Eric Snyder, Aaron LaPoe have UHS, C-B in state semifinals in just their 2nd year as head coaches

Nov. 28—MORGANTOWN — It isn't often a coach in their second season at the helm of a program in football, let alone any sport, leads their team as far as the semifinals of the state playoffs.

Not only is that the case for one school in Mon County this season, but two programs are playing in the semifinals this weekend, led by head coaches in their second seasons.

Eric Snyder leads University High and will travel to Martinsburg this weekend for the Class AAAA semifinals. Snyder took over for the legendary John Kelley after Kelley completed 37 seasons at the helm, but had previously served on the coaching staff for nearly two decades.

Clay-Battelle earned the 3rd seed in Class A and will host No. 7 Cameron on Saturday afternoon in its first semifinal game since 2014. LaPoe took the torch from Ryan Wilson after 29 years leading the Cee-Bees.

While both are on historical runs in only year two, neither Snyder nor LaPoe is one to get caught up in the history of it all until the time is necessary, and certainly aren't the types of coaches to give themselves any credit up front.

"You know, I have a wonderful set of staff members who do a lot of hard work, a lot of extra work, too. Same for these players, too, " Snyder said. "You know, during the offseason, they just did a magnificent job. I haven't seen something like this in a very long time with our kids dedicating themselves in the offseason, and you know, it's good for University High School. I've been at this place for a long time, and it's been a little while since we've been in the semi-finals since 2009. So, it's just good to have that electricity back."

UHS is looking to pull off another huge upset on Saturday against the Bulldogs after defeating the second-seeded Highlanders last week on the road.

LaPoe says the time for celebration will come eventually, but for now, his players and staff continue to focus on the next game.

"I think the time to talk about all that is at the end of the year banquet when all is said and done, " LaPoe said. "After we beat Sherman, it's like man, everybody's going to be telling you how good you are now, talking about all the history you'd made and all that stuff. Focusing on all that stuff doesn't help you achieve your goals. So, there's going to be a day and time for that, but it really is staying locked in and focused on the little details about what we have to do to win the game, and that's the fundamentals of blocking and tackling and our assignments."

For LaPoe and his team, they'll have the chance to avenge their lone loss of the season, which came to Cameron 22-16 in the opening week of 2025.

Win or lose, both Eric Snyder and Aaron LaPoe have already entered the history books as leaders of their programs and may continue doing so for years to come.