Talk of the Town December 4, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klucksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two five five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike Nolting.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
A good morning. It is a Thursday. Some light snow
in the University City twenty nine degrees and Metro Newsaki
Weather says could see some lingering snow showers early to
mid morning and then ah, I have just about thirty
five degrees with plenty of clouds today. Welcome to Talk
of the Town. I'm Mike Nolting. You'll find me out

(00:39):
on Xcess. Your news guy hope to bump into you.
They're producing the program today. We've got the voice of
the Clayvetel CBS, who you will hear from later in
the program, Ethan Collins. You can reach him at eight
hundred and seven sixty five eight two five five. The
text line open and active that number three oh four
talk three four. First, right off the bat, we'll have

(01:03):
to get out the at home version of Talk of
the Town. Go to waj R dot com and clip
click on the WV Bargains Tab and in studio we've
got market president Christian Miller. Good morning, sir, Good morning Mike.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
How you doing today?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Pretty good? How about you?

Speaker 3 (01:21):
I'm good. I'm good.

Speaker 4 (01:22):
When I go on the FM stations with Jack and
Nikky and those guys, I feel obligated to wear the
headphones over here. I mean, it's just I think it's
a little more of a serious environment. It's much more, much,
much more professional over here, same information, but presented a
little differently. I won't read you the poem that I

(01:43):
read on wv AQ. We'll we'll just stick with the
basics over here, Mike, because I know you're a meat
and potatoes kind of guy, right.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
That's exactly right.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
So anyway, we just wanted to wanted to educate everybody
on the auction that we have going on this holiday season.
It's a great opportunity to buy gifts for your significant other,
or your family or your kids at significant discounts. I
know we've been talking about this for several weeks, but
the auction bidding actually ends Friday at five, So we

(02:12):
just wanted to tell everybody there there's stuff from local
businesses obviously all across Morgantown, but also Mike items from
all over the state. You can bid on those items
or there's a lot of buy it now options so
you can you can get something just right there for
significant discounts. So, for instance, Mike, if you were wanting
to pick up some jewelry, maybe a new fancy watch for.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yourself this holiday season.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
Jack Willan's Fine Jewelry in the sun crist Town Center,
three thousand dollars gift certificate just like money. Right now,
the bidding's at twelve hundred dollars. On that two thousand
dollars certificate, the bidding's at eight hundred dollars. So if
you're if you're gonna buy some jewelry, why not have
that kind of incredible savings get the certificate. It's just
like cash. That's just one example locally. But we've got

(02:56):
zero turn mowers, we've got chainsaw snowblowers, which are becoming
pretty relevant this time of year. I think it's going
to be a snowy snowy winner based on the start window,
Tenning e bikes, air fryers, a refrigerator, pellet stove, I mean,
just on and on and on. You can search by
market so you can look just in the Morganton area,
or you can search by category. So we would just

(03:19):
encourage you to go to wv bargains dot com and
peru's around the site. I think you'll find a lot
of things that you really like and you can bid on.
Most people are familiar now with the bidding process and
so you can bid on it, you can buy it now,
and we would just encourage everybody to go check that out.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
One of the things that I thought about Christian and
is certainly a worldly guy like you when you look
at their locations. If you've got a friend in Charleston,
you could feasibly bid on something for that person and
they could pick it up right.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
Absolutely, absolutely, Yeah, we do a lot of crossing over
back and forth. We'll figure out how to get it
to people. We'll figure out how to make that work.
So don't be afraid to buy something somewhere else. You know,
We've got offices all over the state. We're in Cumberland, Maryland.
We're over in Martinsburg, We're in Beckley, We're in Charleston,
we're in Elkins, we're in Clarksburg. So we can help

