Dec. 27—MORGANTOWN — The sports year that was 2025 basically came down to a numbers game. Most of them were good, some were great and a few were even historical.
Over the span of 12 months, no less than eight state team championships were celebrated at either Morgantown or University High, capped off with the Mohigans’ 28-21 victory over Martinsburg in the Class AAAA finals that came down to the final play of the game. It was Morgantown’s sixth state football championship.
Phrases such as “first time ever, ” “back-to-back, ” and even one “seven-peat ” became a major part of the story that was 2025.
It was a year in which disappointment even had a highlight, which was the case for the return of Rich Rodriguez to the WVU football team. The Mountaineers finished 4-8, but still grabbed our attention with a 31-24 overtime victory against hated rival Pitt.
Records were set by the WVU baseball team, while Morgantown High sprinter Elecia McCurrie put the state on notice that she’ll likely be setting her own state records shortly.
In what may have been the biggest first of the year, we saw all three high schools from Monongalia County — MHS, UHS and Clay-Battelle — win a first round playoff game in the same season. Then, all three schools did it again and advanced to the state semifinals.
It was a year that brought us both triumph and heartbreak, and all of it seemed to fit nicely into some type of explanation by numbers.
That includes our top story, which only needed the number 1, as in one major coaching change.
1. Darian DeVries leaves, Ross Hodge enters In one season with the WVU men’s basketball team, DeVries had created hope for the future of a program that desperately needed it. The Mountaineers had defeated the likes of Gonzaga and Arizona during the season and went on the road to beat Kansas inside Allen Fieldhouse for the first time.
On March 18, DeVries took his ball and went to Indiana, meaning WVU athletic director Wren Baker would need to hire a third head coach for the program in as many years.
That coach was Hodge, a man who cut his teeth in the coaching game at the junior-college level, before moving up the college basketball ranks as a top assistant. He was the head coach at North Texas for two seasons, leading the Mean Green to 46 wins and two trips to the NIT.
“There were probably only a handful of situations that we would have even considered, ” Hodge said. “Personally, I had several opportunities to leave when I was an assistant at North Texas for what some people might say was a bigger and better opportunity ; bigger brands, higher levels, more money. Ultimately, that’s not necessarily what I’m interested in. I’m interested in people and being at a place we can call home.”
Hodge signed a five-year deal at WVU worth $15 million with the possibility of a one-year extension worth an additional $3.3 million if the Mountaineers finish in the top six of the Big 12 or make the NCAA tournament over his first two seasons.
2. A title for the ages Since 2010, Martinsburg has won 11 state football championships and were the two-time defending state champs heading into its matchup with top-ranked Morgantown on Dec. 5. The Bulldogs entered the game having already beaten MHS, 34-6, during the regular season.
That didn’t keep the Mohigans from jumping out to a 21-7 lead and then holding on for a 28-21 victory behind the play of quarterback Maddox Twigg, who finished with 316 total yards and four touchdowns.
In the final seconds, Martinsburg drove to the Mohigans 8-yard line, but the clock was ticking and the Bulldogs were out of timeouts. On fourth down, Martinsburg quarterback Brian Dick spiked the ball into the ground looking to stop the clock, but he didn’t realize it was fourth down.
Twigg and the Mohigans took over, took a knee and the championship was theirs.
It was Morgantown’s first state football title since 2005.
“This has been a long time coming, and we’ve worked so hard to make it to this point, ” Morgantown head coach Sean Biser said. “It’s not just me, but these assistant coaches, our families, everybody. It’s not just one person when it comes to this program, and to be able to get that win feels amazing.”
3. Clay-Battelle’s historic run Following the first week of the regular season, the Clay-Battelle football team was 0-1 following a 22-16 loss against Cameron. The Cee-Bees were nearly unbeatable from that point.
Wins piled up one after the other, week after week. They came against Class A top 10-ranked schools, as well as larger Class AA schools. In the state semifinals, the Cee-Bees avenged that one loss with a 24-12 victory against Cameron.
