Warrior football challenges Parkersburg Catholic

Dunmore, W.Va. –

Pocahontas football lost their opener at Tucker County, 29-0. Coach Chris Sutton says the Warriors expected a tough game.

“The Tucker team that we played this year – they graduated maybe one or two kids that actually started on the field,” he said. “Here, we got beat 28-7. Then, whenever you factor in that we didn’t do very well against them last year, and then those guys are coming back more experienced and, obviously, we graduated a few pretty good guys, especially on the front line, we knew it was going to be a tough game.”

If you check out the photo gallery at alleghenymountainradio.org, you can see Tucker’s height advantage. Sutton says the size advantage was not the key factor in the game.

“Shorter guys against taller guys – and so, yeah, they did definitely have a little bit of an advantage there,” he said. But, on the front line, I think what hurt us was just inability to execute, mainly on offense, in our blocking schemes. Watching the film later, there’s a block here and a block there and we make big plays. And we just don’t get those blocks that night.”

The Warriors are working on a less complicated blocking scheme for their next game.

“Well, we’re really trying to focus on less is more,” said the coach. “What can we do extremely well Saturday, as far as blocking. So, let’s put together, you know, enough of what we can do extremely well and work on that all week so it’s perfected by the time we get to Parkersburg on Saturday.”

The Warriors travel cross-state on Saturday to challenge Parkerburg Catholic. The Crusaders lost a strong senior class but the coach is not underestimating his opponents.

“Parkersburg – they have about seven juniors and seniors that are playing and they’re substituting in and out about four freshmen and sophomores,” Sutton said. “So, they are definitely a young team, but, with that being said, it always seems, though, that whenever you face a Catholic school’s team, those freshmen are not quite like your freshmen. They’re playing there for a reason.

“By no means will be an easy game. They always give us a real tough challenge. They are quicker. I wouldn’t say faster than what we played against Tucker County. I think, definitely on the front line, there’s going to be some speed issues we’re probably going to have to adjust to.”

The coach says Catholic RB Mitch Davis is a concern.

“He’s a small guy,” said the coach. “Probably 5’9″, maybe 150 pounds, but he’s extremely quick. I mean, he can stop on a dime and cut back the other direction. But we have spent some time this week on open field tackling and tackling, in general, so hopefully, that will pay off for us.”

Kickoff is 1:30 Saturday. AMR is broadcasting the noon WVU-Marshall game, but will provide updates from the Pocahontas game in Parkersburg.