From Staff Reports
(September 23, 1998) Morgantown, University and Tucker County are the highest rated area teams in the Secondary School Activities Commission high school football power ratings released Tuesday.
Morgantown (4-0) and University are tied with Nitro at No. 2 in Class AAA while Tucker County (4-0) is No. 3 in Class AA.
There are 16 area teams rated in their respective classes.
In Class AAA, Morgantown and University are joined by No. 11 Robert C. Byrd (3-1), No. 12 Elkins (2-2) and No. 17 Buckhannon-Upshur (2-2).
Parkersburg (4-0) is the No. 1 team in the big-school division, while Musselman (4-0) is rated No. 5
In Class AA, Tucker is joined by No. 6 Tyler Consolidated (4-0), No. 8 Magnolia (4-0), No. 12 South Harrison (3-1), No. 15 Ritchie County (3-1), No. 16 Webster County (3-1) and No. 18 Liberty (2-2).
DuPont (4-0) and Weir (4-0) are tied for first in Class AA while Wyoming East (3-0) is No. 4 and Mount View (4-0) is No. 5.
Clay-Battelle (3-0) is the highest rated area team in Class A at No. 6. Valley Wetzel (3-1) is No. 11, Doddridge (2-2) is No. 16 and Gilmer (2-2) is No. 18.
Defending champion Moorefield (4-0) is No. 1 in Class A.
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EARLY GAME: Liberty will try to get its offense untracked Thursday afternoon when it faces Preston in the annual Buckwheat Bowl in Kingwood.The Mountaineers (2-2) are coming off their worst offensive performance in four seasons in a 3-
· loss to Bridgeport.Unfortunately for the 'Eers, they're playing a team that boasts one of the top defenses in north central West Virginia.
The Knights bring a 2-2 record into the contest, but are giving up just 9.5 points per game. They have defeated Bridgeport (14-7) and Hampshire (10-0) while losing to Buckhannon-Upshur (25-0) and Southern (Md.) by a 6-0 count.
In last week's game with Southern, the Knights gave up just 104 yards total offense. In their victory over Bridgeport, Preston held the Indians to an unheard of 72 yards.
"We're playing a team that really understands what defense is about," Liberty coach Roger Gorby said. "We're going to have to be patient and take what's there if we want to have a chance to win."
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.