Playoffs Loom, But Friday All About Bragging Rights For Monarchs And Patriots
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WHEELING -- This year's Wheeling Park-John Marshall football game will come to Wheeling Island Stadium with both teams hungry for a win.
Both teams could use a victory to shore up their WVSSAC postseason rankings-- John Marshall (6-3) sits today as the No. 9 seed in Class AAA, Wheeling Park (3-6) is currently the No. 13 seed in Class AAAA-- and, of course, both teams want bragging rights for a rivalry matchup that dates back to the first year of Wheeling Park High School's existence, 1976.
"For a very long time, it’s been a rivalry game," Wheeling Park head coach Chris Daugherty said. "John Marshall and Wheeling Park, it’s a game that John Marshall looks forward to, I’m sure, and so does Wheeling Park. For us, we’ve lost a lot of the local rivalries over the years. But John Marshall is still one of those old-school high school rivalries. And so, it’s an important game to our kids and our school."
While the two team's annual meeting attracts plenty of attention, it has been awhile since John Marshall has come out on the winning end. Wheeling Park has won the last 15 games against the Monarchs, including last year in a 63-40 touchdown-fest.
John Marshall is behind 36-15 in the all-time series and last won in 2009, a fact that is well-observed by Monarchs head coach Mark Cisar.
"The records, you throw out the door," Cisar said of Friday. "They’ve beat us 16 or 17 years in a row. So, we obviously want to get off that skid. It’s a big game for us as far as where we sit in the playoffs. It’s a huge game for them as far as where they sit in the playoffs. Our kids know their kids. They know our kids. There’s bragging rights, but we haven’t had any of those bragging rights for a long time.
"They’re a very athletic team. They move the ball well. They got some good athletes. I know their record doesn’t show it, but they’ve been banged up with injuries this year, they got a lot of younger guys playing, but it doesn’t matter what the records are. They’re going to battle. They’re going to fight just like we have against them the past few years. And we’ll see what happens. I think it’ll be an outstanding game."
Both teams had late-season bye weeks scheduled before their meeting Friday. For both squads, the week off served as time to rest, and extra time to prepare.
"It’s nice to get the bumps and bruises healed up," Daugherty said. "The same for them, I’m sure. But, it does give you two weeks to prepare and to talk about things and really make sure that you don’t make any mental mistakes in the game."
"We actually practiced four days last week," Cisar said. "We went at it pretty good. You’re adding stuff, at the same time, you’re trying to get healthy for guys that are banged up. But, your focus is on the next game. We’re right back at it, but the bye week I think came at a good time. A couple guys banged up a little bit, and hopefully they’re healthy going into this week."
The Monarchs and Patriots have no shortage of important matchups heading into Friday. Both teams sports senior quarterbacks who are having very good seasons, with Wheeling Park's Jay Bordas (1,262 passing yards, 12 total touchdowns) and John Marshall's Jacob Cisar (1,141 passing yards, 16 total touchdowns) each preparing for the final regular-season games of their careers. It follows also that both teams have boasted multiple productive pass catchers, with the Patriots trifecta of Liam Wetzel, Preston Heatherington and Michael Neider opposite a strong Monarch duo of Landen Snyder and Tiler Clemons.
An X-factor for Friday, though, could be dynamic John Marshall running back Dalton Cooper, who has rushed for 1,039 yards and 16 touchdowns while also putting up 280 receiving yards with four more scores.
"They got a great player in Dalton Cooper and he can make runs out of nothing, whether it’s physically or with the speed to pull away too," Daugherty said. "You got to start with stopping him. But they got guys that can catch the ball and they got a passing game and a good screen game. They’ve done a good job of building an offense around what they have."
While the playoffs may well await for both teams no matter who comes out on top, neither side is looking too far ahead.
"Our goal is to go 1-0 this week," Cisar said. "We’re not treating this any different from any other week, but at the same time, yes, there’s huge, huge implications here. But, we just want our kids to go play hard."
"We haven’t even talked about the playoffs," Daugherty said. "We’re only talking about Joe Marshall, and that’s what our focus is this week."
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Wheeling Island Stadium.