The Tucker County Football season will get started this Friday August 30th at Pocahontas County with a 7pm kickoff. This year the Tucker County team has 21 kids out and the team will have their work cut out for them after finishing last year with a playoff berth and a 6-5 season. Last season’s playoff appearance was the first since 2013 for the Mt. Lions. Tucker County will be looking to replace 11 seniors from last year’s team that leave big holes to fill for this season.
Head Coach AJ Rapp will have 5 seniors, 5 juniors, 5 sophomores and 6 freshmen to choose from for his team this season. The Mt. Lions only return 1 offensive lineman from last year’s team. Rapp said. “We have 1 returning linemen, so we have to give those guys some time to learn and come together.” Tucker County does return their starting quarterback from last season in Senior Liam Hood. Hood performed well in that position as he was able to pass the ball effectively at times last season. Rapp will be looking for ways to keep Hood protected this season until the offensive line develops behind the experience of Junior Bode Shockley. Senior Hunter Collar will also be asked to make an impact on offense for the Mt. Lions. Josh Callaway and Logan Husk also look to contribute on offense to name a few for Tucker County this season.
The Mt. Lions defense had some bright spots in the first scrimmage against Doddridge County. When ask about the defense Rapp said, “We still have some tough kids on defense, so we were able to defend the run fairly well in the scrimmage.” Tucker County return some experience on defense in Bode Shockley, Josh Callaway and Hunter Collar. Players that look to help on defense are Logan Husk, Jeremy Liller, Wayne Clark and Dominick Mullenax to name a few.
Tucker County’s schedule has a few changes this season. Notre Dame had to cancel their season due to low numbers, so the Mt. Lions picked up a game with South Harrison to replace the Irish. One other change is a contest at Gilmer County which replaced Philip-Barbour. The Mt. Lions will open the season with a road game at Pocahontas County this Friday August 30th and then they will host Tygarts Valley on September 6th in week 2. On week 3 Tucker County will host Northern Garrett on September 13th. The Mt. Lions will then travel to PVC rival Moorefield in week 4 on September 20th and Tucker County will be Open on Week 5 on September 27th. Tucker County will host Pendleton County on October 4th and then they will travel to East Hardy on October 11th for a week 7 contest. Southern Garrett will be the opponent for an away game on October 18th. Tucker County will then travel to Glenville State to face off against Gilmer County on week 9 on October 25th and then they will host Petersburg on November 1st. The Mt. Lions will end the regular season with a home game with South Harrison on November 8th. The kickoff times for all the games this season home and away will be 7pm. Coach Rapp spoke briefly about the change to the schedule as he said, “We don’t know much about South Harrison or Gilmer County, we haven’t played South Harrison for years and we have scrimmaged Gilmer County in the past but they have change coaches since so we are not familiar with either team.”
Friday’s game at Pocahontas County will kick off at 7pm. For more pictures, audio interviews and printable schedules go to TuckerCountySports.Com.