(04:13):
facilitate that for you and so we would just encourage you,
regardless of where the item is, if you like it,
if it's a great deal and you want it, go
ahead and get it, and we'll help you out and.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Take advantage of the homepage because as Christian said, that
is it's organized by either item category or market, so
you're not just bombarded with a bunch of choices.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
Absolutely, absolutely, and I think I think people will be
pleasantly surprised when they go through all the variety of
price options and the variety of items that are on there.
I find myself going like, Okay, here's a list of
fifteen things that I'd really like to buy. Sure, So anyway,
so yeah, it's a great opportunity. We partner with our
clients from all over the state to provide tremendous value

(04:57):
for our listeners, and so we would just for you
to go to wvbargains dot com before tomorrow at five
and be a part of our auction.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
It's what I was gonna say. As with any great opportunity,
it is time sensitive, and this time sensitive item expires
at five o'clock tomorrow, So get on the stick.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
Thank you, Mike, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Absolutely. Take care of yourself, Christian, Good to see you.
Nine to eleven. When we come back, we're gonna preview
Pearl Harbor ceremonies tomorrow. We're also going to talk about
a couple of other veterans' issues. Light snow, twenty nine.
We'll be back on Talk of the Town AM fourteen
forty FM one oh four point five WAJR.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Listen now back to the Talk of the Town.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
A good Thursday morning. It is nine to sixteen. This
is Talk of the Town currently in Morgantown. Some light
snow and twenty nine degrees. Welcome back to the program.
Happy to report that West Virginia five one one shows
an incident free interstate system at this hour. And in
studio we have Terry Vance from Valley Healthcare and Terry

(06:27):
is in charge of managing and developing military partnerships across
the community. Welcome to the program, Terry.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
Good morning, Mike. Pleasure to be here as always.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well, you know, let's start here because a lot of folks,
let's see Pearl Harbor Day is actually on a Sunday
this year, so that will be commemorated on the WVU
campus tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
Exactly since it's on a Sunday. They've moved that event
to Friday weekday. The West Virginia University Center for Veterans,
Military and Family Programs will be putting that on. That'll
be tomorrow at ten am. That's going to be at
the USS West Virginia Mast and Bell Ogleby Hall downtown
area of the campus. They have a great keynote speaker,

(07:17):
Brenton Jones, a Pat Tillman Scholar. He's a current WU
medical student, but he's also a former US Navy Seal
Special Operations combat medic, so this is a highly decorated individual.
He's going to be doing the keynote there. Also, they're
going to have a twenty one gun salute and we're

(07:38):
going to have members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Post five forty eight and Post ninety nine sixteen that's
going to commence on that and then also the Marine
Corps League is going to also be there. They're going
to present the colors, which is fantastic, and so you
put all that together for that event, which they do
every year, and then within light of what's happened with

(07:58):
our two heroes for the National Guard, they're going to
have a vigil for Sarah at eleven and a tribute
also to Andrew and you know, in honor of both
of those individuals.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
See, this is a special day, special day definitely. Now
if you would pull that microphone just a little closer
to you and you know, I'd like to just point
out that boy when you're at that Masten Bell there's
so much history right there. And a couple of years
ago I had the opportunity to go when they they
donated some artifacts to the museum. I think there was

(08:36):
a life preserver, a uniform, there was even a program
from when they had a holiday meal on the USS
West Virginia prior to the to the attack of course.
And when you go over there for this ceremony, just
consider making that walk. It's probably about four hundred feet

(08:57):
over to the downtown library and in there you can
go to that museum and look at a whole lot
more than what I've been talking about here.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, it's uh, it's a beautiful ceremony. It gets it's
great for the community, gets the students involved RTC. You know,
they have program over there. So I would highly recommend
if you haven't been to see that, you know at all,
take you know an hour of your day and go
over there and just you know, and just check that out.

