WELCH- The Mount View Golden Knights have enjoyed a successful season, that one may say has surprised a lot of people in West Virginia.
Mount View coach Maurice Gravely said the 9-1 start was a goal of his when he first took over the program in 2019.
“I didn’t know if it would come now or later,” Gravely said. “I felt pretty good coming into this season, but I have felt pretty good the last two years and unfortunately it didn’t happen.”
The Golden Knights, winners of eight straight games, enter the playoffs as the fifth-seed in the Class A playoff field and will host the school’s first ever home playoff game Friday night at Vic Nystrom Stadium.
The Golden Knights have hosted first round games in 1991, 2003, 2005 and 2018, but those games were played at Prinecton’s Anne S. Hunnicutt Stadium.
“History means a lot to me. I graduated from here, I played here, and this is home,” Gravely said. “This is a long time in the making. This is an awesome feeling to be right here, and I am sure we are going to have a big crowd Friday night.”
The Golden Knights will face a familiar foe in 12th-ranked Sherman, who they defeated 44-18 on Oct. 1 at Sherman.
“It’s do or die,” Gravely said. “You lose, you go home, and we are not just happy to be here. We want to compete for that ultimate prize.”
Gravely is aware of the advantages and disadvantages of playing a team for a second time and doesn’t want his Golden Knights to be overconfident Friday night.
“I have played in many of these games and they (Sherman) have nothing to lose and will be coming in here to prove something,” Gravely said. “This will be a tough task and I tell these guys that we have to take this game as if they are the number one team in the state.”
Mount View started the season with a victory over McDowell County rival River View in the annual “Battle of the Views” and followed that with a 22-18 loss to Tazewell (VA), a game that Golden Knights led 18-0.
“I think the Tazewell game was a learning experience for us and it may have woke the giant up,” Gravely said. “We are not invincible and at any time anybody can be beat.”
The Knights responded with wins in their next seven contests heading into the regular season finale at Class A No. 11 Greenbrier West, where they fell behind early, but rallied for an 18-14 victory over the Cavaliers in Charmco.
“Greenbrier West is a very good team and they were out for us,” Gravely said. “I felt we played flat, and I don’t want to say that we took them lightly, but our kids at some point stepped it up.”
“I think we could have been in a better situation had they came out gritty,” Gravely said. “The good thing is that we bent, but we didn’t break against a very good Cavalier team that was ready to play us.”
