PARKERSBURG - Two high school football teams not only searching for an offense, but also their first points of the season meet up today when Parkersburg Catholic and Pocahontas County clash at 1:30 p.m. at Stadium Field.
Both the Crusaders and Warriors bring 0-1 records into today's tilt after being shut out last Friday night, Catholic by a 45-0 count at Buffalo and Pocahontas by a 29-0 score at Tucker County.
Versus Buffalo, Catholic managed just 93 total yards, 72 rushing and 21 passing. ''We started out good though,'' said second-year Crusader head coach Jeff Campbell. ''We got the ball first and were moving it, 17 yards on the first play and four or five on the second. We were doing what we wanted to do, then we had a bad snap and the wheels just came off.''
The score was 36-0 at the half, and ''we're a very, very young team,'' said Campbell, with 12 of his 20 players being freshmen and sophomores, ''so I didn't know how they'd react.'' But after ''we had a pretty good discussion with them at halftime,'' the Crusaders played better in the second half and let up only nine points. ''So the talent's there, the potential's there,'' said Campbell.
Assessing today's foe, Campbell said the Warriors are ''a big, physical team, especially up front, that hits you hard.'' Senior running back Kyler Doss at 5-10 1/2 and 192 pounds is ''as big as all my linemen,'' said Campbell, adding that Pocahontas ''does a couple unique things, puts their fullback right up behind a guard and will direct snap to all three of their backs. They definitely want to run the ball first and try to surprise you with the pass.''
Campbell said ''the big key for us'' today is ''just a matter of coming out and hitting. If we do that and are flying to the ball, we'll see what happens, but we should have a shot.''
One bright spot for Catholic today will be the return from injury of senior linebacker Charles Schriner. ''It's definitely a huge advantage, and a huge help, to have him back,'' said Campbell. ''He's a veteran, very strong, very fast, very knowledgeable about the defense.''
