September 3, 2025 • 34 mins
Chris Johnson of Connect-Bridgeport and the Friday Free for All joins the program to recap the first week of the high school football season.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, grab your coffee and donuts, because it's
time for the Morning Spiel, brought to you by Royal Water.
The Athenians and topics discussed on the show do not
reflect that of WVRC Media or our advertisers. Now we
head straight to the one o three to three WKMZ
newsroom with your host, Alex Whiderspiel.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Good morning, welcome in. What's up everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
I want to three three wkms?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Can you believe it? Another edition?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
We're here again, back back back once more, into the
breach once more. Thanks for being here, everybody. It's good
to be here with you. Got a good show lined
up for you today. Chris Johnson of connect Bridgeport is
set to join the show. In our main segment, we're
gonna get into some high school football talk, mainly just
kind of recapping Week one in its entirety. There's gonna
(00:51):
be a new thing that we're gonna be doing in
you know, not necessarily in perpetuity and not necessarily every week,
but we're gonna do this semi regularly in radio form,
and we're gonna do it every week in podcast form.
So if you're ever like, hey, where's Chris, Well, don't worry.
It's gonna be at bare minimum. It'll be a podcast
every week, basically little bonus action for you. We're gonna
(01:12):
do more of this recapping of the week in high
school football, and then that way we can spend more
time on Fridays looking ahead because at that point on Friday,
it's been a whole week since the last game. Anyway,
we really just want to get to focusing on what's.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Ahead of us.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
And so that's sort of the plan moving forward. And
boy was there a lot of good high school football
in Week one. Of course, Bridgeport dominant once again, no
surprise against Buchanan Upshure going up a classification and blowing
out the Bucks. South Harrison labored to a win might
be the way to put it against an improved Braxton
(01:47):
County team, but the win they got nonetheless good win
for South Harrison. Any win is really a good win.
There's no such thing as a bad win. I think, Well,
ask Wesper Hathaway at some point what he thinks about that.
I'd be curious to hear what a coach is. There's
such a thing as a bad win, I'd like to
hear that. But South Harrison gets the win, and they've
got Lincoln this week, Lincoln who lost against Elkins, that
(02:11):
that much much improved Elkins team that was already a
playoff team a year ago. And that's pretty much your
Harrison County recap. We'll dive into a little bit of
everything with Chris. That's all coming up in just a
little bit during the main segment of the show. So
if you're listening on the radio, you've got a little
while to wait still, because of course we're gonna do
your news in sports headlines during the second segment. But
(02:32):
if you're listening in podcast form, that's coming up next
after you know, messages that we'll hear from in a
few minutes. All right, So a couple of things I
wanted to get to you today, but I think the
big one I want to focus on I want to
step away from sports for just a moment, I hope.
So I get that there's like real skepticism of polling
(02:56):
out there right now, and rightfully so. Polling has been
an absolute nightmare of late, and it is really interesting
to me because I keep reading about how Democrats think
they have a real shot at picking up a seat
in Iowa, and as I understand it, in the in
the Senate, and as I understand Jony ernst Is is
not seeking reelection in twenty twenty six, which typically an incumbent,
(03:19):
and it's not always true, but an incumbent not running
typically is usually a sign that they are seeing some
rough waters, they're a little bit concerned about what their
chances are of winning. Not always the case, and even
if that's not the case, it does create a harder
situation because incumbents are generally harder to unseat. It is
easier to win as an incumbent than in any other capacity.
(03:42):
So we'll see how that goes. But here's the thing,
the reason I bring up Iowa. You guys remember that
and Seltzer poll at the end of the twenty twenty
four election cycle that showed Democrats were gonna win Iowa
And it was off by like eighteen nineteen points, one
of the worst polls, and like Ann Celtzer's this amazing
history as one of the most accurate polsters of her generation,
(04:05):
and like retired after this. That's how bad of a
swing and a miss. This one was so all right,
So here, here's the deal. The reason I bring this up, though,
is because I get that folks are skeptical and healthily
so of pulling. But I think polling of of like
who am I going to vote for is harder than
ever before, because.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I do think candidates being.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
More unpopular than they really ever have been. It creates
a challenge for both the polster and the responding because
the respond it might not be ready to make a
decision up until like the last possible minute. Right, you know,
we are seeing this where there is sort of this return.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
It didn't used to be this way.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
There was a period of time where the late deciding
voters were really limited in their power, if I recall correctly.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
In fact, it wasn't all that long ago.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I don't think the late deciding voters decided the twenty
twenty election, but they did decide twenty sixteen and twenty
twenty four. So there's this sort of been this pattern
where the late deciders have a typical history lately and
again small sample alert, but they seem to be better
at deciding things for the Republican candidate than the Democratic candidate.
I digress, though, because this is not what I wanted
(05:11):
to get into. You may have seen the Metro News
pollsters up at the website. You may have heard from
Rex Repass yesterday on the statewid program. I wanted to
take a few minutes just to talk about that because
one pole really stood out to me, actually two poles
really stood. The two things really stood out to me.
One seventy one percent say yes that they support school
vaccination requirements, which is pretty much in line with national averages.
(05:34):
Is to me fascinating because you constantly hear all this
consternation about vaccination in schools, and we have a governor
who folks elected, who seems to be counterintuitively going against this.
But what I wonder, basically the two thoughts that I
had here was thought number one, is it possible that
(05:56):
this issue is just not important enough to a significant
portion of that seventy one Because let's just say, if
this were like a top three issue of for seventy
for those seventy one percent, how would Patrick Morrissey have
ever won the election? Right because he's just completely accounter
to what West Virginians think on this issue. Here's a
here's another thought though, and Rex Repass actually noted this,
(06:19):
and we might get him on the show One Dad'd
love to talk to him about this, but he noted this.
They didn't poll for strength of feeling right. They did
not poll for strongly agree, agree, neutral disagree, strongly disagree,
And that would be a very very interesting if they had,
(06:39):
If they had decided to scale the response, I would
be very curious to see those numbers.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I would also be curious, and I would love.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
To see this eventually put into questionnaires more often, because
this is usually only included in exit polling. Was this
or is this the most important issue to you? Where
would it falls at? Top three? Is it top five?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Is it number one?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I would like to know that, because typically if folks
are voting based on their number one or number two issue,
I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not in
anyone's top three based on this response.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I just don't.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I don't see this as being in anyone's top three.
So that that was my first thought upon seeing this.
When the other thought, and I don't have any way
of solving this at the moment, my other thought is.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
The other, the other pole that's out there.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
The education poll that showed forty six percent of West Virginians,
which was a plurality, are unhappy with the state of
the education system, which makes a lot of sense to me.
But here's what I kind of took away from this is,
I wonder, I'm trying to get into the mind of
the respondent, and I have a sneaking suspicion that of
that forty six percent, there are probably folks who's dissatisfaction.
