South Charleston's coaches discovered they had to hone some other life skills in the offseason. They became salesmen.
South Charleston's coaches discovered they had to hone some other life skills in the offseason. They became salesmen.
They had to get their players to buy into a system that was equal parts spread offense and Knights of the Round Table.
The Black Eagles fell short of their goal in the 2007 season, missing the playoffs after relying heavily on the skills of tailback-turned-quarterback Deion Spurlock. So SC's coaches introduced an "all for one'' approach instead.
Did it work? Well, the Black Eagles are bound for Wheeling to play in the school's first state championship game since 1994. They meet George Washington at noon Saturday at Wheeling Island Stadium.
SC's revamped spread attack spawned a wave of playmakers. Unlike last year, when Spurlock turned in 2,997 yards of total offense and had a hand in 27 of the team's 43 touchdowns, the Black Eagles are less predictable and more productive.
Without a 1,000-yard rusher through 13 games and barely having a 1,000-yard passer, South Charleston still pumps out 33.2 points and 360-plus yards per game, with a nice mix between rushing (218.3 yards) and passing (141.9).
And, oh yes, the Black Eagles are the state's lone unbeaten AAA team at 13-0 and the top playoff seed.
"Having great athletes is definitely a plus,'' said SC coach John Messinger.
South Charleston is especially balanced on the ground, led by senior running back Aaron Slusher (941 yards, 14 TDs), sophomore quarterback Tyler Harris (681 yards, nine TDs), senior running back Dylan Turner (544 yards, six TDs) and senior running back Ahmari Smith (430 yards, four TDs).
The duo of senior Aaron Dobson (44 catches, 1,198 yards, 16 TDs) and sophomore Moe Makhene (21 catches, 290 yards, three TDs) leads the receiving corps, and another combination handles the quarterbacking. Senior Marcel Brown (1,035 yards, 11 TDs) starts under center, then alternates snaps with Harris (693 yards, eight TDs).
"We're not a selfish team,'' Dobson said. "Everybody on our team gets the ball. We all make big plays, so it really doesn't have to go to one person to carry the load. We can all spread the ball out evenly, and just get the job done doing that.''
Slusher realizes he might already be well over 1,000 yards in someone else's offense, but knows the team concept is at the heart of SC's success and doesn't see it as a sacrifice.
"The whole team's unselfish,'' he said. "We're like a family. We really buy into that. We do good things together, and we do bad things together. But at the end of it, we're still a family. We understand.
"We don't care who gets the ball, as long as we win the game. Whoever's turn it is that night, whoever gets the ball ... if they don't call your number, then have faith in whose number they call.''
What it amounts to is that South Charleston can throw more than a half-dozen skill position players at defenses who are all proven gamebreakers.
Messinger was asked to size up each player's contributions (responses listed in alphabetical order):
Brown - "What's handicapped Marcel most was the lack of a junior year. To see him get hurt last year was probably why we didn't make the playoffs because we lost that one little ingredient in '07 that would have allowed us to do some different things with Deion and some different people. Not only did it hurt us as a team, but certainly hurt in his development. But he stepped up and came through that injury. The day the cast came off, he was back in the weight room. He's put up some pretty fair numbers this year. The thing that would surprise some people - because he hasn't done much of it - is that Marcel can run the football. He's got a good set of wheels. He sees the field real well, and has done a great job for us.''
Dobson - "Even with everything that he's done during the course of the season, getting to the finals will allow him to showcase his skill a little more. In my opinion, if you look at what a kid has brought to his football team, and that's how you're going to choose a Kennedy Award winner, you've got to choose Aaron Dobson. He's done everything for us. The great thing about Aaron, I think, is that he's stepped up defensively this year and put up some good defensive numbers for us [seven interceptions, 16 pass deflections]. He's got free-safety size with corner[back] ability. Coach [Tony] DeMeo [of the University of Charleston], who obviously has a great mind when it comes to football, says he may be one of the best corners he has seen in high school football. He's the product of a great home, and that's a great compliment to [his parents].''
