Wheeling Park’s Brett Phillips leans across the goal line last Friday for a touchdown against Brooke. Phillips and the Patriots travel to Parkersburg South on Friday in a key W.Va. Class AAA showdown.

PARKERSBURG – Another Friday night, another huge West Virginia Class AAA showdown for head coach Chris Daugherty and his Wheeling Park football team.

For the fifth time in the last six weeks the Patriots will be facing a big school team in the hunt for a Mountain State playoff berth when they travel south to Wood County for a battle with the other Patriots, from Parkersburg South at the Erickson All-Sports Facility. Coach Nathan Tanner’s 7-1 record club is currently tied for second in the Class AAA playoff race while Park is in a deadlock for seventh.

“We have literally been through the fire,” Daugherty admitted. “Every Friday we have to rise up for another big challenge and credit to the kids they have faced those challenges very well. Coming into the season we honestly wasn’t sure if maybe we were going to be 2-6 or 6-2 after eight weeks, but knowing how difficult the schedule was I am very happy.

“There really is a fine line when creating a schedule. You have to be careful when you are building it because you don’t want to do the kids and the fans a disservice by making it too difficult, but you also don’t want to be sitting at 6-2 and be a pretender that hasn’t beaten anyone either. Things could really backfire on you. But I believe that the schedule we have played has made us a lot better football team now than we were six weeks ago.”

Park is coming off another nice victory last week in which the Patriots fell behind early only to go on one of their patented runs before pulling away for a 56-20 victory over Northern Panhandle rival Brooke.

Daugherty’s crew, who have not scored less than 27 points in a game all season, have won three in a row, by a combined 124-41, and four of their last five outings.

And while the Patriots have their standouts, there have been plenty of different players contributing on a weekly basis. Quarterback Brett Phillips has had an outstanding senior campaign and is coming off a 16 of 23 for 254 yards and five touchdown performance last week with four of those scores going to Mykel Davis.

Park also boasts arguably the fastest receiver in the state in Jarrae Hawkins, who had the other scoring grab last week along with five catches for 90 yards. Keohn Phillips, Jr. chipped in with five grabs for 93.

Zac Lydick is among the rushing threats and found the end zone against the Bruins.

The Park defense limited Brooke to just 159 total yards of offense.

“They are a very good football team that has not lost to a West Virginia team this season,” Tanner said. “And the two losses that they do have were to very good Ohio teams. They are big up front, and they have exceptional skill players.

“Overall, they are just so good in all three phases of the game and they are going to be a tough out.”

While Wheeling Park can come at you in so many different ways South offers much of the same on offense led by quarterback Robert Shockey and wide receiver Cyrus Traugh. Shockey threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more last week with two of those scoring tosses going Traugh’s way. Wide receiver Turner Garretson also scored a touchdown while Gage Wright is a hard-charging runner.

The Southern Patriots also recorded four interceptions in last week’s win.

“They are really just so similar to us in how they play football,” Daugherty admitted. “Coach Tanner does a great job spreading you out and they have so much confidence in both how they run and throw the football it is just so dynamic.

“Most people will probably tell you that we may have one of the best receiving corps in the entire state of West Virginia, if that is the case they are probably second and right behind us. Cyrus Traugh can change a game all by himself very quickly. They just like to get him the football and get out of his way because he is going to make things happen.

“Their quarterback also reminds me a lot of Brett Phillips and they have so many kids that you aren’t expecting to make big plays who can step up and make big plays at any given time, just like we do. This is going to be a very tall order and getting a “W” isn’t going to be easy. It is going to be another playoff-type atmosphere.”

The importance of Friday night’s contest is not lost on Tanner either.

“A win this week would be phenomenal,” Tanner said. “Beating them last year was a big win for our program and it would be even bigger to get another one this year. I am real proud of these kids and our staff and where we are right now. We just have so many kids contributing in so many different way and it has put us in a very good spot.

“And personally, if you ask me, Wheeling Park is definitely one of the top five teams in the state and a victory here would put us in an even bigger position.”

While South posted a 26-24 victory in the series last year Wheeling Park defeated the Patriots by a 50-20 margin in 2020.