Inspiring tale of two Huskies teams

North Marion High will be in the West Virginia football playoffs for the first time since 2002.

The Huskies, who draw from the former Monongah High boundaries, are seeded #14 and will visit #3 seed Point Pleasant at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

There’s another remarkable tale of Huskies, too, when #12 Clendenin Herbert Hoover plays #5 Fairmont West in East-West Stadium, also at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Hoover High was destroyed by June floods, with water as high as 10 feet in the building, and condemned. The 775 students attend classes in portable modular trailers.

The players bus 15 miles to a soccer complex for practice and commute to a YMCA in Charleston for weightlifting. Their equipment was lost in the flood so Monongah High grad Nick "Brother" Saban, the Alabama football coach, and Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher, who grew up in Clarksburg, donated their used equipment to Hoover High.

Just making the playoffs under such appalling conditions is remarkable. Hoover’s team epitomizes the grit and determination that is the West Virginia spirit.

Hoover’s band uniforms and equipment also were ruined by the flooding. The 35 band members regrouped and played on with uniforms and equipment donated from non-West Virginia schools.

West Virginia native and actress Jennifer Garner raised $500,000 for Hoover High’s new building, which may take a few years to be constructed.

This will be more than just the normal game for both Huskies – North Marion and Clendenin Hoover.