BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
LINDSIDE, W.Va. — The Tug Valley Panthers made the long trip to Monroe County to take on Class AA James Monroe High School in their final regular-season game on a rainy Friday night. The ride back to Mingo County was long and tough after they lost to the Mavericks 49-6.
Coach Hady Ford and his staff hit the playing field with a depleted roster due to several injured players.
Once again Tug Valley played without the services of All-state running back-defensive back Bryson Elia, who is nursing a knee injury. Junior All-state quarterback Preston May, who missed last week’s game at Man, was unable to play against James Monroe too.
The Panthers also played without leading tackler Cane Thompson, who sat out the game with an injury. Two starting linemen, Spencer Workman and Garrett Hensley, were also out with injuries.
The missing five key starters definitely had TVHS at a disadvantage.
Tug Valley only managed 151 yards on offense, all of that via the air. They had negative yardage on the ground.
James Monroe rolled up 341 total yards of offense, 273 on the ground and 68 by passing.
“James Monroe is a good football team with some really good skilled players,” Coach Ford said. “Along with the three-hour ride, we knew it was going to be a tough ballgame.”
Jarron Holyfield was 13-29 passing for 166 yards, filling in at QB for Tug Valley.
On the receiving end, Cam Slone caught six passes for 119 yards. Derek Jewell hauled in three for 32 yards and scored Tug’s lone TD of the night. Teammate Gavin Fitzpatrick caught three for 15.
For the Mavericks, Brock Parker carried the pigskin 17 times for 150 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Ryan Mann had 51 yards rushing and a TD, while Ben Comer had 39 yards rushing and a score.
Andrew Winkle had a receiving TD for James Monroe.
Defensively for Tug Valley, Ben Gilman and Xavier Sartin each had seven tackles, while Fitzpatrick had six and Holyfield five.
The two teams battled to a 0-0 tie after one quarter, but the home team took a commanding 29-6 lead by the end of the first half. They added 13 more points in the third quarter and 7 in the final minutes.
“We told our guys that it doesn’t matter what happened or what your record was during the regular season. The only thing that matters starts this week. Everyone is 0-0. We can’t take anyone for granted,” Ford added.
Tug Valley finished the regular season with a 6-4 record and went into the game ranked No. 7 in Class A. They had hoped to stay in the top 8 in the final rankings in order to host a first-round playoff game. The top 8 teams of the 16 that qualify for the postseason earn home games.
Early projections Saturday had the Panthers falling to No. 9 and having to hit the road for the first playoff game at No. 8 Tucker County.
Coach Ford hopes some of his injured players will be back this week for the Panthers’ first-round playoff contest.
“We should have a few guys back this week. We won’t have everyone, but it will help,” Ford concluded.
James Monroe entered the contest ranked No. 9 in Class AA and now has a record of 7-3. The Mavericks were projected to remain in the ninth slot and travel to No. 8 Mingo Central to take on the Miners in the first round.
The WVSSAC officially released the first-round seedings Sunday. Dates and times were also released after the coaches meeting held in Parkersburg.
Score by quarters:
Tug Valley: 0 6 0 0 – 6
James Mon: 0 29 13 7 – 49