(07:58):
If you were again you either scale the response or
if you were to do some kind of let's say,
a focus group and get back information as far as
what type of dissatisfaction this is, I wonder how much
of this dissatisfaction is not driven by the state of
the education system, because keep in mind, while folks generally
(08:20):
have a negative opinion of the education system, usually they
have a high opinion of their own local educators, the
teachers in their community. And what that got me thinking
about was, is there a possibility that the dissatisfaction has
nothing to do with whether or not they think that
a child is getting quality education in a West Virginia
(08:43):
school system, but in fact everything to do with the
fact that we can't keep any schools open in this state.
That the solution and I'm not saying that I'm not
saying I have a better answer here, but the solution
every single time we run into a problem is consolidation,
and I'm not sure sure that's really the answer in
this state. We've talked about on our football show regularly
(09:05):
how West Virginia has these like intense geographic challenges that
I don't think a lot of other states really have.
It's the combination of the mountainous terrain mixed with the
climate and the weather, mixed with how non densely populated
this state is, and of course that it's an aging population.
(09:26):
All of these things together make it particularly difficult to
keep people in certain places. And as places go and
we start to consolidate. Where consolidation might not be the
end of the world in flat Nebraska or Kansas, for example,
it certainly creates some challenges when you're trying to travel
up bus over this giant mountain or hill in the
(09:49):
midst of twenty degree weather and it's set to snow.
So that was the one thing I thought was, is
this dissatisfaction Does it have absolutely nothing to do with
the state of the education system, or is it more
to do with folks are bothered by the solution to
(10:10):
seemingly every problem in the state's education system being we
got to consolidate, We've got to have fewer schools. I
have wondered this for a long time. Consolidation, I think
is one of the most unheralded stories in the state
of West Virginia. It's one of the biggest driving factors
(10:31):
of I think, societal decline. And yet, as I say that,
I'm not here to blame anybody because I don't know
that I have a better answer. I don't know that
I have a better answer. I don't know that there
is a better answer. But I do think we should
be thinking about this because I don't know that it's
necessarily a good thing for I don't think it's a
good thing for kids to be traveling forty minutes, fifty minutes,
an hour, an hour ten by bus. I don't think
(10:54):
it's a good thing for kids to not have schools
in their community, to have fewer places that present who
they are. Schools are bastions. I remember back when I
was a journalist or reporter. I remember covering the twenty
sixteen floods, and I remember how useful schools were during
those floods, particularly in Fayette County and Clay County. How
(11:18):
useful schools were as places as distribution hubs, as shelters,
places where people could feel safe, places where volunteers could
operate out of a sense of strength. And I'm not
saying like again, when the buildings stick around, that's one thing,
But there is still an element of this where if
(11:39):
you if you think that that this is just this
is just the solution, this is the only solution we have,
I have to ask that maybe we come up with
a different one, And I think I know what it is,
but I confess that my suspicion is that it would
(12:00):
not fly very well, wouldn't be very popular. I think
you gotta put more money into public education. It's as
simple as that, because if Randolph County schools can't afford
to keep all the schools open, then they need more
money from the state, or they need more money from
the federal government. It's as simple as that. And that
money has dried up. Money is not there. So can
(12:21):
we give a bigger portion of the power ball to
the education sector? Isn't that what they do? Power ball
goes to education. I'm pretty sure I'm right about that, right,
the lottery goes to education. And then how that was
that whole thing was sold for legal gambling.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I don't know my gambling history. That well, all right,
let's go ahead and take a break on that note.
We're gonna get into the sports world in a few minutes,
and of course we're gonna talk with Chris Johnson. Con up,
this is the Morning Spiel persent of by Royal Water Treatment.
I want to through three wkmz.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Now back to the Morning Spiel brought to you by
Royal Water on wkmz.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
I want to three to three wkmz. All right, Alex
weill here with you alongside Chris Johnson, now my guest
from connect Bridgeport and the Friday Free for All, a
show that you can catch Friday mornings on one of
the three three w k m Z seven, six to nine.
Sometimes we do some bonus segments. This is actually kind
of a bonus segment and it's in and of itself.
(13:15):
It's actually a new thing we're gonna be doing. Uh
where Chris is gonna come on, uh probably about once
a week. Maybe maybe you know, not every week, but
but but Chris is gonna join us and we're gonna
do a little bit of a recap of last week's
action of high school football and then on Fridays. That way,
we're gonna spend a little bit more time able to
look just ahead at what's coming in the high school
football world rather than doing a little bit of both.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So, Chris, what's up man?
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (13:40):
Not much?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Man?
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Did you give Labor Day weekend?
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
You know, it's funny enough.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
We've got folks doing some work at our house and
it was very nice of them to actually work on
on Labor Day, which we did not ask them to do,
but they they volunteered, they offered to do.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
So, Uh, it was. It's it's been.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
It's been interesting watching we have an upstairs attic bedroom.
It's kind of being it was in rough shape and
it's being transformed into something that I'm excited, excited about
the possibilities for.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So anyway, that was That's pretty much.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
The highlight of my Labor Day weekend is watching other
people do very impressive labor.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Wow, man, making them work on Labor Day. Did you
at least offer them some cookout or.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
I I listen, they they they, they offered, they offered.
I like I they It wasn't because we could have
done a different weekend. But but this was the most
amount of time that they had to be able to
work on a project like this. Because I I'm a
big I'm a very big pro labor guy, so I
would always prefer folks enjoy their labor day. But this
is this is this was, this was their choice. So
(14:43):
I did give them the option. Yeah, we we You know,
my girlfriend's a vegan by the way, So the cookout
concept for Labor Day, uh, never one that's really sunk
in here.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
Oh yeah, I got you. So you might have off
maybe like uh.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Like a keen keen wobber.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Something that you're probably not gonna need to put on
a put on a grill anyway. So let's take a
look back at the last week a high school football
kind of the final word. On Week one of the
high school football season, we had in Harrison County, we
had three locals pick up wins. Of course, RCB kicked
off the season on Thursday with a forty one nineteen
win over Lewis County. We went over that in pretty
(15:23):
good depth last week because that was a Thursday night game,
and then in the meantime, no surprise, Bridgeport was really
just going to be a question of how many and
how the game looked. They won sixty two to fourteen
over Buckana Upsher. South Harrison fought their way through a
much improved Braxton County team. They won that game twenty
three to fifteen, a game that it kind of looked
like South Harrison was going to run away with early
(15:45):
and Braxton really fought back and South Harrison had to
buckle down in the second half of that game. And
then Lincoln, who is going to take on South Harrison
in Lost Creek this week, took one on the chin
against an Elkins team that I think you and I
have both uh kind of agreed, we have pretty high
expectations for So let's start in Harrison County. Then we'll
(16:05):
bounce around a little bit.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Initial takeaway from week one? Did everybody win? Who you
expected to win? Any surprises in week one for you.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
As far as involving the local teams, No, I mean
Bridgeport BU was about expected. I think you of the
of the three schools, I think you definitely had the
best game. Uh, not surprised South Harrison one. Maybe a
(16:37):
little surprise at how close.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
The score was. But as you mentioned last week.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
You got the feeling Braxton County was much improved from
last year. And I'll be honest, you bucking and I'm
sure is to tell during much better shape this.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Year than last year year as well.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
They had a little feistiness to them. Not not surprised
that Elkins, uh was able to beat Lincoln again, maybe
a little surprised at the.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Margin of victory.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
But you know, Elkins is a really good running team,
and that seems to be the achilless of the Cougars
once again. We know it was an issue last year,
got better as the season went on. Uh, but uh,
you know, and again.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Is it so much a big issue or is it
just the fact that Lincoln is playing against teams with
really good, you know, running offenses.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
So maybe a little bit of better.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, And obviously it doesn't get any easier as far
as running offenses go. Maybe maybe maybe a little easier
since Jayden Hatfield's on Elkins and not South Harrison. But
there were there were moments in that game where you
could see I wouldn't call South Harrison's rushing attack a
work in progress. I just don't think that's that's fair.
