SHORT GAP, W.Va. — The mark of a great program is its ability to reload, not rebuild.
Frankfort graduated nearly all of its production from its 2024 Class AA state championship team, which finished 14-0 and captured the school’s first title.
The Falcons plugged those holes and repeated the feat, going 14-0 again and capping their campaign by winning a 49-42 thriller over Bluefied for a consecutive championship.
Likewise, the architect of its program, Kevin Whiteman, has repeated as the Golden Helmet Award recipient, an honor given to the area Coach of the Year.
“It’s nice to be honored,” Whiteman said. “There are so many great coaches. I say it all the time in our area. They’re all deserving. I know them all and they’re there for the right reasons. They’re there to develop kids and mold them into better people and then hopefully win some football games.
“I gotta thank everyone. My players, my coaches do a phenomenal job helping me. I’m just really a small piece of the puzzle. The head of the organization always gets the credit when these kinds of things happen. This is just a giant team effort and team win for the Frankfort Falcons.”
The area football awards were chosen at a meeting of the area’s head coaches in late December.
Whiteman received five of the six votes cast, and Allegany’s Bryan Hansel, who led his alma mater to its first state playoff appearance since 2009, grabbed the other.
It’s the fifth time Whiteman has earned the Golden Helmet Award. Other than last year, he won it outright in 2009 and 2020 and split it with Fort Hill’s Todd Appel in 2014.
Whiteman joins a list of back-to-back winners that includes Appel, Beall’s Roy DeVore, Moorefield’s Alan Fiddler, Fort Hill’s Mike Calhoun and Charlie Lattimer, and Allegany’s Jack Gilmore and Jim Refosco.
Frankfort has won 28 consecutive games under Whiteman, setting a Mineral County record. Keyser’s Fred “Tack” Clark held the previous high of 26 games during a run from 1955-57.
The Falcons scored 613 points this fall, an average of 43.8 per game — both second in school history to the 2024 bunch that garnered 623 points and a 44.5 average.
“It’s unbelievable to me to see what we’ve done the last two years,” Whiteman said. “Last year was phenomenal with the undefeated season, first state championship in school history. … That was like one of the highlights of my career.
“Coming into this season, we only had four to five guys that played or started last year, and we were starting over completely new on the line of scrimmage. And to do what we did and go through another undefeated season and be at 28-0, where we are now, I just can’t say enough about the kids.”
Frankfort’s storybook season was secured when running back Braydn Tyler took a snap out of a Wildcat formation and threw a pass to Keiton Nester, wide open for a 43-yard touchdown with three seconds left to win the game.
The do-it-all Tyler blossomed into a star in his junior campaign, racking up 2,039 all-purpose yards and 32 total touchdowns — becoming just the third player in school history to surpass 30 scores in a season (Travis Lynch, Julian Pattison).
Tyler was part of a balanced offense that did not have a ball carrier with more than 125 rushes.
Carder Shanholtz added 995 yards and 17 touchdowns on 107 carries, and Cole Shanholtz gained 620 yards and scored 10 times on 125 runs.
Blake Jacobs was efficient under center, throwing for 819 yards and 10 touchdowns to just one interception.
Whiteman credited the team’s unselfishness as a key factor in its winning ways.
“If you don’t have kids that will buy into it and buy into the team concept, you’re not going to have much success,” he said. “Our kids did that. I told them before the championship game in my pregame speech that I was proud of them because no matter what happened in that game, they made their mark.
“Now that we went down there, completed the mission, won the game and we’re the state champions, they definitely made their mark in Frankfort history.”
Whiteman has a 138-48 record in 16 seasons for a .742 winning percentage. His total victories and percentage are both school records.
“Most of my coaches have been around for most of that run,” Whiteman said. “So we have a culture. We have a consistent program that’s well known around the state of West Virginia.”
The area football awards will be revealed a day at a time, culminating with the All-Area team next week. The John B. “Jack” Gilmore Memorial Lineman of the Year will be revealed in Thursday’s Times-News.