WHEELING -- One thing about high school football is that when one senior class leaves, there is another group waiting in the wings, dreaming for their shot in the spotlight. That time has come at Wheeling Park after a stellar senior class earned their diplomas last year, leaving the door ...
WHEELING — The Wheeling Central football team didn’t get the chance to earn its fourth straight state title last year due to COVID’s color map eliminating the defending champs from the playoffs. This year the Maroon Knights will be looking to settle it on the field and they are ...
WHEELING — Talk about a demanding schedule. Look no further than the Leatherwood campus. Linsly School traditionally plays a juggernaut of a grid card. The 2021 schedule, however, takes it to another level of toughness. Coach B.J. Depew’s always-formidable charges are on tap to take on ...
MOUNDSVILLE —Newly named John Marshall coach Justin Kropka is used to rebuilding a team — after all, he did help get Harrison Central’s football program to where it is today. Those Huskies began the program winning nine of their first 60 games in school history before Kropka helped ...
STEUBENVILLE — Reno Saccoccia will have his Steubenville football team focusing on eliminating the negative as it prepares for a challenging 2021 season. “We’ve been very up and down so far,” said Saccoccia, who is entering his 51st season of coaching and 39th at the helm of the Big ...
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Consistency and stability have been two key ingredients for the success of the St. Clairsville football program. When you consider head coach Brett McLean has 84 players out for football, including a large senior class that’s coming off a 9-1 season in which they ...
MARTINS FERRY — The COVID-plagued 2020 season was a rollercoaster ride for Martins Ferry. The Purple Riders were up one week and down the next. However, Chas Yoder’s squad did qualify for the Division V, Region 17 playoffs. The Purple gang won its first round encounter with Jefferson ...
CAMERON — A new year, new facilities and new turf. That’s how the Cameron Dragons are entering the 2021 season. Despite a flood that overtook the new turf earlier this summer, the field is ready to go and so are the Dragons. “The kids are having fun,” Cameron coach Tim Brown ...
WINTERSVILLE — Youth is definitely being served at Indian Creek this fall. Andrew Connor embarks on his 19th season as head coach of the Redskins’ grid program with a roster dominated by underclassmen. His 44-player squad is composed by some 20 freshmen. Creek is coming off a pandemic ...
WELLSBURG — The Brooke football team is building toward the future, but the Bruins are not looking past this season. Brooke enters this season coming off of a 1-8 campaign in 2020. The Bruins won their first game of the season before losing their last eight. Brooke’s game against ...
SHADYSIDE — Though he seemed reluctant to do so because he’s not a fan of it, Mark Holenka threw out the ‘P’ word when he began talking about his 2021 Shadyside football team. That word — “potential” — popped up early and often from the head coach, who is entering his 13th ...
BELLAIRE — Expectations are always high around the Bellaire football program. There is no change in that belief for the 2021 season either. And that’s exactly how head coach Mark Spigarelli, who is beginning his sixth season at his alma mater, likes it, too. “We have a lot of guys ...
BROOKSIDE — The communities that comprise the Bridgeport Exempted Village School District, as well as a huge alumni backing, are beaming with pride as the Bulldogs will play their first home game in four seasons at the renovated Perkins Field inside Bill Jobko Stadium. Bridgeport has not ...
MORRISTOWN — For Union Local, the time is now. Head coach Bernie Thompson, who is beginning his fourth season at the helm of his alma mater, doesn’t want to hear words like youth or rebuild. “We have to turn the corner this year … no more excuses,” Thompson said. “Our guys have ...
STEUBENVILLE — Anthony Agresta is feeling good about the Catholic Central football program as he prepares for his third season as head coach. “I like where the program is going, especially with the numbers we have in our 10th-grade group and what we have coming as far as freshmen go,” ...
BARNESVILLE — Winning breeds excitement. That’s what is happening in western Belmont County as Barnesville is coming off of a fine 6-3 COVID-shortened season which ended in a loss to Fort Frye in the Division V, Region 23 semifinals. That, coupled with the Shamrocks run to the D-III ...
CADIZ — After going 4-6 in each of his first two seasons at Harrison Central head coach, Anthony Hayes and the Huskies compiled a 5-4 mark during the whacky COVID-19 season in 2020. However, two of those nine contests were playoff encounters, even though one resulted in a forfeiture ...