Harris - "I think he proved his mettle last year in the state [basketball] tournament. It was one of those first games at the Civic Center and [SC] was down two, three points and Tyler comes running down the court and - I never really see these kids much [in basketball season] but for some reason Tyler looks over at me in the stands and gives me a little wink. Honest to God he did, and the next thing you know, he's scoring the winning basket. That's the kind of kid he's been. He's athletic. The name 'Harris' might be appropriate [as in Major Harris] if you saw that run against Morgantown last week [for 57 yards and a TD]. It was a little bit of speed, a little bit of power, he had some jukes, some moves, then you had Tyler Harris running out of gas on the 5-yard line. But thank God he got in there. Tyler's really stepped it up this year. Everybody looks on the offensive side of the ball for the big numbers but he's done a heck of a job on defense. He will flat-out light you up.''
Makhene - "That's smiling Moe. I've never had the opportunity to be around someone who - never for one second - didn't have a smile on his face. I told him once he's either the happiest guy I've met in my life or the dumbest guy I've met in my life, because he's always smiling. But in fact he's probably one of the smartest kids I've ever seen. I think his bright outlook toward every situation is one of the things that make him successful. There's nothing negative in Moe's life. It looks like in every situation he says, 'I'm going to make this a positive,' and I think it's filtered down to a lot of kids on this football team. Because as many times as we've come from behind in critical games, it's good we have that attitude to carry us through the game. He's also stepped up the last few weeks defensively as a cornerback for us when Tevin [Spurlock] got his knee banged up in the playoffs, which scared us to death. Moe's just one of those kids where if we tell him to go play free safety, he's gonna do it. If we say, 'Moe, go play corner,' he's gonna do it. If we tell him to play nose tackle, he'll try.''
Slusher - "He's been Mr. Everything. He's started four years. He came in as a freshman and was the conference freshman of the year defensively. He was second-team all-state as a sophomore [linebacker]. He didn't get [all-state] last year, but not because his skills diminished. He was a victim of us going 5-5. If we'd have been a playoff team, he'd have been first-team all-state. He's one of the two finalists for Gatorade state player of the year with Dobson. I could just go on and on about him. I've had numerous [West Virginia] Conference coaches walk in and tell me that's the guy they want to build their defense around. He's undersized maybe at 5-11, 215 and he might be a 5-flat kid [in the 40-yard dash], but he's a 4.9 kid in pads. He doesn't get a step slower; he gets faster. He's really jumped in and gotten after it academically. It's all about determination and heart, and he's a great kid. A tough kid.''
Smith - "Ahmari was a good find for us. I really had no idea who Ahmari Smith was when he was in this building last spring. When it was brought to my attention, I sat down with Ahmari and said, 'If you're going to play football at South Charleston, you need to find your way to the weight room right now.' And he did. Ahmari's a great addition to our football team. He plays free safety better for us than anybody has in the last four, five years. He'll come up and lay a lick on you. I knew Ahmari was for real when we went to the [MSAC Grid-o-rama) and the first time he touched the ball, he was knocking people over going into the end zone. That brought a smile to my face. He looks like that kind of kid who's going to try and flash you to death, but he'll flat-out run over top of you. He's a great kid, very coachable. A 'yes sir, no sir' kind of kid. Hat's off to his mom for that. You can really get on that kid hard at practice or at a game, and he responds.''
Turner - "Dylan didn't play as a freshman and as a sophomore, he had a lot of things go wrong - hives, blisters, a pulled ab muscle, numerous things. Then he comes out as a junior and steps up on defense and is probably our leading tackler. That guy can flat get after it on the defensive side of the football. And he's a specimen. If you see Dylan Turner with his shirt off ... that kid is put together. He's a rock - a 6-1, 210-pound rock. His foot's been banged up a little bit since midseason. Dylan's a great baseball player, but I think we've finally convinced him he's a football player. The kid's got all the physical attributes. When he figures it out and plants that seed in his mind that's he a football player, that's what he's gonna be. He's getting some looks in the conference, and Duke has inquired about him three, four times. He looks like an ACC guy - extremely smart.''
