PARKERSBURG — Collin Hayes has seen both sides of the coin.
The week of rivalry concluded with a football game between Parkersburg South and Parkersburg at Erickson All Sports Facility on Friday, putting a past two years of playing at Hamilton Middle School, a feeder school for Parkersburg High School.
Hayes played with some future South players as a kid and is fully donning Patriots blue, and against the Big Reds he’ll play in a familiar position as quarterback, where he’s flourished in recent weeks.
“I look forward to the PHS game every year because I want to beat the Big Reds and I want everyone to see us.” “It’s a big part of what I’ve done,” said Hayes, who ran for 110 yards and three touchdowns and threw for another 176 yards and one touchdown in last week’s win over Woodrow Wilson.
“When it comes to controlling your emotions, I had my head shoved into the ground last week. I’m not going to be intimidated by anyone.” Hayes said. “You can’t badmouth anything. You just have to get back to the team and prepare for the next play, and that’s the best way to go, especially in this game.”
South coach Nate Tanner can’t stress enough to his players that the most successful teams are those that control their emotions and play clean football, and players like wide receiver Taj Joyce and lineman Eli Wheeler are following that advice.
“It’s pretty hard to keep emotions in check. It’s a normal game for me.” “Last year there were a lot of mixed emotions. It’s my second year so I think I’m a little more in control,” Joyce said.
“It’s all about who wants it more, who’s playing harder and who’s keeping their emotions in check.”
Joyce and fellow wide receivers Devon Forshay and Brandon Kelly provided Hayes with plenty of weapons in the passing game, with Joyce leading the team with 13 receptions for 253 yards, including three touchdowns on each of his catches.
“This season has gone better than I expected. I never expected I’d score three touchdowns already.” Joyce said. “At practice, we have coaches who tell us to work on go ball. Collin just throws the ball and the receivers make good connections with it.”
Wheeler is in his second season as a center. The senior also rotates at defensive end. Patriots players will admit that their Week 1 loss to Wheeling Park was an exception. Back-to-back wins over University and Woodrow Wilson are testament to their talent.
“The first week wasn’t a great start.” “But we’ve definitely come together as a team over the last few weeks and that’s been evident in the last two games,” Wheeler said.
“This week against Parkersburg, it’s just a game. That’s the way we’ve been practicing this week. We’re trying not to get too emotional. It’s just that there’s a bigger crowd and there’s a lot at stake. We’re staying calm and collected.”
Hayes’ first time playing against the opposing team was last season as a sophomore, when he rotated at linebacker with Gage Wright and Turner Garretson. This year will be his first time playing as quarterback against the Big Reds.
“I think playing for Eriksson definitely makes a difference.” Hayes said. “Firstly, it’s a grass court. There will be 10,000 people here and the matches will be on TV. It’s nice to be on TV. It’s fantastic.”
Contact Kelly Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com.