LIMBO — Madonna head coach John McCune (center) speaks with assistant coaches during the team’s final regular season game against Oak Glen. McCune and the Blue Dons are waiting for the resolution of a lawsuit that postponed the West Virginia playoffs to determine when and where they will play next. – Michael D. McElwain
WEIRTON — Who Madonna will perform with and when is currently up in the air.
“This is my first year as a head coach and a fairly new staff, so this is my first time experiencing the playoffs, but this is my first time experiencing the playoffs by myself.” Madonna head coach John McCune said:
To say it’s been a chaotic few days for the Madonna football team and its coaching staff would be an understatement.
It all started with real excitement.
Madonna officially qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2020 with a first-year staff and 18-man roster. It was made official Friday night that Madonna defied the odds and qualified for the playoffs.
The final state-wide results were announced while the Blue Dons could only watch the scoreboard with a bye scheduled. They had hoped that last week’s win against Oak Glen would be enough to qualify, and it turned out to be the case.
As of Friday night, Madonna was ranked No. 14 in the unofficial rankings.
Then the chaos began. By Sunday, that ranking had been changed to 16th place due to a change in the way points are calculated following a court injunction. A trip to No. 1 Tug Valley is set for Saturday afternoon. The brackets were announced Sunday after the SSAC playoff meetings.
On Tuesday, the situation changed again. The SSAC announced that the playoffs have been postponed due to pending litigation.
“We’re trying to keep them focused. Until the announcement was made (Tuesday), we were still thinking and preparing as if we were going to play in Tug Valley.” McCune said. “They’re a team we’ve studied and watched. We’re playing against the No. 1 team in the state, so we’re really excited for that opportunity.”
“We’re practicing (Tuesday) and staying focused. They don’t want this journey to end. Even with the delay, the kids are already asking, ‘What are we going to do next week?’ I was asking. what’s the plan? There was more I wanted to say, but there isn’t much I can say at the moment. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. ”
This is actually the second time Madonna has learned that the match she had prepared for on Tuesday did not take place. The third game of the season against Trinity Christian was canceled due to a lack of available players on the Warriors’ side. Trinity ultimately forfeited and did not play again for the rest of the season.
“We’ve been down this road before, but it wasn’t until early in the season that we knew there was still football to be played.” McCune said. “I think the scary part is we don’t know how long this lawsuit will last. We’re going into the third week between games because the bye week is over. That’s a long time for anyone, even a lonely high school student. It’s break time. They’re playing other sports, but it’s getting cold outside and it’s hard to stay focused for three weeks.
“It’s tough for our seniors because every game could be their last. We’re trying to make it memorable for them. We’re going to continue to bond as a team for the rest of this week and into next week.” We are planning to carry out activities.”
Everyone knew the playoffs might be postponed, but the Dons were preparing for Tug Valley. They plan to continue this process until further instructions.
“We want to have a chance to shock the state as a No. 16 seed playing against a No. 1 seed.” McCune said. “The kids are excited for the opportunity. Of course, no matter where we’re going to play, whether it’s Tug Valley, Tucker County, Wahama, we prepare the same way. , we’re going to do our best to pull off an upset.”
According to the head coach, whose team is now 7-3, the extra week of trade-off to recover from the regular season and prepare a game plan isn’t worth the wait.
“It will take us another week to get healthy, but we are as healthy as we can be with our 18 bodies, so we want to play.” McCune said. “For us, we have 18 players, so the way we practice is different. It’s different from a team like Tag Volleyball, which has 38 players who can practice 11-on-11. must be utilized to the maximum extent possible.
“We’re doing a few different things in practice. We’re probably trying to get our kids in shape because we know they’re going to have to play a lot of snaps against bigger teams. Will do more conditioning work to maintain.
“We can talk about having more time to get healthy and ready, but we’re healthy and ready to play.”
Certainly, there is a lot of uncertainty to deal with. The Dons’ focus now is just to be ready and hope they hit a shot that surprises everyone, no matter which team they play.
“Our attitude is to control what we can control and let it happen.” McCune said. “The question now is whether or not we can make a decision. I think we’ve had enough of the finger-pointing between the state and some of the schools…that’s the way it is. For a team like ours, we’re not in Single-A. We’re where we need to be. We know we’re definitely in the playoffs, so we’re going to let everyone else fight and try to stay focused until the decision is made.
“It’s frustrating to see that on social media all over the state. People want the playoffs, that’s very important. This should be a fun time of year for football and the Go world, but West Virginia So it’s a shame we won’t have another week of football.”
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