State's perception of Tigers, Beavers remains steady after Friday's game

Sep. 7—A popular West Virginia poll attempts to take the temperatures of two prominent local high school football teams while an all-too-familiar scenario may be creeping up on the seasons on both sides of the state line

The first WVSSAC football rankings of the 2022 season won't be released until next Tuesday, so for one last time we can look over the shoulder of WV Metro Sports for a barometric reading of West Virginia's leading high school football teams.

The most earthshaking outcome of Week 2 in our neck of the world was Class AAA Princeton's 28-7 win over Class AA Bluefield at Mitchell Stadium.

As of this week, the unbeaten Tigers (2-0) still haven't made the Top 10 in the Power Rankings even though Jefferson and University have been dropped from the rankings. Still, Princeton appears to be on the bubble with the highest number of votes (14) in the "also receiving votes" category.

The Tigers are certainly deserving a little glare from the state spotlight after Friday's win. It was a great defensive outing to go along with some flashy passing numbers on the offense.

Veteran quarterback Grant Cochran completed 23-of-28 passing attempts for 303 yards and three touchdowns. All of the scoring strikes went to Dominick Collins, who finished with nine catches for 178 yards. Brad Mossor had seven catches for 69 yards and three other Tigers receivers had catches.

Princeton travels to Oak Ridge on Friday.

In comparison, the Beavers (0-2) remain in the Class AA Power Rankings Top 10 — falling from No. 3 to No. 8 in spite of being the only winless team remaining in the Top 10. Fair enough: neither Princeton nor Graham would be considered "Little Sisters of the Poor" under any yardstick for comparison.

Bluefield running back Amir Hairston rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown versus the Tigers while quarterback Caleb Fuller passed for 134 yards. Fuller's 25 completions were sorted out among five Beavers receivers, with Sencere Fields and Shawn Hale leading with four catches apiece.

Bluefield is slated to play Pulaski County, Va. at Mitchell Stadium on Thursday.

In the Class A Power Rankings, unbeaten James Monroe (2-0) remains affixed at No. 5 following its 6-0 win over Pendelton County. The Mavericks are open this week and will return to the fray next week against Meadow Bridge.

Mount View tumbled from the Class A Power Rankings after last week's 39-7 loss to Man.

It will be interesting to see how the WVSSAC rankings fall out when the first installation is released next Tuesday.

However there is another dreaded development in the air which could have a great deal of impact on high school football on both sides of the state line.

Twin Valley, Va., which fell to Montcalm 44-14 last week, has evidently already ended what would have been its final season as a member of the soon-to-be disbanded Black Diamond District.

On Tuesday, an official announcement by Panthers athletic director Brian Moore revealed that Twin Valley's football program has been suspended for the remainder of the season.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances which have diminished our existing roster, Twin Valley High School regretfully announces the suspension of our Varsity football program for the 2022 Fall Season. The administration and coaching staff have determined that this decision is in the best interest of the safety and well being of our student athletes," read the release, which was dated Sept. 6.

The region got another shot across the bow last week when Craig County canceled its game with Auburn due to the Rockets lacking enough healthy players while Bland County canceled its showdown with Wolf Creek Rival Narrows for the same reason.

This is a development with which area athletic directors and coaches of multiple high school sports have become all-too-acquainted since March of 2020.

Reportedly, injuries and illnesses other than COVID-19 have been attributed to the respective number crunches — but it certainly looks like COVID is starting to take a bite out of rosters, in terms of positive test results, if not outright illness.

Evidently, this thing is far from over.

— Contact sports@bdtonline.com