Welcome back to the Deep Post, a weekly column detailing the happenings of the week past and ahead. This week’s installment dives into the Class AA and AAA state title games.
We’ll start with Princeton’s 36-35 victory over Nitro in the Class AAA game before moving to Bluefield’s crushing loss to Frankfort in the double-A title game.
Championship Weekend
This was the best slate of championship games in state history. Three of the four games came down to the final two minutes with the Class AAAA and AA games decided with under five seconds to go.
If you weren’t there or didn’t watch, you missed out on thrilling conclusion to the 2025 season and truthfully, it was a worthy one.
These playoff were ripe with upsets and comebacks.
Morgantown, the eventual quad-A champion, needed a missed field goal and eight points on the final drive of regulation just to force overtime in its quarterfinal matchup with Spring Mills. That same round also saw Class AAA champion Princeton rally from a seven-point deficit with a fourth-and-16 touchdown pass with 14 minutes to play.
Then there were upsets of Huntington, Independence, Bridgeport and Wahama in that same round.
Overall it was probably the most memorable postseason of my career from start to finish.
Digging it out
Every title team has a missing piece. Landon Crane was Princeton’s. A Bluefield transfer, Crane intercepted two passes against Nitro including one that led to the go-ahead score.
Much has been made of Crane’s transfer (this is a pro-transfer portal space) but the decision he made paid off in every imaginable way. He not only played for a state title but won one and was one of the three most valuable players in that game.
For years Princeton has tried to shore up its linebacker position. In 2023 and ’24 the position was held together by Marquel Lowe and when he suffered a season-ending injury in the final game of the ’24 regular season, the run defense cratered as evidenced by the showings against Parkersburg South, North Marion and ultimately Herbert Hoover.
Crane transferred over and filled that void immediately. But his most impactful plays came in coverage, reading a screen play that set up the go-ahead score and dropping back into coverage on Nitro’s two-point conversion attempt that would’ve given the Wildcats the lead. Crane was supposed to blitz but realized he probably wouldn’t get there in time, dropped back and dislodged the ball to cement the win.
If that doesn’t go down in championship lore, I don’t know what will.
Now that the all-state list is officially out, I can disclose I pounded the table for Crane as a first team all-stater in the meeting and he couldn’t have made better on that demand.
As a sidenote on the defensive side of the ball, I’m glad the entire state got to see Kalum Kiser play with his hair on fire and fly to the ball every play, especially early in the game.
Two-point tribulations
Two-point conversions ultimately decided the Class AAA state championship and I don’t know that Princeton head coach Nate Tanner could’ve handled those situations any better.
He went for two with his team down 29-26 and up 34-29.
I asked Tanner his thought process on both in the aftermath and in the moment following the score that made it 29-26 he explained that if Nitro scored again it would’ve been a two-score game again regardless of it he kicked the PAT or failed to get the conversion so it was a clear go in that situation.
Coaches can turtle up in these spots and kick the can down the road but the correct decision is usually to go for two as early as possible so that way you know what you need down the stretch, whether it be an onside kick, using your timeouts or whatever else. Kicking the can down the road is an entertainment fallacy.
Tanner rolled the dice not once, but twice and converted both times for a 36-29 lead heading into Nitro’s final drive.
Strategically that put all of the pressure on Nitro to make a difficult decision following its final touchdown – either settle for the PAT to tie and give the Tigers the ball back with just over a minute to play or push all of your chips to the middle of the table and hope your defense can get one last stop if you’re able to convert. The option to go ahead by a point on a PAT was off the table because of Tanner’s call.
Allowing your offense to take control of the game instead of hoping your defense can get a stop at the end of a game where it’s probably fatigued is great game management.
It will probably fly under the radar with the whirlwind that was the final quarter but Tanner’s management of the game and decision making was a key underlying storyline in the title victory.
