Welcome back to The Deep Post, a notebook/column that dissects the happenings of the week past and ahead. This week’s offering takes an extended dive into Princeton-Independence, Oak Hill’s offense, the latest on the WVSSAC’s classification changes and the ratings appeals.
Princeton’s X factor
Independence’s game plan worked like a charm for the first 21 minutes of its matchup with Princeton. The Tigers had just six yards of offense through their first two drives before taking over at their own 10 with just under six minutes to play in the first half. The rushing attack gained no traction with just one yard in the first half.
So the Tigers got creative and took to the air.
Those that have watched Princeton this year know how effectively the Tiger offense utilizes motions to reset formations, overload the offense’s strength and trigger certain looks. They also know Brad Mossor is really good. Independence knew that too and it helped pave the way for the Princeton’s first offensive touchdown. Much like last week, the first offensive touchdown came with Princeton motioning from twins to trips, bringing Mossor across the formation from left to right. Screens are foundational piece of Princeton’s offense. Mossor fakes the screen, draws two sets of eyes and creating a coverage bust for an easy 47-yard touchdown pass. That’s the gravity of a player like Mossor and a perfect counter Princeton has used to break a tendency when opposing team crash the screen plays.
The passing attack did most of its work in the first half with Princeton attempting just one pass in the second half.
That’s largely because Daniel Jennings scored on a pair of 40-plus yard touchdown runs. Statistically he was a far more effective rusher than Marquel Lowe (10-55) but the box score doesn’t reflect just how important Lowe was to getting the offense, which scored on three of its four second-half drives, on track.
Remember what I said earlier – Princeton is extremely intentional with its pre-snap motion and how it utilizes it to stress defenses. You can use it to get a numbers, leverage or matchup advantage. If a player motions, a defense has to communicate, know its answers and distribute the route concepts accordingly. Independence’s offense has used motion in a different capacity to help with its run game. It’s not uncommon to see the better teams use it.
Lowe is the ultimate motion chess piece. He’s a player with the skill and athleticism to be an elite high school receiver and running back. For NFL enthusiasts, think of a player like San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey who can line up in the back field or as a receiver and still torch defenses. It adds a layer of guesswork for the defense. On Jennings’ first touchdown run Princeton broke the huddle with pony personnel which is two running backs (no fullback).
With Jennings and Lowe, the Tigers could be considered to be in pony personnel every time the two are on the field since its about personnel, not formation. But the split-back shot gun formations (Lowe and Jennings both in the backfield) are what’s key here.
Jennings and Lowe were the pony backs but before the snap Lowe goes in motion out wide, stressing the defense because the run-heavy look now becomes a spread look because of Lowe’s skillset as a receiver. If you’re a defense trying to match personnel, you probably want heavier bodies in the box against those split-gun pony looks to stop the run.
When Lowe motions out, you’re forcing the defense to take a run support defender out of the box and potentially play in coverage against a more agile receiver. That’s an incredibly tough ask. And if you sub a linebacker out for a defensive back you’re asking a smaller, less capable player to tackle Jennings or Lowe if Princeton elects to run it.
Back to those 49ers, part of what made them so dangerous in 2023 was the versatility of players like McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle. It’s a cheat code when you can keep the same players on the field and do almost anything you want formationally because defenses struggle to match personnel.
Credit to Jennings as well because you have to have a running back that can take advantage of those looks.
After punting on its first possession of the second half, Princeton ran the split-back set on five consecutive plays across its next two drives. The Tigers picked up 71 yards (14.2 per play) and a touchdown out of the look. The sixth play that broke that streak? A single-back set with Jennings as the running back and Lowe split out wide as a receiver. Jennings scored a 44-yard rushing touchdown.
That’s the unquantifiable value Lowe provides to Princeton’s offense and it doesn’t reflect in his box score column. He has gravity in a way few players ever do. Dominick Collins had that gravity last year.
The one concern I had about Princeton’s offense coming into the year (aside from replacing Eli Campbell) was how it would replace Collins at wide receiver. You can never truly replace him but with Mossor and Collins the Tigers had two No. 1 receivers capable of getting a bucket whenever you need it. Lowe’s one of the best running backs in the state but when he’s utilized in the passing game he gives them that extra gear they’ll need to navigate through November.