(09:29):
I think you're really going to be surprised how beautiful
the ceremony actually is.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
You know, you you briefly mentioned Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and
staff Sergeant Andrew wolf And I think it's worthy. It's
worth noting that on Wednesday night, Andrew Wolfe's father, he
addressed a whole bunch of first responders, and uh, you know,
both families have asked for prayer. I think that, uh,

(10:00):
the Beckstrom family is asked in lieu of any kind
of flowers, they would like for donations to go to
the Wounded Warrior Project, and I believe there's one other organization.
I'll come up with that in just a moment. But certainly,
as we pull for Andrew and mourn for the families,

(10:21):
for the Beckstrom family, it's just amazing to sit back
and note the level of engagement from all corners of
the state.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Yes, sir, it's it's an emotional time for everybody, especially
for the community in West Virginia, for the National Guard
in whole. You know, these are our young warriors, our finest.
These are young men and women that are volunteering, you know,
to serve not only the state of West Virginia, but
our country.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
There.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
You know that people look some people look at you know,
the guardsmen and reservists and stuff differently, but they're doing
the same work, the same service, you know, the same
loyalty to the country and to the state that all
the other branches do.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Couple things. They're number one, they represent the one percent
of young people that are willing to put the uniform
on and take that risk, exactly. And you know number two,
I guess it's just amazing if you were to talk
to them, they don't consider themselves the one percent. They

(11:31):
don't consider themselves special. They're probably more concerned with getting
their equipment cleaned and put away so they can get
out of the armory when the drill is over, exactly.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
I mean, no matter what branch you're in, when you're
serving in your homestead, you're in the United States, it's
different maybe when you're deployed, but you don't expect for
something like this to happen at our nation's capital. It's
just one of the most horrific things I've seen, you know,

(12:04):
in my fifty six years of you know, being here.
And you know, just in the last decade, you know, serving
the veteran community. It's heartbreaking. I can't imagine what Sarah's
family is going through. You can't put that kind of
pain into words. I looked at my daughter, you know,
I was watching the news, and you know, I teared up.

(12:26):
It's it's it's heart wrenching.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
It really is. And you know, of course, we all
offered prayers, many people came to vigils and expressed their
own whatever it is they were feeling, they expressed. But
you know, somewhere inside of you, Terry, there was a
creative spark and you wrote a poem. And you know,
we don't necessarily need to read that poem, but I'm

(12:51):
going to post that on my ex account here after
the program. But what I do want you to talk about, though,
is what you were trying to convey in that poll.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
You know, for me, I was sitting watching the news,
and as I was watching the news, my daughter was
sitting in a chair in the family room, sleeping, and
I kept looking at the television looking at her. And
I used to you know, English major, so I used
to really have a passion for writing, and something just

(13:24):
drove me to go over to the kitchen table and
just to start writing. And you know it wasn't you
know it definitely you know, maybe it was an outlet
for me, but I wanted to put something in words
that was a tribute to Sarah. Uh, you know, the courage,
the service, the love of country. That was my inspiration

(13:47):
for that. But the big thing is is that I
wanted to put something down to let her know, to
let myself know, and to be reminded that she will
never be forgotten. This event did not take away from
her legacy, from her life that you know, although it
was short lived, she will carry on. And that's the

(14:11):
poem that I wrote is to provide. It provided comfort
for myself. I broke down two or three times trying
to read it to my wife when I was finished. Uh,
And it will be read I think at the visual
tomorrow over at the Pearl Harbor and her uh, the
the men and women that she served with. I think
that's going to get over to you know, to them,

(14:33):
to hopefully provide some type of comfort. But that's that's
the you know the backbone of that.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Sure you know what what what I'd like to ask
if you don't mind answering it. But uh, you know,
talk about your daughter a little bit. What you know.
I guess when you're young, and you know, you you
see things on the news, they're things on the news.
But when you experience a thing on the news, as

(15:01):
she did with you, I think that reaction might be
a little bit different.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
I think that, you know, for you know, especially you
like with my daughter. She's obviously younger, early twenties, you know,
out of college studying for you know, m cat. She
wants to be a doctor, so she does have that caring,
uh you know, trait in her. And when she woke up,
she came over and asked, hey, dad, what you doing?

