Published: November 21, 2009 10:01 pm      

COLUMN: Prep football season winds down, but still full of memories

It doesn’t seem possible, but the high school football season is just about over.

Time sure flies when you’re having fun. This is fun, although there are times when I have to remind myself of that fact.

Try covering 20 high schools with three reporters ’ one of whom must be in the office on Friday nights ’ and having a bunch of local teams all playing at home on the same nights and all expecting equal coverage.

Whew!!!! It can be a challenge, and it’s simply not possible. We simply try our best, and then get ready for an even busier season, which is basketball.

We started the season with 20 teams, survived a furious month of August to prepare our special football edition, while at the same time writing enough articles on the Bluefield-Graham game to rival the Super Bowl for the most hype given to a one-sided affair.

Yet, since that last week of August, the season has seemingly flown by.

Those 20 teams ’ thanks to the expanded playoffs in Virginia ’ was whittled down by eight by the end of the regular season. Twelve made the postseason. That’s not a bad percentage, 60 percent of our teams made the playoffs.

Black Friday is approaching on Friday ’ when shoppers will converge on local shopping centers and malls, eager to get the best deals of the season. For those worried about an economic downturn, just check out the stores from now through Christmas. Let’s just say someone is making money.

However, we had a different type of Black Friday and even blacker Saturday two weeks ago. Ten of our 12 teams played in the postseason, exactly three won. That’s not so good, 30 percent, and one of those games featured two local teams so someone had to win.

Ouch!!!

Five teams were left ’ including Richlands and Haysi ’ neither of which played that week.

All five were active this weekend. Two are left, Bluefield and Richlands, which is probably the way it should be. They’ve been the best area teams, at least in our coverage area on both sides of the state lines.

While those two clubs still have an opportunity to win state titles, there are 18 other schools who have put away the helmets and shoulder pads and began preparing for the hoops.

Yet, those schools have provided memorable moments this season, from the emotions of the final games at Big Creek and Iaeger to PikeView winning eight games and making the second round of the playoffs after posting a 7-73 record in eight seasons from 2001-08.

How remarkable is that turnaround? My first Friday night here was back in 2005, back when my hair wasn’t so gray. I remember the report coming in on PikeView’s opening game of the season. I knew nothing about the teams in West Virginia, and a little more about the Virginia side.

Heck, I picked Narrows to beat James Monroe simply because I had heard of the Green Wave. Needless to say, the Mavericks won big, and didn’t lose until deep into the playoffs.

Still the score of PikeView’s first game of that season was a real eye-opener: Princeton 80, PikeView 16.

Here it is five years later and the Panthers not only won eight games, but PikeView also reached the playoffs for the third time in school history and for the first time since 1996. They even won a first round game before falling after the long trip to Frankfort.

Wouldn’t it have been nice to see PikeView keep playing ? What a Cinderella story that would be.

A dream matchup for folks like me who likes the underdog would have been PikeView and Bluefield playing for the state championship. Wouldn’t that have been great?

The nine-time champion Beavers and PikeView, which finished with two wins less than that in an eight-year span. If Bluefield and the Panthers could have won two more games apiece, it would have happened.

PikeView fell short, but what a year it’s been for the Panthers already, with their girls soccer team also making a state semifinal appearance, and coming, oh so close, to the title game. Watch out for the boys basketball team, those Panthers will have their eyes on Charleston.

Bluefield and Richlands will continue their drives to what they hope are state championships. Ironically, both teams will play clubs they’ve never played before.

The Beavers travel to Magnolia, the Blue Tornado to Cave Spring.

How about those other clubs? This was the year of the turnaround.

Graham started 0-5, but finished 4-1, won a playoff game and saw its season end with a 5-7 record. Princeton started 0-4, but won six straight, watched three teams above them lose on the final weekend and made a playoff appearance.

Grundy finally won a Southwest District game and made its first postseason appearance since 2004, while Iaeger ’ in its final season with a team ’ made its first playoff since ’02.

A turnaround similar to what PikeView pulled off happened just a few miles away. The Concord Mountain Lions brought the roar back to Athens, and rekindled interest in a once-proud program.

This has been a season full of memories. I was able to witness rivalries like Bluefield-Graham, Giles-Narrows and Iaeger-Big Creek, and watch Graham make a seemingly miracle comeback to beat Abingdon, and ultimately qualify for the playoffs.

The season started with 20 teams, now it’s down to two. Bluefield has won nine state titles in its history, Richlands has captured two.

Here’s hoping for 10 and 3. Basketball can wait, at least for a few more weeks.

Brian Woodson is the sports editor for the Daily Telegraph. He can be contacted at bwoodson@bdtonline.com