What's really at stake in the MSAC this season
This is not an MSAC preview made up of nothing but dates and games. This is a preview of what really happens this year, game by game, and where you should be this fall.
Short version: this is the last year things work normally for the Mountain State Athletic Conference for quite a while. Enjoy it or don't, but take notice.
The conference is changing; everybody knows it
Parkersburg South will return to MSAC football this fall. Four new teams – Nitro, Winfield, Herbert Hoover and Ripley – will be coming to the conference in 2027-28, when it will split into two divisions.
Which means every single game this season also has a deeper meaning than it looks at first glance. The programs that have defined themselves against the same opponent for the past several years will be redefining themselves against someone else. The coaches know it. The seniors know it. No one is saying anything about it just yet, though.
This is the story we will be following all season, and that's why the schedule matters so much right now. These games are the last few times some of them happen in their current form.
Opening night belongs to South Charleston
Thursday, August 27. South Charleston takes on Nitro the night before anyone else in the conference plays a down.
Nitro is the Class AAA runner-up from 2025 and will be joining the MSAC in 2027-28, leaving the Cardinal Conference.
If you can go to just one game opening weekend, this is the one you go to.
The Princeton problem
Princeton was the Class AAA state champion in 2025. They appear on four MSAC schedules this season.
Capital starts its season at Princeton on August 28. George Washington hosts Princeton on October 9. Hurricane travels to Princeton on October 30. South Charleston finishes their regular season at Princeton on November 6.
Four programs, four times in the season, one state champ. By the time November rolls around, the conference will have enough of a sample size of its games against the best team in its class.
Parkersburg South returns home
South returns to the conference and hosts Parkersburg on September 18. A crosstown rivalry is always a crosstown rivalry, but a crosstown rivalry that happens in the first year after a long break is another thing.
South's non-conference schedule is no easy ride either. The reigning Class AAAA state champion Morgantown comes to visit on October 16. And the University team that ended Huntington's season in the 2025 AAAA semifinals shows up on September 4.
Whatever South is in 2026, we'll find out soon enough.
Huntington has unfinished business
Huntington was 9-3 in 2025, reaching the Class AAAA state quarterfinals before getting defeated by University, 35-28. It's the type of season that either makes a good foundation or will be remembered for years to come.
George Washington also finished 9-3, having won a first-round home game and then losing to Jefferson in the quarterfinals, 28-21.
Two teams, the same record, the same feeling of having lost in the quarterfinals.
They play each other October 16 in Huntington.
Three schools with a new head coach
Capital, Riverside, and St. Albans each are led by a first year head coach. Turan Rush at Capital. Michael Terrell at Riverside. Dan Brown at St. Albans. Both Rush and Terrell have familiarity with each respective programs as former players for those schools.
Each coach will be thrown directly into the fire with all three teams beginning the season on the road.
What DUBVSN is doing this fall
We are not going to try and out-scoreboard anyone.
What we are doing instead is what no one else does: the players behind the scores, the coaches who build these teams, and the Friday night life in these towns. Mini-documentaries, player features, sit-down interviews. All the photography from all the sports, not just football – volleyball, soccer, cross country, golf and cheer are on the list too, and galleries will be posted within 24 hours after every event.
If a story can be told through a box score, it's not a DUBVSN story.
Each school below has its own page with schedules, stories and photo galleries. Start with your school.
The twelve
Blue Division — Cabell Midland · George Washington · Huntington · Hurricane · Parkersburg · Parkersburg South
Gold Division — Capital · Riverside · South Charleston · Spring Valley · St. Albans
Woodrow Wilson — all sports
Know a story we should be telling? A player, a coach, a program doing something worth filming? Get in touch — we reply to everything.