High School Football Predictions Battle: 2024 Regular Season Totals
Matthew Hatfield – 82-13 (86.3%)
Coach Ed Young – 77-18 (81.1%)
Both competitors went 20-5 with Hatfield gaining a game by virtue of Oscar Smith’s shutout of Nansemond River, whereas Young made that up thanks to Denbigh snapping its 34-game losing streak with a 14-9 triumph over Gloucester.
Action for Thursday 9/26/24:
King’s Fork (3-0) at Nansemond River (2-1) . . . It was a wild 24-21 double-overtime win at home for King’s Fork last year over Nansemond River, prevailing on a game-winning field goal from Jean-Pierre Bile. In fact, it was the first of back-to-back wins for the Bulldogs in double-overtime as they followed that up with a 20-14 victory at Indian River during their first unbeaten regular season in program history.
Nansemond River is coming off a humbling 35-0 shutout loss at Oscar Smith, where they kept the Tigers out of the end zone the entire first half, but struggled to get their offense on track all night in producing a season-low 27 total yards. Only one completion the entire night when for longer than nine yards and that was a 13-yard connection from QB Tyrell Grant to WR TaiVon Douglas. The King’s Fork defense has a bunch of players that can disrupt the flow in a hurry, namely Brandon Jeune (18 tackles), Joshua Pittman (5 TFL), Justin Irby (3 sacks), Khalil Key and Shimyael Holt (4 TFL).
Offensively, the Bulldogs have been both balanced and explosive, piling up 64 points on Great Bridge last week and averaging 45 PPG. The running game seldom experiences a problem moving the chains behind Player of the Year candidate JaVon Ford (32Car. 275Yds. 4 TD’s) and William ‘Bubba’ Anderson (18Att. 195Yds. 3 TD’s). ZyDareyus Wynn (9Rec. 120Yds. 4 TD’s) and Jahmel Mackey (8Rec. 100Yds. 2 TD’s) highlight a deep and talented receiving core for QB D’andre Artis-Boone (30 of 42 for 390 yards, 6-3 TD/Int. ratio), a quality athlete that can make things happen on the move and defensively from the secondary.
The Nansemond River defense, keyed by the pass rushing of Xavier Gresham (5 sacks) and tackling of Rajae Jones (9 tackles and a forced fumble vs. Oscar Smith Smith), will need to put together the first half they had against the Tigers for a full 48-minute game to come away victorious. If the Warriors are able to generate a couple of takeaways, and unlike last week, cash in on them to grab an early lead, it could make this Suffolk rivalry showdown a battle to the very end.
Matt Hatfield Says – King’s Fork 28-13
Coach Ed Young Says – King’s Fork 21-18
Lakeland (2-1) at Southampton (2-1) . . . Don’t look now, but the Lakeland Cavaliers are aiming for a rare three-game winning streak after opening with a 56-3 loss to Indian River. Coach Marcus Cutler’s squad held firm defensively in an 8-0 shutout with Booker T. Washington and will need the defense to be even better against an Indians team that has consistently moved the ball and scored on every opponent it has seen this year. Southampton put up 38 points on Colonial Heights in a back-and-forth game that they won to open the season, then beat Westmoreland 32-20 and lost a 41-34 battle with Petersburg.
Matt Hatfield Says – Southampton 20-16
Coach Ed Young Says – Southampton 16-14
Grassfield (0-3) at Oscar Smith (4-0) . . . Will history happen here? Grassfield is 0-22 all-time against Oscar Smith with four of those defeats coming during the playoffs. The Grizzlies held an 8-6 half-time lead last week against Deep Creek before the Hornets scored the game’s final 10 points to pull it out. Oscar Smith put forth a dominant second half effort in beating Nansemond River 35-0, where RB Brandon Nesbit ran the ball 28 times for 191 yards and a touchdown to complement the 243 total yards of offense produced by sophomore QB Lonnie Andrews with 4 TD’s – two passing and two rushing.
Matt Hatfield Says – Oscar Smith 43-9
Coach Ed Young Says – Oscar Smith 38-6
Great Bridge (1-2) at Hickory (2-1) . . . By beating Hickory 35-7 last year, the Wildcats of Great Bridge halted a six-game losing skid in the head-to-head series. The 29-13 triumph over Western Branch last week for Hickory marked their first over the Bruins since 2018, ending a five-game series skid of their own. Winning here would put Hickory at 3-1 overall to start a season for the first time since 2011 when ironically enough they enjoyed their last winning record, concluding 6-4 overall under Jupiter Wilson.
Matt Hatfield Says – Great Bridge 20-14 (OT)
Coach Ed Young Says – Hickory 21-20
Warwick (4-0) at Gloucester (1-3) . . . Since opening with a 13-2 victory over Kecoughtan, the Gloucester Dukes have dropped three in a row and been held to single-digit points in each defeat. That’s not good news when you get ready to take on a Warwick defense that has 11 regular season shutouts to its credit since the start of 2023. The senior class is trying to make it a perfect 4 for 4 on shutouts against the Dukes, who haven’t beaten Warwick since a 42-8 stunner in 2017.
Matt Hatfield Says – Warwick 50-6
Coach Ed Young Says – Warwick 48-0
Kecoughtan (0-4) at Menchville (1-2) . . . The Warriors are still looking for their first touchdown of the season, having been shutout in three straight games since the 13-2 season-opening loss at Gloucester. These two schools have alternated victories in the series over the past four years with Menchville winning 27-23 a year ago. Remember the name LaDarius Adams for the Monarchs. He’s a jack-of-all-trades for Rodney Taylor’s squad, capable of finding the end zone, coming up with a crucial takeaway or making a game-altering play at any time on special teams.
Matt Hatfield Says – Menchville 26-7
Coach Ed Young Says – Menchville 24-8
