Beckley – The last time Darmonte Mitchell faced Greenbrier East, he lost – twice.
Missing the entirety of his sophomore year, the junior was a part of the 2020 squad that played the Spartans twice and lost both matchups.
“When I heard we were playing our rivals at East I knew I had to turn up,” Mitchell said. “The last year that I played we lost twice to them.”
The explosive running back made up for lost time.
Mitchell carried the ball 19 times for 276 yards, scoring five touchdowns as Beckley beat East 49-21 to improve to 2-0.
For his efforts Mitchell has been named the Lootpress 2022 Week 2 Player of the Week by the Lootpress sportswriters.
The award is sponsored by Bodyworks, the Law Offices of Brandon Steele, InShapeWV and Mid-State Ford.
For Mitchell it didn’t take long to know he was in for a big night. A four-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was all he needed to get acclimated after carrying the ball just once last week.
“After my first touchdown coach asked me if I wanted to go in more and I told him to keep feeding me the ball,” Mitchell.
Mitchell gobbled up his opportunities, ripping off scoring runs of 66, 48, 18 and 29 yards over the following three quarters.
“I Right, Temple Right,” Mitchell said of the play he felt worked best for him throughout the night. “Their line was tired and they were huffing up front so we thought we could beat them up front.”
While the 2-0 start is ideal for the Flying Eagles and their first since 2018, the goal isn’t to settle or be satisfied. Missing out on last year’s playoff run, Mitchell is motivated to help the Flying Eagles churn another postseason jolt and experience it for himself. Doing so will likely require more of what he was able to do Friday night, which he’s aware of.
“I just have to keep coming to practice and practice hard when I’m here,” Mitchell said.
As a POTW winner, Mitchell will be invited to and honored at the Lootpress Winter Sports Award Banquet later this year.
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James Monroe QB Layton Dowdy won the fan vote with 30,726 votes, over 40 percent of the total vote tally. In an effort to reward communities for their diligence in voting for their respective players, Lootpress will take the top vote getter each week and advance them to the pool of candidates for the newly created Community Choice Player of the Year. When the regular season concludes, the 11 players that led in total votes their respective weeks will be grouped into a poll where everyone can vote on one player to win the award as well as the $500 scholarship that comes with it.
2022 Player of the Week Winners
Week 1: Kaiden Vance, Westside
Week 2: Darmonte Mitchell, Beckley
2022 Community Choice Winners
Week 1: Cooper Ridgeway, James Monroe
Week 2: Layton Dowdy, James Monroe
