Team of the Week | Huntington Highlanders

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - After falling to Class AAA juggernaut Martinsburg in the state championship game in 2021, the Huntington Highlanders have been on a mission to get back to Wheeling.

“It’s always the expectation as long as I’m here,” Head Coach Billy Seals said. “We want to get to Wheeling every year.”

Their season started with a one-point loss at Spring Valley.

“It really didn’t feel good to come up short at all, and we did something about it, and we’re still continuing to,” offensive tackle Robby Martin said.

“It showed us we were beatable, kind of put our heads straight, made us get down, get to work,” quarterback Gavin Lochow said. “I think it helped us in the long run.”

Since then, they’ve reeled off seven consecutive wins. Friday night, they thrashed rival Cabell Midland 41-21.

“I was proud of our kids,” Coach Seals said. “I felt like our kids played really, really well. It was obviously a trying two weeks for us with the flu and injuries and things like that.”

“It felt great,” Martin said. “We really proved who the better team was. We’ve always been better than them, and we’re going to continue to prove it.”

“It’s always good to beat them,” Lochow said.

Along with maintaining possession of the Shield, the win propelled Huntington to the No. 1 ranking and the WSAZ Team of the Week award.

“It feels great,” Lochow said. “I’m proud of my guys, all the stuff we overcame. We’re just gonna keep working.”

“It feels great, but we’ve got more work to do,” Martin said.

The Highlanders take on St. Albans next. Then they close out the regular season against Hurricane in a matchup where the winner will almost certainly secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

So far WSAZ has given out eight Team of the Week trophies, and each one has ended up in a different county.

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