Paden City, Hundred Set for Homecoming

Wetzel County Schools has reversed course and agreed to let the Hundred Hornets play the Paden City Wildcats in football for Paden City High School’s homecoming this year.

The game is on for Oct. 11 as originally scheduled before county officials tried to prevent it because the field is within a Superfund site.

“We usually play Hundred for homecoming,” athletic director Stacey Yoho said a day after a meet-the-team night at the PCHS field. “... Everybody is really excited.”

Earlier this month, secondary education director and county administrator Paul Huston tested the limits of a court ruling against Wetzel County Schools by forbidding any county schools from playing football at PCHS. Hundred was the only county team on the Wildcats’ schedule.

“We are currently in a legal battle concerning student safety, and the field is sitting on top of ground zero for pollutants,” Huston wrote to the county’s high school principals on Aug. 14. “We in good conscience cannot turn a blind eye and allow our students to risk chemical exposure from vapors coming up through the field.”

Huston’s decision led to a contempt-of-court charge against the school system because the judge who ruled against Wetzel County Schools Superintendent Cassandra Porter on July 31 said she could not continue her crusade against PCHS.

Huston changed his mind about his dictate after lawyers for the PCHS community filed the contempt allegation. He reportedly told the principals for both Paden City and Hundred to disregard his previous message.

Huston did not respond to phone and email messages requesting comment, but Yoho heard from Hundred’s athletic director that the homecoming game is back on the schedule. The principals of the two schools could not be reached Friday afternoon.

The Wildcats open their season tomorrow night at Foxfire High School in Zanesville, Ohio. As of now, they only have nine games planned because they were not able to rework the schedule to arrange a home game against Bland High School of Virginia.

“We would like to fill that 10^th slot,” Yoho said, but added that “we are over-the-moon happy with a nine-game schedule. The 10^th game would be the icing on the cake” for a season that imploded when Porter abruptly closed Paden City High School.

The Wildcats were struggling to get just a few games on short notice this year until Hannan High School in Ashton, West Virginia, was unable to field a football team. PCHS picked up multiple schools that had been on Hannan’s schedule.

Paden City has an unexpected ally in its search to add a 10^th football game — the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission. The WVSSAC was once a defendant in the lawsuit over the closure of PCHS, but they resolved their part in the case before Judge Richard Wilson ruled against Porter.

Now the commission is trying to help PCHS fill its football schedule. Executive Director David Price sent a letter to other West Virginia schools on Paden City’s behalf.

“It is unusual that we do this type of communication, but we feel that Paden City putting a football schedule together so quickly deserves this assistance,” Price wrote. “Paden City is in need of a football game on Sept. 28 or Nov. 8. If any school is interested or knows a small, out-of-state school with interest, please contact Paden City Athletic Director Stacey Yoho.”

Yoho appreciated the outreach. “It was a very nice email,” she said. “… It showed their concern for what all has taken place.”