Truthfully, even if Nitro got the conversion I’m not so sure it would’ve been enough to win. Princeton’s pass game was humming and this team is well equipped to move the ball down the field in a timely manner. They practice tempo consistently and when they beat Tanner’s Parkersburg South team in 2024, the needed to move the ball quickly to do so.
Comeback Kings
I’m not sure there was any panic when Princeton went down nine points with about nine minutes left in the game. This is routine for this senior group.
Including Saturday’s title game they were 3-1 when trailing by 14 or fewer points in the second half of a playoff game since becoming starters in 2023.
That includes a nine-point fourth-quarter rally against Parkersburg in the 2023 quarterfinal round, a 13-point third quarter rally in the 2024 quarterfinals and a seven-point rally in the 2025 quarterfinal round this year. Those quarterfinal games showed what the Tigers were capable of and they repeatedly answered the bell.
Division I Fallacy
Every year around awards season I hear the “How many DI offers does he have?” argument when candidates are propped up.
The truth is it doesn’t matter.
Welcome to what I call the Tim Tebow argument. Success at one level isn’t always indicative of success or performance at another. Tim Tebow was a Hesiman winner and is largely agreed upon as one of the best college football players of all time but most knew he didn’t have a future as an NFL QB. I consider Reggie Bush to be the most electric college football player I’ve ever seen. He was an all-pro once in his pro career and never made a pro-bowl.
Stop treating college offers as an absolute.
I’m not picking on Nitro but walking into the title game, the Wildcats had at least three players that had already signed or committed to a DI program, two of them to Power 4 program. To my knowledge Princeton only had two players with DI offers coming into that title game.
The belief that your college prospects make you a better player at the high school level is a red herring.
The 2016 and 2017 Fairmont Senior football teams had two future NFL players in the trenches alone and lost both state championship games they played in. There’s enough evidence to throw those arguments out the window.
The Chess Match
Nate Tanner enjoys the chess match in each game and the title game was no different. Fortunately for him he has the ultimate chess piece in Brad Mossor.
The Tigers established the run with Mossor in the backfield, forcing Nitro into more five-man surfaces along the line of scrimmage. If you’re putting more defenders around the LOS, what does that do? It leaves less bodies in coverage and opens more space everywhere else.
Those five man fronts are advantageous against the run because they allow you to set better edges and avoid double teams but also leave you vulnerable in space. Think back to the Independence game when Princeton started throwing screens to JoJo Campbell. Indy ran a ton of five man fronts.
Utilizing Mossor’s versatility, Tanner was able to motion into empty sets and generate one-on-one opportunities for Mossor in the passing game, something teams have been trying to prevent. It paid off as he had over 100 yards receiving in the second half alone. Nitro eventually switched back to its four man fronts on Princeton’s final two drives and Tanner happily spammed Mossor runs.
Empty formations are a great weapon if you have a capable passer at quarterback as well as one who’s a threat with his legs and Chance Barker checks both of those boxes. They force a defense to declare their coverage with the spacing of the receivers and also open up space in the middle for designed quarterback runs. With the size on Princeton’s line that’s almost always an advantage.
Mossor stamps Kennedy candidacy
I’ve been getting pushback on my cases for area players to win the Kennedy of late. I’ve been able to successfully campaign for four of the last eight winners, an anomaly considering in the prior 40 years the area had only two winners – Curt Warner (1978) and Will Cole (2008).
My primary job above all is to inform my readers. Providing coverage of our area athletes overlaps in that, but there are also parts of the job that specifically require representing and pushing them.
This is one of those instances.
I don’t push our area kids if they’re not serious contenders for honors or awards as it would lessen the impact of my opinion and words when we do have worthy contenders. I shared my Kennedy ballot from 2024 which didn’t have a single area player on it. I know what a serious Kennedy candidate looks like which is why I ramp up my support for one in the postseason when we have one.
