Published: August 29, 2008 01:14 am            

County opens grid season tonight

FAIRMONT — It’s that time of year again.

High school football is back in action.

All three Marion County schools open the season tonight, albeit all are on the road.

East Fairmont travels to Elkins to take on the Tigers; West Fairmont is in Clarksburg against Robert C. Byrd; North Marion will try to snap its two-year winless streak at preseason No. 1 University.

The veteran Polar Bears, who narrowly missed a playoff berth last season, will be looking for a measure of revenge at RCB tonight.

In the 2007 opener, the Flying Eagles scored 28 second-half points to rally past West Fairmont for a 42-38 win.

In that game, new running back Desmond Evans only carried the ball four times as Boston College-bound Jerry Kelly tallied his first 100-yard game of the season.

Now Evans is the feature back behind quarterback Logan Moore and a strong offensive line. The Bears also boast a talent receiving corps which will also pose problems for the Flying Eagles tonight.

• East Fairmont will be looking for a new cast of athletes to continue the Bees’ winning streak against the Elkins Tigers.

Last season, the Bees ran out to a 25-0 halftime lead, but the extremely warm night at East-West Stadium had East fatigued in the second half as Elkins tried to rally.

The Bees held on for a 32-20 win in that game.

The Tigers are an improved team this season and could put up a fight against East Fairmont, who traditionally hasn’t had much problems with Elkins.

East Fairmont will depend on new quarterback Nick Bonnett to perform

But the defense will be the key, just like last season.

East returns most of its talent from 2007 on the defensive side of the ball. While the new offense works out the kinks, it’ll be up to the defense that allowed just over 200 yards per game last season to give the Bees a chance to get the ‘W.’

• When you’re trying to break a two-year losing streak it doesn’t help opening on the road at the preseason No. 1.

Or does it?

North Marion visits University tonight and has been given little chance to snap its school-record 20-game losing streak against the Hawks.

Maybe that’s just what the Huskies need.

There is no pressure on North in this game; it’s all on University. And it’s happened before.

Back in 2004 the Huskies shocked favored University, 9-6.

North can pull out all the stops in this one and maybe the Hawks will be looking ahead to next week’s matchup with East Fairmont, a game they won by a single point last year.

All three games are scheduled to kick off tonight at 7:30.

E-mail Mike Bowen at mbowen@timeswv.com.

        

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