And with that, Clay-Battelle and head coach Aaron LaPoe were in the school’s first-ever state football championship.
The opponent was top-ranked Wheeling Central, which ended up putting on a rushing display of 560 yards for a 56-34 victory.
The Cee-Bees took an early 20-7 lead, but could not keep pace with the Maroon Knights. Still, the game was an overall offensive showcase, with both schools combining for 1, 087 yards. C-B quarterback Corey Coen passed for 323 yards and four touchdowns, while running back Caleb Hall rushed for 103 yards. C-B receiver Braden Ponceroff had five catches for 198 yards and two touchdowns.
The Cee-Bees finished with its highest-ever ranking in school history at No. 3 and finished the season 12-2.
“Losing hurts, but at the end of the day it’s a huge honor to do something that’s never been done before, ” LaPoe said. “We’ve gotten so much support from the community and from former players. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys like I know our whole community is.”
4. Pitt is a four-letter word Rodriguez’s return to WVU had already hit a snag by the time Sept. 13 rolled around. The Mountaineers got off to a slow start in a 45-3 victory against Robert Morris and then leading rusher Jahiem White was injured and out for the season a week later in a 17-10 loss against Ohio University.
There was still a question of who was WVU’s most reliable quarterback and no one knew if the running game would survive the loss of White.
All of that was forgotten in the wake that WVU erased a 24-14 deficit with under 10 minutes remaining and then went on to beat rival Pitt, 31-24, in overtime inside a sold-out Milan Puskar Stadium.
The heroes were quarterback Nicco Marchiol and running back Tye Edwards. Marchiol came back into the game after getting benched to lead two scoring drives in the fourth quarter. He connected with tight end Grayson Barnes with 11 seconds left in regulation to tie the game.
Edwards rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner from 1-yard out in OT.
“When my number was called again, there was just one goal in mind, it was just go in and win the football game, ” Marchiol said. “Some way, somehow.”
5. The leg that shined University High’s Jimmy “The Leg ” Gregg just didn’t have the coolest nickname any punter could ever have, he may also have had the best season a punter could ever have.
He finished with 49 punts for 2, 246 yards, an average of 45.8 per boot. None of his punts, not a single one, landed in the end zone for a touchback. He had 25 punts land inside the opponent’s 20-yard line and another 13 that went inside the 10. There were another four that were downed inside the 1-yard line.
It all added up to some special recognition for The Leg, as he signed to punt at Syracuse and became the first punter to win the Fulton Walker Award as the state’s top special teams player.
“It just means the world to me, ” Gregg said. “I was really, really close to (Huntington’s) Jordan Price (last season’s Walker Award winner), and I told him that was a goal for me this season. I told him, ‘I’m going to do it next.’ “
Gregg was also named the No. 1 punter in the nation by 247Sports.
6. WVU baseball heads back to a super regional Steve Sabins first season as the WVU head baseball coach was a success. The Mountaineers began the season 13-0 to move into the national rankings. By the time the regular season was complete, WVU had moved up as high as No. 13 and won the Big 12 regular-season title with a 19-9 record.
The crowning achievement was sweeping its way through the Clemson Regional of the NCAA tournament.
First, it was Armani Guzman’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the Mountaineers a 4-3 walk-off victory against Kentucky.
Against Clemson, WVU designated hitter Sam White hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth inning to spark a four-run inning that gave the Mountaineers a 9-5 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Clemson had the bases loaded, but Ben McDougal struck out Jack Crighton to secure a 9-6 victory.
Facing Kentucky again for the regional title, WVU trailed, 12-7, in the eighth inning but came back to score six runs in the eighth to win the game 13-12, Guzman had the go-ahead single in the eighth and was named the region’s MVP after going 8 for 12 over the three games and driving in six runs.