Does it become obnoxious? I’m sure but I want us to get it right and the majority of voters have agreed with me when I’ve campaigned for an area athlete. There’s only one time where I felt like I was wrong. In retrospect Hudson Clement should’ve won the Kennedy in 2021. After that I started doing my annual Kennedy column in an effort to more deeply educate not only myself, but other statewide voters. We don’t discuss the award prior to voting so I feel it’s best to put as much information about potential candidates in one place.
Again, I did that last year when we didn’t have a player that cracked the top three on my ballot.
After Mossor scored five touchdowns in the state championship game, who could say that pick is wrong if that’s the one you wake up to on Christmas Eve?
I haven’t pushed our serious candidates because I’m collecting Kennedy winners like trading cards, I push them because I believe it’s right and if we want to reinforce the validity of the Kennedy Award, getting it as right as possible should be the goal. It’s not about me.
History says Parkersburg’s Marc Kimes won the Kennedy in 2001. I can’t tell you who pushed him or who wrote his Kennedy story and it will likely be the same way 30 years from now when somebody looks back on the historical run our area has had.
Mossor’s championship performance didn’t factor into the Kennedy balloting as those were collected and finalized four days before but I walked away from the weekend feeling everything I did and said to push his candidacy was right even if there is a level of subjectivity that comes with an award that requires voting.
The Silverbacks dominate
Nate Tanner talked about the growth of the Silverbacks, the nickname for his offensive line, all year and when it came time to push all of his chips to the middle of the table he put his faith in them. Almost every time he rolled the dice or needed a big conversion he trusted Mossor and the line to come through.
The Tigers went 2-for-2 on fourth down attempts, running the ball both times for an average of 6.5 yards per carry. In the fourth quarter his offense went 4-for-4 on third down, picking up two first downs on the ground. And of course when he needed a pair of two-point conversions he put the ball in Mossor’s hands as a runner behind the Silverbacks and hit the jackpot each time.
Tanner not only did a masterful job of pressing the right buttons but also believing in his players and their ability to execute when the margins for error were non-existent. But also credit to those players. They were outclassed at the end of 2024, learned from that and paved the way to high school football immortality.
A historic senior class
Three seasons as a starter is an eternity in high school football. Factor in that this Princeton senior class has played 41 games since the start of 2023 – the equivalent of four seasons – it feels like these seniors have been here forever.
I’ve not covered a senior class in football as much as I have Princeton’s. I’ve covered all but one playoff game since 2023 and 24 of those 41 games over that span. It’ll feel strange not seeing them next year since they’ve been mainstays but like the area senior classes that have come before them in recent years, they’ve left football better than they found it.
Adding in their freshman season when only one player (Mossor) saw extended meaningful snaps, they finished with a 9-3 record in the postseason. Nine wins would’ve been good enough for one of the best seasons in program history prior to their arrival and they won that many postseason games across four years combined.
In 2024 the area didn’t have a team playing on the final weekend of the year for the first time since 2016 and this season Bluefield and Princeton earned berths, delivering instant classics. This group of Princeton seniors had much to do with that.
An Instant Classic
Bluefield’s 49-42 loss to Frankfort in the Class AA state championship is the best football title game I’ve ever covered. The rewatchability is through the roof and in realtime there was highlight play after highlight play.
It was one of the rare games where fans on both sides were complimentary of each other’s efforts.
I’ll with the game-winning touchdown, a 43-yard pass from running back Braydn Tyler to Keiton Nester. I’ve seen some discourse about the type of defense Bluefield came out in. They weren’t in prevent and were without their best defensive back in Jaleel Jones who pulled his groin and couldn’t run after leading the Beavers in tackles.
I felt in realtime, giving the Falcons the ball at the Bluefield 43 was the toughest part of the equation, one that gets overloo0ked. I don’t know the range of Frankfort’s field goal kicker but he was kicking touchbacks throughout the game and crushing PATs. I do believe he was also good from 30-plus in their regular season matchup with Herbert Hoover.
If you go prevent, you give Frankfort an opportunity to pick up enough yardage on the ground to attempt the winning field goal. Frankfort just ran a better play that it had been setting up all day. It was a great call but the yardage yielded on special teams was where I thought the Beavers lost some of their ability to take the guesswork out of the play call.