Maybe not as explosive, but I actually think that there's
(18:02):
the thing that was kind of crazy is for a
game where they i mean they ran pretty well in
the first half of that game and not as well
in the second half, there was room for improvement for
a team that probably rushed for two hundred and fifty
near three hundred yards. I'm I'm guessing I don't have
the official stats yet from last week, only what we
took unofficially, and I will note as well with Braxton.
(18:23):
I mean, you look at it, they've got a pretty
favorable schedule for them to get to three, maybe four
wins if they are as improved. The other thing, too,
is they actually did this last year. They took a
couple of teams in playoff teams down to the wire,
even last year as a one win team, so I'm
not shocked at the way it went down. It was
(18:44):
more that South Harrison jumped out to a thirteen point
lead and they were I mean, they were dominant. They
basically made one defensive mistake where they over pursued and
allowed an open cutback lane, and through the first quarter
and a half were totally dominant, looked like they were
going to cruise through that game, and they had what
was a pretty controversial fumble call and I haven't had
a chance to rewatch the play yet, but they had
(19:06):
a pretty controversial fumble call as they were driving trying
to go up by three scores in the second quarter,
and talk about just a total momentum ship. The whole
game changed after that, Braxton scored and it stayed twenty
one to fifteen. They went back and forth at each
other for the entire game, and then finally the Hawks
defense outlasted the Braxton offense and they got a late
(19:27):
safety to make it twenty three to fifteen. So back
to back years with a safety for the Hawks against
Braxton County.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
But I think the difference for the Eagles in that
one is.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
That that's still a really young team that maybe doesn't
know how they know how to play, but I'm not
sure they know how to win yet because there were
some mistakes made by a young sophomore quarterback who, for
as good as he looked in the first half, didn't
look right in the second half for Braxton and really
kind of got a little greedy in South Harrison's defense
made him pay in the third quarter multiple times as
a result of that. So yeah, I mean, I think
(19:57):
the Hawks and Lincoln it's another one of these big
swing game games this week. Is I don't buy that
Lincoln is going to be getting trashed like they did
against Elkins. I think Elkins is kind of a unique
stereo class triple A team, and I you know, we
know about how good the running game is, we know
what they've added. So I think I think South Harrison
Lincoln is another coin flip game this week. I I
I would be really shocked if anyone runs away with
(20:17):
this one.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
Yeah, I think it has the makings being a pretty
gang you know which you know well, Uh we talked
a lot more about the Brinchport and that matchup with
with with Heritage throughout the unicorse of the regular you
know Friday free for all show. I think that one's
going to be a lot tougher walking in and uh
(20:41):
what going back to that you game though, one thing
that really stood out, Uh you take the rushing attack aside.
Uh a new Sport was going to have a good
day on offense. Uh, you know, I've been paying the
drums of the duo of Gavin Williams and Gay Martin
all summer.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
They certainly made me look short.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
Uh. You know, both of them had a really impressive
Week one performance without touching the ball. I mean each
of them carried the ball nine times and didn't play
much on the second half, uh, you know, especially on offense.
They both played a couple of series on defense of
if I remember correctly, you know, Gavin still hang on
(21:28):
some of the kicking duties. But the thing that really
stood out to me about bridge Sports Week one performance
was the play of the defensive line. You know, Tyler
Ferris has been on the show talking about how much
experience they had, you know, back on the line, you know,
and a lot of that goes to the offensive side
(21:48):
of the ball, but you know, school side of the Bridgeport
a lot of those kids.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Playing on the defensive line too.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
And when the game was all set on Bridgeports, top
three tacklers all defensive linemen. That's a pretty good sign
of you've got a pretty good on defense. I mean,
you know, you know, there were some sacks involved, but
be you finished with you know, negative forty eight yards rushing,
you know, that's uh, you know, we saw that a
(22:19):
lot during the course of you know, last historic season.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
But man, Noah West especially was.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Just you know, had one of those like you know
what I call the Charles Jefferson from festime Bridgemont High performances,
Like they couldn't block him, they couldn't stop them.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
I think he had two and a half sacks, three
tackles for a law was the leading tackler on the team.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
He said, when you're a defensive linement or leading.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
Tackler leglone, you're the top three on the team, that's
a good sign that you've got it together.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Uh on defense.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
So uh really pressed with those guys up front, don't
always get the attention that they deserve.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
So really really good fast times at Ridgemont High. Reference
that was great. Let's uh, let's let's go over So
the team that's got Buckhannon upsher this week your hometown
Philip Barbara colts Victoria's twenty three nothing over Grafton in
a game that was I don't want to say devoid
of offense, but certainly offense was a challenge in this game.
(23:26):
Are you more concerned about Philip Barber's offense or more
impressed at Philip Barber's defense after this game.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Play more impressed with the defense. You talk about numbers.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
I think I saw stats someplace for you know, they're
returning you All State linebacker Tylla Vans. I mean he
had like twenty pluss. Uh, it's a pretty good start
to the season.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
So, you know, I feel like.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
With any high school with because because generally your offense
is a little ahead of your defense. But if your
defense is that strong right out of the gate, I
think that's a very good side. Be a little different offense.
You know, when they played bu you know you'd be
(24:12):
just going to throw the ball around a little bit.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
They've got.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Kind of a dual quarterback situation in fact that you're
the first touchdown scored against Bridgeport. You know, uh, basically
just the backup quarterback or one b quarter threw it
through the other quarterback. So there do some different things.
So it would be another good test to you for
Philip Barber, for sure.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Philip Barber kept cash Nester the Grafton tailback to eighty
two yards on twenty eight carries. For those doing the
math at home, that is the s that comes in
under three yards per carry. That is pretty good for
a guy toting the rock twenty eight times.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
That is pretty darn discipline. Let's bounce around a little bit.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
We'll do a little rapid fire.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Just impressed by this.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I know, not necessarily quality of opponent wise, but anytime
you're going on the road. I talked about this with
Bobby Burnside. This was gonna be one of their longest trips,
if not their longest trip of the year. And Dodgerge County.
