Beckley's magical run through the state tournament ended with another state title for the most storied program in WV history. "Sweet 16" or so they call it, may have been the sweetest title of all for the Flying Eagles. Coming in as a major underdog and the #6 seed, the Eagles did the unthinkable by sweeping the #3, #2, and #1 seeds all in back-to-back-to-back nights to finish off the second state title in the Ron Kidd era.

Beckley, for the second straight evening, turned the tables on the Black Eagles by playing mostly a match-up zone and taking away South Charleston's vaunted speed and athleticism. The Eagles, known mostly for their smothering press laid back and made Bobby Dawson's squad jack the ball up from long distance while on the other end methodically worked the ball around and got high percent shots almost everytime down the court. South Charleston cut the lead to two points late into the fourth quarter, but Beckley would not be denied as they continued their pinpoint accuracy from the field and free throw line to dismantle the #1 seed and overall favorites 67-55.

South Charleston ends their season at 24-2 while once again a state title eludes 23 year veteran Bobby Dawson. South Charleston was led in scoring by junior Aaron Dobson and freshman sensation Pierre Henry who both finished with 13 points a piece. The Black Eagles struggled all night with Beckley's zone and finished shooting a very poor 37% (22-58) and an even worse 15% (3-19) from beyond the arc.

Beckley entered the championship game for a record 24th time and didn't come home disappointed. The Eagles were led in scoring by junior Ryan Powers who finished with a game high 14 points on the night. Senior's Travis Parkulo and Damien Tunstalle ended their careers with brilliant games as both finished with 13 points a piece. Michael Fortune finished off a strong second half of the season by hitting for 12 points also. Isiah Walton once again came off the bench to provide a punch as he finished with 9 points on the night.

Beckley ends their incredible year at 19-7 and with a state record 16th state title. This is their second title in 5 years with the last coming back in 2004. Words really can't describe how proud we are of this bunch of boys and the coaching staff. Everyone, even some Beckley folks, never gave this team a chance after losing two starters and a subpar end to the regular season. Against all odds though, the Eagles prevailed and this team will surely go down in Beckley lore as making one of the greatest postseason runs ever. Congrats go out to the players, coaches, fans, and the great city of Beckley who is once again the "City of Champions"!!!!

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Woodrow stops SC

Beckley school wins 16th title, halts Black Eagles' streak at 22

By Rick Ryan

Assistant Sports Editor

South Charleston's remarkable run is over. Done in by a team on its own just as impressive - albeit shorter - run.

Woodrow Wilson worked its way to leads as high as 16 points Saturday night, then fended off a final push by the top-seeded Black Eagles to earn a 67-55 victory in the Class AAA championship game at the Civic Center. A crowd of 7,247 and a statewide television audience watched the Flying Eagles capture the school's 16th state basketball title.

"I'm proud of these kids,'' said Woodrow coach Ron Kidd. "It's all about them. They came down here focused with the will and the heart to win a state championship, and they did it.''

Sixth-seeded Woodrow halted a 22-game winning streak for South Charleston (24-2), and at the same time completed its own outstanding journey at the state tournament. In succession, the Flying Eagles knocked off the No. 3 (Martinsburg), No. 2 (Capital) and No. 1 seeds in the field.

"That makes it even more gratifying to beat the top teams in the state,'' said Kidd, who also directed the Flying Eagles to the 2004 title. "Our kids were so focused and ready to play. This is probably the most focused team I've had in the state tournament for three games. They had to be focused to win.''

SC, seeking its first state title since 1959, is now 0-5 in the finals since then, including a loss to Huntington last year.

Ryan Powers led a balanced attack for Woodrow Wilson (19-7) by scoring 14 points. Damien Tunstalle and Travis Parkulo each tallied 13 and Michael Fortune 12. Tunstalle also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and Fortune handed out seven assists.

Aaron Dobson and Perry Henry scored 13 points each for SC, which fell behind 30-21 at halftime and saw its deficit rise as high as 16 points midway into the third quarter.

