On March 8, 2012, the Keyser Golden Tornado blew into the Webster County Highlander gym for a Class AA Regional Championship game. The Tornado turned out to be nothing more than a weak puff of air as Webster easily won 52 to 29. The video includes post-game interviews with the coaches and players. Actual game highlights will be posted after the state tournament concludes next week. Below is the article to be submitted to the local newspaper recapping the game:
HIGHLANDERS WIN SPOT IN STATE TOURNAMENT
AFTER BLOWING AWAY THE GOLDEN TORNADO
By Jeff Hall
Count the Webster County Highlanders among the “elite eight” of Class AA teams in the State after their resounding 52 to 29 win last Thursday against the visiting Keyser Golden Tornado.
With the win over Keyser and the regional championship title now among their achievements, Webster secured one of the eight spots in the State Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center. Webster will face the Tug Valley Panthers in a 1:00 p.m. game on Wednesday, March 14.
Tug Valley, which sports a 23 win, 2 loss record, was seeded second among the eight teams. Shockingly, despite their record, Webster was seeded seventh. Webster was seeded lower than four other teams who had worse records than Webster.
The winner of the Tug Valley – Webster game will face the winner of the Wyoming East – Point Pleasant game on Friday, March 16 at 9:30 a.m., with the Class AA Championship at Noon on Saturday, March 17.
When reached for comment about Webster’s seeding in the tournament, head coach Jerry Dean said that Webster’s low seeding was not surprising as Webster does not receive the respect locals believe the team should be given. Dean also said that he ranked Tug Valley first in Class AA and that Webster will have to prove their worth against Tug Valley to finally get the respect the team deserves.
After the Keyser victory, Assistant Coach Eddie Mazzella summed up the game as follows: “Best defense we’ve played all year, maybe in Highlander history. To hold a team to 6 points in a half? Zero in the second quarter!”
Referring to coach Dean, Mazzella said that “All week, this man right here said if we play defense, we’ll get after them, and the kids believed in that, and we’re on our way to Charleston!”
Defense was clearly the game changer against Keyser. In the first half, Keyser employed a slow-down strategy, which only worked in the first quarter, as Keyser led 6 to 4.
Webster then took control with an aggressive defense which resulted in countless Keyser turnovers. The Highlanders outscored the Tornado 15 to 0 in the second quarter to take a 19 to 6 halftime lead.
As Mazzella noted, Webster “turned things up a notch in the third quarter,” outscoring Keyser 21 to 7 to lead 40 to 13 going into the final stanza. Both teams played the fourth quarter with mostly non-starters in light of Webster’s insurmountable lead, and Keyser actually outscored Webster 16 to 12 in the last quarter.
Webster improved its season record to 22 wins, 3 losses. The 22 wins are the most wins in the school’s history.
“We’re going to be the first [Webster] team to get a win at States,” a confident junior guard Brett Morris said after the game. “We’re going to take this momentum and roll with it,” he added.
Morris led the Highlander attack with 21 points, making a hot 69 percent of the shots he took. Morris added 2 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists, and 1 blocked shot.
Junior center Hunter Given added 13 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists, and 1 blocked shot. Given said the more Keyser slowed down the game, the more “we caused quite a bit of turnovers” on them. Senior guard Seth Hamrick mirrored Given’s comments and said the team’s success “started on the defensive end.”
Others playing for Webster included: Chris Miller, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 6 assists; Mitchell Short, 3 points, 2 rebounds; Guy Cowger, 2 points, 2 rebounds; Dalton Davis, 2 points, 1 rebound; Andrew White, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists; Stephen Cogar, 1 point; Hamrick, 1 assist; Trent May, 3 rebounds, 1 steal; Luther Stoots, 1 blocked shot; and Dustin Boggs, 4 rebounds, 1 blocked shot. Andrew Green and Brandon Wamsley also played in the game.