It was a deserving ending to an instant classic but one that will likely make the efforts of Bluefield a footnote in history. The final drive put together by the Beaver offense – nine plays, 73 yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion – was one of the best executed drives of situational football I’ve seen considering the limited clock stoppages the Beavers had.
The 40-yard touchdown that led to the tying touchdown was particularly intriguing. Bluefield QB Max Simpson went back to Tylee Simon who had dropped a deep pass earlier in the drive, trusting him to make the play and he answered the bell.
I can’t say enough about how fun this game was to watch.
Babies No More
So much of the discourse in Charleston following Bluefield’s loss surrounded the play of Simpson and his top receiver Pax Calhoun. They were unstoppable to the point Simpson broke or tied Class AA title game records for completions, attempts, touchdown passes, passing yards and longest pass play. Calhoun set the mark for touchdown catches with three.
When Calhoun was one-on-one he was unstoppable and Simpson knew it. I go back to what Simpson said following the season opener against Graham when the first touchdown of Bluefield’s season was a connection between the two.
“I saw my guy versus someone that can’t guard him,” Simpson said.
He saw a lot of that Saturday.
It felt like watching prime Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson. Every time Simpson needed a play, he went to Calhoun who delivered two touchdowns on end zone fades and Mossed a defender on another fade for the tying two-point conversion with 17 seconds to play.
The two introduced themselves to the state and should they continue on the same paths they set out on this season, they’ll be near the top of the Moss, House and Kennedy award conversations for the next two seasons. You don’t get the chance to make that kind of statewide impression often and those two lit the world on fire.
That said, Bluefield’s success this season and Saturday in particular was a team effort.
Nobody has talked about how Bluefield’s WR4 and 5 came up with two of the most explosive plays in the game.
Jamarius Smith’s 89-yard touchdown catch is now the longest pass play in Class AA title game history and was a great counter to Frankfort playing up on Bluefield’s screen game. And Simon’s 40-yard touchdown catch helped tie the game late..
Smith was fourth on the team in receiving yards coming into the game and Simon was fifth. Smith finished third and Simon fifth but it spoke volumes that play-caller Fritz Simon and Simpson felt comfortable going to them in huge spots and they responded.
I felt the coaching staff did a great job of getting those guys ready as the season progressed. The first half of the season featured a steady diet of Calhoun but once running back Willis Wilson got hurt, you could feel the emphasis on getting more players involved in the passing game.
In Simpson’s two best statistical performances – a 397-yard performance against PikeView and a five-touchdown performance against River View – receivers not named Pax Calhoun caught 25 passes for 450 yards and six touchdowns. They had established the true No. 1 but needed to make sure everyone else would be ready when the time came and they were.
Future Outlook
The name Bluefield has never caught anybody off guard but this roster did. They improved each week and coming into the postseason they were my pick to win it all.
Independence was my preseason pick to win it all but the secondary issues and injuries were too much to ignore and I felt the way teams found success against them (a consistent passing game) played into Bluefield’s strengths as a team. I did however believe we’d still see both teams in Charleston, something that never happened.
That said, with the collection of talent they’ll return the Beavers should head into 2026 as a massive favorite to win Class AA. But the games aren’t played on paper. Frankfort graduated most of its impactful starters from a year ago and ran it back with the guy that won championship game MVP honors for his team in Tyler. Tyler will be back next year and considering what Frankfort did this year it would be remiss to count the Falcons out.
This Bluefield group reminds me a lot of the Shady Spring basketball team that erupted onto the scene as sophomores in 2021.
They were equally as talented in basketball and won a title as sophomores. But never won again. This offseason will be a pivotal one for this Bluefield group – do you want to rest upon what you did in 2025 or do you want to prepare for 2026 and do something no other class in Bluefield history has ever done – win back to back state championships in 2025 and ’26?
Preparations for 2026 start soon.
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