High school football begins
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ELKINS – The wait is finally over and the start of the 2026 high school football season officially gets underway for area teams tonight with a handful of games slated for 7 p.m. kickoffs.
Two local squads, Elkins and Philip Barbour, are both coming off strong campaigns from a year ago. Both teams enter the season with high expectations with talented players returning to both teams’ rosters.
Elkins will entertain Lincoln for a Big 10 Conference contest at Tiger Stadium. Elkins defeated the Cougars 54-21 in both teams’ season opening contest in Shinnston last season.
“It’s exciting to finally be able to open the season at home,” said Elkins coach Chad Ware. “It’s been years since we’ve had an opener in Elkins and the boys are excited and I think the community is as well.”
The Tigers will return 19 starters from last season’s 7-4 squad that made the Class AAA playoffs. Lincoln finished with a 4-7 overall mark a year ago.
“Lincoln has a large senior class, so that tells me they are going to play hard and come at us with all they have,” said Ware. “So we will have to be ready to meet that energy early and often…The guys have worked very hard for this, they have sacrificed personal time for team achievement, and it all starts on the field against Lincoln.”
Philip Barbour, meanwhile, is coming off a historic campaign where the Colts set a school record with 10 wins a year ago. During last year’s run, PBHS also advanced to the Class AA semifinals for the first time in school history.
A steady crop of talent returns for the Colts, who will host Big 10 foe Grafton at George Byrer Field. The Bearcats are coming off a 1-9 season in 2025 where it dropped a 23-0 decision at the hands of the Colts.
In Class A, Tygarts Valley, Tucker County, and Pocahontas County will all be in action. The Bulldogs, coming off a 3-7 season, will travel to Pine Grove to battle the Lumberjacks, who finished 1-9 a year ago.
Tygarts Valley, which returns a solid crop of starters on the offensive side of the ball this season, defeated Valley 54-13 last season. This year marks the second full season for new Bulldog coach Jay Bennett.
The Mountain Lions and Warriors will go toe-to-toe in an early-season rivalry contest at R.H. Armstrong Memorial Field in Parsons. Tucker County is coming off a 7-5 season where it made a fourth-consecutive playoff appearance.
Pocahontas County finished 3-7 in 2025 and dropped a 40-7 decision to the Mountain Lions in Dunmore a year ago.
Buckhannon-Upshur will have perhaps the toughest test of any of the area teams this week when it travels to Bridgeport to face the Indians at Wayne Jamison Field.
The Buccaneers were 2-9 in 2025 and will return 14 seniors from last year’s squad, which was defeated by the Indians 62-14 in Tennerton. Bridgeport posted an 11-1 overall mark a year ago.