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Position made the Virginia Tech game

West Virginia and Virginia Tech played one of the best games of the first college football weekend on a national television stage Sunday night, but that was little consolation for Mountaineer fans who endured a tough 31-24 loss. As we mentioned here last week, WVU had won all four of its close games in 2016, but this time it was the Mountaineers who were throwing into the end zone to tie at the end of the game but couldn’t connect. Both teams were evenly matched, each with outstanding quarterback play. Will Grier, in his first outing at West Virginia completed 31 of 54 passes for ...

Middle of the pack for WVU?

It is hard to believe that this begins the 30th year writing the Monday Morning Quarterback Column. By my estimate we are approaching 400 columns, but with WVU football one never runs out of things to say. Thanks to all you loyal readers. The Mountaineers overachieved in 2016, taking advantage of a down year in the Big 12 Conference and winning all four of their close games. Realistically, they were about an 8-4 team that with the stars aligned turned it into a 10-2 regular season. We have occasionally been on the opposite side of that scenario in past years, so it was fun while it ...

Pigskin Preview is coming

Every year I have worked on the football tab (three years now), I have learned something new about completing one of our most important sports sections. My first year in charge of filling in the pages taught me photos can be your best friend for blank space. Next season, I learned how writing down the tab measurements for all the rosters makes for a much smoother process than manually manipulating the information. This year may have taught me the most important lesson of all — always have a backup. I was in the office Sunday afternoon making the finishing edits to the pages ...

JT Kemp amped for senior year

Less than a week away from the start of the prep gridiron season, Ripley’s JT Kemp is more than a little anxious. The Parkersburg South transfer, who arrived in Jackson County this past December, already has paid dividends for the Vikings. During baseball season, he played first base and was a solid bat for skipper Shane Casto. Now, Kemp is set to finish his last year of football for third-year Ripley head coach Eddie Smolder. Of course, the Vikings welcome Kemp’s old team — the Patriots from Parkersburg South — on Friday night to Death Valley (Memorial ...

Titan Wright has passion for throwing

The third time proved to be the charm for Gilmer County senior-to-be Sada Wright at the AAU Junior Olympic Games. Wright made her third career trip to nationals and walked away with All-American honors for the first time last week while competing inside Rynearson Stadium at Eastern Michigan University. In my younger years, I was often told to try and find something enjoyable to do, have a passion for it and go full bore. Obviously, Wright has made that commitment when it comes to throwing the shot put and discus. Following a third place effort in the discus and a fourth place ...

Parkersburg South football selects captains

Parkersburg South football hopefuls for captaincy of the gridiron squad in 2017 faced a much harder route to their goal than a vote from their peers Sunday inside the Parkersburg South main office conference room. Instead of a peer election, each of the seven applicants attended a job interview led by head coach Mike Eddy and featuring the other eight assistant coaches on the Patriots’ staff for the four leadership spots available this season. “This started when I was at Gallia Academy,” shared Eddy. “Me and one of the wrestling coaches were talking about the concept of ...