Tag: High School Football

Cougars Football And EJ Henderson Guitars, Inside Appalachia

This week on Inside Appalachia, Alleghany and Covington high schools were rivals for decades. But now, they’ve merged. This week, we head to a home football game and learn how it’s going. Also, the daughter of a legendary guitar maker didn’t set out to take up her father’s craft — but she’s found it irresistible. And, we take a trip to the mushroom capital of the U.S.

Alleghany and Covington high schools were rivals for decades. But now, they’ve merged. This week, we head to a home football game and learn how it’s going. 

Also, the daughter of a legendary guitar maker didn’t set out to take up her father’s craft — but she’s found it irresistible.

And, we take a trip to the mushroom capital of the U.S.

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Cougar Football

A consolidated school might be different, but student spirit remains the same.

Credit: Mason Adams/West Virginia Public Broadcasting

There’s nothing hotter than a high school sports rivalry. Host Mason Adams grew up in Alleghany County, Virginia and went to Alleghany High School. His school’s biggest football rival was the Covington Cougars, on the other side of the county.

The two schools consolidated this past year. Adams made a trip home to visit the new school during its very first homecoming to see what has changed and what hasn’t. 

A New Generation Of Henderson Guitars

Jayne Henderson builds her own future as a guitar and ukulele maker.

Credit: Janie Witte

Wayne Henderson has been making guitars since he was a teenager. The guitars he makes are prized by players who are willing to wait up to a decade to get their hands on one. 

His daughter, Elizabeth Jayne Henderson, never intended to follow in her father’s footsteps. She went to law school, but now Jayne is carrying on the family tradition in her own way.

Folkways Reporter Margaret McLeod Leef had this story.

Pennsylvania’s Mushroom Empire

Shiitake mushroom.

Credit: Keith Weller/United States Department of Agriculture

People have hunted wild mushrooms for generations — but did you know that Pennsylvania is the biggest producer of mushrooms in the U.S.?

WVIA’s Kat Bolus brought us this story about Pennsylvania’s mushroom farms and foraging clubs.

The Migration Of Frijoles Charros

A bowl of frijoles charros sits to the right of a bowl of refried beans. While refried beans are a standard side dish in most Mexican restaurants in Southern Ohio, frijoles charros often accompany the main meal at restaurants in northern Mexico and along the US-Mexico border.

Credit: Nicole Musgrave/West Virginia Public Broadcasting

A bowl of brothy pinto beans is comfort food for lots of folks here in Appalachia. There’s a similar tradition in rural Mexico — frijoles charros — or charro beans. Now, the dish has made its way north to the former coal town of Wellston, in southeast Ohio.

Folkways Reporter Nicole Musgrave has the story.  

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Joe Dobbs and the 1937 Flood, Mary Hott, The Sycomores, Anna and Elizabeth, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, John Blissard, and the Alleghany High School marching band.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.

You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram, Threads and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

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Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

W.Va Governor Talks Pfizer Vaccine, Sports As COVID Numbers Worsen

West Virginia is up to 530 reported deaths related to COVID-19. And there are more than 660 new cases of the virus in West Virginia since Sunday.

Gov. Jim Justice gave a grim update in his latest virtual press briefing Monday — 17 more deaths related to COVID-19 reported since Friday, and 27 additional deaths that occurred several weeks ago, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

DHHR blamed local county health departments and hospitals for not immediately reporting the deaths, imploring local agencies to respond sooner.

With more than 6,900 active cases of the virus as of Monday night — up by 800 since Friday, state officials are being pressed to decide if current guidelines are adequately protecting the public.

Dr. Ayne Amjad, West Virginia’s state health officer, said it’s up to individuals to adhere to guidelines such as wearing masks, social distancing, and getting tested frequently.

“People need to have their lifestyle, their businesses open,” Amjad said. “We do hear people, what they’re saying; we hear the criticism, we take things into account. But life is not ‘stop-and-go,’ as the governor has mentioned multiple times, that life needs to go on.”

Amjad and other state officials stood by the state’s two color-coded maps, one that is updated daily by DHHR and the other that determines which county schools will be open for in-person school each week, and continued to implore West Virginians to get tested often for COVID-19.

This weekend also kicks off West Virginia’s high school football playoffs. The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC) announced official team pairings over the weekend. However, whether teams will get to play will be determined Saturday evening when the latest education map drops.