I think they were three and a half hours by
bus and they take down Liberty Rally forty one to six.
Doesn't seem like I haven't talked with Bobby yet, but
doesn't seem like they missed a beat on that one.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
Now, pretty impressive start for Bulldogs for sure. You know,
just like we keep talking about, you know how they
have built a program that I mean they expect to win,
they expect to be state title contender, and I mean
they certainly look that's going to be the case again.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
You know from their Week one performance.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
North Marion tops East Fairmont twenty seven nothing in a
game where North Marion got pretty significant contributions on special teams.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
I recommend folks check that out.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
That was one of the top plays of the week
at the Metro News Top plays, so that's at WV
metro News dot com and they blank East Fairmont had
a lot of shutouts, it felt like in this uh
in the first week. But last year, of course, that
was a game that East Fairmont led at halftime. We
know North Marion wasn't really thrilled with the way they
played all sixty minutes or all forty eight minutes of
that game, I should say. And they got a much
(26:16):
more complete performance this week.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Yeah, strong start, you know for the Hunts and you know,
and and to me, I think that's a sign of leadership. Oh,
you know, within that experienced group of lineman they have
back because it seems like they controlled a lot of scrimmage,
played real defense, played really well in special teams, and
plus played like they knew they didn't give their best
(26:44):
performance last year against you know, one of their main rivals,
and it just kind of felt like they were were,
you know, dead set on come out and take care
of business Week one this year and definitely showed.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
We did not spend as much time, actually we didn't
really spend any time talking about Elkins. We talked about
the Lincoln side of dropping that one fifty four to
twenty one, and another tough opener for Lincoln. They had
a tough one last year against Nitro. Obviously that's a
big win for for Elkins. Though that Lincoln is not
a pushover squad. I get they're a classification down, but
(27:22):
that's not a pushover squad. And I think I think
the big takeaway for me is that the the evolution.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Of Elkins seems to be kind of complete.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Right, Like we knew about what they added in the
in the transfer portal, we knew about obviously the big
steps the program took last year, But it kind of
seems like this is this is a this is even
for them, this is another step ahead because it's one
thing to it's one thing to squeak by opponents. It's
one thing to be in every game. It's another thing
to dominate.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:54):
And you know, one thing we talked about the additions
of you know, Logan being Jaden Hatfield. Uh, you know
the Robinson kid who came from from Clay County's.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Like there's still only one football, Uh.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
How are they going to juggle? You're getting all involved
at least for one week. Uh, they were able to
do that close to perfection. I mean, uh uh, the
carries were pretty well split between all their backs. H
you know, if you have one, you know, maybe Beam
had the most impressive outing with the five downs, but uh,
(28:28):
you know, Jayden certainly looked like Jayden has. I think
it's gonna be one of those cases where you know,
the week, you know, who has the most yards, who
has the most t d s is varying as long
as days on the same page. With that, it could
be a gangerous offense this year.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I think it's gonna be tough for teams to stop.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
What I wonder is like, I guess you know, you
don't see that type of offense a lot, so I'll
be curious to see kind of It's almost gonna feel.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Like matchup week to week.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
The teams that have seen the style of running game
that Elkins brings, I feel like are gonna have a
better chance than say, teams that maybe like like Lincoln,
who don't play as often against groups like that.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
One last one.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Before we before we wrap up our little, our little
preview set or Friday free for all preview, Tucker County
on the Road Monster win over Pocahontas County. Congratulations to
them forty to seven for the Mountain Lions. They get
off on the right foot again to start this season.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Yeah again, same Otucker County. You know there's another program
that I mean, I know it's just a year, one week,
but I fully expect the Mountain Lions to be in
the mix, you know, first dight once again. You know
this year they finally get over that hume. You know,
not to wait and see, but you're definitely top teams
(29:59):
and in Class A and uh, you know it's gonna
be fun. You keep an eye on them and how
the playoff seatings play out. So yeah, uh yeah, no
surprise with what Tucker County is able to do. I'm never
prized of what Tucker County does.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
There was a couple of nice stands surprises though, I
mean Martin Sargant Huntington who play you know this week
both shut out defeats you know, doesn't.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Happen very often.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
Granted, both of our opponents were really really good high
school teams. And then another sign of how certain schools
in this state will find you know, people will play
them in the regular season.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Yeah, that's one where where you look at the board
you're like.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Wait, Huntington lost and got shut out, Martinsburg lost shut out,
kind of sticks out, and then think about, you know
one of them, I too, you know, you know after
you know this, soh yeah, that's a great points.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Still two pretty just really good football team.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
But hey, let me let me let me throw one
out there before we get out of here, just like
like I did like a double take when I saw well,
actually there were two that I did at double take.
One was Tiger's Valley blowing out Valley Wetzel fifty four.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah, thirteen.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Tiger's Valley has had a couple of lean seasons and
they're on I believe it's their second straight year with
a new head coach, so kudos to them. That's a
I mean, Valley Wetzel has has certainly had their ups
and downs throughout the years, but that's a that's a
massive blowout win.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
But the one that really caught.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
My eye a little out of the region, how about
Wahama in a one hundred and nineteen point game seventy
I think I did my right up, Sorry was it?
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Did I do the math right there?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
One hundred and nineteen Wahama wins seventy nine to forty
over East Hardy.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
Yeah, yeah, one a game huh uh yeah, you know,
you know East Hardy is another program that used general
pretty good, you know in that mixing class as and
I mean, can you just it's just hard to fathom
for forty points and you still lose Morton. That's just
(32:18):
you know, it's like man, uh but yeah, uh, you
know out of Morgantown lost or out and sorry whamap lost.
You know, uh, player were both very impressed with over
the years in Connor Lambert. But it looks like they
still got leaving ammunition on that offense.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Tray Simpkins looks still like he's.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Gonna bell into that role pretty pretty uh pretty nicely.
All Right, So folks, a reminder that Chris obviously is
my co host for the Friday Free for All, but
check out our bonus segments every week and hopefully you'll
you'll learn a little bit about what went down in
week one of the high school football season. All right, Uh,
this is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
We're back after this to wrap the show.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Never miss an episode. Recorded versions of the Morning Spiel
are online at wkmznews dot com.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Hey, real quick, want you to email me The Morningspiel
at gmail dot com. The Morningspiel at gmail dot com.
Do you have a better answer for me? Can you
point me in the right direction on school consolidation. I'd
love to hear what you have to say on the issue.
I'm not in favor of it, but I also confess
I don't really know outside of more money from the
state and federal government, I don't really know what the
answer is. But maybe you do, or maybe you have
(33:30):
a thought or a take on or maybe you just
want to talk about football.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Doesn't make a difference to me.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
The Morningspiel at gmail dot com. I want to hear
from you, The Morningspiel at gmail dot com. That's s
P I. E. L. The Morningspiel at gmail dot com.
