Things don’t change much in Wayne, West Virginia, but there hasn’t been this much excitement in years. The high school football team looks like a genuine state championship contender. That was before the Plymale situation... Senior Scott Plymale isn't the biggest star of the Pioneer team, but his grit and presence are a key to the Pioneer's success this season. Coming off an injury that ended his junior season, all is going according to plan until a bizarre on-field incident threatens to jeopardize the Red and Black's dream season while it throws his personal life into chaos. Genuine, funny, and unvarnished, Way Out Wayne is a fictional account of one team and one town’s quest for a football championship while it explores growing up in modern Appalachia. Way Out Wayne is suitable for most audiences; however, readers should be aware that it features some strong locker room language and underage drinking. In Way Out Wayne , Todd Marcum paints a vivid picture of small town America, a place where many of us recognize the atmosphere and sensations on a general level. Way Out Wayne is a great read that captures this time in one small place in America. --Christian Moody, writer, creator and high school football official Way Out Wayne paints a vivid portrait of the many faces and facets that make Friday nights in the fall so special. When I read these pages, I can smell the popcorn, see the players ripping through the brightly colored paper banner as they run on the field, and hear the cheers and grumblings coming from the home stands. The book also encourages the reader to ride the very real rollercoaster known as teenaged life and experience the trappings of a close-knit but occasionally troubled community. I was blessed to have a career that allowed me to write and talk about high school sports for 25 years, and this book immediately puts every one of my senses back on the sideline. --Mike Stevens, Virginia Sports Hall of Fame broadcaster and longtime Friday Football Extra host Get this book! Todd Marcum knows this place and these people. His characters are rich and delightfully raw. If you're from West Virginia, like I am, this is a must read. If you're from some other place, do yourself a favor and take a trip with Todd to Wayne. It's not just a place in West Virginia. It's a world that Todd has created. And a world you'll never forget. -- Jonathan Matthews, director, producer of Surviving Cliffside    I dearly loved the experience of writing  Way Out Wayne . I made every effort to make the story authentic to the modern day. Despite my best attempts to bring the story into the modern day, the tale is undoubtedly influenced by my experiences, now nearly four decades removed.    The characters are purely a product of my imagination, though many are in some way an homage to people I knew and still admire. I only played football through junior high myself...I just didn't have the intangible thing that happens in the head of successful high school football players. Still, I enjoyed the sport. When I was a kid, my dad would take me to watch Wayne's David Morris, one of the best players ever to come out of our part of the state. David went on to star at WVU. I've been told he had an offer to go to camp with the New England Patriots, but in the early 1970s, it made more financial sense for him to come back home and work in the family business, which he did successfully for many years.     Writing this book was an enriching personal exercise, and I grew to know the characters. Animal and Lucas, in particular, use more coarse language than I feel comfortable with, but as I "got to know them," it is just how they talk. To clean up their language would have been untrue to them. When I was growing up, it was the way some young men spoke to assert themselves as they struggled to find their path to adulthood. I suspect some young men still talk that way for the same reason.     I could have been happy writing this book over and over--just enjoying the process and sanding off the edges--but it is time to put it out in the world and see if it is a story you might like. I don't know that there won't be further editions of Way Out Wayne . In the future, I would like to have had a Forward by a star player or coach recalling playing on Friday nights in the mountains of West Virginia. Randy Moss and Nick Saban have an open invitation, but players with lesser credentials have equally compelling stories to tell. I am beholding to Todd Neff for talking to me about the game in which he set the West Virginia record for pass attempts and completions. Todd never played football at a higher level, but he became an excellent college baseball player and is now an executive in Charlotte, NC. Despite his considerable achievements in his adult life, he still talks with warmth about his experience of playing high school football in the Mountain State.    I have enjoyed living in Roanoke, Virginia, for many years. My w