CHARMCO – Week eight of the West Virginia high school football season is upon us and an intriguing matchup will take place this Friday in Charmco. Greenbrier West, 6-0 and fresh off their victory over the top-rated James Monroe Mavericks, squares off with the 4-2 Petersburg Vikings. The Grant County school was a 2022 playoff qualifier and returns nine seniors to a playoff-hopeful squad.
Charmco was rocking this past Friday night in front of a packed house for the matchup of unbeaten Coalfield Conference foes. After some last-minute heroics tied the game 8-8 in the first half, the Cavaliers rode that momentum to two third quarter touchdowns on their way to a 25-8 win.
In our Tuesday game recap, we focused a lot of attention on the offensive side of the football, however, the defensive effort was monumental in securing the win. C.W. Sturgell led the West defensive unit with 15 tackles, including one tackle for loss. Fellow linebacker Brandon Poticher tallied 14 tackles and a solo tackle for loss as well. The Cavaliers collected four sacks, one each by Marcus Adkins, Jake Pate, Jacob Whitt, and Colton Dunbar. Isaac Agee notched four tackles, defended two passes, and added a tackle for loss. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a few more members of the unit, even if their efforts didn’t pop up in a statistical category. Ethan Hamons, Cameron White, and Trent Parker really maintained the line of scrimmage and allowed guys to make plays behind them, guys like Moses Gray, Evan Vandall, and Ethan Holliday.
“Our guys are really good, really playing well,” said head coach Kelly Vaughan.
Offensively, the Cavaliers had their share of big plays. Holliday had four receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown. Holliday basically willed the Cavaliers in the endzone on a game-tying drive that took only 22 seconds off the clock. Holliday’s touchdown catch was set up by a 28-yard kickoff return by Pate. It was also made possible by excellent work from the offensive line, including Daron Vaughan, Logan Berry, and Peyton Ford, allowing Cole Vandall to deliver two pinpoint passes to Holliday to tie the game before the half. Holliday also set up the Cavaliers go-ahead touchdown with a 61-yard kickoff return to start the second half.
Colton Dunbar’s 22-yard, go-ahead touchdown catch was part of a 3-reception, 38-yard night. The scoring pass was also a school-record 23rd career touchdown pass for Vandall who now stands one away from tying the Cavalier single-season record of 15. Tucker Lilly had only one reception, but it was a six-yard score to give the Cavaliers some breathing room late in the third quarter. Lilly leads Greenbrier West with 13 receptions and 5 touchdowns this season.
Special teams were a mixed bag in week seven, but mostly favorable. A high snap on a punt cost the Cavaliers a safety for the first score of the game, but the mishap may have been a blessing in disguise. Rather than giving up a touchdowns or advantageous field position to the Mavericks, the play helped mitigate what could have been a huge mistake. Agee was able to launch a spiraling missile on his free kick, booming the ball 64 yards to flip field position. Agee’s only other punt came in the third quarter and pinned the Mavericks inside their own twenty-yard line. Hayden Ridgeway continued to be his reliable self, going 2-2 on PAT’s and nailing a 28-yard fourth quarter field goal that effectively sealed the game. The field goal was Ridgeway’s first, West’s first on its new turf surface, and the first Cavalier field goal since Kaiden Pack’s 27-yarder on November 21, 2020. Pate and Holliday were simply electric in the return game.
Petersburg comes to Charmco this Friday and meets Greenbrier West for the first time ever in football. The Vikings are the 67th unique opponent the Cavaliers have faced in their history. Petersburg, the only high school in Grant County, has played football since the 1933 season and has three playoff appearances to its credit. One of those postseason berths was earned last year under fifth-year head coach Donny Evans. The 2022 Vikings put up a school-record 428 points, averaging almost 39 points per game. Petersburg was the opening round opponent of James Monroe, falling 37-14 to the Mavericks. The Vikings produced three Class A All-State players last season, most notably second team running back Peyton Day.
Evans was the Vikings head coach in 2003 before embarking on a bit of a journey. His coaching stops included assistant coaching positions at Moorefield, Musselman, and Martinsburg where he was part of three state championships under Coach Dave Walker. Walker just happened to be Evans’ high school head coach at East Hardy. Evans moved on to an assistant’s job at Hampshire before coming back to be the head coach again at Petersburg in 2020.