(15:26):
And I told her, and her initial reaction was to
sit down and help me. Hey what you know, let
me take you know, she wanted to take a look
at what I was writing. She pointed out a few
tweaks here or there that she thought. So it was nice.
It was like that you connection I was having, you know,
with my daughter, and this is you know, what Sarah

(15:49):
is doing, you know through her you know, uh, tragedy.
I hope that you know, it's going to connect people
and get people to love one another and not take
for granted what you have at home. You know, I
have a daughter that special daughter father relationship, and sometimes
you do take that for granted. You get up, she

(16:11):
goes her way, I'm going my way, and you kind
of forget the little things that are important in life.
And I think it's a wake up call. It's a
wake up call for.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Me, definitely, I think it is for all of us.
We've got Terry Vance with us from Valley Healthcare. Terry
develops and manages partnerships related to veterans affairs across the community.
One of the things doing and opportunity for folks to
come out and meet Terry is you're having social events.

(16:41):
And I know the most recent one just happened to
fall on the very first snowfall of the year, so
that might not have been a very well attended event.
Even if it happened at all.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
It doesn't matter. I'm still going to be there. I
was there at seven point thirty, so yeah, the first Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Were you really?

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah, I was there. There was a when I did
have one student from WVU that showed up over there.
After about fifteen minutes she came up to me. She
was like, are you with the Veteran Social Hour. She
had emailed me, and there's some students over at WU
that are looking for volunteer type activities that are involved
around the veteran community.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
I had that in my news copy and I went
right over the top of it because I thought, here
it is in one news story. I got Jim Smith
telling people to stay off the road. Then I got
Terry Vance telling people to go to Starbucks.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
I got text Master text message after text message from
people that were saying they weren't coming because of the snow.
They sent me pictures they're, you know, looking out the window.
I had another young man who actually came to the
first social we had last month, Marine, new to the area.
Fantastic young man. His wife actually got may have mentioned

(17:59):
for as we're now working with my wife, and not
only did you know he come to the social, he
joined our Veteran Coalition and came to his first meeting
last month. So every first Tuesday of the month from
seven thirty to nine, Starbucks over off of the Pier
pawn exit exit seven where the I Hop and the
Chipotle is right there. It's you know, I think it's

(18:21):
the newest Starbucks in town. If you're able to make it.
You know, stop buy and see us. You know, we
can connect you with services other organizations that may be
helpful to you.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
You know, I'm laughing, we're getting close on time. But
I think it's really funny that, you know, the veterans
that can't show up or sending you pictures and they're
telling you, oh, hey, no, really, I'm serious, because you
know this is serious business. And I know folks that
you know, if you've got that military mindset, it's it's

(18:57):
due or I don't want to say die, but it's
do or you better have a pretty good excuse.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yes, we're always on time, at least try to be.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
That's exactly right. Terry Vance with Valley Healthcare. How can
we get in touch with Terry?

Speaker 3 (19:12):
You can get in touch with me via email to
e Vance at Valleyhealthcare dot org, or you can call
me on my personal self. I always give that out
three oh four seven to one zero nine two nine one,
and a quick shout out for December thirteenth, Reese across
America at the National Cemetery. You're gonna have the Marine Corps, League, Bikers,

(19:32):
Bros and Bow putting Reese on those markers out there
for our heroes.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
And we'll hit that hard coming up next week. Right now, though, Terry,
it's time to find out what's happening across a great
state of West Virginia, and there's plenty of it. To
do that, we'll head to the Metro News anchor desk.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
talk of the town.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Good Thursday morning, some light snow, twenty nine degrees in Morgantown,
and let's see your Community Foundation is having a big
day today as well as the Animal Friends of North
Central West Virginia. Now, I don't want to steal anybody's thunder,
so we're going to go to the president and CEO

(20:31):
of your Community Foundation, Patty Showers. Ryan, Good morning, Patty,
how are you?

Speaker 5 (20:37):
Good morning, Mike. I'm doing fine. Thank you for having
us this morning.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
It's a pleasure to have you on. Now, I've got
this big ramp here that I was going to read
and steal all your thunder, but I'm not going to
do that. You go ahead.