Folks will see it tomorrow for a little local arts Thursday.
See you then, extin
Ladies and gentlemen, grab your coffee and donuts, because it's
time for the Morning Spiel, brought to you by Royal Water.
The Athenians and topics discussed on the show do not
reflect that of WVRC Media or our advertisers. Now we
head straight to the one o three to three WKMZ
newsroom with your host, Alex Whiderspiel.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Good morning, welcome in. What's up everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
I want to three three wkms?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Can you believe it? Another edition?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
We're here again, back back back once more, into the
breach once more. Thanks for being here, everybody. It's good
to be here with you. Got a good show lined
up for you today. Chris Johnson of connect Bridgeport is
set to join the show. In our main segment, we're
gonna get into some high school football talk, mainly just
kind of recapping Week one in its entirety. There's gonna
(00:51):
be a new thing that we're gonna be doing in
you know, not necessarily in perpetuity and not necessarily every week,
but we're gonna do this semi regularly in radio form,
and we're gonna do it every week in podcast form.
So if you're ever like, hey, where's Chris, Well, don't worry.
It's gonna be at bare minimum. It'll be a podcast
every week, basically little bonus action for you. We're gonna
(01:12):
do more of this recapping of the week in high
school football, and then that way we can spend more
time on Fridays looking ahead because at that point on Friday,
it's been a whole week since the last game. Anyway,
we really just want to get to focusing on what's.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Ahead of us.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
And so that's sort of the plan moving forward. And
boy was there a lot of good high school football
in Week one. Of course, Bridgeport dominant once again, no
surprise against Buchanan Upshure going up a classification and blowing
out the Bucks. South Harrison labored to a win might
be the way to put it against an improved Braxton
(01:47):
County team, but the win they got nonetheless good win
for South Harrison. Any win is really a good win.
There's no such thing as a bad win. I think, Well,
ask Wesper Hathaway at some point what he thinks about that.
I'd be curious to hear what a coach is. There's
such a thing as a bad win, I'd like to
hear that. But South Harrison gets the win, and they've
got Lincoln this week, Lincoln who lost against Elkins, that
(02:11):
that much much improved Elkins team that was already a
playoff team a year ago. And that's pretty much your
Harrison County recap. We'll dive into a little bit of
everything with Chris. That's all coming up in just a
little bit during the main segment of the show. So
if you're listening on the radio, you've got a little
while to wait still, because of course we're gonna do
your news in sports headlines during the second segment. But
(02:32):
if you're listening in podcast form, that's coming up next
after you know, messages that we'll hear from in a
few minutes. All right, So a couple of things I
wanted to get to you today, but I think the
big one I want to focus on I want to
step away from sports for just a moment, I hope.
So I get that there's like real skepticism of polling
(02:56):
out there right now, and rightfully so. Polling has been
an absolute nightmare of late, and it is really interesting
to me because I keep reading about how Democrats think
they have a real shot at picking up a seat
in Iowa, and as I understand it, in the in
the Senate, and as I understand Jony ernst Is is
not seeking reelection in twenty twenty six, which typically an incumbent,
(03:19):
and it's not always true, but an incumbent not running
typically is usually a sign that they are seeing some
rough waters, they're a little bit concerned about what their
chances are of winning. Not always the case, and even
if that's not the case, it does create a harder
situation because incumbents are generally harder to unseat. It is
easier to win as an incumbent than in any other capacity.
(03:42):
So we'll see how that goes. But here's the thing,
the reason I bring up Iowa. You guys remember that
and Seltzer poll at the end of the twenty twenty
four election cycle that showed Democrats were gonna win Iowa
And it was off by like eighteen nineteen points, one
of the worst polls, and like Ann Celtzer's this amazing
history as one of the most accurate polsters of her generation,
(04:05):
and like retired after this. That's how bad of a
swing and a miss. This one was so all right,
So here, here's the deal. The reason I bring this up, though,
is because I get that folks are skeptical and healthily
so of pulling. But I think polling of of like
who am I going to vote for is harder than
ever before, because.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I do think candidates being.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
More unpopular than they really ever have been. It creates
a challenge for both the polster and the responding because
the respond it might not be ready to make a
decision up until like the last possible minute. Right, you know,
we are seeing this where there is sort of this return.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
It didn't used to be this way.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
There was a period of time where the late deciding
voters were really limited in their power, if I recall correctly.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
In fact, it wasn't all that long ago.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I don't think the late deciding voters decided the twenty
twenty election, but they did decide twenty sixteen and twenty
twenty four. So there's this sort of been this pattern
where the late deciders have a typical history lately and
again small sample alert, but they seem to be better
at deciding things for the Republican candidate than the Democratic candidate.
I digress, though, because this is not what I wanted
(05:11):
to get into. You may have seen the Metro News
pollsters up at the website. You may have heard from
Rex Repass yesterday on the statewid program. I wanted to
take a few minutes just to talk about that because
one pole really stood out to me, actually two poles
really stood. The two things really stood out to me.
One seventy one percent say yes that they support school
vaccination requirements, which is pretty much in line with national averages.
(05:34):
Is to me fascinating because you constantly hear all this
consternation about vaccination in schools, and we have a governor
who folks elected, who seems to be counterintuitively going against this.
But what I wonder, basically the two thoughts that I
had here was thought number one, is it possible that
(05:56):
this issue is just not important enough to a significant
portion of that seventy one Because let's just say, if
this were like a top three issue of for seventy
for those seventy one percent, how would Patrick Morrissey have
ever won the election? Right because he's just completely accounter
to what West Virginians think on this issue. Here's a
here's another thought though, and Rex Repass actually noted this,
(06:19):
and we might get him on the show One Dad'd
love to talk to him about this, but he noted this.
They didn't poll for strength of feeling right. They did
not poll for strongly agree, agree, neutral disagree, strongly disagree,
And that would be a very very interesting if they had,
(06:39):
If they had decided to scale the response, I would
be very curious to see those numbers.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I would also be curious, and I would love.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
To see this eventually put into questionnaires more often, because
this is usually only included in exit polling. Was this
or is this the most important issue to you? Where
would it falls at? Top three? Is it top five?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Is it number one?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I would like to know that, because typically if folks
are voting based on their number one or number two issue,
I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not in
anyone's top three based on this response.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I just don't.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I don't see this as being in anyone's top three.
So that that was my first thought upon seeing this.
When the other thought, and I don't have any way
of solving this at the moment, my other thought is.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
The other, the other pole that's out there.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
The education poll that showed forty six percent of West Virginians,
which was a plurality, are unhappy with the state of
the education system, which makes a lot of sense to me.
But here's what I kind of took away from this is,
I wonder, I'm trying to get into the mind of
the respondent, and I have a sneaking suspicion that of
that forty six percent, there are probably folks who's dissatisfaction.
