MASON — The Wahama White Falcons return to the post-season Class A football playoffs after a one year absence on Friday when the Bend Area team makes the long trek to Summersville and Nicholas County High School for a first ever meeting with the Fayetteville Pirates.

Wahama completed the year with an 8-2 regular season mark and a tenth place ranking among the Class A playoff participants. The road playoff outing for the Falcons breaks a sting of five straight first round home dates. Fayetteville also compiled an 8-2 regular season record but because of bonus points the Pirates finished in the seventh position which afforded the Fayette County team the first round home contest. Fayetteville is an approved sight to host a playoff contest but the Pirates field isn't up to par which necessitated the game being played on the turf at Nicholas County High School in Summersville.

The White Falcon's will venture into the Class A post-season for the 14th time since its first ever playoff celebration during the 1986 season under veteran head coach Don VanMeter. VanMeter's first red and white playoff squad delighted a jam-packed throng of some 5000 fans at Sanders Memorial Stadium at Point Pleasant High School with a thrilling fourth quarter, come-from-behind 25-24 playoff victory over Pineville.  That triumph is believed to be the most exciting football contest ever played by a WHS grid team. Wahama would fall to Tyler County (21-0) the following week in the Bend Area teams initial second round contest.

VanMeter would go on to guide the White Falcons to the post-season three more times during his stint as the Falcons head coach but successive losses to Moorefield (7-30) in 1987, Pineville (7-20) in 1988 and Matewan (13-51) in 1991 left the Falcons craving another playoff victory.

Current Falcon head coach, Ed Cromley, took over the reins of the Mason County program in 1995 and one year later the Mason County team was back in the post-season.  During Cromley's tenure at Wahama the locals have nearly been a playoff fixture with the White Falcons going to the post season 10 times. Beginning in 1996 Cromley's teams extended its season beyond the normal 10 game card with Wahama advancing in 1996, '97, '98, 2001, '02, '03, '04, '06, '07, and now in 2009. Cromley's teams have posted an 8-9 record in playoff competition which includes the Falcons' only ventures into the semifinals in 2001 and again in 2003.    

Friday's contest against Fayetteville will be the 23rd playoff contest in WHS history with the the White Falcons overall record standing at 9-13. Wahama is 6-5 in playoff games it has hosted while compiling a disappointing 3-8 mark in post-season road contests. In Friday night playoff encounters the White Falcons sport a sparkling 6-1 record.