If anyone is affected by John Messinger's proclamation at the outset of the Class AAA playoffs, well, they haven't shown it. Yet.
South Charleston's coach, after looking at the pairings at the start of this year's playoffs, felt like the survivor of the lower half of the bracket - his bracket - would become the state champion, and said as much four weeks ago.
Messinger thought the four toughest teams - SC, Bridgeport, George Washington and Martinsburg - were all in the lower bracket. When Messinger's team was the eventual survivor of that bracket, he in essence had already predicted a victory over No. 1 Brooke, which won the top half. Those two meet in Saturday's finals.
To his credit, Messinger hasn't distanced himself from that claim. But now he's not feeling so sure about it, either.
"I went out on a limb with my big mouth and said the winner would come from our bracket,'' Messinger said this week, "and I still want to believe that. I think overall, from top to bottom, we had the tougher bracket.
"The No. 1 team in the state won the other bracket. They should have, and they did. They proved it, they solidified the fact they're No. 1, so we've got to play the No. 1 team in the state. They have beaten the MSAC every time they've played them this year.''
Brooke has won all five of its games against teams from the Mountain State Athletic Conference - Parkersburg, Woodrow Wlson and Riverside in the regular season, and Princeton and Ripley in the playoffs.
If Messinger's comments bothered Tom Bruney, the Bruins first-year coach, he didn't let on that they did.
"The bottom bracket was a very tough bracket,'' Bruney said. "There were some quality teams down there. There were quality teams in our bracket, too. You just don't have much say in who you play. You play your season, the schedule you have and you're lined up [for the playoffs] based on what you achieved during that season, and that's the way it came out. We played our way through, and we're happy to be playing Saturday.''
Likewise, SC's players couldn't be drawn into any controversy over their coach's statement.
"I believe that anybody can win,'' said senior fullback-lineman Wayne Wurster, "and we haven't played them yet, so we don't know what they're like. Anybody can beat anybody on a given night, so we'll just have to play hard.''
Tackle-nose guard Blake Brooks, SC's top lineman, also takes nothing for granted.
"When we played Bridgeport [in the semifinals],'' he said, "we knew that would probably would be the hardest game we've played all year and it was, hands down. But we've still got one more game. We still have to practice, we've got to do everything we usually do and try not to think about the championship game Saturday, and the people who wish they could be there.
"I'm just excited and happy to be in that game, and proud to be in it.''
Hold the line
Ask anybody around the state about South Charleston's football team, and likely the first thing out of their mouth will be amazement at the assortment of skill-position players.
But ask anybody on SC's team about the squad's strengths, and they'll probably be praising the line.
"The line is the big important thing,'' said Ray Coleman, SC's leading rusher. "No matter if it's our offense or defense, without our line we would not be where we are today.''
Brooke's Bruney was likewise complimentary of the Black Eagles' big men.
"Obviously, they're loaded with skilled athletes,'' Bruney said, "but what really puts the icing on the cake is the fact they've got a big line up in front of them. Those two guards are mammoth - I'd say both are 300 pounds. They're just well-rounded, well-coached and very balanced.''
Wurster thinks the defensive line will be the big key for the Black Eagles on Saturday against No. 1 Brooke and quarterback Cotey Wallace.
"A pass rush,'' Wurster said of SC's emphasis. "We have to establish the line of scrimmage and control the game. [Wallace] is pretty good. He can move the ball. He can run, he can pass. We just have to contain him. If we contain him, we contain the game.''
Brooks said the Black Eagles must not get duped by Wallace, who's known for his slick ball-handling and play-faking skills.
"We need to stop their pulling and their tricky plays,'' he said, "and we'll be all right.''
SC's Messinger lauds the play of Brooks, who has been the cornerstone of his team's rebuilt front wall.
"Blake has done a superb job all year long,'' Messinger said. "In my estimation, he's had a Hunt Award year [the state's top lineman]. We built that offensive line around Blake, and we built the whole defense around Blake because we moved him back to the nose this year, and the odd-stack defense begins with the nose. If you can control the line of scrimmage, if you can blow up the center, if you can take the guard pull away, if you can establish the line of scrimmage every single solitary play, you're going to win the football game.
"We told Blake that going into this year, and he really responded to it. But he's supposed to - he's a 6-foot-2, 305-pound senior who's the strongest kid in high school football I have ever seen. And if he doesn't do that, he's not very good. But he had to earn his way into what he's done. ... He truly bought into my quote I use with my players, 'You're not as good as you think you are.' He's worked extremely hard, and I'm sure there's a Saturday future at the collegiate level out there for him.''
Second that emotion?
Bluefield has spent a lot of time on the road this postseason, taking long trips to Sherman, Magnolia and now Wheeling. But Wayne, its opponent in tonight's Class AA finals, spent a lot of emotion in last week's semifinal win against Frankfort.
The Pioneers trailed 21-0 at halftime of that game and needed to pull off a pair of successful onside kicks in the second half to regain momentum and earn a 27-21 win. Will Wayne have anything left in the tank after that?
"I've been coaching long enough to see times where that has a negative effect and seen times where it had a positive effect,'' said Wayne coach Tom Harmon.
"It's really up to the players and what their goals were when they set out. I know none of our kids expected a dramatic semifinal game - although that's to take nothing away from that. It's always about the journey. It definitely was a memorable experience, that's for sure.''
Not very superstitious
No team has made more Super Six trips to Wheeling than Bluefield's nine. Some of those games have resulted in thrilling highs for the Beavers, and some in forgettable lows.
Among the highs - thumping Grafton (42-13 in 1997) and Wayne (69-24 in 2004). Included in the lows - one-sided setbacks to Wyoming East (57-21 in 1999) and Weir (40-0 in 2005) and a 21-20 overtime loss to Poca in 2003 when the Beavers couldn't get the ball down for the tying extra-point kick on a muddy field.
Bluefield coach Fred Simon doesn't find himself avoiding routines his team followed during losing trips (restaurants, hotels, workouts, etc.), or adhering to patterns his squad followed on winning visits.
"Me, I'm not that superstitious a person,'' Simon said. "Probably earlier in my career [I might have been], but now it doesn't matter to me. I roll with it. Whatever we need to do, we do. That's how I feel now. Whether it's good or bad, who knows?''
Quick kicks
- Madonna's Max Nogay is 20-0 as a starting quarterback.
- Brooke is 10-14-1 all-time against teams from Kanawha County.
- Quick to recover: Man has fumbled 36 times this year, but lost just eight.
