Justified by faith we are at peace with God: Twenty-Four And Counting - West Virginia Sports News, Scores and Coverage

Twenty-Four And Counting - West Virginia Sports News, Scores and Coverage

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Wednesday, November 17 2010

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11/17/2010

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Twenty-Four And Counting

Fred Persinger

As we enter into round number two of the high school football playoffs, there aren’t too many surprises. In Class AAA, all eight of the top seeds have advanced, in Class AA five of the top eight made it through and in Class A, seven of the top eight advanced. Two of last year’s state champions are still alive--South Charleston in Class AAA and Bluefield in Class AA. In Class A, we are guaranteed a new champion and two new teams in the Class A title game as Madonna lost last week to No. 4 Wirt County and the Man Hillbillies did not make the playoffs this season.

Now, let’s take a look at another set of “numbers”. If you go back and look at the playoff field from the past few years, you might find it surprising as to the number of teams that have made it as far as round number two of the playoffs. To prove my point, let’s go back to the playoff field of 2003 and move forward. Over the last eight years, in Class AAA 22 different teams have made it into the second round. In Class AA that number increases to 24 and in Class A the number is even larger and stands at 26. However, when you really break down the fields it’s still a big case of the “haves” and “have nots”. For example, in Class AAA of the 22 different teams that have made the second round of the playoffs since 2003, two teams have been there 6 of those 8 years--Martinsburg and Morgantown. Four teams have been in the second round five times and they include South Charleston, University, Bridgeport and Parkersburg. Only three teams have been in round two of the Class AAA playoffs in four of the last eight years and those teams are George Washington, Capital and Nitro. Of these nine teams that I have listed, six of them are back in the second round again this year proving my theory of the “haves” dominating the playoffs.

How does the above scenario look in Class AA and Class A? Well, in Class AA as mentioned, 24 different teams have made it as far as round two of the playoffs since 2003. Of those 24, two teams have been there every year--Bluefield and Wayne. No real surprise with either of those two programs. However, the number of playoff appearances into round two drops off sharply after Bluefield and Wayne. The next number is five of the last eight and that feat has been obtained by three teams--Ravenswood, James Monroe and Magnolia. And, to show you how elite the above teams are, four of the five mentioned are back in round two in 2010.

In Class A, the number of teams that have made it to the second round in the last eight years is, as mentioned, 26. And, like Class AA two teams have been there all eight years--Williamstown and Wheeling Central, again no surprises there. But, also like Class AA the number of appearances in the last eight years drops off dramatically in Class A. The closest number of appearances to Williamstown and Wheeling Central’s eight is four and only four teams have accomplished that--Wahama, Matewan, Madonna and St. Marys. Of those six teams, Williamstown, Wheeling Central, Wahama and Matewan are back into the second round this season.

Now, I will readily admit that all of the above is nothing but “numbers”,but it is interesting to see that while a lot of different teams in each class have been getting into the round of sixteen, it’s still the elite few that have made it past that opening weekend.

Of the twelve games scheduled this weekend in round number two, eight of those will be played on Friday night and that is great news for the crew of WENDYS HIGH SCHOOL GAMENIGHT! We invite you to join us for all the scores of those eight games, plus a look ahead at the four games that will be played Saturday. And, of course as always, you can follow all the scores and stories on our website at wvmetronews.com.

Talk to you Friday night!