Reach Rick Ryan at 348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com.
South Charleston's coaches discovered they had to hone some other life skills in the offseason. They became salesmen.
They had to get their players to buy into a system that was equal parts spread offense and Knights of the Round Table.
The Black Eagles fell short of their goal in the 2007 season, missing the playoffs after relying heavily on the skills of tailback-turned-quarterback Deion Spurlock. So SC's coaches introduced an "all for one'' approach instead.
Did it work? Well, the Black Eagles are bound for Wheeling to play in the school's first state championship game since 1994. They meet George Washington at noon Saturday at Wheeling Island Stadium.
SC's revamped spread attack spawned a wave of playmakers. Unlike last year, when Spurlock turned in 2,997 yards of total offense and had a hand in 27 of the team's 43 touchdowns, the Black Eagles are less predictable and more productive.
Without a 1,000-yard rusher through 13 games and barely having a 1,000-yard passer, South Charleston still pumps out 33.2 points and 360-plus yards per game, with a nice mix between rushing (218.3 yards) and passing (141.9).
And, oh yes, the Black Eagles are the state's lone unbeaten AAA team at 13-0 and the top playoff seed.
"Having great athletes is definitely a plus,'' said SC coach John Messinger.
South Charleston is especially balanced on the ground, led by senior running back Aaron Slusher (941 yards, 14 TDs), sophomore quarterback Tyler Harris (681 yards, nine TDs), senior running back Dylan Turner (544 yards, six TDs) and senior running back Ahmari Smith (430 yards, four TDs).
The duo of senior Aaron Dobson (44 catches, 1,198 yards, 16 TDs) and sophomore Moe Makhene (21 catches, 290 yards, three TDs) leads the receiving corps, and another combination handles the quarterbacking. Senior Marcel Brown (1,035 yards, 11 TDs) starts under center, then alternates snaps with Harris (693 yards, eight TDs).
"We're not a selfish team,'' Dobson said. "Everybody on our team gets the ball. We all make big plays, so it really doesn't have to go to one person to carry the load. We can all spread the ball out evenly, and just get the job done doing that.''
Slusher realizes he might already be well over 1,000 yards in someone else's offense, but knows the team concept is at the heart of SC's success and doesn't see it as a sacrifice.
"The whole team's unselfish,'' he said. "We're like a family. We really buy into that. We do good things together, and we do bad things together. But at the end of it, we're still a family. We understand.
"We don't care who gets the ball, as long as we win the game. Whoever's turn it is that night, whoever gets the ball ... if they don't call your number, then have faith in whose number they call.''
What it amounts to is that South Charleston can throw more than a half-dozen skill position players at defenses who are all proven gamebreakers.
Messinger was asked to size up each player's contributions (responses listed in alphabetical order):
Brown - "What's handicapped Marcel most was the lack of a junior year. To see him get hurt last year was probably why we didn't make the playoffs because we lost that one little ingredient in '07 that would have allowed us to do some different things with Deion and some different people. Not only did it hurt us as a team, but certainly hurt in his development. But he stepped up and came through that injury. The day the cast came off, he was back in the weight room. He's put up some pretty fair numbers this year. The thing that would surprise some people - because he hasn't done much of it - is that Marcel can run the football. He's got a good set of wheels. He sees the field real well, and has done a great job for us.''
