Daily News-Record

MOOREFIELD, W.Va. - Christmas decorations take a backseat in Moorefield.

In neighboring Baker and Needmore, it's the holiday season. But in the land of the Yellow Jackets, it's still high school football season.

"We always have to reach that state championship or it's a failure around here," junior Reed Williams said after practice this week.

As the Jackets prepare for their eighth straight trip to the title game in Wheeling, where they will face Williamstown for the Class A crown Saturday, Williams insisted he's not bothered by the pressure.

"We love it," he said. "It's fun. We wouldn't like it any other way."

Up and down Main Street and Winchester Avenue, homes and businesses are adorned with huge, cloth banners. "Welcome to title town" reads one. "Meet the beast of the East" says another.

They're not far off. Moorefield has won five of the past seven state titles, and no school has made more consecutive trips to the championship game.

The signs simply affirm the obvious.

"It shows the team that the community cares," coach Alan Fiddler said. "It's important to the people, and that makes it a little more important to the kids."

If the Yellow Jackets and their coaches wanted an escape from the pressure, they wouldn't find it in Moorefield. Even the local McDonalds has forgone advertising cheeseburgers on it's a big, yellow sign.

"Go Yellow Jackets," it reads.

"The whole town gets behind them," said Donald L. Smith, a 1947 graduate of Moorefield. "We need something to lift us up."

Smith braved 30-degree weather Tuesday afternoon to watch the team practice, as he's done for years. Atop his head of gray hair sat a navy-blue hat with little Yellow Jacket logos. Emblazoned on the hat were the years '96, '97 and '98, and the words "West Virginia State Champions."

Smith has had four grandsons play for Fiddler, including Williams, the team's tight end and linebacker, a player so fierce Fiddler said he has to "hold him back in practice."

Of course, when Smith played for the Jackets, the 37-year-old Fiddler hadn't been born yet. There were no banners, no talk of "Title Town."

The Yellow Jackets had never won a state championship in football when Fiddler arrived in 1994. The school's only title - of any kind - was the 1949 state basketball championship.

In 1995, Moorefield made its first football playoff appearance. Then in 1996, Fiddler brought home the first of four straight state titles.

"It's amazing what he's done," Smith said.

After taking a year off to be a graduate assistant at Marshall University, Fiddler returned to lead the Yellow Jackets to the 2001 title.

Players like Will Fisher and Brent Metheny became celebrities in a town previously best known for its poultry industry and a devastating flood.

In the early years of success, Fiddler said the whole town "went crazy" all season long. These days, though, expectations are so high, only blowout victories and state titles seem to satisfy the town's now-insatiable appetite for glory.

"Sometimes when we win, it's like we lost, if we don't win by enough points," Fiddler said, sitting in the fieldhouse built by boosters in 2000, a fieldhouse that carries his name. "Sometimes, the regular season gets a little routine. It gets harder to be us sometimes. You set the bar so high and you want to stay up there. You don't want to go back."

Last year, Moorefield lost in overtime to Wheeling Central in the title game. In the 2002 semifinals, the Jackets dispatched of Saturday's opponent, Williamstown, 41-7.

Fiddler said both teams return most of their players and are "basically the same two teams," although he noted that Williamstown's quarterback runs a little more this season.

The Yellow Jackets have the lethally effective Tyler Sherman at quarterback. Sherman, a senior, completed over 60 percent of his passes while throwing for 1,837 yards and 21 touchdowns. He threw just nine interceptions.

Both senior fullback Andy Viola - a Division I-AA prospect - and Jared Dearing rushed for more than 1,000 yards and each had 15 touchdowns for the Jackets.

Fiddler said it's not uncommon to hear players and fans debating which Moorefield team in recent years has been the best, "but as long as you won a ring, who cares?" he said.

Where does this year's group rank?

"This team's very talented," Fiddler said. "It's probably the most athletic team we've had. Our defense is probably the best we've had."

For the people of Moorefield, that means the Yellows Jackets should bring home another title Saturday. But after some thought, Fiddler said he'd consider the season a success even if the team loses in Wheeling.

"If we go to the championship game and play well, it's not a failure," Fiddler said.

Still, the people of Moorefield are hoping to celebrate another title before putting up their Christmas decorations.
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Record Number: 109E395C0919B179