CHARMCO – The road to Wheeling is never an easy journey. There are curves to navigate. Bumps in the road. Possibly a detour or two. You’ve got to keep the machine well-oiled and maintained. Knowing when to shift into four-wheel drive and when to shift into overdrive takes skill. Greenbrier West has traveled that road this season, finding their way to Wheeling again for the first time since 2013.
The map was confusing at times. The Cavaliers found themselves in the quarterfinal round four of the last five seasons. Three times, they didn’t find their way out. There was a home loss to Williamstown in 2019. West trailed 21-0 at the half, cut the lead to 27-22 in the fourth quarter, then bowed out 34-22. The following season, Ritchie County came calling in the quarterfinals. The Cavaliers led 29-22 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Rebels responded with a 16-0 fourth quarter to end West’s season. In 2022, James Monroe was the nemesis. The Mavericks built a commanding 28-6 halftime lead on their way to defeating the Cavaliers for a second time in the same season, ending yet another season before the semifinal round.
The 2023 postseason has had a different feel. The Cavaliers are settling old scores. West whisked Wirt County away in the opening round and set their sights on that sticky quarterfinal round once more. What the Cavaliers delivered to the Charmco faithful was an instant classic. Greenbrier West crafted a masterful 22-20 win over a very game Wahama squad. Those that have been around for a few years will remember the nip and tuck win Wahama pulled out in 2012 over Greenbrier West. That score has now been settled somewhat. Last Friday night, the Cavaliers traveled to Lindside for a semifinal matchup, the fourth meeting of the two schools within a thirteen-month span. James Monroe has become Greenbrier West’s most prominent rival in recent years, and the Cavaliers were out to exact a little revenge for the 2022 season. With three fourth quarter touchdowns, Greenbrier West defeated the Mavericks for a second time in 2023. In fact, James Monroe finished the 2023 season at 10-2 with both of their losses coming to the Cavaliers, ending their season the same way they ended Greenbrier West’s a year before. Score settled, for now.
That leaves one bit of business left to settle. In addition to the 2019 playoff loss to Williamstown, the only time the Cavaliers didn’t make it past the opening round of the playoffs in the past five seasons was 2021. West traveled to Yellowjacket Field and suffered a 48-20 setback to Williamstown. Head coach Chris Beck took his team to Wheeling that season, falling to Ritchie County in the Class A championship. Beck was able to guide his team back to The Island last year and his Yellowjacket team delivered a 52-20 state championship victory over James Monroe. Williamstown is making their third straight trip to the Super Six, largely on the back of senior quarterback Max Moleesa.
Moleesa was a beast in the 2021 encounter with Greenbrier West, rumbling for 200 yards and two touchdowns as well as throwing for an additional 77 yards. Moleesa was also blessed to have an experienced backfield sidekick that season in Rickie Allen. Allen also rushed for over 200 yards in the Yellowjackets win, with Williamstown racking up 430 yards on the ground. West put up a respectable 336 yards of total offense, but it was the failure to halt Williamstown’s ground game that really hurt the Cavaliers.
One lesson the Cavaliers learned in that game was that throwing the ball effectively would be necessary to complement what has traditionally been a Greenbrier West staple, running the football. The Cavaliers scratched the surface of what the passing game could do in the 2021 loss to Williamstown. Cole Vandall set a then-West postseason record of 131 yards through the air. Chase McClung caught eight of those passes from Vandall for a Cavalier postseason record 119 yards. Vandall also tied Kaiden Pack for the most completions in a playoff game with 11. Vandall has since broken both of those postseason passing marks, showing growth within the system.
Facing a division one athlete at quarterback is not a new experience for the Cavaliers in Wheeling. In 2013, West was tasked with stopping Class A All-State Captain and WV MetroNews Player of the Year Ross Comis of Madonna. Comis went on to quarterback at the University of Massachusetts following high school where he threw for almost 3,000 yards and 21 touchdowns over a four-year span. Comis’ Blue Dons were averaging 48.7 points per game, and he was a big reason for their offensive success. Moleesa, a recent WVU baseball commit, has his Yellowjackets scoring at an even greater clip, 50.3 points per contest. Williamstown’s defense is also holding their opponents to fewer points per game than Madonna was, 10.7 for Williamstown to 14.2 for Madonna. The similarities are easy to see.
West head coach Kelly Vaughan was the defensive coordinator in 2013 and put together a great defensive game plan. The Cavaliers held the high-scoring Blue Dons to 267 yards of total offense and only 24 points. Comis, however, was a cool 5-7 passing for 123 yards and two third-quarter touchdowns. Comis was also Madonna’s leading rusher with 35 carries for 129 yards and 1 score. Comis, as it turns out, had a hand in all but 15 of Madonna’s total yards. Another lesson learned. Don’t let one man beat you.
