CHARMCO – After months of work that started before the Cavaliers even hit the field for the 2023 season, Greenbrier West athletic director Jared Robertson was able to finalize the 2024 football schedule Thursday evening. Robertson should be praised for hard work he invested in giving the Cavaliers an attractive list of opponents for the upcoming season.
The Cavaliers will open the season the same way they did the historic 2023 campaign, albeit on the road. Pendleton County looks to return eleven seniors next year, including starting quarterback James Vincell. Vincell had a modest night against a stingy Cavalier defense, throwing for 76 yards on 5 of 14 attempts. Gabriel Harvey will look to get more touches out of the backfield as the Wildcats try to improve on their 4-5 campaign. West handled Pendleton County 41-7 in Cavalier Field’s FieldTurf debut, but they’ll meet on Pendleton County’s Slusher Field for the first time since the 2007 season to kickoff 2024.
One of the local if not statewide marquee matchups will likely be a week two collision with Summers County. The Bobcats will bounce into Class AA as part of the WVSSAC’s new four-class system, but the classification hardly matters when these two rivals collide. Summers County is the only opponent to continuously play Greenbrier West since they opened the doors in Charmco in 1968. Familiarity breeds respect. Fifty-seven times these programs have met one another with two meetings coming in the 1995 season. The Cavaliers won a wildly entertaining 42-14 game at Garten Stadium in ‘23. Dynamic quarterback Brandan Isaac will be gone, but Class A First Team all-state wide receiver Ryan Oliveros returns after a personally historic season of his own. The crafty Cavalier defense bottled Oliveros up in ‘23. They’ll get one more shot to shut the senior down in Greenbrier West’s home opener.
Week three not only brings a new opponent to Charmco, but a new entry in the Class A ranks as far as football goes. The Cavaliers welcome in St. Joseph Central Catholic, or Huntington St. Joe if you will, for the first-ever meeting between the schools. The Irish played a JV-only schedule in 2023, going 7-1 with a roster that contained all underclassmen. Their move to a varsity schedule adds to their fall sports lineup of boy’s and girls’ soccer, golf, volleyball, and cross country. Those familiar with girls’ basketball will recognize St. Joseph as the nine-time Class A state champions from 2009-2019. The ladies also claimed state runner-up finishes in 2008, 2016, and 2018. While those titles might not mean much to the football team, it demonstrates the caliber of athlete the Irish are able to attract in the Huntington-Metro area.
Pocahontas County and Greenbrier West have the third most games played in Cavalier football history, and they’ll continue the tradition again in 2024. The Warriors will be under the stewardship of second-year head coach Brad Carpenter. The ‘23 meeting between the schools was the shortest varsity game in Greenbrier West’s history. Due to multiple lightning delays, the game was called with 8:42 left in the second quarter. The Warriors had an extremely young roster last season and graduated only two players. Coach Carpenter’s young nucleus will be hungry to improve on last year’s 1-9 campaign.
You’ll have to pardon the current crop of cavaliers for not knowing there is a history between the Cavaliers and their week five opponent. The Man Hillbillies come calling for the first time in 36 seasons. Although it’s a brief history, its significant. Man defeated Greenbrier West 14-8 in overtime in the 1977 Class AA semi-finals at Huntington’s Fairfield Stadium. A late, 8-0 Cavalier lead turned into a 14-8 deficit in the extra period and the Cavaliers dream of a state title died at the one-yard line, ending coach Toby Harris’ first tenure at West. Coach Howard Hylton’s first season in Charmco earned him a return matchup with the Hillbillies in 1978. Despite two Timmy Booth touchdown scampers and a Ricky Estep touchdown pass from Marvin Bonner, Man again defeated West 28-20. The 1989 ‘Billies simply walloped Greenbrier West in Charmco. Thie current Hillbilly squad went 7-3 in 2023 before being dispatched in the opening round of the playoffs by Cameron. Head coach Harvey Arms graduates only five seniors, so expect a veteran squad to visit Cavalier Field.