Passing Grades
While the score reflects a blowout victory, it felt like Independence was in that game for three quarters. As Indy head coach John H. Lilly put it, his team just squandered red zone opportunities. More importantly I believe the game plan the Patriot coaching staff put together was pretty incredible. I mentioned in my preview I expected Independence to move the pocket with a banged up, young offensive line facing a pair of elite edge rushers. They did just that and put together three drives of 10-plus plays.
Admittedly, I didn’t think this game would be as competitive as it was. I was wrong!
If you’re an Independence fan this game instills confidence that this team is capable of making another deep playoff run and contending for a title. The play that’s seared into my head from this one – Independence freshman QB Brock Green, on the run, taking a shot in the ribs from Jennings but still delivering an incredible tight-window pass for a 33-yard completion.
Red Zone Wreckage
Princeton seems to have gotten as close to perfecting the “bend don’t break” philosophy as a team can. There’s never a guarantee you’ll get into the end zone. Here are just a couple examples of the defensive stands the Tigers have made under Keith Taylor’s 21-games tenure.
- Nov. 17, 2023 vs. Parkersburg – Holding onto a 41-37 lead in the fourth quarter, Parkersburg returned a kick to the Princeton 10, stopped only by an improbable chase down tackle by Dominick Collins. Parkersburg turns the ball over on downs as the Princeton defense closes the game.
- Nov. 24, 2023 vs. Bridgeport – Bridgeport’s Donovan Williams catches a 32- yard pass and is once again tackled by Collins at the Princeton 1. On the very next play Bridgeport fumbles and Princeton scoops and scores it to take a 14-7 lead.
- Oct. 18, 2024 vs. Beckley – The Flying Eagles open the game with a 13-play drive, facing first-and-goal from the 1. Princeton holds on, forcing a turnover on downs, eventually winning 14-7.
- Oct. 25, 2024 at Independence – Independence engineers drives of 80 and 50 yards, reaching the Princeton 10 on the first one before turning the ball over on downs. On the second drive Independence faces first-and-goal from the 1 and turns the ball over on downs (though there’s some debate that they crossed the goal line).
In real time it seemed inevitable that teams were scoring against the Tigers in those situations but the defense subscribes to the belief nothing is written until it happens.
Oak Hill Offense
Oak Hill keeps winning with the same formula – a stout defense and an offense that does just enough to secure a win. Oak Hill will likely sit at No. 7 in the Class AAA ratings when they come out on Tuesday so we have to talk about the offensive struggles, especially as the Red Devils enter the toughest stretch of their schedule to conclude the season.
The last time Oak Hill scored more than 28 points in a game was Oct. 6…. of 2023. That’s 13 straight games without crossing the 30-point mark, the longest such drought in the area. Schedules aren’t created equally but of the 21 area teams, Oak Hill is one of two teams (Richwood being the other) without a 30-point performance this year.
That will be enough to get to the playoffs, especially with the play of the defense, but it’s hard to win in the postseason which is the expectation when you’re in the driver’s seat for a home playoff game with two week to go. And Oak Hill wants to win a playoff game. They’re comeptitors.
Of the 24 first round playoff games played last year, only eight (33 percent) saw the winning team score fewer than 30 points. Buckhannon-Upshur has allowed 45.2 points per game this season. Oak Hill was the only team it held under 30. Riverside gives up 37.5 points per game but held Oak Hill to 21.
It’s not a discussion about style points but instead one of sustainability of success when the fat is trimmed.
When I watched them I came away impressed with QB Devin Richardson and his ability to create out of structure. One area coach told me if they were a college coach they’d take a chance on him at QB because of the tools and if it didn’t work out he could play a skill position.
Whether or not Oak Hill’s offense can begin to match the play of its defense over the next two weeks will determine the team’s ceiling in the playoffs.
WVSSAC Hears Appeals and proposals
For those unaware, the WVSSAC approved two proposals – one that changes the formula for how schools are classified and another that trims the reclassification period from every four years to every two years.
Summarizing the new formula, submitted by Spring Valley, students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch count as half a student. For example if a school has 1,000 overall students and 200 of them are eligible for free or reduced lunch then the adjusted enrollment number would be 900. From there the schools are classified based on enrollment. You can read the enrollment cutoffs here as well as a mock up of where each school could potentially fall.
I want to tackle the switch from two years to four years first.
It’s annoying to have to relearn the classifications every two years but has no other impact on me. The administrators I’ve talked to from the old guard don’t think it will last long. The schools used to be reclassified every two years until it became too cumbersome to keep up with. Football schedules in particular suffered with classes in flux.
