Beavers hope to maintain pace of improvement versus Oak Hill
Oct. 21—BLUEFIELD — It's an old saw among veteran coaches that ever football team makes it's greatest single leap of improvement during the week between its opener and the second game of the season.
The Bluefield High School football team started the 2021 football season with two game dates spaced four weeks apart with next to no practice in-between. Unsurprisingly, that wasn't much help for the Beavers.
However, the week after Bluefield's 31-6 loss to Graham the Beavers posted a 66-0 win over PikeView on Monday and followed it with a 57-14 win at Tazewell on Friday. Call it a reboot.
"We've still got a long way to go from what I'm looking at on film, but we are getting reps and the players are getting better at certain positions," said Bluefield head football coach Fred Simon.
"In other places, we've still got to get a lot of work done. But overall I'm just happy to see smiles on their faces and getting back to business with some wins," he said.
Simon hopes to discern signs of continued progress when his team travels to Oak Hill for Friday's game with the Red Devils (3-4), who are fresh off a 23-3 win at Greenbrier East.
The Beavers chieftain sees the missed opportunities at the front end of the regular season as water under the bridge. The team was subject to circumstances beyond their control and there's no use dwelling on it. The here and now is all they've got to work with.
Last week's two-fer forced Bluefield to stay in the moment as it hustled between kickoffs. The focus paid off in some dividends on all three phases of the game — starting with the rushing attack on offense.
"I think Amir [Hairston] is coming along. He's getting a few carries and getting into better situations. The more reps backs get, the better they learn to see where to run to daylight," said Simon, who expects to see Hairston's running mates continue to improve alongside him.
"On defense ... I thought we did a better job of tackling and getting where we needed to get. Our players have to get reps in tackling along with the blocking for us to improve like I need us to improve. I've seen some improvement, but some of them still have a ways to go. I'm not satisfied with them," he said.
The Beavers kicking game is also coming along.
"We've been happy with the progress we've had on special teams with Bryson Redmond kicking for us. We're also happy with what we're seeing with the punting game," Simon said.
The Red Devils are led by Leonard Farrow — one of the state's top running backs — but Oak Hill is by no means a one-trick pony. Elijah Gray rushed for over 100 yards versus Princeton. The multi-faceted Ethan Vargo-Thomas rushed for a touchdown and kicked a field goal in last week's win over the Spartans. Quarterback Jacob Ward and wide receiver Braxton Hall also bear watching.
"I think Oak Hill has got a good football team. Their running backs run hard and their line executes their offense well. They have a scrappy defense," Simon said. "They've played a good schedule. They're a good football team. They whipped up on Greenbrier East pretty good, so we're going to have to play our butts off Friday. ...We have to do our best to beat the teams that we're playing right now because each game counts so much for us."
Oak Hill is Bluefield's fifth opponent of the season. The Beavers are slated to play at Ridgeview (Va.) next located the eighth opponent they need in order to meet the WVSSAC's stated minimum of eight games needed to make the 2021 playoffs. Playoff teams on-track to make the minimum certainly have little incentive to schedule an Monday or Tuesday game this late in the season.
"We're going to keep trying [to find another game], but little by little, time is wasting," Simon said.
"I'd hate to see our players penalized for something they had no control over ... when our county shut it down for two weeks. That could've been the difference for us. But we don't control that and when you don't control things you can't worry about it," said Simon, who has heard no indication that the WVSSAC is willing to allow any exceptions to the 8-game ruling.
The only thing the Beavers can do is keep playing like they'll somehow find a way into the postseason.
"We have no way to answer that. We really, really don't. All we can do is take it one game at a time and try to do our best to make the playoffs. I don't care if we're No. 15 or No. 16. Whatever. As long as we can get in, we got in and we can take it from there," Simon said.
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