Man High School coach Harvey Arms goes over instructions with his team during a timeout in an earlier win at Mingo Central. The Hillbillies are ranked 8th in this week's Class A playoff ratings and will entertain Class AA No. 3 Independence Friday night. (Dave Adkins/Dave's Sports Page)
Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
MAN The Man Hillbillies climbed two spots to eighth in the latest West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission Class A playoff ratings, which were released on Tuesday afternoon.
The WVSSAC weekly ratings determine the 48 participants in each class for the playoffs. The top eight in each classification will host a first round game in the playoffs scheduled to start Nov. 11-12.
Man (6-1), who hasn't made the postseason in four years, will have a chance to make a significant jump in the ratings next week with a homecoming win over Class AA No. 3 Independence (6-0).
The Hillbillies defeated Shady Spring 41-22 last week and have won six in a row since a season opening loss to county rival and Class AA No. 9 Logan.
Logan, who lost to Class AA No. 1 Scott last week, dropped three spots to ninth in the latest ratings while Chapmanville remained at No. 19 in the Class AA ratings.
Logan will be back in action Friday night as they travel to Liberty (Raliegh). The Raiders (1-5), who qualified for the Class AA playoffs last season, have struggled this season but coach Gary Mullins knows his club can ill afford to look past the opposition this week.
Liberty handed Logan its first loss last season defeating the Wildcats 30-14 at Liberty. A win would move the Wildcats a step closer to clinching its first playoff berth in nine years.
Chapmanville (3-3), who is coming off a bye week, will travel out Wayne (3-4) to battle the Pioneers in a crucial game for both school's playoff chances. The Tigers defeated the Pioneers 40-16 last season.
Williamstown continues to hold down the top spot in Class A while Scott remained atop the Class AA ratings this week. Musselman takes over the top spot in Class AAA after last week's No. 1 Spring Valley was defeated by Cabell Midland.
The Applemen (5-1, 12.83) are the third school in as many weeks to hold down the top spot in Class AAA. Parkersburg South (5-1, 12.33) jumped two spots to second while a trio of Mountain State Athletic Conference schools round out the top five in Cabell Midland (5-1, 12.00) third, Huntington (5-1, 11.83) fourth and Hurricane (5-1, 11.67) fifth.
Spring Valley (5-1, 11.50) fell five spots to sixth with Bridgeport (6-1, 11.29) and Martinsburg (5-2, 11.29) tied for seventh, Jefferson (5-2, 10.00) ninth and George Washington (4-2, 9.83) rounding out the top 10.
Morgantown (4-2, 9.33) headlines the second 10 in Class AAA checking in at No. 11 and is followed by University (5-2, 9.29) is 12th, Wheeling Park (4-2, 9.00) is 13th, Woodrow Wilson (5-2, 8.71) is 14th, Hedgesville (4-3, 7.86) is 15th and Brooke (4-2, 7.83) occupies the final playoff spot with four weeks left in the regular season.
Princeton (3-2, 7.60) drops six spots to No. 17 with Oak Hill (4-3, 7.43) No. 18, Parkersburg (3-3, 6.17) 19th and John Marshall (3-3, 5.83) rounding out the top 20.
Scott (7-0, 11.57) is ranked atop the Class AA ratings for a second consecutive week and is followed by Roane County (6-0, 11.33) at No. 2, Independence (6-0, 11.00) at No. 3, North Marion (6-1, 10.29) checking in at four and Winfield (5-1, 9.83) fifth.
Frankfort (6-1, 9.57) is sixth followed by Clay County (5-1, 8.83) and Nicholas County (5-1, 8.83) tied for seventh, Logan (5-2, 7.71) ninth and East Fairmont (4-2, 7.33) and Herbert Hoover (4-2, 7.33) tied for 10th.
Fairmont Senior (4-3, 7.29) is 12th, Lincoln (4-2, 7.17) 13th, Keyser (4-2, 7.00) 14th, Liberty (Harrison) (4-2, 6.50) 15th, Lewis County (3-3, 5.50), Philip Barbour (3-3, 5.50) and Point Pleasant (3-3, 5.50) tied for 16th, Chapmanville (3-3, 5.17) 19th and Weir (4-3, 5.00) rounding out the Class AA top 20.
For the third consecutive week the top two teams in Class A remain the same as Williamstown (6-0, 10.50) and Wheeling Central (6-0, 9.00) hold down the top two spots. James Monroe (6-0, 8.83), who picked up a pair of wins last week, rose eight spots to No. 3 in this week's ratings. Doddridge County (6-0, 8.50) is fourth and Tucker County (6-0, 8.33) fifth.
Cameron (7-0, 8.29) jumps three spots to sixth, Wahama (7-0, 8.14) fell three spots to seventh with Man (6-1, 7.71), the highest ranked one loss team in Class A, ranked eighth followed by Van (6-0, 7.67) ninth and Greenbrier West (6-1, 7.00) 10th.
Montcalm (6-0, 6.83), who is off to its best start in school history, is tied for 11th with Tug Valley (5-1, 6.83). Petersburg (5-1, 6.67), who suffered its first loss of the season last week, fell from seventh to 13th with Clay-Battelle (4-1, 6.40) 14th, East Hardy (5-1, 6.33) 15th and South Harrison (4-2, 6.17) occupying the final playoff spot for the second consecutive week.
The Hawks are 16th just ahead of No. 17 Midland Trail (5-2, 5.71), No. 18 St. Marys (4-2, 5.33), No. 19 Wirt County (4-2, 4.67) and No. 20 Trinity (5-2, 4.57).