Teays Physical Therapy Center Inc. and the Putnam Herald are pleased to present this week's "Co-Gridiron Gamers of the Week" award to Gavin Donathan and Andy Fields of Hurricane High School.

The Hurricane High School Redskin football team enjoyed a tremendous start to the season going 6-0. However, they suffered a loss to No. 1 South Charleston in week 7. This loss took a lot out of the team as they dropped their next two games, making them 6-3 going into last week's Saturday match-up with Brooke High School.

The seniors on the football team got together and decided they were going to make a statement for this game, and that is exactly what they did. The Redskins destroyed the Brooke football players outscoring them 54-15 to win their seventh game of the year and ranked them No. 12 to finish up the season in Class AAA.

A lot of the play had to do with the bruising style and leadership of seniors Gavin Donathan and Andy Fields. Donathan, a defensive nose guard and offensive lineman, finished the game with one sack, two tackles for a loss, and four pancake blocks. He finished the game with a total of nine tackles on defense.

Fields also had a tremendous week showing his versatility as he had 12 tackles, an interception, and two passes defensed. He also had five pancake blocks and four rushes for 40 yards.

When asked about their success last week, Donathan said, "I wanted to fire off the ball and blow up the guy in front of me. I knew if I could take care of him, my teammates would take care of their jobs, and we could get back on track."

Fields had different motivation for the week. "It was senior week; this is probably the last time we will get to play on our home field. I wanted to stay loose and have fun and make a statement as well," said Fields.

Head Coach Willis May agrees with his star athletes. Coach May said, "Gavin and Andy came out and showed the leadership we needed for this week. These kids are great kids not only on the field as football players, but off the field in their character. They attend church regularly, and they also have great demeanors and personalities. Put it this way, if I had a daughter and she 'had' to date someone, then I would love for her to date one of these two individuals."

The Redskins will face No. 3 ranked Capital this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Laidley Field in the first round of the WVSSAC State Playoffs.

When asked what they are looking forward to in the post-season, Donathan said, "We want to stay focused on one game at a time and come out and play as hard as we can. We feel if we do that we have a lot of potential."

Fields said, "We want to show we should be one of the top ranked teams in the state this weekend. It will be a good game, and Capitol is a great team, so we want to play hard in that situation."

Coach May said, "We have a lot of things to do this weekend with the game. We hope to come out and play our best ball."

Donathan also will be attending the West Virginia House of Representatives this Saturday where he will be having an interview with Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito to request her nomination of him to attend the United States Naval Academy next year, a tremendous honor.

Both these students also excel in the classroom, where Donathan carries a 3.5 GPA, and Fields carries a 3.0 GPA.

Look for Donathan, Fields and other local area high school athletes to be named the next Gridiron Gamer of the Week sponsored by Teays Physical Therapy Center, Inc. and the Putnam Herald.

Robbie Gordon, MS, ATC, CSCS, works for Teays Physical Therapy Center Inc.

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Photo courtesy of Teays Physical Therapy Center, Inc.

Robbie Gordon, left, MS, ATC, CSCS at Teays Physical Therapy Center Inc., and Hurricane Coach Willis May, right, present Andy Fields, left center and Gavin Donathan, right center, with the Gridiron Gamer of the Week award.

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