Speaker 5 (20:51):
Well, we appreciate the opportunity to be on your show
this morning, as we are formally announcing a really exciting
donation that YCF is making through the Betty R. Lynch
Endowment for Animals to Animal Friends of North Central West Virginia.

(21:12):
It's a fifty thousand dollars donation to support their efforts
to build a brand new shelter for the animals of
north central West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
That is great news. So through the generosity of Betty
Lynch the Animal Friends of North Central West Virginia, they'll
be looking to improve that facility on Brewer Road that
they've been in for eighteen years. Now.

Speaker 5 (21:39):
That's exactly right. And I'm happy to say I have
with me today. Kathy Orris is with me. She is
the board treasurer for Animal Friends and she was just
telling me that she was part of the very first
meeting that happened back in two thousand when the organization
formed and they built their shelter in two thousand and

(21:59):
to day. So next year is their twentieth anniversary having
the shelter, and boy are they in desperate need of
a brand new facility.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yes, I can certainly understand that. Now, welcome to the program, Kathy,
and if you could, could you please tell us what
this new facility will offer that the current facility is
not able.

Speaker 6 (22:23):
To Okay, thanks Mike for having me on, and a
big thank you to Patty for helping us with the grant.
We really appreciate it. The new facility will be brand
new and we will be able to save more animals.
We'll have additional things like a dog park, a cadio,

(22:44):
more dog runs. There will be dogs on the bottom
floor cats on the top floor. Our existing shelter is
in desperate need of repair. We're having to spend money
on repairing things like air conditioning and floor and roofs
and things like that, so we are desperate to raise
funds to build a new shelter. And Mike, if you

(23:06):
haven't been out to the shelter, I encourage anybody to
go because it's just full of just spur babies everywhere.
They're adorable and they do such a good job keeping
the shelter clean and organized. But it was actually two
trailers that were donated to Animal Friends twenty years ago,
and they've done such a great job keeping those going
as long as they can. But they're just at a

(23:28):
point where it's either you spend a bunch of money
to try to fix something that's old, or you take
the time and invest in something that's new and will
help this organization long term.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
And certainly, I guess you could use the word permanent
because I've looked at some of the renderings and you know,
it looks to me like that's a fifty to seventy
five year lifespan facility.

Speaker 6 (23:54):
Yes, it'll last a long.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
Time, definitely. Now, Kathy, talk a little bit about your
operating guidelines, because I believe that you are a no
kill shelter, is that right?

Speaker 6 (24:06):
We are. We do not accept animals from the public.
We only pick up animals from the county the Canine
Adoption Center when they are going to euthanize animals, so
we picked them up, We give them vet care, stay in, neuter,
and take them to our shelter and find them loving
forever home.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Okay, And I guess you do that just through a
process of people show up and maybe want a dog
or may I've seen in the past you've been at
flea markets and places like that as well.

Speaker 6 (24:37):
Yeah, occasionally we do take animals out for events and things.

Speaker 5 (24:42):
Kathy, what are your hours that you're the public are
able to come in and visit with the animals.

Speaker 6 (24:48):
Because we have to run out for vet appointments and
we sometimes have emergencies. It's by appointment only, okay, but
folks can call three oh four two nine oh four
seven three eight to make an appointment to visit the animal.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Okay. Now, the last thing that I've got for you,
Kathy is explain or tell me well what this fifty
thousand dollars does for your campaign. And before you do that,
I would really like to, I guess, get the audience
involved here because you know, this is also your opportunity
to make a donation in order to make that fifty

(25:23):
thousand dollars go a little bit further. But what kind
of impact will this have for you?

Speaker 6 (25:29):
Well, it's huge for us. We will add that to
our shelter fund. Right now, we have five hundred and
thirty thousand in that fund. We need one point five
million to build the shelter and an additional five hundred
thousand to create the parking lot and additional things that
we need. Okay, Folks can donate on our website directly

(25:51):
at animalfriendswv dot org and that will help us out
a lot.

