Here comes the night: Beavers, Mavs renew gridiron rivalry

Nov. 3—BLUEFIELD — It's been a while since Bluefield and James Monroe crossed paths in a high school football game.

Not only will it make for a refreshing regular season finale when the Beavers (4-5) take on the Mavericks (7-1) at H.E. Comer Sports Complex in Lindside tonight, the outcome could prove quite consequential — especially for Bluefield.

As of this week the Beavers are ranked No. 20 in the WVSSAC Class AA rankings with a rating of 8.31. By way of comparison, North Marion (8-1, 13.49 rating) is No. 1, Scott (9-0, 12.67) is No. 2 and Roane County (8-1, 12.24) is No. 3.

Of course, even if Bluefield slips into the bracket on the bottom rung, the team retains postseason agency. The question is: will the 'new math' of the WVSSAC's tweaked ratings system make enough coin from strength of schedule to get the Beavers through the turnstile?

As he did last year, Bluefield head coach Fred Simon is letting his son and assistant coach, Fritz Simon, crunch the numbers.

"The key will be — we've got to win Friday. And then we just see what happens from there. There's a few [other] teams that need to win and hopefully they will. If they don't, we'll have done all we can do," said Fred Simon, a literal West Virginia Sports Legend who collected his 300th career coaching victory last Thursday in a 47-13 win over Giles.

While all games are consequential to James Monroe football under head coach John Mustain, the Mavericks are currently ranked No. 4 in the WVSSAC Class A rankings this week behind unbeaten Williamstown (3), Greenbrier West (2) and Tucker County (1), all of which are 9-0.

To stumble against Bluefield might result in more postseason travel, but the Mavs wouldn't likely plunge from Class A playoff contention like flaming angels flung into the pit of perdition.

That margin for error might settle the nerves somewhat, but for James Monroe, a program win over Bluefield is something worth pursuing for its own sake.

"The bottom line is that they're Bluefield. I've basically been following Bluefield since the fall of 1994 when we opened up. You always know they're going to be a tough, tough team to handle. I don't care what their record shows. They play a tough schedule," said Mustain, whose team is coming off of a 28-12 win at Nicholas County.

The Mavericks offense is led by durable and versatile Cooper Ridgeway, who has rushed for 935 yards and 15 touchdowns. Quarterback Layton Dowdy has passed for 664 yards and 11 scoring strikes, having allowed only three interceptions. Chaz Boggs leads the receiving corps, having 20 receptions for 382 yards and nine touchdown catches.

It looks like James Monroe's linemen are waking up at the right time.

"I thought our offensive lineplay [at Summersville] was probably the best its been all year. I think it was better than what we did at Wheeling. I ... and the entire staff... thought we'd been playing lethargic for quite some time and I thought we were a lot more upbeat and did a lot better job up front offensively," said Mustain, whose team was last year's Class A state runner up.

Bluefield's roster contains an array of fast and athletic players — plus a big, strong matchup problem in RJ Hairston. A fierce competitor on both sides of the football, Hairston leads the receiving corps with a team-leading 20 catches for 580 yards and seven touchdown receptions.

"We got him and Sencere [Fields] more involved in the passing game. It took us a little while to get that going, minus rain. RJ had a super game [versus Giles]. I think he's an excellent receiver and a good blocker. I thought last week was the best he's blocked all year," said Simon.

Hairston is one of Bluefield's 'known knowns' from James Monroe's perspective.

The sudden transformation of Bryson Redmond into a starting quarterback over the last three weeks has given Mustain some 'known unknowns' and even 'unknown unknowns' to ponder with regard to the potential offensive redeployments of Fields, Jeff King, Ty Patton, JoJo Campbell and Gerrard Wade as well as promising youngsters like Tyquise Powell, Kisean Smith and Jaumarius Smith.

A significant change up front for Bluefield has been moving Chase Davis to center over the last three games. Sloppy field conditions made things tough on both snapper and signal caller from the outset. Last week, Redmond passed for 228 yards and three TDs. That's measurable movement in a positive direction.

Mustain has a solid defense with two shutouts under its belt. The Mavericks have allowed an average of 13.6 points per game — the curve killer being the 32 points Wheeling Central Catholic scored in James Monroe's 45-32 season opening win at Wheeling.

Tonight, his defense will have its hands full.

"They're going to be ready to roll," Mustain said. "I've never played a Bluefield team that looked like they were down in the mouth or weren't fired up to play. They're going to be hard to beat and we're going to have to be at the top of our game."

Lindside has its own Friday night mystique, situated up a spooky two-lane tunnel of night where light poles are few and star-shine is the most conspicuous illumination until suddenly, towering stanchions blaze white hot into a blacked-out sky with quite the ruckus already waiting in the bleachers.

"I know we've had some good rival games in the past and they're well-coached. There's a lot of good people down that way. It's been a good rival game whenever we've played and it's just good to have them on the schedule for now," Simon said.

"We're going down to their place where they play super all the time around that atmosphere. It's a tough place to play and their fans back them 100 percent. I think they've got an excellent football team and they'll go very far in the [Class A] playoffs with a shot to win it all," the Beavers head coach said.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.