could see some deciding factors in the late fourth quarter. And these two no doubt. Chris, much appreciated. What I do this before we get out of here. Let me open the floor to you. I got to talk about everything I wanted to talk about. Is there anything that you wanted to talk about that we didn't hit? I think we want to keep an eye on Fairmont's senior the rest of the year.

1:56:04What they did last week at Buck Cannon showed that this offense is still capable of scoring a ton of points defensively. They still have some issues. And they got some tough games. They got a Bluefield team coming up that's going to be hard to handle. This is a Fairmont team that could go four and six and still find a way into the playoffs. We'll see. I haven't crunched the numbers. Available to tell. But this is a dangerous Fairmont team down the stretch here because they can score points. And if you just happen to stumble your way through Fairmont wins up, upset in the gaming. Fairmont always seems to play well at the end of the year when their backs are against the wall. Remember the year they were the 16th seed. They got in and they wasn't a whole darn thing. So I'm not saying that there at that level this year. But I think Fairmont's senior is one to look at. And I think also one big game tonight to look at obviously is Morgan Town in Martinsburg. You know, the rematch from a year ago, I think Martinsburg might be the better team this year. But Morgan Town has got him at home. Adam King does a great job defensively. For Morgan Town,

1:57:05he's going to have something skiinged up. I think this is going to be the game that we're the quarterback Michael Twig could be the difference here for Morgan Town. I picked Martinsburg to win this game because I just think Martinsburg may have a better team this year where Morgan Town was the better team a year ago. But anytime he got Twig back here quarterback anything can happen. So that's going to be a fun game and quadated eye between two EPAC opponents. Morgan Town and Martinsburg and also I keep an eye on University of the rest of the year. That little hot bowl later in the years looming large that University team is really good. And they're kind of sneaking around. No one's talking about them. They have skill all over the place. Their defense has improved. It's a well coach football team. That university team is scary good. And all by these talking about them and they're being very quiet. Just going about their business and winning game after games. So those are a few things that just kind of wanted to break loose here. I know they're you know a little bit more towards the Morgan Town area kind of out of our area. But games I think are important coming up not only this week, but here in the next couple weeks to come.

1:58:07Absolutely. University guys you said kind of a quiet six and a no and big that big win over Linfley. Definitely one that I'm paying a little bit of attention to now after that. They really dominated a team that has given a lot of a lot of in state West Virginia teams problems. I wanted to throw a quick stat your way between Morgan Town and Martinsburg. So they're of course a they are a combined ten and no by the numbers. They have outscored their opponents. If you combine all their points for versus points against 48 and a half to 6.7. So they have been dominating everybody. So it has the feel of a real strength on strength matchup. It does. It really does. And there's talent all over the place. There's experience. I think Martinsburg might be a little bit more experienced this year just for the simple fact that you know, Morgan Town gradually a lot of players off that team a year ago. But by now a lot of these guys that are finding new homes are getting comfortable. And I think if this game was at Martinsburg, I think I would favor Martinsburg a little bit more obviously that I am now. But with this

1:59:10they mean it Morgan Town. Look out. Anything can happen because the fence with Morgan Towns going to make Marcus Martinsburg play left handed. They're going to make them earn everything. Nothing's going to be easy for the bulldogs in this one. So this ought to be fun. Very good. Chris much appreciated. I feel like we we went through the ringer. Our mind folks go check out all sorts of high school sports coverage including the power rankings that Chris contributes to as a voter at the high school sports section of WV Metro news dot com news sports weather headlines. That's all coming up next.