Led the senior running back and Kennedy Award candidate Jake Robinson, the Tigers went 7-3 and qualified for the Class AA playoffs for the fourth straight season.
No. 10 seed Chapmanville is set to open the post-season on Friday night against No. 7 seed and designated home team Pikeview (8-2) at Princeton’s Honeycutt Stadium.
Robinson and the high-octane Chapmanville offense lit up the scoreboard this season for 444 total points (44.4 points per game) and made headlines across the state and the nation.
One of the highlights was Chapmanville’s 69-66 Week 4 Cardinal Conference win over Poca on Sept. 17 at Tiger Stadium in which Robinson was named as the ESPN Rise Regional Player of the Week after he rushed for 408 yards on 21 carries and scored seven touchdowns on runs of 11, 50, 77, 2, 49, 30 and 49.
Robinson, a slashing, powerful and explosive back, finished the season with 2,023 yards on 187 carries and 32 touchdowns. His backfield mate Dustin Botsch, another senior running back, had another 930 yards on 116 and 19 touchdowns, while Chapmanville senior quarterback Josh Easterling was 93-for-170 passing for 1,643 yards and eight touchdowns.
But it wasn’t just the Chapmanville offense that helped the Tigers get to the playoffs.
After a shaky start with the low point giving up more than 700 yards of total offense in the shootout win over the Poca Dots, Chapmanville’s defense also played well, led by a host of players.
Junior lineman Joe Woody and senior linebacker Brandon Ferguson led the Tigers with 63 and 57 tackles respectively. Junior lineman John Toler had 49 tackles and junior DB Tyler Cox had 47.
Another highlight for Chapmanville coach George Barker and the Tigers were wins over county rivals Logan (35-20) and Man (55-26). The two victories kept the Logan County Championship traveling trophy in Tiger Town for the fourth straight autumn.
Here’s a look back at the 2010 season by the Tigers:
Game 10 — Point Pleasant 35, Chapmanville 28
POINT PLEASANT – The Chapmanville Regional High School football blew a lead at Point Pleasant in its regular season finale on Nov. 5 and squandered a chance to host a first-round playoff game after falling 35-28 to the Black Knights in the “Land of the Mothman.”
Chapmanville (7-3) lost its second straight game and dropped to the No. 10 seed for the Class AA playoffs. Point Pleasant rose from 10th to eighth and will host No. 9 Roane County in an opening round contest. CRHS travels to Princeton to face No. 7 Pikeview on Friday, Nov. 12 in the Class AA playoffs.
Point Pleasant improved to 7-3 on the season with the win and beat the Tigers for the third straight season.
Chapmanville was hoping to land its first home playoff berth in two years.
Jawaan Williams rushed 19 times for 142 yards and three touchdowns for Point Pleasant.
Chapmanville led 21-7 at the half and took a 28-21 lead into the fourth quarter.
Eric Roberts put Point Pleasant ahead with a 3-yard touchdown run, followed by Williams finding the end zone on a 21-yard run.
Jake Robinson had 21 carries for 97 yards and a TD and finished the season with more than 2,000 yards. QB Josh Easterling was 15-for-24 passing for 178 yards.
Game 9 – Wayne 16, Chapmanville 14
CHAPMANVILLE – The Chapmanville Regional Tigers were looking to snap a six-game losing streak to Wayne and beat the powerhouse Pioneers for the first time in 20 years but WHS was able to preserve the 16-14 win on Oct. 29 at Tiger Stadium by blocking Chapmanville kicker Craig Johnson’s 32-yard field goal attempt with 40 seconds left in the game.
Wayne improved to 8-1 overall and 6-1 in the Cardinal Conference and wrapped up a first-round home playoff game and the league championship. The Tigers dropped to 7-2. The two teams were tied for fifth in the state in the Class AA ratings.
The Tigers trailed Wayne 16-6 after three quarters and appeared to be out of it.
Chapmanville, though, rallied late after a series of big plays and turn of events.
The Tigers pulled to within 16-14 with 2:07 left in the game after quarterback Josh Easterling ran in for a 4-yard touchdown and then passed to Zach Maynard on the two-point conversion. The drive was only kept alive after two fourth-down conversions by Chapmanville. One was a 25-yard pass from Easterling to Dustin Botsch on a fourth-and-15, while the other was a 9-yard pass to Maynard to the Wayne 4 on a fourth-and-three. Easterling then scored on the very next play.
But after the touchdown and conversion, the Tigers still trailed by two points and still needed to come up with another big play — an on-side kick.
Chapmanville was successful.
Johnson’s kick bounced along the dirt and grass, went off a Wayne player’s leg and fell into the arms of Maynard at midfield.
The Tigers then marched down field.
