Highlights: Huntington wins top 5 battle over Spring Valley

By MetroNews in High School Sports, Sports | September 03, 2016 at 1:32AM

Video highlights above are by Jack Withrow, WVMetroNews.com

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Class AAA No. 5 Huntington (2-0) edged No. 3 Spring Valley (1-0) on the road 17-13 as senior kicker Cason Kessinger hit a school record 53-yard field goal in the win.

“I asked him if he could hit it and he told me ‘without a doubt,’” said Huntington coach Billy Seals. “It was probably good from 55 and he was hitting them from 60 yards during pregame – he was feeling good tonight. Those were three big points for us in the ballgame. We knew he had the distance and that’s big time.”

Huntington was terrific defensively, holding Spring Valley to just those 13 points after the Timberwolves put up 55 against Cabell Midland in Week 1.

The Highlanders gave up just six points in a Week 1 win over Brooke and continued that effort against Spring Valley, finishing with 13 total tackles for a loss in the game.

“Our kids are real tough, gritty kids,” Seals said. “We knew we would be challenged this week physically. Spring Valley is a really good football team. Their quarterback is really good and we did a nice job of trying to hem up. We felt that if we allowed him to get north and south, then we were going to be in trouble. Our kids did a tremendous job of getting to the football and executing the plan.”