(07:58):
If you were again you either scale the response or
if you were to do some kind of let's say,
a focus group and get back information as far as
what type of dissatisfaction this is, I wonder how much
of this dissatisfaction is not driven by the state of
the education system, because keep in mind, while folks generally
(08:20):
have a negative opinion of the education system, usually they
have a high opinion of their own local educators, the
teachers in their community. And what that got me thinking
about was, is there a possibility that the dissatisfaction has
nothing to do with whether or not they think that
a child is getting quality education in a West Virginia
(08:43):
school system, but in fact everything to do with the
fact that we can't keep any schools open in this state.
That the solution and I'm not saying that I'm not
saying I have a better answer here, but the solution
every single time we run into a problem is consolidation,
and I'm not sure sure that's really the answer in
this state. We've talked about on our football show regularly
(09:05):
how West Virginia has these like intense geographic challenges that
I don't think a lot of other states really have.
It's the combination of the mountainous terrain mixed with the
climate and the weather, mixed with how non densely populated
this state is, and of course that it's an aging population.
(09:26):
All of these things together make it particularly difficult to
keep people in certain places. And as places go and
we start to consolidate. Where consolidation might not be the
end of the world in flat Nebraska or Kansas, for example,
it certainly creates some challenges when you're trying to travel
up bus over this giant mountain or hill in the
(09:49):
midst of twenty degree weather and it's set to snow.
So that was the one thing I thought was, is
this dissatisfaction Does it have absolutely nothing to do with
the state of the education system, or is it more
to do with folks are bothered by the solution to
(10:10):
seemingly every problem in the state's education system being we
got to consolidate, We've got to have fewer schools. I
have wondered this for a long time. Consolidation, I think
is one of the most unheralded stories in the state
of West Virginia. It's one of the biggest driving factors
(10:31):
of I think, societal decline. And yet, as I say that,
I'm not here to blame anybody because I don't know
that I have a better answer. I don't know that
I have a better answer. I don't know that there
is a better answer. But I do think we should
be thinking about this because I don't know that it's
necessarily a good thing for I don't think it's a
good thing for kids to be traveling forty minutes, fifty minutes,
an hour, an hour ten by bus. I don't think
(10:54):
it's a good thing for kids to not have schools
in their community, to have fewer places that present who
they are. Schools are bastions. I remember back when I
was a journalist or reporter. I remember covering the twenty
sixteen floods, and I remember how useful schools were during
those floods, particularly in Fayette County and Clay County. How
(11:18):
useful schools were as places as distribution hubs, as shelters,
places where people could feel safe, places where volunteers could
operate out of a sense of strength. And I'm not
saying like again, when the buildings stick around, that's one thing,
But there is still an element of this where if
(11:39):
you if you think that that this is just this
is just the solution, this is the only solution we have,
I have to ask that maybe we come up with
a different one, And I think I know what it is,
but I confess that my suspicion is that it would
(12:00):
not fly very well, wouldn't be very popular. I think
you gotta put more money into public education. It's as
simple as that, because if Randolph County schools can't afford
to keep all the schools open, then they need more
money from the state, or they need more money from
the federal government. It's as simple as that. And that
money has dried up. Money is not there. So can
(12:21):
we give a bigger portion of the power ball to
the education sector? Isn't that what they do? Power ball
goes to education. I'm pretty sure I'm right about that, right,
the lottery goes to education. And then how that was
that whole thing was sold for legal gambling.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I don't know my gambling history. That well, all right,
let's go ahead and take a break on that note.
We're gonna get into the sports world in a few minutes,
and of course we're gonna talk with Chris Johnson. Con up,
this is the Morning Spiel persent of by Royal Water Treatment.
I want to through three wkmz.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Now back to the Morning Spiel brought to you by
Royal Water on wkmz.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
I want to three to three wkmz. All right, Alex
weill here with you alongside Chris Johnson, now my guest
from connect Bridgeport and the Friday Free for All, a
show that you can catch Friday mornings on one of
the three three w k m Z seven, six to nine.
Sometimes we do some bonus segments. This is actually kind
of a bonus segment and it's in and of itself.
(13:15):
It's actually a new thing we're gonna be doing. Uh
where Chris is gonna come on, uh probably about once
a week. Maybe maybe you know, not every week, but
but but Chris is gonna join us and we're gonna
do a little bit of a recap of last week's
action of high school football and then on Fridays. That way,
we're gonna spend a little bit more time able to
look just ahead at what's coming in the high school
football world rather than doing a little bit of both.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So, Chris, what's up man?
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (13:40):
Not much?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Man?
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Did you give Labor Day weekend?
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
You know, it's funny enough.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
We've got folks doing some work at our house and
it was very nice of them to actually work on
on Labor Day, which we did not ask them to do,
but they they volunteered, they offered to do.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
So, Uh, it was. It's it's been.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
It's been interesting watching we have an upstairs attic bedroom.
It's kind of being it was in rough shape and
it's being transformed into something that I'm excited, excited about
the possibilities for.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So anyway, that was That's pretty much.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
The highlight of my Labor Day weekend is watching other
people do very impressive labor.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Wow, man, making them work on Labor Day. Did you
at least offer them some cookout or.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
I I listen, they they they, they offered, they offered.
I like I they It wasn't because we could have
done a different weekend. But but this was the most
amount of time that they had to be able to
work on a project like this. Because I I'm a
big I'm a very big pro labor guy, so I
would always prefer folks enjoy their labor day. But this
is this is this was, this was their choice. So
(14:43):
I did give them the option. Yeah, we we You know,
my girlfriend's a vegan by the way, So the cookout
concept for Labor Day, uh, never one that's really sunk
in here.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
Oh yeah, I got you. So you might have off
maybe like uh.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Like a keen keen wobber.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Something that you're probably not gonna need to put on
a put on a grill anyway. So let's take a
look back at the last week a high school football
kind of the final word. On Week one of the
high school football season, we had in Harrison County, we
had three locals pick up wins. Of course, RCB kicked
off the season on Thursday with a forty one nineteen
win over Lewis County. We went over that in pretty
(15:23):
good depth last week because that was a Thursday night game,
and then in the meantime, no surprise, Bridgeport was really
just going to be a question of how many and
how the game looked. They won sixty two to fourteen
over Buckana Upsher. South Harrison fought their way through a
much improved Braxton County team. They won that game twenty
three to fifteen, a game that it kind of looked
like South Harrison was going to run away with early
(15:45):
and Braxton really fought back and South Harrison had to
buckle down in the second half of that game. And
then Lincoln, who is going to take on South Harrison
in Lost Creek this week, took one on the chin
against an Elkins team that I think you and I
have both uh kind of agreed, we have pretty high
expectations for So let's start in Harrison County. Then we'll
(16:05):
bounce around a little bit.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Initial takeaway from week one? Did everybody win? Who you
expected to win? Any surprises in week one for you.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
As far as involving the local teams, No, I mean
Bridgeport BU was about expected. I think you of the
of the three schools, I think you definitely had the
best game. Uh, not surprised South Harrison one. Maybe a
(16:37):
little surprise at how close.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
The score was. But as you mentioned last week.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
You got the feeling Braxton County was much improved from
last year. And I'll be honest, you bucking and I'm
sure is to tell during much better shape this.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Year than last year year as well.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
They had a little feistiness to them. Not not surprised
that Elkins, uh was able to beat Lincoln again, maybe
a little surprised at the.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Margin of victory.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
But you know, Elkins is a really good running team,
and that seems to be the achilless of the Cougars
once again. We know it was an issue last year,
got better as the season went on. Uh, but uh,
you know, and again.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Is it so much a big issue or is it
just the fact that Lincoln is playing against teams with
really good, you know, running offenses.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
So maybe a little bit of better.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, And obviously it doesn't get any easier as far
as running offenses go. Maybe maybe maybe a little easier
since Jayden Hatfield's on Elkins and not South Harrison. But
there were there were moments in that game where you
could see I wouldn't call South Harrison's rushing attack a
work in progress. I just don't think that's that's fair.