Dobson - "Even with everything that he's done during the course of the season, getting to the finals will allow him to showcase his skill a little more. In my opinion, if you look at what a kid has brought to his football team, and that's how you're going to choose a Kennedy Award winner, you've got to choose Aaron Dobson. He's done everything for us. The great thing about Aaron, I think, is that he's stepped up defensively this year and put up some good defensive numbers for us [seven interceptions, 16 pass deflections]. He's got free-safety size with corner[back] ability. Coach [Tony] DeMeo [of the University of Charleston], who obviously has a great mind when it comes to football, says he may be one of the best corners he has seen in high school football. He's the product of a great home, and that's a great compliment to [his parents].''
Harris - "I think he proved his mettle last year in the state [basketball] tournament. It was one of those first games at the Civic Center and [SC] was down two, three points and Tyler comes running down the court and - I never really see these kids much [in basketball season] but for some reason Tyler looks over at me in the stands and gives me a little wink. Honest to God he did, and the next thing you know, he's scoring the winning basket. That's the kind of kid he's been. He's athletic. The name 'Harris' might be appropriate [as in Major Harris] if you saw that run against Morgantown last week [for 57 yards and a TD]. It was a little bit of speed, a little bit of power, he had some jukes, some moves, then you had Tyler Harris running out of gas on the 5-yard line. But thank God he got in there. Tyler's really stepped it up this year. Everybody looks on the offensive side of the ball for the big numbers but he's done a heck of a job on defense. He will flat-out light you up.''
Makhene - "That's smiling Moe. I've never had the opportunity to be around someone who - never for one second - didn't have a smile on his face. I told him once he's either the happiest guy I've met in my life or the dumbest guy I've met in my life, because he's always smiling. But in fact he's probably one of the smartest kids I've ever seen. I think his bright outlook toward every situation is one of the things that make him successful. There's nothing negative in Moe's life. It looks like in every situation he says, 'I'm going to make this a positive,' and I think it's filtered down to a lot of kids on this football team. Because as many times as we've come from behind in critical games, it's good we have that attitude to carry us through the game. He's also stepped up the last few weeks defensively as a cornerback for us when Tevin [Spurlock] got his knee banged up in the playoffs, which scared us to death. Moe's just one of those kids where if we tell him to go play free safety, he's gonna do it. If we say, 'Moe, go play corner,' he's gonna do it. If we tell him to play nose tackle, he'll try.''
Slusher - "He's been Mr. Everything. He's started four years. He came in as a freshman and was the conference freshman of the year defensively. He was second-team all-state as a sophomore [linebacker]. He didn't get [all-state] last year, but not because his skills diminished. He was a victim of us going 5-5. If we'd have been a playoff team, he'd have been first-team all-state. He's one of the two finalists for Gatorade state player of the year with Dobson. I could just go on and on about him. I've had numerous [West Virginia] Conference coaches walk in and tell me that's the guy they want to build their defense around. He's undersized maybe at 5-11, 215 and he might be a 5-flat kid [in the 40-yard dash], but he's a 4.9 kid in pads. He doesn't get a step slower; he gets faster. He's really jumped in and gotten after it academically. It's all about determination and heart, and he's a great kid. A tough kid.''
Smith - "Ahmari was a good find for us. I really had no idea who Ahmari Smith was when he was in this building last spring. When it was brought to my attention, I sat down with Ahmari and said, 'If you're going to play football at South Charleston, you need to find your way to the weight room right now.' And he did. Ahmari's a great addition to our football team. He plays free safety better for us than anybody has in the last four, five years. He'll come up and lay a lick on you. I knew Ahmari was for real when we went to the [MSAC Grid-o-rama) and the first time he touched the ball, he was knocking people over going into the end zone. That brought a smile to my face. He looks like that kind of kid who's going to try and flash you to death, but he'll flat-out run over top of you. He's a great kid, very coachable. A 'yes sir, no sir' kind of kid. Hat's off to his mom for that. You can really get on that kid hard at practice or at a game, and he responds.''
