Beavers welcome desperate Eagles

By BRIAN WOODSON

BLUEFIELD — A desperate team can sometimes be a dangerous team. Bluefield faces that scenario tonight.

While Bluefield is simply waiting to see who and where it will play when the playoffs begin next weekend, Robert C. Byrd might need a win to get into the postseason.

Head coach Fred Simon knows the Beavers (7-2) will face a challenge from the Eagles (6-3), which dropped a lopsided 40-7 decision to Bluefield in Clarksburg last season.

“We know coming in that they’re very competitive,” Simon said. “They need a win to assure themselves of getting into the playoffs, if they do not, it’s a flip of the coin with some things that go on so I know we’ll get their best and hopefully we’ll be ready to play.”

While the Eagles are a tenuous 14th in the AAA ratings, Robert C. Byrd could drop completely out of the picture with a loss. Meanwhile, the Beavers are seventh in Class AA and would like a win to secure a home playoff spot.

Taking a five-game win streak into the postseason would also be a nice momentum boost.

“We’d like to play at home at least one time, but you go out to play your best no matter what the situation and that’s what we’re hoping we’ll do,” Simon said. “We’d like to play well in our last game like we would like to play in all of them, but hopefully we’ll try to do that.”

Simon has noticed how quick the regular season has passed, with the playoffs beginning in a week. After a 3-2 start to the campaign, the Beavers have outscored their last four opponents by a combined 184-38.

“It’s amazing how time has flown this year, as it does every year, but it seems like the older you get the quicker time flies,” said Simon, who added about Bluefield’s current position as this time in the season, “It could be better and it could be worst, but you just take what you’ve got right now and be happy with what’s gone on, which I am, and we’ll move on.”

Bluefield will be directed on offense by junior Levi Beckett, who will make his first start since breaking his collar bone in a September loss to Charlotte Country Day. He saw limited action two weeks ago against Mount View, and played even more in last Friday’s 27-10 win over James Monroe.

“He came in our third series (against James Monroe) and I thought he did a good job. He’s got to get a little bit of strength back, but he’s getting better each week,” Simon said. “He took a hit last week, we let him go live a little bit in practice the week before so it’s not like he hasn’t been hit a little bit to get him ready.

“The rest will be on him. How he can control his emotions will be on him and knowing the type of kid he is I think he’ll be fine.”

Jake Lilly performed well in Beckett’s place behind center, while the Beavers found a new weapon in sophomore tailback Brad Fox, who combined with Lilly for a pair of 100 yard games last week.

Lilly, who leads the Beavers with 876 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground, also threw for 190 yards and two scores in place of Beckett. Fox has run for 396 yards and five scores, while Marcus Patterson had run for 415 yard and four touchdowns, and caught 11 passes and two more scores.

“We had to go more to our running game, but we did fine with it, and Jake has been a good leader,” Simon said. “He has done whatever we needed him to do, wherever we asked him to play, he’s not complained about it.

“He’s done it and we appreciate that and that is the mark of a good football player.”

Robert C. Byrd, which has lopsided defeats to Fairmont (41-7), Bridgeport (52-6) and Parkersburg South (28-0), is coming off a 26-19 upset last week of Lewis County, moving the Eagles into the 14th position in the playoff chase.

“They had a lot of kids coming back from last year, I know they lost a good tailback, but they’ve still got their quarterback that was a freshman,” Simon said. “He’s a sophomore now, and coach (Bryan) Fisher is wide open, real good with the spread offense. They’ve got some big linemen to block for him, some big linemen on defense, and they’re 6-3.”

The pass-happy Eagles have been led by sophomore signal-caller Adam Secret, who has thrown for 1,531 yards, 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He has five targets with double figures in receptions, led by Anthony Abston, who has caught 30 passes for 518 yards. Jordan Foster is the leading rusher with 735 yards. No one else has more than 91.

The Eagles have come from behind to win in five of their six victories.

Lilly leads Bluefield on defense, recording nine tackles last week against James Monroe, while Alex Morris added seven stops, an interception and forced a fumble.

“We’re facing a passing team. They can run, but their main deal is passing,” Simon said. “We need to make sure that we get some heat on (Secret) at times. We’ve got to make sure we cover who we are supposed to.

“We’ll have to defend the pass quite a bit, and offensively we’ll have to come off the football and block some big guys.”

The postseason awaits, but the Beavers have one more game left in the regular season. Simon is glad to finish it off with what should be a competitive game.

“I think it’s definitely a good challenge, and something we need going into the playoffs,” Simon said. “We had James Monroe last week, which was a very good test and a very tough game, and now we’ve got Robert C. Byrd, which is going to be tough too.

“I think it’s good going into the playoffs having played two tough teams.”

Simon would still like to see the Beavers improve. Then again, what coach doesn’t.

“I think we’ve gotten better, but we’re still not where I want to be yet,” Simon said. “We’ve just got to keep on improving.”

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com