Steve Luse
SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Frankfort High School head football coach Kevin Whiteman had a lot of weapons in his offensive arsenal this season, but when he was looking for a big play in a crucial situation he usually went to the strong and accurate arm of quarterback James Jones.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior led the area in passing for the second straight year and played a major role in Frankfort posting a 9-1 regular-season record. The Falcons advanced to the West Virginia Class AA state semi-finals for only the second time in school history and finished with an 11-2 record after a tough 27-21 loss to unbeaten and top-seeded Wayne.
For his success in directing the potent Frankfort offense, Jones will receive the Morton W. Peskin Sr. Memorial Award as the Cumberland Times-News Area High School Offensive Player of the Year at the 62nd annual Dapper Dan Awards Dinner on Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. at the Ali Ghan Shrine Club.
“James Jones worked very hard over his high school career to better himself and was a big part of our team’s success with a 17-6 record as our starting quarterback,” said Whiteman. “He was our team captain and was a very good leader on and off the field. In the off-season he set a very good example for the other players in the weight room.”
Along with being the Times-News Offensive Player of the Year, Jones was named the first-team quarterback on the Class AA All-State team.
In the 13 games this season, Jones completed 88-of-139 passes (63 percent) for 1,719 yards for an area best average of 132.2 yards per game. Fifteen of his passes went for touchdowns and he only had three intercepted.
Often called upon to run in short-yardage situations, the Frankfort quarterback ran for 142 yards and five touchdowns.
In his junior year, Jones earned second-team All-Area honors after leading the area with 1,532 yards passing on 85 completions in 153 attempts. He had 16 touchdown passes and ran for 18 touchdowns and 108 points.
“James made big plays in crucial situations to win games,” said Whiteman. “Any time I called a pass play I thought it had a good chance of success. He has a strong and accurate arm and he often made my play calling easy. He is very good at reading defenses and finding open receivers. When he was on fire he was hard to stop.”
One of Jones’ biggest plays came in the annual Mineral County Bowl against arch-rival Keyser when his 64-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Miltenberger with 3:01 left clinched the 23-12 victory. It snapped a string of five straight losses to the Golden Tornado and nailed down Frankfort’s first playoff berth in five years.
In the first playoff game of his career Jones completed 7-of-9 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns as fourth-seeded Frankfort hammered Herbert Hoover, 42-6. He also had a 46-yard touchdown run.
The next week against PikeView Jones connected with Miltenberger on a 46-yard scoring play that gave Frankfort momentum and a 14-6 lead with 41 seconds left in the first half. The senior signalcaller also had a 16-yard touchdown pass to Joey Luciw and was 7-for-12 for 128 yards in the 35-14 victory.
Against Wayne in the semifinals, Jones played a key role in Frankfort building a 21-0 lead in the first half and completed 8-of-11 passes for 128 yards. But the All-State quarterback never got his hands on the ball in the entire third quarter as the Pioneers turned a pair of successful onsides kicks into scoring drives after getting the kickoff and marching 72 yards for their first touchdown.
Jones is looking to play college football with a scholarship and has been contacted by a number of schools.
“I think James is a college caliber type player and he should get a chance to play somewhere,” said Whiteman.
Steve Luse is a retired Cumberland Times-News sportswriter. He can be contacted at sluse@times-news.com.
