The Storm rallied from a two-score deficit Friday night to defeat Fort Defiance 24-21 and pretty much clinch the Shenandoah District regular-season title. Granted, red-hot Stuarts Draft can still tie them this week if they can beat Wilson. If that occurs, they would be officially declared Co-Champs but Staunton would have the bigger bragging rights because of winning the head-to-head match-up between the two. Of course Staunton has to go through the formality of beating Waynesboro to achieve that tie, but that should not be a huge hurdle.
So we will not get our five-way tie that I had dangled in front of you last week, but a three-way tie for second is still in the mix (more on that below). However the biggest thing on the minds of all the teams right now is playoff seeding. As it stands now, six of our seven Shenandoah teams will advance to the playoffs.......two in Class 3, three in Class 2, and one in Class 1. As you know I don't even try to calculate those things and my hat is off to anyone who does, but I don't "think" anyone is in danger of dropping out of contention.
So by late Friday night, Gunz or some other expert will likely have the unofficial playoff seeding for us and then this time next Monday, the VHSL should chime in and tell us what we will likely already know about who plays who where. But first there is the matter of the final night of the regular season and there are some biggies on tap.
The biggest and most impactful game in Region 2-B will be up in Woodstock when Strasburg travels to Central. That will not only be a bragging-rights game for that neck of the woods, but due to the re-instated wins that Central received Friday afternoon, that game will affect a number of other schools as well. There are far too many scenarios to even try to mention.
Meanwhile, down here in Shenandoah territory, the SD at Wilson tussle is the headline game for this area. Each has had a week off to get ready for the other, so that should mean that each will have a surprise or two in store to liven things up. Maybe we will see the first-ever triple reverse/flea flicker/Hail Mary all in one!
Also on tap will be the aforementioned Staunton at Waynesboro game and yet another rivalry battle when Buffalo Gap travels to Fort Defiance. Riverheads finally gets its bye week after playing for 10 straight weeks, and it could not come at a better time as the Gladiators need all the healing time they can get.
So here is my take on Friday night, which should be yet another surprisingly mild night for November football ...............
STAUNTON AT WAYNESBORO..........The Little Giants have some serious athletes and they play to the final whistle. But there has just been too big a talent difference this year between them and the other six in what has been an unusually well-balanced year for the 'Doah. The best they can hope for is to score early and give the home fans something to get excited about, but Staunton's depth and superior talent will take over and The Storm will win this one by at least 30-35 points.
BUFFALO GAP AT FORT DEFIANCE........There were times earlier in the year when these two looked strong enough to make all the other contenders shake in their boots. But someone had to sink down gradually and finish in the number six spot and that will be the Bison. However, they hung tough with everyone on the schedule and FD will not be able to take them lightly. I probably speak for a lot of fans when I say that The Indians were on track to win the district until Armentrout got hurt. Even so, their three district losses were all by one score and all three were not settled until the final minutes of the game. They now look like the number five team in the district standings for what that is worth, but if and when he can return to action, their stock will shoot up drastically. With or without him, look for about a 2-3 TD win for the home team in this one but don't be at all surprised if one or both make an impressive playoff run.
STUARTS DRAFT AT WILSON...........So my five-way- tie fantasy bit the dust. But you can believe that SD wants its share of that district hardware, and based on the way they humbled Riverheads week-before-last, they certainly look the part of best team in the district. But Wilson has been on a roll recently as well so this one will be a good old neighborhood backyard brawl. I don't have any stats to back this up but it seems like year after year in just about any sport, they have a tendency to pull out road wins over one another. So if that pattern continues. this game should go the way of the Cougars. However a Wilson win would not only delight the home fans but would benefit other teams as well. It would hand Staunton the outright district title and it would create a three-way tie for second between Riverheads, Draft and Wilson, since each would then be 4-2 in district play. As much as I would like to see that tie from a Riverheads standpoint, I cannot forget how dominant the Cougars were in that win over RHS, so I have to go with a Draft win in this one and an expectation that they may be the best shot the 'Doah has to win the region.
Last but not least, let's give the ladies some love too. I believe I have read that the Shenandoah has six teams competing in first-round regional playoff volleyball matches tonight (Monday the 4th.) They are of course distributed the same way among the three classifications, but the strongest teams this year have been Fort Defiance (Region 2-B) and Wilson (Region 3-C.) So best of luck to all six of our teams and I suspect your team's match can be found this evening on NFHS if interested.