Maybe not as explosive, but I actually think that there's
(18:02):
the thing that was kind of crazy is for a
game where they i mean they ran pretty well in
the first half of that game and not as well
in the second half, there was room for improvement for
a team that probably rushed for two hundred and fifty
near three hundred yards. I'm I'm guessing I don't have
the official stats yet from last week, only what we
took unofficially, and I will note as well with Braxton.
(18:23):
I mean, you look at it, they've got a pretty
favorable schedule for them to get to three, maybe four
wins if they are as improved. The other thing, too,
is they actually did this last year. They took a
couple of teams in playoff teams down to the wire,
even last year as a one win team, so I'm
not shocked at the way it went down. It was
(18:44):
more that South Harrison jumped out to a thirteen point
lead and they were I mean, they were dominant. They
basically made one defensive mistake where they over pursued and
allowed an open cutback lane, and through the first quarter
and a half were totally dominant, looked like they were
going to cruise through that game, and they had what
was a pretty controversial fumble call and I haven't had
a chance to rewatch the play yet, but they had
(19:06):
a pretty controversial fumble call as they were driving trying
to go up by three scores in the second quarter,
and talk about just a total momentum ship. The whole
game changed after that, Braxton scored and it stayed twenty
one to fifteen. They went back and forth at each
other for the entire game, and then finally the Hawks
defense outlasted the Braxton offense and they got a late
(19:27):
safety to make it twenty three to fifteen. So back
to back years with a safety for the Hawks against
Braxton County.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
But I think the difference for the Eagles in that
one is.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
That that's still a really young team that maybe doesn't
know how they know how to play, but I'm not
sure they know how to win yet because there were
some mistakes made by a young sophomore quarterback who, for
as good as he looked in the first half, didn't
look right in the second half for Braxton and really
kind of got a little greedy in South Harrison's defense
made him pay in the third quarter multiple times as
a result of that. So yeah, I mean, I think
(19:57):
the Hawks and Lincoln it's another one of these big
swing game games this week. Is I don't buy that
Lincoln is going to be getting trashed like they did
against Elkins. I think Elkins is kind of a unique
stereo class triple A team, and I you know, we
know about how good the running game is, we know
what they've added. So I think I think South Harrison
Lincoln is another coin flip game this week. I I
I would be really shocked if anyone runs away with
(20:17):
this one.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
Yeah, I think it has the makings being a pretty
gang you know which you know well, Uh we talked
a lot more about the Brinchport and that matchup with
with with Heritage throughout the unicorse of the regular you
know Friday free for all show. I think that one's
going to be a lot tougher walking in and uh
(20:41):
what going back to that you game though, one thing
that really stood out, Uh you take the rushing attack aside.
Uh a new Sport was going to have a good
day on offense. Uh, you know, I've been paying the
drums of the duo of Gavin Williams and Gay Martin
all summer.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
They certainly made me look short.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
Uh. You know, both of them had a really impressive
Week one performance without touching the ball. I mean each
of them carried the ball nine times and didn't play
much on the second half, uh, you know, especially on offense.
They both played a couple of series on defense of
if I remember correctly, you know, Gavin still hang on
(21:28):
some of the kicking duties. But the thing that really
stood out to me about bridge Sports Week one performance
was the play of the defensive line. You know, Tyler
Ferris has been on the show talking about how much
experience they had, you know, back on the line, you know,
and a lot of that goes to the offensive side
(21:48):
of the ball, but you know, school side of the Bridgeport
a lot of those kids.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Playing on the defensive line too.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
And when the game was all set on Bridgeports, top
three tacklers all defensive linemen. That's a pretty good sign
of you've got a pretty good on defense. I mean,
you know, you know, there were some sacks involved, but
be you finished with you know, negative forty eight yards rushing,
you know, that's uh, you know, we saw that a
(22:19):
lot during the course of you know, last historic season.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
But man, Noah West especially was.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Just you know, had one of those like you know
what I call the Charles Jefferson from festime Bridgemont High performances,
Like they couldn't block him, they couldn't stop them.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
I think he had two and a half sacks, three
tackles for a law was the leading tackler on the team.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
He said, when you're a defensive linement or leading.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
Tackler leglone, you're the top three on the team, that's
a good sign that you've got it together.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Uh on defense.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
So uh really pressed with those guys up front, don't
always get the attention that they deserve.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
So really really good fast times at Ridgemont High. Reference
that was great. Let's uh, let's let's go over So
the team that's got Buckhannon upsher this week your hometown
Philip Barbara colts Victoria's twenty three nothing over Grafton in
a game that was I don't want to say devoid
of offense, but certainly offense was a challenge in this game.
(23:26):
Are you more concerned about Philip Barber's offense or more
impressed at Philip Barber's defense after this game.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Play more impressed with the defense. You talk about numbers.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
I think I saw stats someplace for you know, they're
returning you All State linebacker Tylla Vans. I mean he
had like twenty pluss. Uh, it's a pretty good start
to the season.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
So, you know, I feel like.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
With any high school with because because generally your offense
is a little ahead of your defense. But if your
defense is that strong right out of the gate, I
think that's a very good side. Be a little different offense.
You know, when they played bu you know you'd be
(24:12):
just going to throw the ball around a little bit.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
They've got.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Kind of a dual quarterback situation in fact that you're
the first touchdown scored against Bridgeport. You know, uh, basically
just the backup quarterback or one b quarter threw it
through the other quarterback. So there do some different things.
So it would be another good test to you for
Philip Barber, for sure.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Philip Barber kept cash Nester the Grafton tailback to eighty
two yards on twenty eight carries. For those doing the
math at home, that is the s that comes in
under three yards per carry. That is pretty good for
a guy toting the rock twenty eight times.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
That is pretty darn discipline. Let's bounce around a little bit.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
We'll do a little rapid fire.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Just impressed by this.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I know, not necessarily quality of opponent wise, but anytime
you're going on the road. I talked about this with
Bobby Burnside. This was gonna be one of their longest trips,
if not their longest trip of the year. And Dodgerge County.
