Dons vs. Hillbillies
Saturday, December 5 , 2009
By MIKE MATHISON- The Herald Star
Week 15 and 48 minutes left in the season.
No. 1 Madonna meets No. 2 Man tonight at 7:30 p.m. for the West Virginia Class A state football championship at Wheeling Island Stadium.
All the hard work and preparation that began after each team finished the 2008 season - both at the hands of Williamstown - comes down to four quarters of football.
Everything suggests that Madonna is the favorite.
It is 13-0 and has allowed a mere 37 points - a touch over two per outing. It has never allowed more than nine points in a game and has collected seven shutouts.
"We know Madonna is a pretty good football team and they beat Wheeling Central convincingly," said Man coach Harvey Arms. "We have to find a way to break down their defense and put some points on the board.''
Easier said than done.
"It's been a real team effort this year," said Madonna coach Bob Kramer. "I can't say enough about how hard this team has worked."
Kramer and Arms are a lot alike in they have drilled into the heads of their team the old cliche of one game at a time.
"It's like it's ingrained in them - one game at a time," said Arms. "As a staff and as a team we always talk about taking care of opportunities. When you're out there and have a good opportunity to win,m and we felt all season long we've had good opportunities, it's our responsibility to take care of those opportunities.
"You don't want to make mistakes that gives the other team the advantage and the opportunity to go ahead of us. If you watched our practices I don't think at this point now you cam come to the sidelines to watch us practice and see that our practice is any different now than at the middle of the season or at the beginning of the season.
"Our kids have been a focused group. They've worked hard. We started talking about the opportunities that we felt like we would have this year right after our playoff loss to Williamstown last year (21-16 in the quarterfinals).
"They went on and won the whole thing. We knew we had a lot of experience coming back. From that point on we've taken it one game at a time, as the old cliche says."
Three-year starters Emmanuel Gibson and Tyler Dunigon anchor the offensive and defensive lines.
Ryan Crum is the quarterback, a dual threat that is as solid with his arm as he is with his legs.
Joining Crum in the backfield are Brandon Plymale (1,047 yards, 12 touchdowns) and Andrew Hale (504 yards, seven TDs) at tailback, and Michael Lomax at fullback. Evan Riggins and Jeremy Hatfield are the leading receivers.
Man reached tonight's contest with a 27-20 victory over Richwood.
The Blue Dons took care of nemesis Wheeling Central 18-7.
"We just play one game at a time," said Kramer. "We tried to tell the kids last week we were playing another team on our schedule and this week we're playing another team on our schedule.
"I want those kids to be loss and go out and play the best possible game they can and whatever the outcome of the game is I will be proud of them. A win would be a great ending to our season and I know the kids are looking forward to playing in the state championship game.
"We're going to play a very good Man team. They are well coached and it's going to be a heck of a good ballgame. I want these kids to go out and enjoy the experience."
The senior group of Blue Dons lost to Wheeling Central in the 2007 state semifinals and last year to Williamstown in the state title game.
This group hates to lose.
"They hate to even give up touchdowns," Kramer said with a laugh. "But, that's the kind of mentality that you have to have.
"They're willing to do whatever it takes to win."