Here’s the argument against two years – football requires you play at least six games in your classification to be eligible for the postseason. Teams are granted a one-year waiver after reclassifications. So moving forward you have to have your contracts (most of them multi-year) in place for at least six games against in-class teams and you could be in a completely different class the following year when the next round of reclassifications hits. Adding to the mess is the fact contracts typically have an out clause that can be invoked if either of the teams change classifications.
For teams in a conference it’s not an issue provided the schools stay in the conference regardless of class. For schools and areas that don’t have a conference, it creates an extremely difficult situation, especially for the top tier teams that already struggle to fill a schedule. To make this work I’d recommend adopting a district or regional format in football that forces teams to play one another.
The argument in favor of every two years boiled down to enrollment fluctuation over a four-year period.
As one administrator, who was around when schools were reclassified every two years, told me, “I expect we’ll be back to ever four years soon after everyone realizes why it went to ever four years in the first place.”
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As for the classification proposal, I do like it. Spring Valley was in the position where it needed to convince me (not that my opinion made a difference in the matter). It’s a school less than 10 miles outside of the state’s biggest metro area but argued it didn’t belong in the state’s biggest classification.
I thought the proposal was an outstanding workaround that factors in the economical factor and eradicates a faulty location metric.
Now it’s on to the public comment period and eventually the State Board of Education where it will be voted on in December. If it passes it will go into effect next school year (2025-26), If it fails to pass, we’re back in the same boat we’ve been in the last few months. Canvasing the landscape, I’ve had two sources tell me they’d be shocked if it passed for one reason – quad-A isn’t meant to have just 16 schools for sports outside of football.
Football is its own bear. It comes down to bodies and participation to mitigate injury in a collision sport. Go back to that Board of Review decision that granted multiple appeals in August. It specifically cited safety, an aspect that mostly applies to football. I wrote about it after the 2023 football championships, but Class AAAA in football was always expected to be different. The difference between the top 16 schools and the rest was notable in terms of every metric the WVSSAC and its committees looked at.
But that was only supposed to apply in football.
So the question is how do you make that work in other sports? Football is a once a week sport. Basketball, softball, volleyball, baseball, etc. are played multiple times a week. Locally let’s look at Beckley. The closet in-class school is George Washington which is 63 miles away from Beckley. The second-closest is Hurricane at 85 miles. Cabell Midland is third at 96 miles and Huntington fourth at 112.
I reached out to Beckley principal Ryan Stafford for his thoughts and he had a refreshing process. He doesn’t have a strong opinion one way or another and wants to look at all the data before making a decision. That’s good process.
My thoughts with what I currently know – aside from how weird it makes your postseason format in Class AAAA (one win and you make the state tournament) I don’t think it matters a ton.
Locally, Beckley has always played GW, Huntington, Cabell Midland, etc. and the Flying Eagles sprinkle in an array of games. These other sports are different in that you don’t need to meet a certain threshold of in-class opponents on your schedule because every team qualifies for the postseason. Beckley can fill its schedule with games against Bluefield, Shady Spring, Oak Hill, Greenbrier East and Wyoming East. And truthfully from a competitive standpoint those games are more meaningful for Beckley than a game against Hurricane or Parkersburg.
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Wrapping up the WVSSAC discussion, I was told the appeals for ratings points were heard this past week. I’d expect the schools will be notified of those decisions by letter. I wasn’t able to get any conformation on what the decisions were.
For those unaware, many schools are upset about the schools that were reclassified for football in August because it cost them ratings points on their schedules. The schools appealing want the ratings points they assumed they were getting when they made their schedule. For example, teams playing Independence want triple-A points because they originally scheduled Independence when it was a triple-A school. Indy is now in double-A and yields ratings points accordingly.
This is my feel, not based on anything I’ve been told – I’d be surprised if those appeals were granted. You’d have to change the ratings points across the board. I believe if that was going to happen the WVSSAC would’ve gotten ahead of it and done that earlier in the year before the weekly ratings began circulating.
I could be wrong, but I don’t expect a change. But who knows once it inevitably goes to court.
Game Ball
There’s only one game ball this week and it goes to Meadow Bridge running back Kaiden Sims. Sims rushed for 385 yards and six touchdowns, delivering one of the coldest quotes of the season after a 52-18 win over Montcalm.
“Everybody was hyping this game up as a rivalry and more than it should have been in my opinion.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