The Cavaliers outrushed the Blue Dons in that championship game 166-144. West, however, passed for only six yards. The Cavalier’s needed a little more balance to keep Madonna honest. If you rewind the time machine all the way back to 1991, the Greenbrier West offense had a more balanced attack in the Class AA title game versus Spencer. West rushed for 146 yards, but quarterback Chris Vaughan also passed for 103 yards. The dagger for the Cavaliers in that contest was not one, but TWO scoop-and-score fumble recoveries. The turnovers were the difference in the game. The defensive coordinator in that game was none other than current West head coach Kelly Vaughan.
Those championship game appearances are in the rear-view mirror for many West fans, and they’re no more than stories of glory to the current crop of Cavaliers. But for the coaches, many of whom have been around in some capacity for all those years, they are experiences to draw on. Vaughan has 31 years of coaching experience in Charmco and three more as a player. The current defensive coordinator, Jerry Roberston, was a junior wide receiver on the ‘91 team and has coached football since the 2014 season. Mark Agee was on the 1995 playoff team that advanced to the quarterfinals and has coached football since 2021. Offensive coordinator Isac Osborne has playoff experience as a player in 2005 and ‘06 to draw on. Yours truly was merely an alumnus and a fan in ‘91 but came to be a 23-year contributor as a volunteer, videographer, and assistant coach since then. I’ve seen and heard a lot about Cavalier playoff football, and I’ve experienced 43 of those games in person. Let’s not forget Burton Ripley who may have the most important job off the field. He’s the Cavalier “get-back” coach, and he patrols the sidelines each week to (hopefully) insure nobody incurs a penalty for being on the field when they shouldn’t.
It’s not just former Cavaliers that are leading the way in Charmco these days. Offensive line coach Steve Price led Van High School to three playoff appearances as the Bulldogs’ head coach in 2015, ‘16, and ‘18. Owen Schmitt brings a wealth of professional and collegiate playing experience to the table. At WVU from 2005-’07, Schmitt was a Sugar Bowl, Gator Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl champion. He learned the game from the likes of Rich Rodriguez, Bill Stewart, and Calvin Magee. Playing for the Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles, and Oakland Raiders during his five-year NFL career, Schmitt played for Mike Holmgren, Jim Mora, Andy Reid, and Dennis Allen. Along the way, Schmitt did a little bit of everything from blocking to pooch punts. His expertise and knowledge has been invaluable.
Let’s get to the game. Williamstown is 13-0, the defending Class A state champions, and is making its third straight appearance in Wheeling. They are led by the aforementioned quarterback, Max Moleesa. Moleesa was a first-team All-State selection in both 2021 and ‘22 as an offensive utility player. In 2023, Moleesa has completed 75 of 110 passes for 1,165 yards, 21 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions. Moleesa has also rushed for 1,642 yards and 30 touchdowns. This just in, he’s pretty good.
Moleesa has a cast of characters that were teammates in the 2021 Yellowjackets’ win over the Cavaliers that are pretty good as well. Lynken Joy was a wideout in ‘21 but joins Moleesa in the backfield now on many occasions. Joy carried the ball 169 times for 1,295 yards and 13 touchdowns. Louis Goodnow was a role player in 2021 but has 46 receptions for 754 yards and 14 touchdowns. The trio of seniors has put up very good numbers.
Rex Anderson would be the next ball carrier of note for the Yellowjackets. Anderson rushed for 411 yards and 6 touchdowns. Cooper Martin is the second-leading receiver with 15 receptions for 175 yards and 3 scores.
Defensively, the Cavaliers will counter with a starting unit that has pitched six shutouts and allowed only 57 of the 86 points against this season. That’s 4.4 points per game, folks. That, too, is pretty good. Ethan Holliday has 117 tackles, 74 solo, to go along with 4 interceptions and 23 tackles for loss. Holiday has two pick sixes and a fumble return touchdown to go along with a safety. He is a defensive dynamo. The linebacking crew of Brandon Poticher and C.W. Sturgell is solid as well. Poticher is the team’s second leading tackler with 105 stops, 55 solo, to go with 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and six tackles for loss. Sturgell has 77 tackles, 1 interception, 3 sacks, and six tackles for loss. Sturgell tormented the Maverick offense last week. Corner play has been solid with both Marcus Adkins and Evan Vandall doing great work. Vandall has 2 forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries while Adkins had a forced fumble and a recovery as well. Adkins registered one sack as well as 3 tackles for loss.
