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2016 WVSSAC Volleyball State Championship Matches
Saturday, November 12, 2016
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December 10, 2016
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Greenbrier West High
Hurricane clinches playoff berth, routes St. Albans
By Trace Johnson
The Hurricane Redskins clinched a berth in the Class AAA state playoffs Friday night for the first time since 2014 by blowing out the St. Albans Red Dragons 42-14 on the road to close out the regular season.
A dominant three quarters of football over St. Albans (1-9) propelled Hurricane (6-4) into its first playoff appearance since 2014 after missing the playoffs in 2015.
The Redskins’ defense made its presence felt early on when Charlie Womack intercepted a St. Albans pass on the Red Dragons’ first offensive possession of the game to give Hurricane’s offense the ball at its own 27.
Hurricane was unable to capitalize and St. Albans’ offense took over and drove the ball inside the Redskins’ 20-yard line.
But the Red Dragons squandered the opportunity when their 35-yard field goal attempt bounced off the crossbar and missed, giving the Redskins’ offense the ball back.
As the first quarter came to a close still scoreless, Hurricane’s offense was driving. And quarterback Dylan Plumley capped off the drive by connecting with Ben McAllister for a 28-yard touchdown to give the Redskins a 6-0 lead with 11:29 remaining in the second quarter.
St. Albans responded with a touchdown of its own when quarterback Jayson Barrett punched it in the end zone from 1 yard out to give the Red Dragons a 7-6 lead with 8:43 remaining in the second quarter.
The Redskins took the lead right back on their next offensive possession when Payton Lunsford found the end zone from 1 yard out to give the Redskins a 13-7 lead with 6:21 remaining in the second quarter.
Later in the second quarter, Plumley hooked up with McAllister for another touchdown, this time a 17-yard strike to extend Hurricane’s lead to 21-7 with 1:55 remaining until halftime after a successful 2-point conversion attempt.
The Redskins took their 21-7 lead into halftime and got the ball to start the third quarter. And the Plumley to McAllister duo connected for the third time on the night for a touchdown to open up the second half, this time a 14-yard strike to extend the lead to 28-7 with 8:05 remaining in the third quarter.
The Red Dragons cut into Hurricane’s lead late in the third quarter when Barrett found the end zone again from 1 yard out to cut the Redskins’ lead down to 28-14 with 2:28 remaining in the third quarter.
Hurricane added to its lead as the fourth quarter began when James McDougale found the end zone from 4 yards out to extend the Redskins’ lead to 35-14 with 8:59 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Redskins set the final score late in the fourth quarter when freshman Christian Hill broke away from the defense for a 57-yard touchdown run to give Hurricane a 42-14 lead with just 2:26 remaining in the game and that would be the final score.
With the win, Hurricane clinches the 12-seed in the Class AAA playoffs and now heads on the road to battle the 5-seed University Hawks. Kickoff is set for Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m.
GW shuts down Hurricane
By Trace Johnson
The George Washington Patriots stifled the Hurricane Redskins’ offense from the start Friday night and the offense got things rolling from the second quarter onwards to clinch a 35-2 blowout victory over the Redskins.
After falling behind 2-0 due to an early safety, GW (6-3) dominated Hurricane (5-4) throughout the remainder of the game on both sides of the ball and finished the game by scoring 35 unanswered points.
After Hurricane’s Hunter Horn pinned the Patriots deep in their own territory with a great punt, the Redskins’ defense took advantage when a bad snap led to an early safety and a 2-0 lead for Hurricane with 9:49 remaining in the first quarter.
The remainder of the first quarter saw both teams trading punts and Hurricane took its 2-0 lead into the second quarter.
GW took its first lead of the game early in the second quarter when quarterback Grant Wells connected with Tracy Conliffe for a 5-yard touchdown to give the Patriots a 7-2 lead with 9:30 remaining in the second quarter.
After trading turnovers, the GW offense struck again when Wells connected with Darnell Brooks for a 38-yard touchdown to extend the Patriots’ lead to 14-2 with 5:08 remaining in the second quarter.
The Wells to Brooks connection was far from done and it connected once again, this time from 21 yards out, to extend GW’s lead to 21-2 with 1:03 remaining in the second quarter and that score held at halftime.
The Patriots added to their lead mid-way through the third quarter when the Wells to Brooks connection struck for six for the third time on the night, this time a 52-yard touchdown to extend the GW lead to 28-2 with 6:18 remaining in the third quarter.
GW continued to shut down the Hurricane offense and the Patriots’ offense added one final touchdown late in the third quarter when Wells found Brooks for a touchdown for the fourth time on the night, this time from 9 yards out to extend the lead to 35-2 with 1:45 remaining in the third quarter.
The Patriots did not allow the Redskins’ offense to get going in the final quarter to clinch a dominating 35-2 victory on the road.
GW has now won five straight games and closes out the regular season Nov. 4 at Capital. Hurricane finishes its regular season Nov. 4 at St. Albans in what appears to be a must-win game to clinch a playoff berth.