Woodrow was able to avoid the mistakes that doomed SC's other tournament opponents. Morgantown committed 27 turnovers against the Black Eagles in the semifinals and Huntington had 25 in the quarterfinals. The Flying Eagles had just three turnovers by halftime and ended with 13.

"They did a good job and shot the ball well,'' said SC coach Bob Dawson, "and that helps. We didn't quite do so much pressure maybe as we could have in the long run, and them handling the basketball helped keep us at bay a little bit.''

Without forcing a bushel of turnovers to stoke its fast break, SC wound up with just six transition points against the Flying Eagles. One night earlier, the Black Eagles had a 24-0 edge in fast-break points versus Morgantown.

"Against a team like South Charleston, you really don't want to turn the ball over,'' Kidd said. "It makes them get their break going, and they're a hard team to stop in transition. We controlled the tempo and cut down on our turnovers.''

SC made a game of it with an 11-2 run that began in the closing seconds of the third quarter on a fadeaway by reserve Cody Scott. Five different players donated baskets during the blitz, two directly resulting from steals and another on a blocked shot by Scott.

When Matt Heyliger scored on a reverse layup with 3:16 left, SC was within 52-50. But that's as close as it got. Woodrow's Fortune hit a stop-and-pop jumper in the foul lane a few seconds later for a four-point lead.

SC's next four possessions went this way - an errant pass out of bounds, three missed shots on one trip downfloor, an errant 3-pointer and a charging call.

Woodrow, meanwhile, started putting distance between the teams again at the foul line. The Flying Eagles went into the double-bonus with 12 seconds left in the third quarter, and made 13-of-18 free throws afterward. SC was never within seven points in the final 1:25.

"The third quarter, we turned it up a little bit and did what we were supposed to do on defense,'' Dawson said. "Early in the fourth quarter, we had a good run and I thought we'd pull it out at that point in time. But we had a couple bad breaks, a couple calls didn't go our way and we don't get a chance to make that situation happen.

"We dug ourselves a hole in the second quarter. We came out and shot a little too early and too quick. If that didn't happen and it was around a four-point game at halftime, we wouldn't have been in the hole so deep, and we'd have felt pretty good. But that's the way it went.''

Woodrow, which hit 50 percent from the floor and 20-of-25 free throws, was able to withstand SC's pressure despite limited substitutions. Four starters averaged 891/2 of a possible 96 minutes playing on back-to-back-to-back nights.

"We're the best-conditioned team in the state, I can say that,'' Parkulo said. "It just shows out there.''

SC, meanwhile, shot just 30.8 percent in the first half and 37.9 overall. Henry, the freshman sensation who lit up Huntington for 22 points Wednesday, was 2-of-8 at halftime. He suffered a scratched eyeball in Friday's game, but said it didn't bother him Saturday.

Woodrow was victim No. 3 during SC's 22-game win streak as the Black Eagles earned a 79-76 road win on Jan. 7. In that game, Dobson poured in 29 points.

"This game, we kind of made a lot of silly mistakes,'' Dobson said, "and they capitalized on our silly mistakes we made. That was the big difference from the last game.''

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Hoppy's Commentary For Monday

Competition, by its nature, should be unpredictable. And, after four years, unpredictability has returned to the West Virginia boys high school basketball triple A championship.

Huntington won the three previous titles with margins of victory of 11, 12 and 42 points in those games. The SSAC’s annual tournament opened those years with an understanding that Huntington, with its lopsided talent advantage, would win; it was just a question of by how much.

But this year, with the talent much more evenly distributed, the teams given the edge by the Metronews Power Index still had to prove themselves on the court. And this year the Flying Eagles of Beckley Woodrow Wilson showed that the paper calculations don’t matter as much as what is in your heart.

Beckley, with its seven losses, came to Charleston as a number six seed, then defeated, in order, the number three seed, the number two seed and finally the top seed.

First Beckley shocked Martinsburg in the quarterfinals as Michael Fortune calmly hit two free throws in the final seconds to give the Flying Eagles a one-point victory. Friday night, Fortune again shined with 19 points to lead Beckley to a 59-50 upset of Capital.

