Charleston Gazette

November 06, 2007

Stopping versatile Griffin a key for Nitro

By Rick Ryan, Assistant Sports Editor

Nitro knows it’s going to see a lot of Jordan Griffin on Friday. The Wildcats just don’t know how they’re going to see him.

Griffin, a 6-foot, 165-pound senior receiver, looms as one of Nitro’s biggest challenges when it tackles Robert C. Byrd in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs in Clarksburg. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

The fourth-seeded Eagles (10-0), the state’s only unbeaten AAA team, use Griffin in a variety of ways to attack defenses — catching the ball, running it, returning it and sometimes even throwing it.

“He’s a very good athlete that they do a lot with,’’ said Nitro coach Scott Tinsley. “Sometimes they even put him back at quarterback and do a lot of WVU stuff with him at quarterback. Or they’ll send him in motion and hand it off to him underneath.

“They use him in a lot of different ways — every way that you can use a kid.’’

Griffin has caught 45 passes for 816 yards, an average of 18.1 yards per reception, with nine touchdowns. He carried the ball 23 times for 210 yards — 9.1 yards a crack — with four more TDs. Griffin’s also dangerous on kick returns, having brought back five for scores — kickoff runbacks of 95 and 90 yards and punt returns of 48, 42 and 42 yards.

Against Parkersburg South, he even threw a 5-yard touchdown pass.

He’s one of the biggest reasons the Eagles have won 19 of 20 regular-season games the past two years and have earned high seeds both times. RCB was the No. 5 seed last year, falling to Morgantown in the quarterfinals.

Unlike many schools, who when faced with a two-hour-plus trip like the Wildcats have this week to get to Clarksburg, No. 13 Nitro (6-4) elected to play the game Friday night instead of Saturday afternoon.

In fact, 13 of the 24 first-round matchups in the three classes will be staged Saturday.

“We pretty much made the same trip to Princeton last week,’’ Tinsley said, “and the kids seemed to respond pretty well to that trip. We’re going to use basically the same schedule — feed them before we go, that kind of thing. The kids seemed to like it, so we’re going to go with it.’’

Tinsley said his team is fairly healthy for its first-round game with the possible exception of senior Mark Massey, a running back-linebacker.

Massey, who leads the team in rushing with 745 yards and nine TDs, came out of Friday’s game at Princeton with a sore neck or upper back, according to Tinsley.

“He jammed it and he’s really sore,’’ Tinsley said. “He couldn’t get off the couch all day [Saturday]. I would be surprised if he doesn’t play — he’s a really tough kid. But how much practice time he’ll get or what day he’ll be able to go, I’m not sure.

“He plays a lot of different positions for us, and on defense as well as every special team.’’

To contact assistant sports editor Rick Ryan, use e-mail or call 348-5175.