A 16-yard run by Jake Robinson and a 12-yard pass to Maynard gave Chapmanville a first-and-10 at the 15-yard line. But after two incomplete passes and a no-gainer by Robinson, the Tigers were forced into the field goal attempt. Johnson never got a chance to get the ball into the air as two Wayne players crashed through Chapmanville’s line and ended up blocking the pigskin.
Robinson was held to 19 carries for 92 yards by Wayne’s stout defense.
Game 8 — Chapmanville 59, Tolsia 12
CHAPMANVILLE – No. 5-ranked Chapmanville breezed to a 59-12 league win over Tolsia on Oct. 22 at Tiger Stadium.
Jake Robinson rolled up 267 yards on the ground on 14 carries for the night and scored four touchdowns on runs of 59, 42, 3 and 76. He also had a 41-yard catch.
The Tigers (7-1) led only 14-12 early but went ahead 28-12 at the half.
Chapmanville senior quarterback Josh Easterling also had a big game for the Tigers as he completed 8-of-11 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown – a 48-yard pass to running back Dustin Botsch.
Joe Woody and John Toler led the Chapmanville defense with seven tackles apiece.
Game 7 — Chapmanville 55, Man 26
CHAPMANVILLE – The Chapmanville Tigers claimed their fourth straight Logan County championship with a 55-26 homecoming win over rival Man on Oct. 8 at Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers (6-1) overcame a slow start as Jake Robinson rushed 19 times for 231 yards and scored four touchdowns.
Chapmanville led just 28-26 at halftime.
Robinson led Chapmanville on the night with 19 carries for 231 yards and four touchdowns.
Man was led by senior running back Derek Lomax, who ran 35 times for 271 yards and two touchdowns.
On defense, Chapmanville was led by Brandon Ferguson, who had nine solo tackles, two assists, a sack and a blocked PAT.
Game 6 — Chapmanville 32,
James Monroe 17
LINDSIDE – Chapmanville rallied from a halftime deficit to beat No. 2-ranked James Monroe, 32-17, on Oct. 1 at Lindside.
The game was a rematch of the 2008 Class AA first-round playoff gmae at Chapmanville which was won by the Mavericks.
Chapmanville (5-1) was led by Jake Robinson who ran 28 times for 297 yards and scored all five of his team’s touchdowns. Dustin Botsch added 83 more yards on the ground as CRHS outgained the Mavs 418-265.
James Monroe led 17-7 at halftime but it was all Tigers from there on out.
Game 5 - Chapmanville 35, Logan 20
LOGAN – The Chapmanville Tigers made a major statement with a 35-20 win on Sept. 24 at Class AAA county rival Logan.
The win was the fourth in a row for the Tigers over the Wildcats as Chapmanville coach George Barker was victorious again over his former team.
Chapmanville (4-1) was led offensively by senior running back Jake Robinson, who rushed for 248 yards and scored two touchdowns on runs of 3 and 66.
Tigers’ senior tailback Dustin Botsch scored three touchdowns on runs of 6, 5 and 1 and played against his former Logan teammates for the first time.
Barker praised his team’s defensive effort.
“I thought that we put together a great scheme,” he said. “We executed most of the night. When they have great athletes like they (Logan) do it’s hard to keep them out of the end zone all of the time but I thought that we did a good job.”
Chapmanville’s defense seemed to be able to pressure Logan quarterback David Brown for most of the night. The Tigers were able to rally from a 21-14 third quarter deficit.
Logan led 14-13 at halftime and were to receive the second half kickoff. Chapmanville, however, surprised the Wildcats with an on-side kick and Tigers’ kicker Craig Johnson was able to execute. Chapmanville’s Joe Woody fell on the ball at the CRHS 49-yard line.
The Tigers then put together a nine-play, 51-yard drive, capped off by Botsch’s 5-yard touchdown run with 7:58 left in the third quarter. Josh Easterling passed to Zach Thompson on the two-point conversion and the Tigers led for good, 21-14.
A late interception by Zach Maynard deep in Chapmanville territory put the final nails in Logan’s coffin.
Game 4 - Chapmanville 69, Poca 66
CHAPMANVILLE – Chapmanville Regional High School basketball coach Harry Kirk didn’t roll out the roundballs early on Sept. 17 at Tiger Stadium in the Tigers’ annual Hall of Fame Game.
It only seemed that way.
There were fireworks galore as the Tigers and the Poca Dots put on an offensive show as Chapmanville outlasted the Dots 69-66 a basketball-like or Arena Football-like score.
The Tigers (3-1) which led 47-41 at the half were paced by Jake Robinson, who rushed for 408 yards on 21 carries and scored seven touchdowns on runs of 11, 50, 77, 2, 49, 30 and 49.
Both teams combined for 1,481 yards of head-spinning total offense.
