HOT SPRINGS – The Bath County Chargers varsity football program is off to a great start with back to back wins over Mountain View and Page County to open up the 2023 high school football season.
On Friday, the team has the opportunity to do something that has not been done in exactly 20 years and that’s win their first three games.
You have to go back to when Chargers head coach Jake Phillips was the starting quarterback when the football program last started 3-0.
That season in 2003, Bath County won their first 13 games before losing to Sussex Central 20-0 in the state championship.
This Chargers football team looks to be the first in two decades to reach that feat.
In their way of accomplishing such goal is a trip across the state to Nichols County, W.Va to take on the Richwood Lumberjacks. This will be the first ever meeting between the Chargers and Lumberjacks.
The two programs are going in opposite directions. Bath County has started off hot with their first two wins, while Richwood has dropped their first two games.
The Lumberjacks dropped their season opener to Webster County 40-0 and then lost 16-8 to Meadow Bridge just this past Friday.
Bath County has averaged 53 points a game through the first two weeks, while Richwood is averaging just four points a game.
So could this be a trap game for the Chargers? Most likely not. But anything can happen on the football field.
The biggest takeaway, is how will Bath County respond should they go up big early on against Richwood.
Last week against Page County, the Chargers built a 38-8 halftime lead. The Panthers would go on to score 30 points in the fourth quarter and even cut their deficit to seven points. Ultimately, it was a lot too late for the Panthers who lost 52-38.
And of course, Richwood’s defense who has given up 28 points per game, is going to have a tough time trying to slow down Bath County’s junior standout, Wyatt Campbell.
Campbell is off to a great start to his second season as the Chargers starting quarterback. While Campbell’s arm has done some great things with completing 71% of his passes (10-for-14) and piling in 226 passing yards, it’s been his leg work that has been a defensive nightmare, which has in large part led to 12 total touchdowns.
In the first two games, Campbell has racked up over 400 yards on the ground. His razzle and dazzle agility is tough to contain for any team. Here’s the other kicker, Campbell is just getting better each week. So for Richwood to contain the Bath County offense, they will need to do what Mountain View and Page County couldn’t do and limit Campbell’s ability to move around the football field.
Nonetheless, Bath County has an opportunity on Friday at reaching an accomplishment 20-years in the making and further stamping themselves as a program that continues on the uprising.