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The biggest game in the Big 12 this weekend took place in Morgantown, W. Va. West Virginia faced a formidable test from the team that, in our estimation, ranked below only Oklahoma in its conference entering this season. The Mountaineers passed the test with flying colors, dominating TCU, 34–10, to move to 6–0 and further its case as a College Football Playoff contender.
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Commentators Nick Brockman (Daily Mail) and James Castro will return for the 2016 event.
Hurricane shuts out Woodrow Wilson
By Trace Johnson
The Hurricane Redskins ended a three-game losing streak Friday night by blanking the Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles 41-0 at Redskins Stadium in a game that started two-and-a-half hours later than expected.
A 34-point second quarter blew the game open for Hurricane (5-3) and Woodrow Wilson (1-7) had no answer.
The game was originally scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m., but the Woodrow Wilson buses were caught in traffic after multiple accidents on Interstate 64 and kickoff was pushed back to 9:30 p.m. as a result.
The first quarter saw both teams start slow offensively and the first quarter came to a close still scoreless. But the Redskins got things rolling in the second quarter in a big way.
Early in the second quarter, Nick Williams found the end zone from 7 yards out to give Hurricane a 6-0 lead with 9:18 remaining in the second quarter.
The Redskins’ defense answered with a touchdown of its own when Lucas Cooper returned a Flying Eagles fumble 30 yards for a touchdown to extend Hurricane’s lead to 13-0 with 9:00 remaining in the second quarter.
After forcing a Woodrow punt, Hurricane’s offense took advantage when quarterback Dylan Plumley found the end zone with his feet from 74 yards out to extend the Redskins’ lead to 20-0 with 4:56 remaining in the second quarter.
Hurricane forced another Flying Eagles punt and the offense capitalized once again when Plumley connected with Dakota Williams for a 65-yard touchdown strike to extend the lead to 27-0 with 1:51 remaining in the second quarter.
The Redskins’ special teams unit got in on the action as well when after a blocked punt, Matthew Hartleben recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown to extend Hurricane’s lead to 34-0 with 1:17 remaining in the first half.
That score held and Hurricane took a 34-0 lead into halftime. The Redskins continued to hold Woodrow in check in the second half and added one final touchdown when Plumley connected with Austin Kerns for a 6-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 41-0 with 4:04 remaining in the third quarter.
That touchdown was set up after Tyler Womack returned a Flying Eagles missed field goal attempt 94 yards to the Woodrow 6-yard line.
Hurricane closed things out and secured a 41-0 shutout victory over Woodrow Wilson, the Redskins’ second shutout victory of the season.
The Redskins return to action on Oct. 28 at home for a key game against George Washington. Woodrow Wilson returns to action on Oct. 28 at Huntington.
By Trace Johnson
The Huntington Highlanders held off the Hurricane Redskins 24-13 Friday night to rebound from a disappointing loss to Cabell Midland the week before.
Huntington (6-2) started the game up 14-0, but Hurricane (4-3) fought back to make it a 17-13 game late in the fourth quarter before a final Highlanders touchdown put the game away.
After each team turned the ball over on its first offensive possession, the Highlanders struck first when Jadon Hayes found the end zone from 31 yards out to put Huntington in front 7-0.
Following a defensive stand, the Highlanders struck again offensively when Luke Zban connected with Seth Finnegan for a 50-yard touchdown to extend Huntington’s lead to 14-0 with 4:50 remaining in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, the Highlanders missed a 51-yard field goal attempt and Hurricane’s offense took advantage when backup quarterback Austin Womack connected with Austin Kerns for a spectacular 12-yard touchdown to cut the Huntington lead down to 14-7 with 5:14 remaining in the second quarter.
After a couple changes of possession, the Highlanders took a 14-7 lead into the locker rooms at halftime. The third quarter was quiet until Huntington’s Cason Kessinger connected on a 41-yard field goal to extend the Highlanders’ lead to 17-7 with 25.6 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
But just seconds into the fourth quarter, the Redskins’ offense came up huge when Dylan Plumley connected with Dakota Williams for a 53-yard touchdown strike to cut Huntington’s lead down to 17-13 with 11:39 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Late in the fourth quarter, Hurricane’s defense forced a Huntington punt and was set to get the ball back offensively with under two minutes remaining in the game down by four.
But a fumble on that punt return was fumbled and the Highlanders’ Andrew Spears returned the fumble 13 yards for a Huntington touchdown to put the game away and extend the lead to 24-13 with just 1:30 remaining in the game.
The Redskins were unable to get back in the game and Huntington walked away with a 24-13 win. With the win, the Highlanders responded after a 27-20 defeat at Cabell Midland on Oct. 7.
With the loss for Hurricane, the Redskins have now dropped three straight games after beginning the season 4-0 and return home for two straight games the next two weeks.
Huntington returns to action on Oct. 21 at South Charleston and Hurricane returns to action on Oct. 21 at home against Woodrow Wilson.