Petersburg opened the season with a shutout win over Berkeley Springs. The Vikings’ defense smothered the Indians, allowing only 114 yards of total offense. Leading 13-0 at halftime, Petersburg mashed the gas in the second half for a 46-0 blowout-win.
Coach Evans had this to say about his defensive unit. “Our defense has really played well the first 3 games. When the defense plays well it gives you more options to be able to do more and a lot of different things on offense. “
When Day and the other two All-State Vikings graduated, it opened the door for the likes of junior quarterback Caden Arbaugh and sophomore Kaleb Kuhn. The Viking duo rushed for three touchdowns a piece in Petersburg’s 39-0 win over a common opponent, Buffalo, on September 2. As a team, Petersburg rolled up 189 rushing yards and 101 more through the air, tallying 12 first downs. The Vikings limited Buffalo to 103 yards of total offense and five first downs.
The Vikings faced a second common opponent in Pendleton County on September 9th. The Vikings wasted no time getting on the scoreboard after a defensive stop to start the game. A four-play drive from the Wildcat 33-yard line resulted in a 7-0 lead. Pendleton County answered with a 7-play drive of their own to tie the game 7-7, a score that held up through halftime. Petersburg, however, took the second half kickoff and drove 70 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. A late pick-six in the fourth quarter sealed a 21-7 victory for the Vikings.
After opening their season with back-to-back shutouts and a 3-0 start, the Vikings ran into a roadblock at Northern Garrett, MD. The Huskies jumped out to an 8-0 lead in only four plays with a 34-yard touchdown run. Petersburg got a huge break early in the second quarter when a high snap over the punters head gave the Vikings a first and goal at the Northern Garrett three-yard line. Petersburg senior Cameron Ault cut the Huskies’ lead to 12-6 on the next play. An Arbaugh to Ethan Taylor 12-yard touchdown pass gave Petersburg a 12-6 lead with 3:01 left in the first half, a lead the Vikings would carry into halftime. It would be all Huskies in the second half. Northern Garrett scored on a 35-yard run to take a 13-12 lead, then expanded the advantage to 21-12 after an interception on Petersburg’s next play led to a 20-yard touchdown pass near the end of the third quarter. A three-yard Husky touchdown with 7:35 to go made it 29-12, and Northern Garrett tacked on a safety late in the game to win 31-12.
The following week, in the 93rd meeting between the schools, Moorefield took a week-six Summit Bowl win over their rivals at Viking Memorial Stadium. The Yellowjackets scored first on a one-yard touchdown run, but the Vikings answered with an 11-yard Arbaugh run to tie the game at 7-7. Moorefield regained the lead just before halftime on a 25-yard touchdown pass, and the 14-7 score would be enough to win as both teams played a scoreless second half. The Yellowjackets held Petersburg to 1-8 on third down conversions, 0-5 on fourth downs, and outgained the Vikings 214-188 in a defensive battle.
“Whenever you play a rival, regardless how good each team is, it will be a dogfight. The atmosphere was energetic, with a bit of tension. Our guys were upset after the loss. But one thing we stressed all week was continuing to work. We are taking a different path this year to get to our season goals. We always tell them “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,” and I even pressed them to not be the talent who gets out worked” stated Evans.
Evans went on to say “After losing to a good Northern team after being up at halftime really showed our guys we need to come together and embrace each other as a team, especially when things don’t go our way. Where we can sharpen iron on iron. The Moorefield game was disappointing. Our guys felt like we were the better team and we allowed it to slip through. We didn’t execute as well as we needed to in certain situations and the guys realized we needed to work on the small things and the big things will take care of themselves.”
The talks must’ve had some effect on the Petersburg squad. The Vikings righted their ship last weekend with a 57-14 win over a third common opponent, the Pocahontas County Warriors. Evans was impressed with his team following the win over the Warriors.
“The energy and being hungry to get back out there, to play hard every play. Not to worry with the things we can’t control but focus on the things we can control.”
Kickoff is set for 7 P.M. Radio coverage can be found on Rock 95 beginning at 6:30. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students.