Speaker 5 (25:56):
And they also accept we were saying ira donation that
folks may may be able to make those type of gifts,
but of course, you know, checks and credit cards can
be donated and to their to their funds that they
actually keep separate from from their operating funds. So they're

(26:19):
they're yeah, they're building that that fund to be able
to break ground on a shelter once they hit the
one point five million dollars, but they also have the
challenge of you know, fundraising to keep their regular day
to day operations going as well.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
Definitely, well, we will continue to spread the word for you,
and Kathy and Patty really do appreciate your time. It's
a big day. That check will be officially handed out
at ten o'clock this morning at Animal Friends of North
Central West Virginia.

Speaker 5 (26:54):
That's exactly right, Mike. We and again we encouraged the
public to consider a donate. Perfect time of year to
you know, help those fur babies and any of the
animal lovers out there that wish to support Animal Friends.
This is a great time to do that.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Yes, it is. And I'm sure that we could all
say at this time in the world that it's a
lot easier to have faith in animals than it is
humankind at times.

Speaker 6 (27:19):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Okay, Hey, you guys, thank you and keep up the
great work, Kathy, and really do appreciate your time.

Speaker 6 (27:28):
Thank you, Mike, Mike, have great day.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
How about you? Uh huh, take care of yourself. Light
snow twenty nine degrees. When we come back, we're gonna
get a Clay b LCB preview taking on Wheeling's Central
Catholic for the state championship tomorrow night. That's coming up
next on Top of the Town AM fourteen forty FM
oneh four point five w A j R.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven to
sixty five eight two five five. This is the Talk
of the town.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Well, good Thursday morning, and welcome back to the program.
The text line that number three oh four Talk three
oh four for the last several weeks. Ethan Collins along
with his partner, will get his name in just second.
I know it's his cousin, but they have been chronicling
the march into history by the Clay Bettel CBS and

(28:34):
their class single A football team. Good morning, Ethan, how
are you?

Speaker 7 (28:39):
Good morning Mike.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
And it's chances I should have just taken a chance.
That's exactly right, said chance. Okay, all right, let's see
the game is tomorrow. Wheeling Central Catholic.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
You know many look at this contest and really the
only name that you hear coming out is Wheeling Central Catholic.

Speaker 3 (29:01):
Yeah, I like the doubt.

Speaker 7 (29:03):
To be quite honest with you, I'm sure this team
is thriving on it. You know, when you get a
lot of outside noise like you have throughout the playoffs
and everybody goes, oh, you know, nobody's gonna stop Wheeling Central,
well that's exactly what the CBS want. They want the
Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights to also sit there and think.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Ah, this is gonna be easy.

Speaker 7 (29:23):
But this team's not gonna go away quietly.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
You know.

Speaker 7 (29:26):
After they beat Cameron, they advanced in the semifinals for
the first time in school history. I was really excited.
I went into the locker room really excited about ready
to celebrate.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
It was quiet.

Speaker 7 (29:39):
He was dead silent. The only person talking was Aaron
Lapoe and he was just talking, you know, very seriously
about you know, what they needed to work on, what
they did well, what the what they feel like can
improve on, you know, always you know, talking about ice
rest and recovery and stuff like that, and all the
guys were just saying, we got one more game. We've

(30:00):
got one more game left to play, and we're not
We're not going to sit here and be satisfied.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Now.

Speaker 7 (30:06):
I will say this, they know exactly what they're up
against and what they have accomplished. I think the thing
is is that it hasn't really set in with this
team yet, and they're going to celebrate the season that
they've had after this game is done, regardless of the result.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
Ethan Collins is with us. He is the voice of
the Clay Hotel CBS. So, Ethan, I can't help but
imagine that, going back to what you were saying about
the demeanor of the players when they hear all this
talk about wheeling Central Catholic, doesn't that maybe develop a
little bit of a fire in the belly or maybe
I guess I would call it a quiet meanness that

(30:45):
can really work to your advantage.

