FEATURED PHOTO BY MICHAEL DONOHUE

This article was made possible by the support Arch Recovery Center and their direct for the Philip Barbour Football Program!

A first 10-win campaign, a first home playoff game, and a first-ever Class AA semifinal — 2025 rewrote the Colts’ record book. Now Nick Mayle must replace a legendary senior class while a proven core led by Robbie Jones, Landyn Carpenter, Sean Dent, and Mason Jones tries to push one step further.

A Historic Breakthrough

The Philip Barbour Colts authored the best season in school history in 2025, finishing 10–2 and reaching the program’s first-ever Class AA state semifinal before falling to No. 2 Bluefield, 56–27. Nick Mayle’s team built its identity the hard way — on a punishing ground game and an opportunistic, physical defense — and hit its stride once the run game got rolling behind a dominant offensive line. Junior Landyn Carpenter emerged as the workhorse, eclipsing 1,700 yards on the season and repeatedly topping 200 in a single game.

Around him stood a senior class that did a little of everything. Cameron Bennett was the ultimate do-it-all weapon — running, throwing, returning kicks, and defending — while receiver/defensive back Malachi Poling made plays on both sides of the ball, stacking big receiving scores and interceptions in equal measure. Linebacker Tyler Vance anchored the defense all year as the team’s leading tackler.

The regular season was a story of momentum forged through adversity. Philip Barbour opened with wins over rivals like Buckhannon-Upshur before running headlong into the state’s elite, dropping the only two games that would blemish its record: a tight 20–13 loss to Class AAA North Marion — the closest the Colts have ever come to toppling the Huskies — and a lopsided 63–14 result against a loaded Bridgeport squad. But the losses never lingered. Philip Barbour rattled off a dominant second half, beating Elkins, spark-plugging a 49–22 win over South Harrison on three kick-return touchdowns, blanking Petersburg 43–0, and closing with blowouts of Lewis County, East Fairmont, and Lincoln to finish the regular season 8–2 and earn the No. 3 seed.

Then came the crowning stretch. The Colts dispatched South Harrison again 36–8 in the first round before rolling No. 11 Clay County 69–7 in a quarterfinal that doubled as a milestone night — the school’s 200th all-time win, its first-ever home playoff game, and its first semifinal berth, all at once. The season ended in Bluefield, where early turnovers dug too deep a hole to climb out of despite four Colts touchdowns and standout return work from Poling and Webster. Even in defeat, the history stood: a first 10-win season, the most points ever scored in a single campaign, and that breakthrough semifinal appearance.

“Honestly, the support has always been there — the wins have just increased. Remaining consistent to our team standards and giving back to the community has helped the support remain.”  — Head coach Nick Mayle

Now the Colts say goodbye to a legendary senior class — Bennett, Malachi Cross, Poling, Webster, and Vance — a group that left its mark across all three phases. What remains is a returning core with real pedigree, and a program that has redefined its own ceiling.

Reloading the Offense

The 2026 Colts will feature plenty of new faces in key roles, starting up front, where an offensive line that paved the way for a 1,700-yard back must be substantially rebuilt. But the reload begins from a position of strength at the game’s most important spots.

It starts with the backfield duo of Robbie Jones and Landyn Carpenter. Jones took over the offense a season ago and elevated the passing game to more than 1,000 yards through the air; entering his second year as a full-time starter, he’s poised for an even bigger role — and there’s a real chance he joins the 1,000-yard club as a runner, too. Carpenter, for his part, returns as the unquestioned bell cow after finishing among the state’s top statistical rushers as a junior.

The bigger questions live on the perimeter, where significant replacements are needed. The Colts expect rising junior Tristin Price to shoulder that load at receiver — a role that will carry over to the secondary, where he projects as a key free safety. Sean Dent looms as another two-way difference-maker: a taller, quicker athlete who can stretch the field on offense, then cause problems in the front seven as a defender who pressures the passer and ranges sideline to sideline.

“Look for junior Tristin Price to have a breakout year on both sides of the ball as a WR/FS.”  — Nick Mayle

Anchoring the Defense

Defensively, Philip Barbour must replace its leading tackler in the middle of the field — but few teams are better positioned to do it. Mason Jones, who has topped 100 tackles in each of the past two seasons as the Colts’ second-leading tackler behind the graduated Vance, steps in ready-made to anchor a unit that ranked statistically among the state’s best a year ago. His experience gives the defense a proven heartbeat as the pieces around him settle into place.

The Difference-Maker

If there’s a hidden edge on this roster, it’s in the kicking game. Ayden Thorne emerged as one of the state’s best specialists as an underclassman in 2025, and another year of development should make his dual role as both kicker and punter a genuine asset — a weapon in the field-position battle and a stabilizer for an offense breaking in new pieces. In the tight, physical games that define Philip Barbour’s league, a specialist that dependable can quietly tilt a night.

The Road Ahead

The path back to the postseason looks familiar — plenty of hard-nosed rivalries with a couple of heavyweight tests mixed in. Per Massey Ratings, here is how the 2026 slate projects:

Massey projects an 8–2 finish, with the only losses coming in a brutal Week 3–4 stretch — the same two opponents that handed Philip Barbour its only defeats a year ago.

The Colts open with four straight at home. The first two come against nearby rivals Grafton and Buckhannon-Upshur; both should field solid teams, but Philip Barbour has dominated these series of late and will be favored to keep it rolling. Weeks 3 and 4 bring the biggest challenges on the board — and, not coincidentally, the sole source of the Colts’ 2025 losses. North Marion is expected to remain a top Class 3A contender, and though the Huskies carry a long winning streak in the series, last year’s 20–13 result was the closest Philip Barbour has ever come to breaking through. The very next week, Bridgeport presents an even steeper climb as a legitimate title favorite a full class higher.

The gauntlet doesn’t ease from there, with a road date against a physical, ground-based Elkins team the Colts handled well in 2025. The back half plays out mostly away from home — a run of South Harrison, Petersburg, Lewis County, East Fairmont, and Lincoln. None will be favored to beat Philip Barbour, but each is a capable program that could make things uncomfortable for a team that overlooks it.

The Outlook

Add it up, and the expectation is clear: a return to the postseason, likely with a strong seed. Massey’s projected 8–2 would do exactly that. The real prize, though, isn’t the regular season — it’s what the Colts do with the playoff experience they earned the hard way in 2025. This team has already pushed the program further than any before it. The goal now is to take one more step, from historic semifinalist to genuine title contender.

“It is a difficult task to reach a title game, let alone win one. The key will be remaining injury-free and playing mistake-free football consistently — through the season and into the postseason. We can’t afford uncharacteristic mishaps down the stretch.”  — Nick Mayle