Fans won't have to wait long to see fireworks when South Charleston and Brooke tangle at noon Saturday in the Class AAA championship game in Wheeling.
Fans won't have to wait long to see fireworks when South Charleston and Brooke tangle at noon Saturday in the Class AAA championship game in Wheeling.
It all starts with the guys taking the snaps from center.
Senior quarterback Cotey Wallace of Brooke and junior quarterback Tyler Harris of South Charleston figure to man key roles when their teams collide on the Pro Grass synthetic playing surface at Wheeling Island Stadium.
Each has garnered attention as a serious Kennedy Award candidate with his work under center this season, and their offensive numbers are startlingly similar.
Wallace, leading the state's No. 1-ranked AAA team and the only remaining unbeaten in its class, has run for more than 1,000 yards and thrown for over 2,000 yards. He's accounted for 3,071 yards of total offense (rushing and passing) and 40 touchdowns (25 passing, 15 rushing).
Harris, who directs the defending champion and second-seeded Black Eagles (12-1), has racked up 3,056 yards of total offense and accounted for 39 TDs (26 passing, 13 rushing).
Each also plays a large role on defense, manning a position in the secondary, and each has served as the team's punter.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Wallace was pressed to perform double duty down the home stretch after standout running back Ryan Lazear was sidelined with an ankle injury. Not only was he called upon to lead the team's passing attack, but Wallace took on an ever larger role in the ground game.
"Cotey's just been a tremendous leader for us,'' said Brooke coach Tom Bruney, "and he is a student of the game. He understands how our package fits together and he has the ability to take a look at what the other team is doing and use our offense to put us in the best position to be successful.''
SC coach John Messinger worries that Wallace may burn his defense with his triple-threat skills - throwing the ball when the Black Eagles suspect he'll run or hand off, or taking off with the ball when the defense thinks he's going to pass or hand it off.
"We've watched 13 films of Brooke High School,'' Messinger said, "and in every single solitary film, every play starts with that kid and somehow it ends with that kid. He's either passing or running the football or doing some scary thing getting rid of the football. It's almost like the kid's a magician.
"They run absolutely the slickest draw I have ever seen in high school football. It's comparable to how Bridgeport does the stick-I. This kid, there's just something about him, and he just methodically does it. You watch them play in a game and you think, 'This kid is not that great,' and then you total up everything he's done at the end of the fourth quarter and he has tremendous numbers.''
At one point this season, SC also leaned on the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Harris the way Brooke did on Wallace in recent weeks.
That came at the outset of SC's season, when lead running back Raymond Coleman was battling nagging injuries and couldn't carry a full load. Coleman, who's now at 1,349 yards rushing, had just 252 yards through five games. Harris had the team lead at that point with 431 yards and seven TDs, including a pair of 100-yard games.
Fans won't have to wait long to see fireworks when South Charleston and Brooke tangle at noon Saturday in the Class AAA championship game in Wheeling.
It all starts with the guys taking the snaps from center.
Senior quarterback Cotey Wallace of Brooke and junior quarterback Tyler Harris of South Charleston figure to man key roles when their teams collide on the Pro Grass synthetic playing surface at Wheeling Island Stadium.
Each has garnered attention as a serious Kennedy Award candidate with his work under center this season, and their offensive numbers are startlingly similar.
Wallace, leading the state's No. 1-ranked AAA team and the only remaining unbeaten in its class, has run for more than 1,000 yards and thrown for over 2,000 yards. He's accounted for 3,071 yards of total offense (rushing and passing) and 40 touchdowns (25 passing, 15 rushing).
Harris, who directs the defending champion and second-seeded Black Eagles (12-1), has racked up 3,056 yards of total offense and accounted for 39 TDs (26 passing, 13 rushing).
Each also plays a large role on defense, manning a position in the secondary, and each has served as the team's punter.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Wallace was pressed to perform double duty down the home stretch after standout running back Ryan Lazear was sidelined with an ankle injury. Not only was he called upon to lead the team's passing attack, but Wallace took on an ever larger role in the ground game.
"Cotey's just been a tremendous leader for us,'' said Brooke coach Tom Bruney, "and he is a student of the game. He understands how our package fits together and he has the ability to take a look at what the other team is doing and use our offense to put us in the best position to be successful.''
SC coach John Messinger worries that Wallace may burn his defense with his triple-threat skills - throwing the ball when the Black Eagles suspect he'll run or hand off, or taking off with the ball when the defense thinks he's going to pass or hand it off.
"We've watched 13 films of Brooke High School,'' Messinger said, "and in every single solitary film, every play starts with that kid and somehow it ends with that kid. He's either passing or running the football or doing some scary thing getting rid of the football. It's almost like the kid's a magician.
"They run absolutely the slickest draw I have ever seen in high school football. It's comparable to how Bridgeport does the stick-I. This kid, there's just something about him, and he just methodically does it. You watch them play in a game and you think, 'This kid is not that great,' and then you total up everything he's done at the end of the fourth quarter and he has tremendous numbers.''
At one point this season, SC also leaned on the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Harris the way Brooke did on Wallace in recent weeks.
That came at the outset of SC's season, when lead running back Raymond Coleman was battling nagging injuries and couldn't carry a full load. Coleman, who's now at 1,349 yards rushing, had just 252 yards through five games. Harris had the team lead at that point with 431 yards and seven TDs, including a pair of 100-yard games.
Harris tacked on another 100-yard rushing effort in the playoffs with 112 yards against Martinsburg - his fourth 100-yard career postseason game. He's also made the SC passing attack dangerous by not fixating on one receiver - the Black Eagles have divided up their TD passes almost equally to Moe Makhene and Tevin Spurlock (seven apiece), Perry Henry (six) and Eddie Gordon (four). Two others have one each.
"We've spread the ball around,'' Messinger said. "Tyler has learned to see the whole field. He's learned to find the open man, and he's learned to think a little quicker on his feet. That came through repetition. Until Game 7 or 8 last year, Tyler did not get a lot of reps throwing the football.
"Obviously, Tyler's had some great numbers. If you look at Tyler's numbers offensively and defensively, you have to consider him a serious threat to be in the running for the Kennedy Award. That doesn't mean winning it. But he seriously has to be in the hunt.''
Reach Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com.
A statistical comparison of Brooke quarterback Cotey Wallace and SC quarterback Tyler Harris
RUSHING
Player Att Yds Avg TD
Cotey Wallace 201 1,045 5.2 15
Tyler Harris 172 854 5.0 13
PASSING
Player Comp-Att Yds TD Int
Tyler Harris 113-193 2,202 26 6
Cotey Wallace 133-211 2,026 25 7
Post a comment