“That’s the three best set of games I’ve ever been a part of as a player or a coach in my life, ” Sabins said. “It had everything you could have imagined, including walk-offs, and six-run eights.”
WVU advanced to its second consecutive super regional, which is the final 16 teams in the NCAA tournament. No. 6 LSU, which went on to win the national championship, ended the Mountaineers’ season with a sweep in two games, 16-9 and 12-5.
7. UHS gets lucky No. 7 The University High boys’ cross-country team just may be, pun intended, running out of room in the school’s trophy case for its state championships.
The Hawks, behind a 1-2 finish from sophomore Micah Gainer (15:56.16) and senior Ethan Conroy (15:59.63), outpaced cross-town rival Morgantown High, 56-67 to capture its seventh consecutive state championship on Nov. 1, at Cabell Midland. It was the program’s ninth state title since 2013.
UHS had all five of its scoring runners place in the top 25. Conroy’s second-place finish meant he finished in the top 10 for all four of his seasons.
“Our top three ran well, but we were a little shaky after, ” UHS head coach Ed Fronaphel said. “Our fourth highest finisher hadn’t run since August, but we had to throw him in there. Proud of the way we ran, girls as well. There’s always progression in the state in the sport and it just shows the hard work the kids put in.”
8. UHS wrestling goes back-to-back Behind individual state championships from Pepper Martin, Brock Kehler and freshman Brody Kehler, the University High wrestling team won its second straight Class AAA state championship in dominating fashion.
The Hawks finished with 225.5 points with Parkersburg taking second with 195 points.
“This weekend was crazy, but it was so much fun, ” UHS head coach Ken Maisel said. “I told the team earlier in the week that our goal isn’t to just win, it’s to win by 30 and we won it by 30.5. We have such a great group of kids. We don’t worry about behavior, grades, anything like that. The team GPA is around 3.8. For people like that to do well and accomplish their goals is really great.”
For Brock Kehler, he became the state’s 27th wrestler to win four state state titles and went undefeated for a third time, before heading off to WVU to continue his career. He pinned all of his opponents at the state tournament in the first period and was named Most Outstanding Wrestler.
9. The Iron Five On Nov. 14, The WVU women’s basketball team came away with a shocking 57-49 victory against No. 15 Duke, inside Colonial Hall in The Greenbrier Resort.
The shocking part was WVU head coach Mark Kellogg used only five players for the entire second half. He had no other choice.
Following a shoving match at the end of the first half, WVU had six players ejected from the game — four of them were starters — meaning the Mountaineers only had five players available for the second half.
It didn’t matter, as WVU quickly erased a 23-20 halftime deficit and outscored Duke 24-9 in the third quarter. The Mountaineers held their lead in the fourth quarter, as Sydney Shaw — the lone starter remaining for WVU — finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Celia Riviere added 12 points and eight rebounds. Gia Cooke scored all 12 of her points in the first half, but was one of the six players who were ejected.
“I’m disappointed in the ending of the half, ” Kellogg said. “I think we’re better than that—we’re going to learn a huge lesson—but I’m so proud of that group of five.”
10. Twigg’s monster season By the time Twigg had guided the Morgantown High football team to the Class AAAA state title, the sophomore had passed and ran his way into becoming the state’s top prep quarterback.
His final numbers: Twigg completed 125 of 189 passes for 2, 227 yards and 26 touchdowns. He also had 144 carries for 1, 073 yards and 18 touchdowns. Including a pick-6 touchdown on defense, Twigg accounted for 45 touchdowns on the season.
For his efforts, Twigg was named the state’s first-team all-state quarterback and was also awarded the J.R. House Award as the state’s top quarterback.
“This means the world to me, especially after being able to accomplish all of the goals we set as a team, ” Twigg said. “Coming into the season, my goal was simply to lead my team to a state championship game and give us a shot to win it all. Along with that, I just wanted to build confidence with my offense, and amazingly, the season worked out that way for us.”
Following the state championship, Twigg also received a scholarship offer from WVU.