Chapmanville rushed for an unbelievable 601 yards on 41 carries and had 748 total yards. Quarteback Josh Easterling was 6-of-15 passing for 147 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Poca’s offense was just as impressive. Quarterback Jason Cuffee completed 28-of-45 passes for 453 yards with six touchdowns, two interceptions and one more rushing touchdown.
The Dots had 733 yards of total offense, including 250 yards on the ground.
Both teams nearly combined for 1,000 yards at the half as Poca held a 486-426 edge.
Chapmanville tailback Dustin Botsch rushed 13 times for 161 yards and two TDs on scores of 2 and 54. He also caught three passes for 69 more yards.
Poca’s Tray Davis scored five TDs, catching six passes for 134 yards and running for 78 more yards. Poca’s Tyler Moore had 11 catches for 192 yards and one TD.
Chapmanville coach George Barker, who was honored before the game as part of Chapmanville’s new hall of fame induction class, said he was glad his team found a way to win. Chapmanville entered the game ranked 12th in the state in the Class AA WVSSAC Computer Ratings. The Dots were 11th. Both teams ended up making it to the playoffs.
“What was the final score?” Barker asked after the game. “That was a classic game. That was one of those games that just kept going and going. We only punted once. I don’t know if they did. We just couldn’t do anything right defensively. We couldn’t make the right call. We kept trying and kept reaching in the bad to pull out something. It wasn’t working until the end of the game. We just told the kids at halftime to keep fighting and keep believing and it will happen. We made them fight harder and kept the believing as a team.”
When asked about Robinson’s eye-popping, single-game numbers Barker said, “That’s a career.”
Poca led 28-19 after one quarter.
The Tigers would later lead 53-47 after three quarters of play.
Poca regained the lead at 54-53 with 11:55 left in the game after a 4-yard TD run by Davis and a successful PAT kick.
But it was Robinson, the player of the game, who scored the eventual capper on a 30-yard TD run to put the Tigers up for good.
Game 3 - Chapmanville 62, Scott 20
MADISON – Chapmanville ripped Scott to shreds, 62-20, on Sept. 10 at Madison.
The Tigers (2-1) used its potent one-two backfield punch of Jake Robinson and Dustin Botsch to bury the Skyhawks.
Robinson, playing against his former Scott teammates, scored four touchdowns on runs of 52, 15 and 84 yards and a 38-yard TD catch from senior quarterback Josh Easterling.
Botsch was also electrifying as he scored three touchdowns on runs of 34, 9 and 21 yards.
Easterling also hit senior wide receiver Zach Maynard on a 68-yard touchdown pass, while backup running back Trevor Payne punched in a 5-yard touchdown run late in the game.
Chapmanville kicker Craig Johnson just barely missed on a rare drop kick PAT try late in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers won for the third straight time over the rival Skyhawks.
Scott had beaten Chapmanville in every meeting from 2001-07.
Game 2 - Herbert Hoover 48, Chapmanville 45
CHAPMANVILLE – Herbert Hoover surprised the Chapmanville Regional High School football team for the second straight year and came away with a 48-45 shootout win over CRHS in a Sept. 3 Cardinal Conference game at Tiger Stadium.
Hoover mixed up the run and the pass all night long and scored at will.
The victory by Herbert Hoover wasn’t without controversy.
Down 45-42 with about a minute to go in the game, the Huskies used a good kickoff return and drove down for the eventual game-winning score.
Hoover junior quarterback Carter Coleman supplied the go-ahead touchdown with 26.7 seconds left on a 3-yard keeper. Coleman was hit at the goal line and appeared to be short of the end zone but the side judge ruled he had broke the plain for a touchdown. Hoover’s two-point conversion attempt failed but the men from the Elk River led 48-45.
Coleman fired six touchdowns on the night, including four to Noah Cooper on strikes of 34, 23, 8 and 35.
Several Tigers had big nights on the offensive end as Jake Robinson scored two touchdowns, while Dustin Botsch and Zach Maynard had two each.
It was Robinson which put Chapmanville ahead 45-42 with 1:24 left in the game on a 2-yard touchdown run. The score was set up by a successful on-side kick by the Tigers which was recovered by Maynard.
Chapmanville trailed 28-14 at the half and were down by as many as 16 in the second half.
Game 1 — Chapmanville 45, Sissonville 6
SISSONVILLE – Chapmanville hammered Sissonville, 45-6, on Aug. 27 in the season opener at Sissonville High School.
The Indians, which ended up 0-10 on the season, turned the ball over five times and gave up 531 yards of total offense.
Jake Robinson racked up 182 yards on 17 carries and Dustin Botsch added 148 more yards on seven carries.
Botsch, who scored on an 81-yard TD run, had another 74 yards receiving on two catches – one of which went for a 66-yard TD.
Josh Easterling completed just four passes but made the most of it by throwing for 115 yards and two scores for the game.
Chapmanville’s defense held Sissonville to just 214 total yards.
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