HINTON, W.Va. — Summers County High School played just seven football games in 2020.
Despite the COVID-19 shortened season, Keandre Sarver did enough to be noticed — again.
Sarver was recently selected as a first-team defensive back on the West Virginia Class A All-State football team, voted on by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
It was the third all-state selection in Sarver’s high school football career and the completion of a huge rebound from a severe knee injury that robbed him of his junior season.
“He’s just one of those kids that you can count on, whether it’s offensively, defensively or special teams — he can make a play for you,” said Bobcat coach Chris Vicars.
Summers County posted a 4-3 record and narrowly missed the Class A playoff field.
Sarver, who was honorable mention all-state as a freshman and a second-teamer after his sophomore year, was a leader on both sides of the ball for Vicars.
Defensively, Sarver made 40 tackles, including five behind the line of scrimmage, had an interception and broke up two more passes.
“We only played seven games so he didn’t end up with crazy stats,” said Vicars. “But he had an outstanding game against Williamstown. At the time, I think Williamstown was No. 2 in the state. We played them as well as we could have. We played really well and he was a big part of that.”
Sarver burst onto the scene at Summers County in the fall of 2017 as a freshman and was part of a Bobcat team that advanced all the way to the state semifinals.
“Keandre came to us his freshman year, he was a really good eighth-grade player,” Vicars said. “He’s always been a tall kid, bigger than a lot of the kids he’s played with.”
The Bobcat coach said that Sarver struggled a little early and was sent back to play in junior varsity games to adjust to the speed of high school football.
“We brought him back up to varsity later that year and he played quite a bit and started for us,” the coach said. “He made some big plays in the playoffs for us. A huge interception in the state quarterfinal against Midland Trail. A smart, heady play by a freshman.
“We knew he was going to be talented,” he continued. “He had to get in the weight room some and continue to develop, which he did. His sophomore season, he had another great year. He had some big catches in some big games. He averaged something like 18 to 20 yards a catch that year. He ended up being a dual threat and was second team all-state on defense.”
It was the first day of full contact practice during his junior year when Sarver’s career was temporarily derailed. He tore his ACL and had surgery that November.
But even though he missed the season, he still had an impact on his team.
“During that year, he would be out there at practice throwing the ball some and be out there coaching up those kids,” Vicars said. “That’s a testament not only that he wanted to be heavily engaged with the team, but he wanted to see his teammates succeed.
“He worked his tail off after surgery in physical therapy and in the weight room,” the coach continued. “He got bigger. He worked on his upper body obviously while he was getting his knee healed up. Once he was ready to start rehabbing at full speed, you could see a big difference. Coming into his senior season, he was 6-foot-4, 185 pounds. Just a good lookin’ kid.”
The Bobcats bounced back from an opening-game loss to Greenbrier West (34-6) back in early September to win three straight — Shady Spring (26-7), Mount View (21-0) and Ravenswood (27-7).
Summers was 1-2 down the stretch, losing to Williamstown (15-12), defeating Meadow Bridge (20-18) and losing a rematch with Mount View (33-14). The Mount View loss ended the ‘Cats chances at a playoff berth.
“It’s a tough place to play and we just didn’t execute the way we needed to,” said Vicars. “Had we been able to keep our regular schedule, I think we could have won some of those other games.”
As he looks forward to the 2021 season, his fifth as the head coach in Hinton, Vicars knows filling the shoes of his three-time all-stater will be nearly impossible.
“Keandre is really smart, he understands what the offense is trying to do as far as attacking our defense,” he said. “He was kind of like a quarterback on the field defensively.
“Offensively, we struggled getting the ball to him this year just because we went to the single-wing in the middle of the season last year and we stuck with it this year,” he added. “We ran the ball mostly. We moved him to the backfield some, he ran the ball and blocked for us. He’d do whatever we asked him to do.”
It was that team-first attitude that wasn’t lost on Sarver’s coach and more importantly perhaps, his teammates.
“Not only his peers, but the younger kids really looked up to him,” Vicars finished. “That’s certainly a testament to what he did for us and what he brought to our football team.”