The defensive line will dictate a lot of the success for Greenbrier West. Jacob Whitt and Trent Parker have done phenomenal work in the trenches all season. Whitt has tallied 43 tackles with 15 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. Parker adds 53 stops with 6 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks. Colton Dunbar has emerged as a bona fide playmaker in the second half of the season. Dunbar has 41 tackles and leads the team with 5 sacks. Cole Vandall is in a three-man rotation at defensive end, and he has 11 tackles for loss out of his 44 total tackles to go along with 2 sacks. The depth of the Cavaliers roster helps the line stay fresh, with Cameron White, Ethan Hamons, Jacob Nutter, and sometimes Daron Vaughan rotating in.
West is no stranger to lighting up a scoreboard either. The Cavaliers have posted a program-record 583 points this season. I’ll be fair and point out that the defense has scored 42 of those points, but that
means the offense is still averaging 41.6 points per game. Jake Pate is the leading scorer on the team for the Cavaliers, with 21 touchdowns on the ground and 4 more through the air. West has multiple weapons in the running game with Isaac Agee accounting for 408 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns along with Ethan Holliday who has 293 yards and 6 scores. All three of the backs are lethal at receiver. Holliday has 22 catches for 374 yards and 5 touchdowns. Pate has 17 receptions for 347 yards and 4 touchdowns, and Agee has 11 catches for 222 yards and 4 scores. Agee’s 60-yard catch and run opened the scoring in last week’s win over James Monroe.
In addition to the dual threats, West has a pair of full-time receivers with different sizes and skill sets. Tucker Lilly leads the Cavaliers with 30 receptions for 513 yards and 10 touchdowns. Lilly is a quick, darting runner with excellent route running skills. Colton Dunbar is a big target at 6’4”, and he’s pulled down 24 receptions for 362 yards and 6 touchdowns.
In all, West has twelve different backs with a rushing touchdown, including Moses Gray and Cole Vandall with 3 each. Vandall has been nothing short of incredible this season at quarterback. He is the only signal caller to ever complete over 100 passes in a season at West and has tossed 29 touchdown passes in the process of throwing for 1,887 yards. The records broken by Vandall are too numerous to note in this column, but I want to stress that he owns every major playoff record in the passing department except touchdown passes, and he’s tied for that mark.
Williamstown will counter with a defensive unit allowing only 10.7 points per game. Senior Aiden Corbett leads all tacklers with 78 total and 19 tackles for loss. Corbett has 7 sacks to his credit. Lynken Joy is the second leading tackler with 76, followed by Goodnow with 65 and Moleesa with 58. Goodnow has 6 interceptions to lead the Yellowjackets.
The edge in the game may fall on special teams. Hayden Ridgeway has nailed 68-74 PATs this season and has tied Cameron McQuain for the most career PATs with 111. Ridgeway needs one extra point to pass McQuain and two to pass Bradden Isaacs for the most career playoff PATs. Williamstown’s Brylee Jones and Jonah Bosgraf have split PAT duties, with the senior Jones hitting 27 of 30 and going 1 for 1 on field goals. Bosgraf is a junior and hit 12 out of 18 extra points along with 2 for 2 in field goal attempts. Isaac Agee has only punted 12 times for the Cavaliers all season, but he has routinely flipped the field for Greenbrier West. His free kick following a safety against James Monroe during the regular season was a thing of beauty. Agee is averaging 36.5 yards per punt. The Yellowjackets counter with Louis Goodnow who has booted 18 punts for 599 yards, an average of 33.3 yards per punt.
The Cavaliers have been nothing short of special in the return game. Pate tied the school record for the longest kickoff return touchdown with a 95-yarder at Moorefield. Pate has averaged 44.8 yards per return. Holliday has averaged 30 yards per return on kickoffs and 25.8 yards per punt return. Holliday had a 59-yard punt return touchdown at Sherman. Goodnow has the most returns for Williamstown with 9 for a 15.9 yards per return average. Landon Dodrill has 8 returns with a 21.8-yard average. Goodnow is the man on punt returns for the Yellowjackets with 17 and an 8.9-yard average per return.
We billed the Greenbrier West/Wahama matchup as a classic, and I have no reason to believe this championship game will be any less entertaining. Two high scoring offenses, two lock-down defenses, two 13-0 squads with a championship on the line.
Radio and streaming coverage of the Super Six and the Class A State Championship can be found at https://wvmetronews.com/channel/high-school-football/. Locally, you can find the game on Oldies 93 with coverage beginning at 6:45. Tickets for the game are digital only and can be purchased at https://gofan.co/event/1268284?schoolId=WVSSAC. Kickoff is set for 7 P.M. at Wheeling Island Sta
