2023 Football Frenzy First Look: Ritchie County Rebels

ELLENBORO, W.Va. (WTAP) -

The Ritchie County Rebels enter the 2023 season under new leadership, as Jared Shipe takes over the program after Rick Haught retired from coaching.

Shipe wants to instill the same principles that the Rebels had under Haught, which helped lead them to a Class A championship in 2021. Shipe believes they have the talent on the roster to make another deep playoff run after missing the postseason in 2022.

“We know what it takes to get to Wheeling,” said Shipe. “I think the kids on our team who were freshmen (in 20210, they’re now juniors, they know what it takes to get there, they know the difficulty of practices that we had to have then. We’ve re-instituted that kind of stuff, and we’re kind of getting back in to that and kind of tough-nosed football around here. You have to be in shape in the early part of the season, and you have to be crisp down the stretch, and that will get you into the playoffs.”

The players have noticed that there is more intensity around practice ahead of their season opener against Tyler Consolidated on August 25. Senior Bodhi Utter has now played under Haught and Shipe, and is excited for what this team can do.

“It’s been a lot of the same,” Utter said. “Mr. Haught coached a lot with Mr. Shipe, so it’s a lot of the same things, but the intensity has cranked up, we’re doing more conditioning, practices are harder, and everything is beneficial.”

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