Super Six recap -- It wasn't easy for Central
Monday, December 4, 2006
By RICK RYAN - The Charleston Gazette

WHEELING — You can scotch all those rumors about Wheeling Central possibly moving up to Class AA because it was getting too good for single-A. The Maroon Knights had more than enough competition Saturday night.

Brandon Tucker, held in check most of the game, tiptoed down the left sideline on a 14-yard touchdown run with 5:18 left in the game, allowing Central to escape with a 14-7 victory over Williamstown in the Class A championship game at Wheeling Island Stadium.

The top-ranked Maroon Knights wrapped up their third straight title and became the school’s first 14-0 team ever, but it certainly wasn’t easy. And it certainly wasn’t the blowout everyone was forecasting.In fact, Class A was supposed to be the only Super Six game that wasn’t close, but it turned out just the opposite. Parkersburg pounded Martinsburg 34-6 in Class AAA Saturday afternoon the day after Wayne handled Tolsia 33-6 in the AA contest.

Second-seeded Williamstown (13-1), seeking its first football title, gave Central everything it wanted Saturday. The Yellowjackets held Tucker, a 2,000-yard rusher, to his lowest total of the season — 86 yards on 25 carries — with a superb defensive game plan. But his 35th TD of the season proved to be the back-breaker.

“They were keying on me,’’ Tucker said, “but they didn’t just stop me. They kind of bottled up our whole offense the majority of the game. They did really well. We knew they were going to come in here prepared and they did a heck of a job. We were just fortunate to come out on top.’’

Williamstown coach Terry Smith, whose team lost to Central 35-20 in last year’s title game, heard the reports that his team would be overmatched but didn’t let it affect his preparation.

“I don’t think you can play the game in the paper or play the game on TV or whatever,’’ Smith said. “We came up here, we wanted to win, we thought we could win.

“They have a great program and a great team, but we didn’t come up here for people to say, ‘Good try, nice job. Boy, you guys played well.’ We’re glad we played well, but we wanted to win and we hated we lost. We didn’t come up here to get patted on the back. We spent four months getting ready for these guys, and it didn’t work out.’’

Central, which went unbeaten against a schedule dotted with five AA opponents and one AAA foe, had seldom been involved in a tight game, winning by at least 25 points in 10 of its first 13 games. But it found itself in a 7-all deadlock with the ball at its own 38 with 7:17 left in the game. Overtime appeared to be looming, but the Knights moved 62 yards in 11 plays to score on Tucker’s TD.

Williamstown was hurt by a blown official’s call on its next possession.

Jackets quarterback Brandon Roberts, under a heavy rush by Jake Henry, saw fullback Greg Davis standing a full yard ahead of him and backhanded the ball to him, but it bounced off Davis’ chest and hit the ground. The play should have been ruled an incomplete pass, but officials instead said the ball was live and Central’s Daniel Gordon recovered the fumble at the Williamstown 27.“I thought it was forward,’’ Smith said, “but we don’t have replay. I was complaining to the official about it, but he said from where he was standing, it was backward, it was a lateral. He swears it, so what are you going to do?’’

The damage became minimized when the Jackets held Central on downs, but on the exchange they lost 7 yards, 41 seconds and all three of their timeouts.

Williamstown moved to the Knights 37-yard line, but Central sealed the win when Alex Peluchette intercepted a tipped pass with less than a minute remaining.Central coach Mike Young had praise for both his team and Williamstown afterward.

“I know a lot of times when teams have had the success we’ve had and things start going bad,’’ he said, “you start pointing fingers, but we didn’t do that.

“At halftime, we told our kids they brought their ‘A’ game, but we were only playing our ‘B’ game, and we have to step it up and play our ‘A’ game, too. My hat’s off to Coach Smith and their staff. They did a tremendous job. Without a doubt, they’re the toughest team we’ve played this year. It says a lot about their program and their streak and everything, but it also says a lot about our maturity.’’

Williamstown starts the 2007 season with a 56-game regular-season winning streak, having cranked out five straight 10-0 regular seasons. But the big one keeps eluding the Yellowjackets.

Central has usually been the one standing in their way, but the recent proposals about having private schools play in a separate class, or conjecture about having Central move its sports into Class AA to give the Maroon Knights more competition across the board tears schools like Williamstown both ways.

“I don’t want to get into all that stuff.’’ Smith said, “but the thing is these guys are kids. They’re 17 years old, 18 years old. You can cry about all that parochial and public school stuff, but then you’ve got to turn around and tell your kids that you can beat them. And I don’t know how to do that. So I keep my mouth shut. These kids are smart. They’re no idiots.’’

Several fans in the Williamstown cheering section Saturday night unfurled a 20-foot banner that read: “We are the No. 1 Class A public school in West Virginia.’’

Central’s coach wanted nothing to do with a possible move to AA sports, which would mark the first school electing to play up a class since Williamson boys basketball during the Mark Cline era of the 1980s. Young likes where his program is at right now and thinks the competition is plenty tough.

“Absolutely,’’ he said. “I can’t say enough about Coach Smith and the program that he has at Williamstown. St. Marys has a nice ballclub. Greenbrier West has a good club. We just happened to hit it good on those nights [in Central’s playoff wins]. Those were physical ballgames this year for us.“I would not take anything away from single-A, and I definitely don’t think Central needs to move up to double-A to prove anything, just to keep things going.’’

 

Parkersburg’s 34-6 win over Martinsburg was the most one-sided AAA title game since 1992 and had the second-highest margin of victory in 30 years. The only one worse in that stretch was DuPont’s 36-7 win over Brooke in ‘92.The title was third for the Big Reds since 1999 and their 10th overall, one short of the state record held by Ceredo-Kenova, which closed in the 1990s. But it was the first for veteran coach Bernie Buttrey, who previously coached at Williamstown.

“For me, personally,’’ Buttrey said, “you work hard for 30 years trying to get to this point, and you get a bunch of young men who just take you there. It’s a shared thing. I can’t take any credit other than I just happened to be along for the ride. We’ve got a great team, and they just make you look really good.’’

This group could continue to make Buttrey and the Big Reds coaching staff look good.

Parkersburg will return five starters on offense — including three linemen, Lindamood and quarterback Andy Thomas — and six on defense, with three on the line, and linebacker Matt Littleton, the team’s leading tackler. Also back is punter/place-kicker Tyler Warner, who booted nine field goals this season, including two in the state finals, one a Super Six-record 50-yarder.

Lindamood was the leading rusher on a squad that set a AAA record with 352 rushing yards Saturday.

Thomas, who attempted just three passes and completed one Saturday, downplayed his own role, but sounded a warning for future opponents.

“It hasn’t been on me to win ballgames,’’ he said. “My job has been easy. Anyone could have done it. You turn around and hand the ball off to those guys, and they’re horses. Matt’s coming back next year, and [three] of the five guys up front.

“Yeah, there will be big expectations, but for now we just want to sit back and enjoy this.’’