Sports
WV Round-Up: P. South Looks To Play Spoiler
By: Kyle Bratke
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When the Parkersburg South Patriots return to the friendly confines of Erickson All-Sports Facility Friday night they will look to play the role of spoiler. The Greenbrier East Spartans enter with a 4-4 mark on the season, and with a win in their final two games would most likely make the playoffs.
“Its hard to get guys motivated when you only have two wins this late in the season, but I think the guys have done a good job at practice this week,” Patriots coach Mike Eddy said. “We’re really just trying to focus on ourselves and getting better week in and week out. We need to be more consistent at every position for four quarters.”
The Patriots have relied on the running game all year. Running backs Brendan Schwendeman and Cody Smith have combined to rush for just over 1,000 yards and 12 scores on the season.
“We’ve got a good balance right now,” Eddy said. “Cody [Smith] is more physical and runs more up the middle, and Schwendeman is faster and more of our edge guy.”
Parkersburg South won’t be the only team at Erickson Friday night with a strong rushing attack. Spartan running back Dalton Cline has over 950 yards and seven scores, good enough for fourth in class AAA.
Greenbrier East also boasts one of the best dual threat quarterbacks in the state. Isaiah Kinder is second in West Virginia with 1,500 passing yards and 12 touchdowns to just two interceptions. Kinder also poses a threat with his legs with over 350 yards and another eight scores on the ground.
“We haven’t put anything new in this week to stop them,” Eddy said. “We just have to focus on the fundamentals and making sure guys are where they are supposed to be.”
Greenbrier East’s offense will be tougher than usual to slow down, as the injury bug and illness have hit the Patriots hard.
“I think we had three guys miss practice on Monday because of illness,” Eddy said, “and my policy is if you miss practice you sit a half, so we have three starters missing the first half of the game.”
The Patriots will need to have backups step up Friday night and play consistent for four quarters if they hope to send the Parkersburg South faithful home happy and play the role of spoiler.