I think they were three and a half hours by
bus and they take down Liberty Rally forty one to six.
Doesn't seem like I haven't talked with Bobby yet, but
doesn't seem like they missed a beat on that one.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
Now, pretty impressive start for Bulldogs for sure. You know,
just like we keep talking about, you know how they
have built a program that I mean they expect to win,
they expect to be state title contender, and I mean
they certainly look that's going to be the case again.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
You know from their Week one performance.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
North Marion tops East Fairmont twenty seven nothing in a
game where North Marion got pretty significant contributions on special teams.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
I recommend folks check that out.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
That was one of the top plays of the week
at the Metro News Top plays, so that's at WV
metro News dot com and they blank East Fairmont had
a lot of shutouts, it felt like in this uh
in the first week. But last year, of course, that
was a game that East Fairmont led at halftime. We
know North Marion wasn't really thrilled with the way they
played all sixty minutes or all forty eight minutes of
that game, I should say. And they got a much
(26:16):
more complete performance this week.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Yeah, strong start, you know for the Hunts and you know,
and and to me, I think that's a sign of leadership. Oh,
you know, within that experienced group of lineman they have
back because it seems like they controlled a lot of scrimmage,
played real defense, played really well in special teams, and
plus played like they knew they didn't give their best
(26:44):
performance last year against you know, one of their main rivals,
and it just kind of felt like they were were,
you know, dead set on come out and take care
of business Week one this year and definitely showed.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
We did not spend as much time, actually we didn't
really spend any time talking about Elkins. We talked about
the Lincoln side of dropping that one fifty four to
twenty one, and another tough opener for Lincoln. They had
a tough one last year against Nitro. Obviously that's a
big win for for Elkins. Though that Lincoln is not
a pushover squad. I get they're a classification down, but
(27:22):
that's not a pushover squad. And I think I think
the big takeaway for me is that the the evolution.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Of Elkins seems to be kind of complete.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Right, Like we knew about what they added in the
in the transfer portal, we knew about obviously the big
steps the program took last year, But it kind of
seems like this is this is a this is even
for them, this is another step ahead because it's one
thing to it's one thing to squeak by opponents. It's
one thing to be in every game. It's another thing
to dominate.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:54):
And you know, one thing we talked about the additions
of you know, Logan being Jaden Hatfield. Uh, you know
the Robinson kid who came from from Clay County's.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Like there's still only one football, Uh.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
How are they going to juggle? You're getting all involved
at least for one week. Uh, they were able to
do that close to perfection. I mean, uh uh, the
carries were pretty well split between all their backs. H
you know, if you have one, you know, maybe Beam
had the most impressive outing with the five downs, but uh,
(28:28):
you know, Jayden certainly looked like Jayden has. I think
it's gonna be one of those cases where you know,
the week, you know, who has the most yards, who
has the most t d s is varying as long
as days on the same page. With that, it could
be a gangerous offense this year.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I think it's gonna be tough for teams to stop.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
What I wonder is like, I guess you know, you
don't see that type of offense a lot, so I'll
be curious to see kind of It's almost gonna feel.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Like matchup week to week.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
The teams that have seen the style of running game
that Elkins brings, I feel like are gonna have a
better chance than say, teams that maybe like like Lincoln,
who don't play as often against groups like that.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
One last one.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Before we before we wrap up our little, our little
preview set or Friday free for all preview, Tucker County
on the Road Monster win over Pocahontas County. Congratulations to
them forty to seven for the Mountain Lions. They get
off on the right foot again to start this season.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Yeah again, same Otucker County. You know there's another program
that I mean, I know it's just a year, one week,
but I fully expect the Mountain Lions to be in
the mix, you know, first dight once again. You know
this year they finally get over that hume. You know,
not to wait and see, but you're definitely top teams
(29:59):
and in Class A and uh, you know it's gonna
be fun. You keep an eye on them and how
the playoff seatings play out. So yeah, uh yeah, no
surprise with what Tucker County is able to do. I'm never
prized of what Tucker County does.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
There was a couple of nice stands surprises though, I
mean Martin Sargant Huntington who play you know this week
both shut out defeats you know, doesn't.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Happen very often.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
Granted, both of our opponents were really really good high
school teams. And then another sign of how certain schools
in this state will find you know, people will play
them in the regular season.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Yeah, that's one where where you look at the board
you're like.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Wait, Huntington lost and got shut out, Martinsburg lost shut out,
kind of sticks out, and then think about, you know
one of them, I too, you know, you know after
you know this, soh yeah, that's a great points.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Still two pretty just really good football team.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
But hey, let me let me let me throw one
out there before we get out of here, just like
like I did like a double take when I saw well,
actually there were two that I did at double take.
One was Tiger's Valley blowing out Valley Wetzel fifty four.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah, thirteen.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Tiger's Valley has had a couple of lean seasons and
they're on I believe it's their second straight year with
a new head coach, so kudos to them. That's a
I mean, Valley Wetzel has has certainly had their ups
and downs throughout the years, but that's a that's a
massive blowout win.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
But the one that really caught.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
My eye a little out of the region, how about
Wahama in a one hundred and nineteen point game seventy
I think I did my right up, Sorry was it?
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Did I do the math right there?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
One hundred and nineteen Wahama wins seventy nine to forty
over East Hardy.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
Yeah, yeah, one a game huh uh yeah, you know,
you know East Hardy is another program that used general
pretty good, you know in that mixing class as and
I mean, can you just it's just hard to fathom
for forty points and you still lose Morton. That's just
(32:18):
you know, it's like man, uh but yeah, uh, you
know out of Morgantown lost or out and sorry whamap lost.
You know, uh, player were both very impressed with over
the years in Connor Lambert. But it looks like they
still got leaving ammunition on that offense.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Tray Simpkins looks still like he's.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Gonna bell into that role pretty pretty uh pretty nicely.
All Right, So folks, a reminder that Chris obviously is
my co host for the Friday Free for All, but
check out our bonus segments every week and hopefully you'll
you'll learn a little bit about what went down in
week one of the high school football season. All right, Uh,
this is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
We're back after this to wrap the show.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Never miss an episode. Recorded versions of the Morning Spiel
are online at wkmznews dot com.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Hey, real quick, want you to email me The Morningspiel
at gmail dot com. The Morningspiel at gmail dot com.
Do you have a better answer for me? Can you
point me in the right direction on school consolidation. I'd
love to hear what you have to say on the issue.
I'm not in favor of it, but I also confess
I don't really know outside of more money from the
state and federal government, I don't really know what the
answer is. But maybe you do, or maybe you have
(33:30):
a thought or a take on or maybe you just
want to talk about football.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Doesn't make a difference to me.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
The Morningspiel at gmail dot com. I want to hear
from you, The Morningspiel at gmail dot com. That's s
P I. E. L. The Morningspiel at gmail dot com.
Folks will see it tomorrow for a little local arts Thursday.
See you then, extin
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