Any county colored red or orange must forfeit.

“Sports are important, but they absolutely have to be laid to the sidelines just a little bit,” Justice said. “Sports are important. I’m a coach. I get it. But school’s more important. And surely to goodness, if we can’t go to school, we don’t need to be playing. In addition to all that, what is way more important than anything is to try to find a way to keep people from dying.”

The governor, while urging school sports personnel and student athletes to be cautious and follow health guidelines, made no efforts to push any additional restrictions on schools, school sports, or the state as a whole.

In college sports, 17 student athletes at Shepherd University last week tested positive for COVID-19. Shepherd has been administering surveillance testing of employees and students each Monday since Oct. 12. This testing is funded by the governor for all West Virginia’s public two-year and four-year higher education institutions.

The governor shared a bit of bright news, however, on a possible vaccine for the coronavirus. Pfizer announced Monday its experimental COVID-19 vaccine appears to be working — by more than 90 percent.

“This could be the biggest announcement that we have had in our lifetimes,” Justice said. “It is unbelievable to think that we have pulled that off. Pfizer has pulled that off in the timespan that has been out there to make that a reality.”

Justice said he believes, if all goes well with the final trials of the vaccine, it would be available to the most vulnerable and first responders by the end of November or December. He notes, however, it would be “months” before it would be distributed to the general population.

Saban, Fisher Seek Help for Flooded Schools

Alabama coach Nick Saban and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher are seeking support for high school football programs decimated by floods in their native West Virginia.

Several West Virginia schools were heavily damaged in the June 23 floods. Both coaches asked high schools in their respective states this week to each donate a full football uniform, including pads and helmets and practice jerseys, by July 25 so that they can take them to West Virginia.

Fisher says many West Virginia high schools will be unable to field a football team without major assistance. In a letter to coaches, he wrote that “I know that we can help these members of our football family.”

Fisher was born in Clarksburg. Saban grew up just outside of Monongah and says football was “such an important part of my childhood in West Virginia.”

W.Va. High School Concussion Rule Approved

The state Board of Education has given final approval to a rule dealing with how high schools handle sports concussions.

The board approved the rule during its monthly meeting this week in Charleston.

“This is a significant step in how we protect all of our athletes from the short- and long-term impact of concussions,” said West Virginia Board of Education President Gayle Manchin.

“Now a certified medical professional must clear student athletes before they can get back into practice or play.”

Last year, legislators passed a bill requiring the Secondary School Activities Commission to draft rules aimed at preventing youth concussions. Among other things, they require schools to increase awareness and warn players of the risks of continuing to play after a concussion occurs.

The legislation also requires schools to create a written procedure for recognizing injuries and then clearing athletes to return to play, including the written permission of a licensed health care professional.

The state Board of Education postponed approving the rule in October in order to clarify the definition of certified medical personnel.

Historic Win: Martinsburg Football is Four-Time Champion

The Martinsburg High football team made West Virginia high school sports history Saturday by beating Huntington High 9-7 to win the state AAA championship in Wheeling, W.Va.

It’s the first time in West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission history an AAA ranked school has won four state football championships in a row.

Martinsburg (13-1) was ranked number two during the season and Huntington (13-1) was ranked number one.

“Anytime you have number one versus number two it should be a tight ballgame and it was today,” Martinsburg Coach  Davis Walker said.

“It was just a knock-down, drag-out brawl,” he said. “And fortunately our kids played enough to come out on top.”

Hundreds of supporters gathered at Martinsburg High School about 7:30 p.m. Saturday to welcome the team home. Player Troy Walker scored the only Martinsburg touch down.

“I’m just glad we won,” Walker said. “We made history, something not too many people get to do.”

“The game was kind of nerve wracking, but it was great,” Martinsburg Principal Trent Sherman said. “Our kids really played hard and their kids really played hard and we got the win, which was important.”

Sherman credited the Martinsburg football program’s success to the coaching staff.

WVU Moves to Find a New President, A Company Bids to House W.Va. Prisoners Out of State, & More

West Virginia University’s Board of Governors approves two motions to find a replacement for soon-to-be departing President Jim Clements, a private company bids to house the state’s prisoners at an out of state facility, a preview on this weekend’s high school football championship games, and Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott perform “It All Comes Down to Love” on this Mountain Stage song of the week.

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