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All right. Things may have just gotten tougher for Coach Nick Cabell and the Scott Skyhawk boys basketball team. Losing to Tolsia Saturday night sent Scott off to Poca tonight (Wednesday, March 6) for their one and only shot at making the state tournament field next week.

Scott, the Jekyll and Hyde of high school basketball throughout the season, captured their on-again, off-again capacity in one single game against Tolsia for the Region IV, Section 2 championship. Generally this year, the Hawks have played like gangbusters in one game and horribly in others.

This time they looked bad in the early going before fighting back to tie the game at 12-12. Tolsia took a three-point lead into the halftime break, 15-12. The Rebels came out firing on all cylinders in the third period and moved out to a 12-point margin after three. Scott came alive again in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead from 16 points six with a little more than three-and-a-half minutes left.

Scott then went silent and Tolsia came away with their 60-43 victory. Talk about up and down; the Skyhawks sure know how to soar and dip.

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Now what are the chances of Scott heading to the venerable Charleston Civic Center you ask. Well, you came to the right (and most knowledgeable) person with your question. After all, I am extremely intelligent; very good looking; and the best-versed sportswriter in the state. Of course, friends and readers usually notice my deep humility first.

Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, what are the Skyhawk chances of making the state Class AA tournament field? I would say still very good.

Scott has proven they can play with anyone on any given night. And with as much parity as there is this year in the region, several teams could have logically made it to Charleston. If Chapmanville Regional had gotten past Tolsia, I think they might have made their first trip to the big dance, for example.

Scott lost at Poca by just one point in early January and defeated the Dots, 39-35, on senior night at the Hawks Nest in the finale of the regular season.

Thus and so, we know the Hawks CAN defeat Poca. The only question is: will they?

I think so.

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So we’ll all meet in Charleston next week. Right?

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It was good to see Logan Head Coach Mark Hatcher during the semi-final round of the Double A tourney at the Logan Fieldhouse. Hatcher, who should take a back seat to nobody in the coaching profession, was looking chipper as he watched his dad coach CRHS and his long-time assistant Brad Napier coach Mingo Central.

Unfortunately, Hatcher was not pleased with the outcome of either game as dad Allan experienced CRHS’s long-standing futility by losing to Tolsia while Napier’s team fell to Scott.

Hatcher, who is seldom happy with refereeing in his own games, was clearly unhappy with the officiating in his dad’s contest. Several CRHS fans felt the officials injected themselves a bit too much into that game.

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Speaking of Napier, which is pronounced NAP-er on Harts Creek and Na-pe-er everywhere else, some asked me how he managed to land the Central coaching job. Most of those fans remembered that Lincoln Countian Duane Estep had coached the Miners in their first year if existence last year and many said they thought “the fellow from Michigan took the job.”

These folks were not referring to John Beilein giving up the University of Michigan coaching job to come to Matewan but to the former Mingo Countian who did take the job when Estep left.

After Estep whined back to middle school ball in Lincoln, where he is said to occupy most of his time cutting out paper dolls, the newly-hired coach gave up the post just before the season began.

Enter Napier, who had previously been a candidate for head coaching positions. As Mark Hatcher’s assistant, it is certain that Napier was around a coach who knows his stuff. It is yet to be determined whether enough of that rolled off on Napier to make him a success,

Anyway, the job opened up at the last moment and Napier was the choice.

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I joked with several folks at the sectional that CRHS should adopt MY plan to finally get a Chapmanville team to the state boys basketball tournament. Without hesitation, people would say, “Oh … what’s your plan?”

I would immediately respond, “Hire Harry K —-. Wait a minute that might not work either.”

I fully accept the fact that I spearheaded a campaign to make the legendary Harts Coach Harry Kirk the coach at Chapmanville. In fact, Kirk coached the Tigers for three seasons and did turn their fortunes around. CRHS went from being the doormat of the region to a championship contender. Still, even the Kirk magic could not take Chapmanville and its fans to Charleston.

Had Kirk hung around and not chosen to retire for the second time in his illustrious career, I still believe he would have led the Tigers to the state showdown. But all I or anybody can do now is speculate about what might have been.

Kirk regularly attends Tiger games and surely has to miss the excitement of the sideline. I said many times it was where he was born to be and, actually, where he should always be. While I know Allan Hatcher is an excellent coach and have no criticism for him, I sure think I am joined by most CRHS fans in missing Kirk.

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Another coaching legend, former Logan High Coach Willie Akers is said to be continuing his recovery at a Charleston hospital. Akers fell during a game at the Charleston Civic Center.

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One has to feel sympathy for geographically-challenged West Virginians who apparently had no idea how far it is to Iowa and Kansas. In typical West Virginia University fashion, school officials and casual fans are bemoaning the fact that the Mountaineers are being treated unfairly by their new athletic conference, the Big 12.

The basis of the “mistreatment” is that the poor, pitiful ‘Eers are finding that they are spending about half their time traveling to play league opponents. Who knew, for example, that it is 1,000 miles to the closest other Big 12 campus? Why did league officials keep that secret from the folks in Morgantown? How could anyone expect a party school like WVU to know something about geography?

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I don’t think the jury is any longer out when it comes to Marshall Head Basketball Coach Tom Herrion. Put simply, he is in over his head as a coach in Conference USA.

I originally held out great hope for Herrion, believing he might be the first “real” coach the Herd has had since the late Rick Huckabay. But I was wrong. Herrion’s team beat lowly Rice by one point in Huntington and someone honestly thinks he can coach? I don’t believe so.

There needs to be a changing of the guard at Henderson Center.

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Speaking of which, talent doesn’t appear to make a lot of difference for the Herd. If there is a much better player anywhere in the country than DeAndre Kane, you couldn’t prove it by me. Still, Marshall stuggles and Kane is clearly not the only talent on the team.

I’m told Logan’s former star by way of Harts Creek, Paul Herbert “Bub” Williamson, is now a student at Marshall and plans to “walk-on” to the Herd next season. Knowledgeable fans will recall that Williamson got considerable playing time at WVU a season ago before transferring out of Bob Huggins’ decrepit program.

Williamson has thus proven he can play well at the Division I level and would surely be a welcome addition in Huntington.

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See you at the Civic Center popcorn stand.