Tag: Sports

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.

Marshall football unveils helmet to honor victims of 1970 place crash

Marshall’s football team will wear the number 75 on its helmets at its next game in memory of the victims of the 1970 team’s plane crash. Marshall (6-3, 4-1 Conference USA) plays at Tulsa (2-7, 1-4) on Thursday night. Thursday is the anniversary of the Nov. 14, 1970 crash just short of Tri-State Airport near Huntington. The crash killed 75 people.

State legislators concerned with head injuries

There’s been a lot of attention on how head injuries are affecting football players, and athletes, on all levels—including when they are very young. Stakeholders concerned about this issue hope new protocols will sufficiently prevent serious injuries.

Last year, the state legislature passed a measure that provides protocols for head injury protections for student athletes in West Virginia. These guidelines require coaches to have course training on head injuries and concussions, as well as being mandated to remove players from competition who are suspected of having concussions. It’s something that State Senator Ron Stollings said there’s a specific mission with these new rules.

“I think this bill is a good bill, we will see it being implemented as we speak. Me, being a volunteer physician on Friday nights, I have to take that educational piece myself. It’s a good thing,” said Stollings.

Also under the guidelines, a concussion and head injury sheet must be signed and returned by the athlete and the athlete’s parents before practice or competition begins, to make officials aware of previous injuries. If a player has been removed from a game due to a head injury, that person may not return to action until he or she has written clearance from a licensed health care professional.

Gary Ray with the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission said these new guidelines give “teeth” to his organizations, and other interested parties, in protecting students. But he says parents must also play a role.

“I was guilty when I played sports, you didn’t want to tell mom or dad because you might not get to play the next day. You’ve got to let people know, you’ve got to communicate. Mom and Dad work with their child, they need to make sure they are in constant communication with the school if they feel this is an issue,” said Stollings.

Senator Stollings said he wants to make sure that all medical professionals like him, who administer to athletes during games, are protected from excess liability issues.

“I think just basically saying that volunteer physicians while at a volunteer event, Friday night football, that you would have coverage by the Board of Risk and Insurance Management,” said Stollings. “I’d like it to be spelled out in statute, that we’re covered, a volunteer physician.”

One final requirement of the new guidelines is that when students do suffer a concussion or head injury in a practice or game, a report must be sent from the school to the WVSSAC within 30 days of the injury. The report must state whether an evaluation, done by a medical professional, verifies that a concussion has occurred. This report must also state how many days it’s been between the injury and athlete’s return to competition.

Can Marshall Basketball rebound after tough 2012-2013 season?

Marshall Men's basketball began practice this week for the 2013-2014 season. After finishing last season with a 13-19 record, there were not many…

Marshall Men’s basketball began practice this week for the 2013-2014 season.

  After finishing last season with a 13-19 record, there were not many positives to look forward to this season for Marshall Basketball. But the Herd is a team of newcomers mixed with just a few returnees. Counting graduations and departures Marshall only returns six players from last season and mixes them with nine newcomers. Marshall Head Coach Tom Herrion said he likes the mix of guys he has.

“I know how far we have to go, we’ve got a lot of areas that we have to become really good at and that’s going to happen over time, but I can assure you the one thing I’m confident about as I sit here is the fabric of our group. They’ve really displayed great attitude, pride and willingness,” Herrion said.

One thing that will help the Herd with its inexperience is a new NCAA rule that allows teams to start practice earlier. Marshall officially began practice last Friday, almost two weeks earlier than past seasons. The new NCAA legislation permits 30 days of practice in a 42-day period before the first game. The Herd’s first game is November 8th against South Carolina State.

“With this new start date it’s been good for me as a coach because it’s really forces you have to a little bit better management of your practice situations. With the move up of the time you get 30 practices in roughly a 42-day window and I think it’s good because we’re really not going to go no more than three days at a time, at least for the first three or four weeks without a day off,” Herrion said.

It’s not just starting practice earlier that has the Herd encouraged though, a late summer trip to Canada to play in NCAA exempted games against Canadian Schools has given the Herd needed experience in game situations. Herrion said these added experiences and a line-up of guys with more versatility will allow them do some different things offensively and defensively.

“I think what you’ll see most is our level of extended aggressiveness, we’ve been more of a team that’s played you purely in the half-court defensively. I think you’ll see both in makes and misses defensively our ball pressure point of pick-up will be much higher,” Herrion said.

What that all means is guys like freshman point guard Kareem Canty will be applying full-court pressure to the man with the basketball. Canty sat out last year when he didn’t qualify academically. Canty said he’s looking forward to an aggressive playing style.

“We get to run and jump, we get to run and go, if we can get a stop easy, we can get easy dunks and layups, easy baskets will help us offensively,” Canty said.

Senior forward Elijah Pittman is the leading returning scorer for the Herd at 16 points a game. He echoed coach Herrion’s sentiment, saying versatility will be the key for the Herd.

“There is going to be certain games where we need four guards on the floor, there’s going to be certain games where we need three bigs on the floor and some people are going to have to play positions there not use to, but there is a lot of people on this team that can do that,” Pittman said.

Pittman said with schools like perennial Conference USA power Memphis leaving the conference, it’s time for the Herd to step up.

“When someone leaves the kings chair or the throne they have to pass it down to somebody and I feel like we need to be the team that they pass it down too, we need to be that big time school,” Pittman said.

Pittman and the Herd tip off exhibition play October 28th at home against Concord at 7 p.m.

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