Speaker 7 (30:47):
Well, I mean, Clavetel has kind of been under that
microscope all season. A lot of people would sit there
and go, ah, they didn't play the schedule that they
quite did. You know, the one real opponent that they
played in Cameron was the team that beat up and
it was the first week of the season. The thing
about it is is that this schedule lined up perfectly
for the claved tel CBS. It was balanced. It give

(31:10):
you a real test in the beginning to see what
you had. You had a few good opponents to really
work out the kinks and stuff like that, and then
when you got October, it was really just a gauntlet
of good opponents. You had Sherman, you had Oak Glenn,
you had Riverview, who yes didn't make the playoffs in
Double A, but was still a decent sized team that
could hurt you in multiple ways. And then you got

(31:31):
to the playoffs and you felt like you were prepared.
Richie County tested you early, but then you took care
of business. Work County was a different animal that you
felt like was a different sort of offensive scheme that
you don't really see in Single A. They like to
pass the ball a lot. You handle business against them.
And then you came in against Cameron and you face

(31:52):
some adversity. You were trailing for the first time. I
feel like in a month and a half you were
able to come back and win it. So this team
has faced every sort of adversity in every sort of
test that you could face in a football season and
they've came out on top and it doesn't matter how
pretty the game is, they just went So.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
My question to you is that Clay Pattel, they've made
a living on the ground. Is that a disadvantage going
into a championship game? Kind of you know, tipping your
hand to show your opponent we're gonna run, We're not afraid.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
Of I think they is.

Speaker 4 (32:30):
You know.

Speaker 7 (32:30):
I always like to say that they were a passing
team that likes to use the run to set it up,
and that's kind of what they did in the regular season.
But really when they've gotten to the playoffs, they've just
grounded and pounded you every step of the way.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
We've got a better offensive line.

Speaker 7 (32:46):
We're gonna win between the sticks, and that's how we're
gonna win this game. You are gonna face your toughest
tests that you have faced in between the sticks and
in this offensive and defensive line with Wheeling Central, you're
probably going to have to air it out. But at
the same time, if you put together a long drive
and you wear down these Wheeling Central Maroon nights, I

(33:08):
think as long as you keep the game close going
into the fourth quarter, Wheeling Central can get frustrated and
possibly crumble, but you got to keep it close. You
got to hang with them because they're a very talented team.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
So much will be asked of the Claypotel quarterback tomorrow night.

Speaker 7 (33:26):
Yes, Corey Cohen, I mean he's gotten more and more
involved in the run game as the season has gone on.
I believe he leads the team and carries. He's about
two hundred yards away from a thousand yard rushing season,
which is pretty impressive because he's got one thousand passing
yards and almost close to one thousand rushing yards. You
already have one one thousand yard rusher and Caleb Haul.

(33:49):
You've got one who's not too far behind him with
about like seven hundred yards and Caleb Snodgrass. I mean,
this is a balanced running attack that really likes to
hit you, and what Lapoe likes to call a three
headed monster in Corey Cohen, Caleb Snodgrass and Caleb Haul.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
Now wheeling central the other side of the ball. What's
the primary concern for Clay Bateel there on offense?

Speaker 7 (34:13):
Can't they have probably one of the best receivers I
think we've faced so far this year. I'm blanking on
his name. I believe it's like Ouigion or something like that.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
But faster than the guy with elite speed that we
spoke about it.

Speaker 7 (34:31):
I don't know necessarily about that. I think we can
hang with him speed wise. The problem is he's six
foot seven.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
That's a problem.

