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MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK: WVU creates a spark

Coming off a dramatic last second win at Texas the previous week, the major concern of WVU fans heading into last Saturday’s game against TCU was perhaps the Mountaineers would come out a bit flat and with a lack of focus. Those concerns appeared to be justified early in the afternoon, as with six minutes remaining in the first half West Virginia had not yet dented the end zone and found itself in a tight 3-3 game. But once the dam burst it became a Mountaineer train running downhill. Beginning a drive at their own 40, West Virginia went up tempo trying to light up what had been a ...

Good coaches, bad parents?

It was almost the perfect Saturday for Magnolia’s Pam Chapman. Earlier last week, I was trying to get in touch with the Blue Eagles’ head volleyball coach to talk about her team and their chances to win a state title in Charleston. Not long after I sent her a text message, she replied back and asked if it was OK for her to buzz me in about a half hour because she and husband Dave — Magnolia’s football coach — were on their way back from Wheeling Jesuit. After some volleyball talk, she informed me her youngest daughter Kelsi — a freshman basketball player for the ...

ALBRIGHT: PHS girls’ hoops won’t be defined by losses

Windows of opportunity for success when special teams emerge don’t stay open long in high school sports. If a talented team hopes to make their mark on history, panes of glass must shatter early to signal a group’s matter-of-fact arrival. One of those windows currently stands paneless, with a sweet aroma blowing in, for Parkersburg High’s girls’ basketball team. A year after winning the program’s sixth state title, the entire nucleus of the championship team returns with a chance to again celebrate in Charleston. Division I commits in senior Shay-Lee Kirby (Austin Peay) and ...

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK: WVU claims a thriller

It not only was the most exciting game of the season so far for WVU football fans, but perhaps the most entertaining game in all of college football this season. After a 33-yard touchdown pass to Gary Jennings with 16 seconds remaining there was no hesitation by head coach Dana Holgorsen. There would be no kicking an extra point for a tie and playing overtime. Instead after three and a half hours, 150 plays, 81 total points scored, and over a thousand yards of total offense, the game was to be decided on a single two-point conversion attempt. And just for good measure the ...

Column: We meet again so soon?

Tonight’s loser of the No. 10 Parkersburg High vs. No. 5 Parkersburg South football game might not have to wait long to score revenge according to two WVSSAC playoff scenarios. If Mike Byus’ PHS club pulls off the upset, according to the SSAC ratings, and Huntington beats Spring Valley, Mike Eddy’s South team hosts the No. 10 Big Reds presumably at Erickson All-Sports Facility at 7:30 p.m. next Friday or 1:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. next Saturday. South’s guaranteed one home game no matter the outcome of the crosstown showdown. A John Marshall win over Wheeling Park plus a ...

ALBRIGHT: Could Yellowjacket girls’ cross country go up a class?

If a single team at one school wished to play up a competition class in the past in West Virginia, the entirety of the athletic department had to follow along with the wishes for the desire to become a reality until a few months ago. A recent rule passed by the state’s board of education dissolved this requirement, instead establishing the opportunity for individual sports to test abilities at a higher level beginning with the 2020 reclassification by the WVSSAC. Decisions aren’t permanent for those worried about the flux of talent associated with high school athletics. Teams ...