Southwestern: Unbeaten Huntington with road challenge at Capital

By MetroNews in High School Sports | September 21, 2016 at 5:56PM

By: Wes McKinney, WVMetroNews.com

AAA No. 1 Huntington (4-0) at AAA No. 6 Capital (3-1)

Huntington and running back Jadon Hayes controlled the second half against Parkersburg as the Highlanders downed the Big Reds 28-6 in what was a record night for Hayes.

The senior ball carrier rushed for a Huntington single-game record of 307 yards, with 219 coming after halftime.

Huntington head coach Billy Seals and his team will now turn their attention to a pivotal contest with Capital.

“Capital is a very, very good program that has played for a state championship the last two seasons, and they are just as good as they have been the last two years,” Seals said.

“All they have done is switch quarterbacks and replace a couple of guys up front. They have big, rangy kids that can run. Coach Carpenter does a great job of finding mismatches all over the field and exploiting those throughout the game.”

The two teams have combined to play for the last three Class AAA state championships.

Earlier in the season, Seals talked about how athletic his team was on the outside, on both sides of the ball. However, this week comes one of the toughest matchups for any defense in the state with Capital’s Silas Nazario.

“We struggled against Crunchy Bays at wide receiver last year, so they replace him by moving Silas Nizario in the slot,” Seals said. “That’s another mismatch. If he gets in one-on-one situations, he’s going to make you pay.”

But Nazario isn’t the only player that concerns Seals.

“I’m impressed with Kerry Martin at quarterback,” Seals said. “On defense, they have some wardaddys with Dorian Etheridge at linebacker and Kalai Clark at nose guard.”

How Huntington controls the line of scrimmage and the tempo of the game could decide the ultimate outcome.

“We have to win first down,” Seals said. “We have to get in situations where it’s 2nd-and-4 or 2nd-and-5. We can’t put ourselves in 2nd-and-13. We have to try to make sure we limit their possessions.”