George Washington's Mike Davis and St. Albans' Rick Whitman didn't hesitate to deflect being named the Gazette-Mail All-Kanawha Valley coaches of the year, rather focusing and highlighting their specific team.
The two are sharing this year's local honors, but they couldn't take the recognition for themselves. They kept going back to the athletes and coaches around them.
The Patriots and Red Dragons each claimed state titles this past season at Jack Cook Field in Huntington.
GW took down Morgantown, 6-5, in Class AAAA for the program's first-ever state title, while SA handled Ripley, 11-3, in Class AAA for its first title since 2019.
"When you win a coach of the year award or any accolade like that, they generally come after a really good season," Davis said. "It's a nice program recognition award. Even if you get a player of coach of the year, it gets your name or somebody's name stamped on it, but it's really a program-wide award.
"We've worked so hard to build our program to where it's at. Obviously, we have a bunch of really, really good kids, and it's gratifying to see what they've done. They're the reason that you're even in a position like that."
Whitman added: "You don't win awards like this without having good players and assistant coaches. We had both this year. It was a really good group. It wasn't one or two guys. It was a total team effort. Really honored to share it with Mike. They also had a great year."
George Washington finished its season at 32-5.
Five lead changes and more than 230 pitches were thrown during the Class AAAA state title game between GW and Morgantown, which ultimately gave the Patriots the one-run victory.
Several members of this year's Patriots team were on the 2024 team that finished as runner-up in the Class AAA title game to Cabell Midland in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä.
George Washington went the whole season without losing back-to-back games.
"Ultimately, what separated this group was their selfless will to win," Davis said. "That was the big separator. They put aside any sort of wanting any accolades or anything like that. We had long talks about that and how it'll all take care of itself. In the end, if you do what you need to do, good things will happen.
"There were a ton of sacrifices made out of this team. They just had a collective will to win from top to bottom."
This year's senior class wasn't even in middle school the last time the Red Dragons collected a state title.
The upbringing of those individuals made for another special season for Whitman.
However, according to the SA coach, it was the collective effort with the pitching staff that made this year so success and memorable.
The Red Dragons saw several players step to the mound, including Braxton Burke and Brogan Samms.
Burke was named as the captain and one of the pitchers on the Class AAA first-team all-state list. Samms earned that spot in the Gazette-Mail's All-Kanawha Valley first team.
The two combined for 125 innings pitched, 14-3 record, 153 strikeouts and 30 earned runs.
"We were four or five deep with guys that we could run out there and could compete with anybody," Whitman said. "Their work ethic and competitive nature, not just with them but everyone, stands out. They wanted to get St. Albans back on top where we hadn't been in a while. They wanted it more than anybody else."
GW's Jon Fala took home All-Kanawha Valley Player of the Year honors as a junior.
Fala, who has committed to play college baseball at Marshall University, finished his junior season batting .520.
He recorded 65 hits, 20 doubles, six triples and seven home runs. Fala had an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of 1.529.
"Jon was the unquestioned vocal leader, and he's been that for multiple years now," Davis said. "There's a commanding presence that he has. It's all the little things that he does. He makes routine plays better than anybody I've ever seen at this level. That's really the separator for him.
"He does do spectacular things, but it's just being consistent with the little things that make him great over long periods of time."
The Gazette-Mail introduced a new accolade this year for All-Valley honors in Pitcher of the Year.
George Washington's Eli Smith took home that honor.
The senior pitcher went 10-1 on the mound this season and finished with a 0.29 ERA.
Smith allowed just three earned runs all year. He struck out 106 batters and walked 24.
He was also efficient at the plate, batting .410, and hit five home runs.
Smith's teammate Ty Nettles joins him on the All-Valley first-team pitching list, along with ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic's Connor Jarvis and SA's Samms.
"Eli Smith was the heartbeat of this team," Davis said. "He didn't get to throw very much last year and that hurt us from a team aspect. We did the best we could to manage around it. It was tough on him mentally. He was one of those guys that came into this season feeling he had a ton to prove.
"He went out there and did everything he could day by day, little by little. He's a quiet kid, and he's also selfless and has made a ton of sacrifices."
Sissonville freshman Chase Litton receives this year's All-Kanawha Valley Rookie of the Year honors. The Indians went 23-7 in 2026.
Litton finished his freshman season strong, batting .348, while totaling 24 hits, 14 RBIs and five doubles. He cracked the All-Valley second-team list too.
The Patriots also saw Luke Gordon and Ryan Anderson make first-team All-Valley. Anderson finished his sophomore season with 10 home runs.
ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic saw one other first-team mention in catcher Zaden Ranson.
Ranson finished his senior season batting .426 and struck out just six times in 115 at-bats. He recorded 49 hits, 17 doubles, four triples and five home runs. He drove home 48 runs.
Winfield saw two first-team mentions in Jared Miller at utility and Brody Ilderton as an infielder.
Ilderton batted .438 and totaled 42 hits. He posted 40 RBIs and three home runs this past season.
Miller finished with a .398 batting average. He smashed four home runs and drove home 33 RBIs, while stealing 26 bases.
Miller also went 7-0 on the mound in 54 innings pitched. He allowed six earned runs and struck out 53 batters. He finished with a 0.78 ERA.
Buffalo, Hurricane, Herbert Hoover and Sissonville rounded out the first-team list each having one player listed.
The Bison saw Luca Signorini crack the list as an infielder. He batted .337 and recorded 31 hits and 19 RBIs this season. He also smashed five home runs.
Signorini got it done on the mound too, pitching in 53 innings and struck out 79 batters. He allowed 25 earned runs.
The Redskins were led by infielder Tyler Baxter. He finished with a batting average of .473. Baxter totaled 53 hits and four home runs.
The Huskies got Riley Johnson on the list. Johnson batted .379, got 36 hits, nine doubles and three home runs.
Johnson saw time on the mound, pitching in 54 and third innings, finishing with an ERA of 0.90 and struck out 47 batters, only allowing seven earned runs.
The Indians saw a strong junior season out of Malyki Holtzman, who batted .511. Holtzman totaled 12 doubles and five home runs.