Speaker 7 (34:38):
His mother is the women's basketball coach over at Wheeling Central,
so he's got a basketball background. He knows how to
high point a ball, and he's just absolutely elusive. The
thing about it is is that Wheeling Central runs a
very similar offense to Clay Bettel's offense. They like to
run the ball with their quarterback on kind of a

(35:00):
counter zone read play, and they like to hand the
ball off. They only pass when they feel like they
need to. But let me tell you, if they need to,
you're still in a little bit of trouble because they've
got a good quarterback who's mobile and can get it
to where it needs to go, and you've got receivers
that can make plays.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
Now tell me about the Wheeling Central Catholic defense, please.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (35:23):
So they're very physical. I mean they're gonna get after
you and and wrap up tacklers. I mean, there's no
we've called it on the pregame show WVU tackling, which
it's it's changed this year from last year. But they
don't just try to lay your shoulder into you. They
wrap with their arms. They try to bear hug you

(35:43):
and then push you to the ground. They're a very
physical team on defense. They've got a big D line,
like really big for single A. I think they've got
guys that are over six foot and over two hundred
and fifty pounds, So they're gonna be absolutely a menace
to bring down and it's gonna be a challenge.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Okay, so I take your best shot. Who wins? And
maybe what's the final score?

Speaker 7 (36:08):
So it's funny you mentioned that, you know, if you
keep it low scoring, I think it goes.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
By the way of the CBS.

Speaker 7 (36:16):
If you can keep them under thirty points, I think
your chances of winning increase in increase.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
We recorded the.

Speaker 7 (36:24):
Pregame show yesterday and I'm gonna stick with my prediction,
and I said that Cleavateel CBS would win by a
score of twenty two to twenty one.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
Oh okay, all right, well, Ethan Collins and Chance will
have to call tomorrow.

Speaker 7 (36:38):
We will not have the call. We will not be
calling this game. It's the big guys over at Metro News.
I'll be on the sidelines red hatting for Metro News Television.
So if you see a guy out there in the
middle of the field holding up playing a red jacket,
please don't yell at him, because that's me.

Speaker 3 (36:55):
Hey.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
You know what the big advantage of that is is
now that you won't be in the booth if they
win the state championship, You'll be right there on the
field with him. That is correct.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
I'll have a little this probably.

Speaker 7 (37:08):
Cebe's hoodie that I've gone on me right now under
my big red jacket, ready to take off and hold
that state championship trophy.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
You'll hit the laundry room though before then, right maybe maybe?

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Okay, I don't sweat that much. I mean I think
it should be.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
I just can't. I don't think anybody there is gonna care. Yeah, exactly, Yeah, okay, Hey, Ethan,
have a great call, a good job throughout the season,
and thank you.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
Appreciate your time.

Speaker 7 (37:33):
Yeah, I appreciate it very much.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Absolutely light snow twenty nine degrees in the University City.
We'll be back to wrap things up coming up right
after this on a Thursday morning Stock of the Town
am AM fourteen forty FM ONEZH four point five w
aj R.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
Looka Thursday morning. The Clay Vettel Wheeling Central Catholic game. Now,
that will kick off at seven o'clock tomorrow night. Now,
the top ranked Morgantown Mohegans they're going to take on Martinsburg.
That will be a Friday Mattinee. We're gonna set that
up with a special pregame to get you ready. That
pregame will start at eleven oh six, and of course

(38:29):
that game kicks off at noon. Now, those two teams
met during the regular season. That was a thirty four
to six result in favor of the Bulldogs. But as
I am told, the Bulldogs really didn't get the best
shot that the Mohegans could deliver. So that game kicks
off at noon tomorrow. We'll visit with Dave Wilson tomorrow

(38:53):
morning and get a preview of that contest. Now, we
can't leave our friends out over at University High School,
even though they're not in the playoffs, they're gonna hold Winterfest.
Turn on the lights coming up on Sunday. That is
a fundraiser for the UHS Sports Complex. That is from
five until eight pm. Twenty dollars per person gets you

(39:16):
the run of the grounds, or you could enter free
and enjoy the attractions a la carte. Now the options
for families include live music, food trucks, you can get
your picture taken with Sada, they got a vendor market,
and you can't leave out the firesidees'mores and I won't
because they'll have them. Metro News talk Line is coming

(39:36):
up next on the Voice of Morgantown one oh four
point five FM and AM fourteen forty WAJR