That set up the championship game Saturday against South Charleston. The Black Eagles had lost just one game all season, way back in December to Capital. They had sliced through the competition at the tournament, including a cathartic quarterfinal victory over Huntington—the team that defeated South Charleston in last year’s championship game.

The stage seemed set for more of the inevitable. South Charleston, with its number one ranking and top tournament seed, was ready to complete its victory tour.

But there is this thing called “Beckley Basketball.” The Flying Eagle teams, their coaches and their fans speak of it in reverent tones. Outsiders must have it explained to them, or see for themselves what it means.

The dictionary definition would be “a sense of pride that produces victory; a refusal to lose.” The Beckley coaches and players don’t just repeat the words; they practice them on the court.

In their three state tournament games last week Beckley’s defense was a mob of flailing arms, legs and bodies. Opposing teams found each offensive set challenged as though it was the last possession of a one-point game.

That Beckley defense forced South Charleston’s gifted athletes, who had lived by the “steal and score” method in the first two tournament games, into uncomfortable outside shots.

The final result was a 67-55 Beckley victory and their 16th state title.

You could too easily link Beckley’s style of play to the personal battles of their coach Ron Kidd. Kidd missed half the season because of cancer treatments and has still not returned to his teaching duties.

And perhaps the players were inspired by their coach’s courage.

But Beckley always seems to play hard, no matter what the circumstance. They play every possession and battle every rebound with the same high level of intensity. As a result, they win games even when they are not the most talented.

Last year’s Huntington team is one that will always be talked about. With Patrick Patterson and O.J. Mayo on the same team, the Highlanders were the most gifted, dominant team in West Virginia high school basketball history.

In the future when fans and sports wags run through the title teams they will stop at the 2007 Huntington Highlanders and tell stories. Then they’ll skip right over the champs the following year, forgetting the accomplishment of the tournament’s sixth seed.

It was just another Beckley team playing “Beckley Basketball.”

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Kidd Gets It When It Counts!!

Beckley head coach Ron Kidd has been at the helm of the Beckley program for eight seasons now and already had one state title to his resume. The one thorn in his side had always been South Charleston and Bobby Dawson whom Kidd had never beaten entering the state tournament. Fast foward to Saturday night's title game and Kidd finally got his win against South Charleston and more importantly it came when it mattered the most. The Beckley court general now owns two state titles in eight seasons and has certainly cemented himself among the great's that coached before him at Woodrow.

Number sixteen probably couldn't have come at a better time either. When many people thought Beckley was on its way down and had absolutely no shot at title this season, Kidd, his staff, and his players sent out a firm message that the Eagles were still kings and would not be going anywhere anytime soon.

In a season that began with the coach being stricken with cancer and having to miss the entire preseason and the majority of the regular season, this was the perfect present to go along with what is hopefully a 100% cancer-free body for Kidd. Not even that or the loss of two big starters midway through the season, could stop the 2008 version of the Flying Eagles. Coach Ron Kidd will go down in history as the one who lead his underdog and #6 seed Eagles through the murderer's row of high school basketball by knocking off the #3 seed, #2 seed, and #1 seed all on consecutive nights. Congrats to coach on the win over SC and more importantly on a 16th state title.

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Parade Honors State Champs!!

The newly crowned 2008 state champion Flying Eagles were given a city-wide congrats Friday afternoon as they road down the streets of uptown Beckley in the parade that was given in their honor. Numerous fans turned out to show their appreciation for the staff and players on this great accomplishment.

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Commissioners Honor WWHS Boys State Champs!!

The Raleigh County Commission began its Tuesday meeting by recognizing the Woodrow Wilson High School boys basketball team, which captured the Class AAA state title recently in Charleston.

Commission president Pat Reed declared March 17-21 as Woodrow Wilson Boys High School Basketball Champions Week.

“The county is so pleased and proud to have the Woodrow Wilson basketball team to be our state champions,” Reed said.