Greenbrier West welcomes in one of the elite small school programs from Ohio in week six. The Fort Frye Cadets invade Charmco on October 4 in a showdown of two hard-nosed defenses. Fort Frye has been a playoff qualifier the past nine consecutive seasons years under head coach Eric Huck. Huck has guided his team to the postseason 11 of the last 12 seasons. In the process, the Cadets are a slick 8-3 against West Virginia opponents over that span. Fort Frye advanced to the third round of the playoffs in ‘23. Expect a well-disciplined squad to make the trip into Charmco in 2024.
Week seven needs no additional hype. Greenbrier West and James Monroe meet for the fifth time in the last three seasons. The Cavaliers knocked the Mavericks off twice in 2023, ending their season with a 10-2 record. The Mavericks knocked the Cavaliers off twice in 2022, ending their season with a 10-2 record. Don’t blink. You read that right. James Monroe will return a key playmaker at the quarterback position, Layton Dowdy. All-State lineman Brady Baker will also be back for his senior season. Expect a war between these two teams in Lindside on October 11, but not a sixth meeting after. The Mavericks have moved into the new Class AA division in ‘24.
Petersburg and Greenbrier West clashed in their first-ever meeting in 2023. The Vikings had originally wanted a one-year contract, but the business of scheduling has gotten tough following reclassification. That’s all head coach Donny Evans needed to prompt him to renew the contract and invite the Cavaliers north. Nine seniors will have departed for Petersburg, but playmakers Peyton Tingler and Caden Arbaugh are back for the Vikings. The leading rusher against the Cavaliers was Trace Rohrbaugh, and he’ll likely be toting the pigskin in 2024. A first-ever trip to Viking Memorial Field is on tap in 2024.
Sherman and Greenbrier West will do battle for a ninth time this October. A strange series, the Tide won the first three meetings between the schools. The Cavaliers have countered with five consecutive victories. Sherman’s first win in the series was a 22-21 squeaker in 2016. Greenbrier West’s first victory was an 8-6 head-scratcher in 2019. The other six games have been relative blowouts for the winning teams. Head coach Kevin Buzzard led a scrappy bunch to a 6-4 record and a playoff appearance against James Monroe. A masterful first half unraveled for the Tide after a fake punt failed and opened the door for a short field for the Mavericks. Seven seniors are gone from last season’s roster, most notably, Andrew Simpson. Buzzard gets his teams up to play, so be wary of the Tide. Sherman is yet another 2023 opponent that has moved up in classification, giving West at least four Class AA schools on the schedule.
The fourth confirmed Class AA matchup comes in week ten against head coach Jeremy Moore’s Midland Trail Patriots. Trail is the sixth 2024 opponent that qualified for the playoffs in 2023. Coach Moore will need to replace nine senior contributors. Players like Jaden Gladwell and David Moore are gone, and their production will be hard to replicate. A fresh face from the ‘23 team was Alexander Proskin. He led the Patriots in rushing in last year’s matchup, giving Coach Moore something to build upon.
In all, the Cavaliers have a ten-game schedule with the open week coming in week eleven. This will be a change from recent schedules which placed the open week anywhere from week five to week eight. The last time Greenbrier West had an open week scheduled for week eleven was 2013. In fact, West had week eleven open in 2011, ‘12, and ‘13. All three years were playoff seasons for the Cavaliers, but who knows if that is the optimum time to have a break. With four confirmed Class AA teams, points will be available that could really help the Cavaliers in the final playoff ratings.
Greenbrier West 2024 Football
08/30 (A) Pendleton County
09/06 (H) Summers County
09/13 (H) St. Joseph Central
09/20 (A) Pocahontas County
09/27 (H) Man
10/04 (H) Fort Frye OH
10/11 (A) James Monroe
10/18 (A) Petersburg
10/25 (H) Sherman
11/01 (A) Midland trail
11/08 (-) OPEN
11/15-16 1st Round Playoff
11/22-23 Quarterfinals
11/29/30 Semi-finals
12/6-7 State Championship Games
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