Turner - "Dylan didn't play as a freshman and as a sophomore, he had a lot of things go wrong - hives, blisters, a pulled ab muscle, numerous things. Then he comes out as a junior and steps up on defense and is probably our leading tackler. That guy can flat get after it on the defensive side of the football. And he's a specimen. If you see Dylan Turner with his shirt off ... that kid is put together. He's a rock - a 6-1, 210-pound rock. His foot's been banged up a little bit since midseason. Dylan's a great baseball player, but I think we've finally convinced him he's a football player. The kid's got all the physical attributes. When he figures it out and plants that seed in his mind that's he a football player, that's what he's gonna be. He's getting some looks in the conference, and Duke has inquired about him three, four times. He looks like an ACC guy - extremely smart.''
Reach Rick Ryan at 348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com.
SOUTH CHARLESTON'S PLAYMAKERS
Here's the skinny on South Charleston's top skill-position players:
Aaron Dobson, WR-DB
Also known as: The basketball player. Dobson started turning heads with his play on the hardwood before he started doing it on the gridiron, pumping in 24 points as a sophomore against O.J. Mayo and mighty Huntington High.
Signature moment: Provided a flurry of big plays in the regular-season finale at Bluefield, with two touchdown catches and three interceptions of Will Cole in a 29-21 win. His four receptions went for 156 yards.
Aaron Slusher. RB-LB
Also known as: The boxer. Went 10-0 and won a West Virginia Golden Gloves championship at 175 pounds before his freshman season, then used his courage and toughness to start as linebacker as a smallish frosh and has developed into one of the state's best at the position.
Signature moment: With SC trailing 14-13 at Hurricane in a Week 8 matchup of the state's No. 1 and No. 2 teams, Slusher carried on all four plays of an 88-yard drive, capping it with a 17-yard TD run with 8:37 left in a 21-14 win. He also picked off a pass to kill Hurricane's final drive and ended with 173 yards and two TDs rushing.
Tyler Harris, QB-DB
Also known as: The point guard. Started at the point last winter for a Black Eagles basketball team that played in the Class AAA state finals at the Civic Center.
Signature moment: With SC down 21-20 to Martinsburg in the playoff semifinals, he dominated a drive that started at his own 47 with 6:06 left. He broke off a 15-yard run on third-and-3 and later scooted 25 yards for a TD and a 28-20 victory.
Dylan Turner, RB-LB
Also known as: The baseball player. Considered a hot prospect as an outfielder, he was second on the team in hitting (,402) and stolen bases (29) as a junior. Didn't come out for football until his sophomore season, and was sidelined most of that year by illnesses and injuries. Had hernia surgery in offseason.
Signature moment: With SC trailing at halftime in Week 9 to Spring Valley 15-13 and in dire need of a lift, he provided it with a 58-yard touchdown burst on the first offensive snap of the third quarter.
Marcel Brown, QB
Also known as: Better late than never. He was supposed to be SC's quarterback last year instead of Deion Spurlock, but broke his arm in the MSAC scrimmages and sat out the season. Spurlock emerged as a force and finished fifth in the Kennedy Award voting.
Signature moment: The opener at Riverside. With Harris sitting out a one-game suspension, the job under center was all Brown's, and he completed 7-of-12 passes for 208 yards and two TDs in a 28-8 win. Also tacked on a 19-yard run for a first down.
Ahmari Smith, RB-DB
Also known as: The transfer. Played at Capital as a sophomore and starred at Hurricane as a junior, but family moved back to Dunbar in the offseason.
Signature moment: In typical fashion, was all over the field in a 39-7 lashing of two-time defending champion Parkersburg, recovering a fumble and returning an interception 43 yards for a TD. Added 72 yards on five kick returns and 50 yards on eight carries.
Moe Makhene, WR-DB
Also known as: The other receiver. Dobson gets most of the attention from opposing secondaries, but the smallish, speedy soph has at least one catch in 10 games.
Signature moment: Caught TD passes from two different quarterbacks against Parkersburg, 34 yards from Tyler Harris and 36 yards from Marcel Brown on identical flanker screens to the left sideline.
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