Brooke second-year football coach Mac McLean isn't sure his team is ready for a Saturday afternoon game, but he'll come a lot closer to finding out if the ninth-seeded Bruins survive to see Sunday.
"We've played 11 football games. Every one of them's been at night," McLean said of his choice to play at Class AAA No. 1 seed Cabell Midland (11-0) in the playoff quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
"There's something I just don't like about playing your whole season in the dark and then all of a sudden you're out there on a Saturday afternoon," McLean said. "It changes when the kids wake up. They've got to get ready five hours before when their bodies are used to getting ready."
Brooke (8-3) has won eight of its last nine games since an 0-2 start. The program avenged a Week 2 loss to No. 8 seed Morgantown in the first round by beating the Mohigans 27-14 on the road in the opening round.
McLean's team is led by a pair of tall receivers in seniors Thomas Cole (6-foot-5, 220 pounds) and Nathan Green (6-6, 230). Cole has caught 70 passes for 913 yards.
"There's a definite buzz in the community. We got met at the [Pennsylvania-West Virginia] state line the other night and got escorted back to the school by fire trucks," McLean said. "People were out on their front porches waving flags and stuff.
"I looked at my assistant coaches and asked if they thought they realized there were three more rounds to the playoffs. It's a town that loves its football team and they love to see them win and it's been awhile since we've been in that situation."
Meanwhile, Midland is looking for a return to the Super Six as a No. 1 seed like it accomplished in 2012. However, the Knights lost to Martinsburg in the Class AAA title game that year and are still seeking their first state crown.
Senior running back Devin Stapleton has emerged as a Kennedy Award candidate for Midland, leading the team's prolific rushing attack with 1,635 yards and 27 touchdowns. Senior fullback Caperton Humphrey has also gone well over the 1,000-yard rushing mark, with 1,384 yard and 16 scores.
The biggest difference from the Midland 2012 team and this year's squad has been its effeciency at quarterback. Senior Tyler Brown has run for 522 yards and nine TDs, but has also been a threat throwing the ball in Midland's wing-T offense.
Brown has completed 42 of 69 passes for 878 yards, 14 touchdowns and just one interception.
In other playoff games today:
No. 9 Robert C. Byrd (8-3) at No. 1 Bridgeport (10-0-1): This 1:30 p.m. kickoff will be the third playoff meeting between the arch rivals since 2011, with Bridgeport winning each meeting.
The Indians beat Byrd 48-21 in their regular-season meeting and have not lost to the Eagles since 2010 despite meeting yearly in the regular season.
Byrd senior running back Juwan-Jones Wright, however, ran for 180 yards in the teams' regular-season meeting, a high for a Bridgeport opponent this year. Jones-Wright, Byrd's all-time rushing leader, ran for more than 300 yards last week in an opening-round win at No. 8 seed Chapmanville.
Jones-Wright, who has crept into the Kennedy Award discussion in the past several weeks, surpassed the 2,000-yard rushing mark for the season in last week's win.
Senior running back and West Virginia commitment Dylan Tonkery leads Bridgeport with 1,214 rushing yards, while senior Dante Bonamico has added 1,176 yards on the ground.
No. 8 Williamstown (9-2) at No. 1 Magnolia (11-0): The teams met in Williamstown in Week 2, with Magnolia getting a 21-14 win.
However, Yellowjackets quarterback Trenton Tallman was injured in the opening round last week in his team's 21-14 win over No. 9 seed Pocahontas County (8-3), and his status is unknown for the quarterfinal game that kicks off at 7:30 p.m. in New Martinsville.
If Tallman should be unable to go, the game could get signfificantly more challenging for the defending state champions. Tallman ran for 1,752 yards and threw for 652 yards in the regular season and scored each of Williamstown's three touchdowns in the first quarter last week.
Magnolia is coming of a 54-22 drubbing of No. 16 seed Van (7-4) in the first round.
No. 7 Wheeling Central (10-1) at No. 2 East Hardy (10-1): The 1:30 p.m. kickoff will feature a pair of teams that staged come-from-behind victories over lower-seeded opponents in the first round.
Central trailed Pendleton County (7-4) 14-0 early before taking control of the game early in the third quarter and pulling away 42-28.
The Cougars' comeback was more interesting. Trailing No. 15 seed Bishop Donahue (7-4) 20-0 at halftime, quarterback Corey McDonald and company engineeed a second-half comeback that resulted in a 23-20 win.
No. 12 Tug Valley (8-3) at No. 4 Moorefield (10-1): The Panthers handled No. 5 seed Man (8-3) with suprising ease last week, 38-28. Sophomore receiver/linebacker Jeremy Dillon's team now gets to travel to Hardy County and face another career-long star in the form of Yellow Jacket senior Wil Schoonover. The 2,000-yard rusher and two-time all-state linebacker was moved by Moorefield coach Josh See to strong safety this year, but has remained the focal point of both the team's offense and defense.
Tug Valley is attempting to reach the playoff semifinals for the second consecutive year after having never won a playoff game before 2014.