Perhaps in a bit of gamesmanship, Nitro has chosen 7:30 Saturday as the playing time for its second showdown of the season with neighboring rival St. Albans. The lower-seeded teams in each game pick the date and kickoff time, while the higher seeds have the choice of home field.
In addition, Nitro has protested the playing condition of Crawford Field, SA’s home base and the scheduled site of the game. Fans may also have divided viewing loyalties for that game because West Virginia is scheduled to play Cincinnati in a televised game at 7:45 Saturday night.
Another local team with a strong following, Scott, will play at No. 4 Berkeley Springs at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Martinsburg in an AA quarterfinal. The Skyhawks doused Sissonville, the Valley’s other participant, 40-27.
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Nitro (7-4) sort of did its old rival a favor Friday by eliminating RCB; otherwise, St. Albans would have been forced to travel to Clarksburg for this weekend’s game. Instead, it gets another home game (protest notwithstanding).
“Maybe they should give us a cut of the gate,’’ said Nitro coach Scott Tinsley with a chuckle.
St. Albans will have to do a better job of slowing Nitro’s high-flying passing game this time around if it wants to continue its advance.
When the teams met in the regular season on Oct. 5 at Underwood Field in Nitro, the Dragons (10-1) were saddled with their only loss — and in a big way — in a 58-14 Wildcats victory. Michael Scott threw for 383 yards and five touchdowns for Nitro that night, and SA lost stellar tailback Marcus Fox for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Dragons coach Derek Christian doesn’t have mixed feelings about playing against the only team he hasn’t beaten this season.
“No, we’re just glad to be playing right now,’’ he said. “You’ve got to win to keep playing. It doesn’t matter who you play.’’
Likewise, Tinsley won’t let his players carry any overconfidence into the matchup.
“The first time doesn’t matter,’’ he said. “That’s how you’ve got to approach it. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing St. Albans or Capital or GW or whoever it is. This is the second round of the playoffs. It’s the most important game of the year so far.’’
Tinsley wasn’t sure of the status of his top running back, senior Mark Massey, who is battling a pulled muscle in his upper back. Massey managed only two carries for 8 yards against RCB before leaving the game.
“It’s still real painful,’’ Tinsley said of Massey’s injury. “He tried to gut it out [Friday night]. He got a couple carries and tried to play defense, but he couldn’t turn and run — and he’s a tough kid. He’s still real doubtful this week.’’
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George Washington is certainly taking nothing for granted.
The Patriots struggled in the first half of Saturday’s first-round game against Nicholas County at Laidley Field, but eventually pulled away for a 45-8 triumph. The 16th-seeded Grizzlies hadn’t played in the postseason since 1993.
“Like I’ve said before,’’ said GW coach Steve Edwards Jr., “I’ve come in at No. 1, I’ve come in at 7 . . . it doesn’t make any difference how you come in. Man, you’re in single-elimination now. We’re all even. I’m just lucky we were able to advance and I look forward to this week.’’The Patriots (10-1) will take on an East Fairmont team that won its first playoff game ever on Saturday by rallying past Hurricane. The Bees lost in the first round to RCB last year and prior to that, hadn’t competed in the playoffs since 1976.
GW was held to 15 net yards rushing, but got 299 yards passing from Drew Kinder, who threw for three TDs against Nicholas — all on plays covering 40 or more yards. The Grizzlies didn’t score on a safety and TD until the final minute against the Patriots reserves.
“We’ve got to work on our blocking,’’ said Mike Tucker, who caught one of GW’s three TD passes. “Drew Kinder threw some good balls out there today, and our defense really stepped up. Really, we shut them out.’’
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Capital again had to work overtime to get past Riverside. When the two met in their final regular-season game, the Cougars outlasted the Warriors 29-28 in three OTs. On Friday, it took just one.
“We feel we can play with anybody,’’ said senior quarterback Malik Witten. “We can play all four quarters — or more than four quarters.’’
Senior receiver Tyrone Goard, who caught two of Witten’s four TD passes and also contributed some big runs to the Cougars attack, credited the coaching staff for putting the players in the right spots to excel.
“It’s really the coaching,’’ he said. “Our coaches tell us what to do, and as players we execute it and do it. It’s all the hard work at practice. We’re just working as a team right now, and it’s been going excellent.’’
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Ralph Hensley’s first year as head coach at Riverside ended on the same field where the Warriors earned perhaps their signature victory this year — Laidley Field. Riverside handed GW its lone loss earlier this season on the field turf at Laidley.
The 10th-seeded Warriors (7-4) were hoping to extend their season a bit longer, but Hensley still drew satisfaction out of returning some success to the program. Riverside had missed the playoffs the two previous seasons and went 2-8 last fall.
“I love these kids,’’ Hensley said following the game. “You always remember those guys on that first team. I hope they will remember us [coaches], and I know we’ll remember them. Things like this happen, and you’ve got to get up and move on. It comes down to that it’s only a game, but it’s a tough game. It really is a tough game.’’
