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The Super Six was something else this season. All three games were good for a while, which isn鈥檛 always guaranteed to happen.
All the exciting action almost made you forget the temperature outside at Wheeling Island Stadium. It was pretty cold, except for a few glorious moments during the Class AAA game where the sun peaked out from behind the clouds to provide an instant warming sensation.
But those three games of the football year marked the conclusion of the fall sports season and the start of the winter campaign.
This means everyone can be warm, dry, and inside for the next few months for high school sports. How nice!
Girls and boys basketball, wrestling, and swimming now take center stage.
All seasons are underway, but some spectators may not have the information needed to fully enjoy the matchups they attend.
Luckily, the News and Sentinel鈥檚 Winter Sports Tab inserts in Wednesday鈥檚 edition.
Our 48-page guide provides the avid high school sports fan with rosters, jersey numbers, schedules and previews for 25 high schools and three local colleges.
One trend readers quickly will discover through their reading and examination of the tab is the area has several teams looking for state championships this season.
You can read up on how Parkersburg South wrestling looks for a third-straight Class AAA title. A team victory in Huntington would put the Patriots ahead of rival Parkersburg High for all-time mat titles too. Shaun Smith鈥檚 team has plenty coming back to make it happen as well, along with a few new additions, but I am not spoiling everything.
Or how Smith and company aren鈥檛 the only grappling team talking repeat as Danny Life and his Wirt County matmen are in the mix as well. Orange and black wrestlers claimed the first state title ever awarded to a Class A school last season, 55-45 points over Magnolia.
The Tigers have there work cut out for them however as you will read on page 30.
Speaking of streaks, Mike Fallon鈥檚 Patriots鈥� hoops squad returns plenty of experience to utilize in an attempt to make a sixth straight trip to the Charleston Civic Center for the state tournament. Things may look dire as South plays a tough schedule, but after losing just one senior from last season the Patriots are prepared for the challenge.
On the other side of the river, Scott Cozzens faces high expectations for his first year at the helm of the Parkersburg High girls鈥� hoops team. Cozzens has a wealth of talent returning from last year鈥檚 team, who powered the Big Reds to Charleston in the 2016-17 campaign.
PHS certainly gets plenty of road-game experience as they are home just six times this year.
A little further down South, Mick Price enters his 40th year of coaching with a loaded Ravenswood team powered by the memories of a loss to Notre Dame in the Class A title game one year ago.
Fred Sauro鈥檚 Williamstown girls鈥� team also would like another go at a chance to be the only team to finish the season with a win.
Both squad鈥檚 lost some players, but have more than enough coming back to make a serious bid to repeat their goal.
One local team who didn鈥檛 make the trip to the Civic Center last year, but has an excellent chance this season is the Parkersburg Catholic girls鈥� basketball team. Marty Vierheller has gone on record as saying this is the deepest team he has ever coached.
Catholic鈥檚 path to Charleston may be the clearest and most obvious before we celebrate the beginning of 2018. Vierheller and company winning their sectional championship to avoid a trip to face Class A superpower Huntington St. Joe is paramount. The Irish brought in several Class AAA transfers to put alongside 2016 all-state recognizees Dena Jarrells, Paige Shy, and Bailey Adkins.
I knew I wasn鈥檛 going to have enough space to discuss every team in the tab, but hopefully I whetted a few appetites for winter sports.
It is definitely going to be a fun winter.
Contact Joe Albright at jalbright@newsandsentinel.com.