BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

NAUGATUCK — The Tug Valley High School football team landed five players on the Class A All-State team last week.

The honors were voted on by the W. Va. Sports Writers Association and released last week.

Buddy Marcum, a junior, was named First-Team All-State Defense.

Freshman defensive back Bryson Elia grabbed a spot on the Second-Team Defense.

Adam Slone, Ashton Davis and Luke Bartram were named Honorable Mention All-State in Class A.

“All the players are very deserving of All-State honors,” said Tug Valley head coach Hady Ford. “Hopefully these guys will see how good they could be as a team and continue to put the work in and take it to the next level next year.”

“This team is only scratching the surface of how good they can be. I am very proud of these guys,” Ford added.

“I’m sure we had a couple more who were close to getting on. If we put the work in we can have a few more on there next year,” Ford said of his squad. “Buddy and Bryson are well deserving of first and second-team selections.”

The Panthers finished 6-4 but just missed making the Class A playoffs in West Virginia. They were ranked in the top 10 for much of the regular season, but a couple of late-season losses dropped them out of the top 16. The top 16 teams in each class make the postseason in the Mountain State.

Ford hopes to get his players in the weight room, where they will get stronger.

Practice starts the first of August each year, but now coaches and schools are allowed three weeks in the summer to work with their teams.

Tug Valley will open the regular season in 2023 with county rival Mingo Central. The Miners will have a new coach next season as Chase Moore, who guided MCHS the last two years, recently resigned from that position.