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GW trailed 30-27 at the half, but overwhelmed the Bruins in the 2nd half

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Najee Harris - Millbrook High School Winchester Graduate. Good Luck in the Super Bowl !

Those of you who watch ACC basketball have probably heard commentator Dan Bonner remark more than once "this game is a lot simpler when the ball goes in the basket." Well the Riverheads Gladiators learned that lesson first hand tonight when they suffered through an absolutely horrendous first-half shooting slump that easily allowed visiting Fort Defiance to run away with a 63-31 win.

It was hard at times to realize that this was the same Big Red team that had actually WON on Fort Defiance's home court earlier this year or that this was the same Gladiator team that knocked down 14 three-pointers one night to set a new school record, only to then break that record a few games later by hitting 15. But on this night, just nothing would find the range in that dismal first half as the Indians raced to a 28-8 halftime lead.

The Gladiators did not appear to be doing anything fundamentally wrong during those first two quarters. They were running their offense and they were getting shots but they just would not fall. They only managed three field goals in that first half, but I would estimate they had at least 30 attempted shots. (I will let you math whizzes calculate what kind of shooting percentage that would have been if my estimate was close.)

Ironically the game started out great for Riverheads. They won the opening tap and worked the ball around for about 30 seconds until Bennett Dunlap, one of five seniors being honored tonight, dropped in a triple to open the scoring. It then took the Indians a little bit of time to warm up and when their leading scorer Tyreek Veney picked up two fairly quick fouls, that might have also been expected to work in Riverheads' favor.

Instead the Gladiators failed to score for the rest of the opening period and for at least the first six minutes of the second. As a result, FD raced out to a 22-5 lead before Will Gardner drained the first of his three triples to give RHS its third basket of the half.

I told my seatmates that I expected the Gladiators to come back in the second half and make a game of it, and to their credit they did show a little bit of promise in the first few minutes as they actually trimmed the lead down to 14 at 38-24. But soon after that, the Indians stepped up the pace and raced away to the easy win.

There were very few Fort fans on hand, as their girls were hosting Riverheads and we can assume the larger crowd chose that game, but the ones that were on hand roared their approval in the final few minutes when crowd favorite Alphonzo Bruce dropped in six points over the closing minutes. We assume he is one of those guys that pays his dues in practice but plays limited minutes and has not scored much this season, so the Indian fans were understandably excited to see him do well.

For Riverheads, the best thing they can do now is to A) remember that they have been on the winning side of four games this season that were won by margins like this; and B) put tonight out of their minds and look forward, especially since they have to turn around and travel to Mountain View tomorrow night, as in Wednesday the 1st. Up there in Quicksburg, the Generals are still winless on the season, so one might ordinarily expect an easy bounce-back win for the Big Red, who won the game 69-42 at Riverheads earlier this season. In fact, MV was the opponent the night that RHS set the new three point record of 15.

So as Coach Weller has likely already done, let's put this one in the rear view mirror and concentrate on sweeping the series from the Generals. There is a little of that "wintry mix" in the forecast for overnight, but it is predicted to be out of the area by early morning, so it is expected that the game can go on as scheduled.

Although the JV game came first tonight in the usual fashion, it somewhat followed the same script. RHS scored first, FD then scored something like 16 points in a row to take charge, Riverheads came back in the second half, but the Indians stood their ground and took home a 51-37 victory. RHS cut the margin down to 9 on about four occasions in the fourth quarter but just could not get any closer. They too beat Mountain View the first time around so hopefully the mood on the bus ride tomorrow night will be "let's bring home a pair of wins tonight."

As for Fort Defiance, I believe I read someplace that their next game is against Wilson. Gee I wonder if anything special will be at stake in that one...............

A high scoring affair - LOL.

Glad the Wildcats got the road win at Appomattox - always a hard place to play!
Dan River won the first meeting in Ringgold 34-31 in early January.

The Wildcats will host Gretna on Friday, February 3

Dogwood Boys Results - January 31
Dan River 26 Appomattox County 24
Gretna 86 Chatham 77
Altavista 66 William Campbell 62

Dogwood Girls - January 31
Appomattox County 56 Dan River 49 (It's been listed 58-50 but Appomattox won either way)
William Campbell 49 Altavista 25
Chatham 77 Gretna 29

Who is next up at Glass?

JI Burton 55 Eastside 54
Wilson Memorial 79 Buffalo Gap 65
Carver Academy 80 Mathews 46
Lancaster 93 Colonial Beach 31
Twin Springs 64 Thomas Walker 40
Auburn 76 Giles 38
Westmoreland 59 Rappahannock 57
Middlesex 75 Charles City 48
Chilhowie 65 Northwood 46
Fort Defiance 63 Riverheads 31
Lebanon 73 Rural Retreat 49
Altavista 66 William Campbell 62

Menchville swept the regular season matchup against the Woodside Wolverines with a tough fought 58-52 win at home. VMI commit A.J Clark made 15 of 16 free throws and totaled four blocks to help the Monarchs improved to a perfect 17-0.

The Monarchs led by as much as 10 points on two occasion with the latest (26-16) with less than three minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. Senior Etienne Strothers had two deep threes for the Menchville in the 1st half.

Woodside cut the lead to six at halftime and pulled to within two (37-35) after a 3-pointer from junior Mykel Jenkins.

Menchville senior Andre Carter converted a 4-point play to give the Monarchs a 40-35 lead until back-to-back baskets including a three by Jermaine Detrick kept the Wolverines within reach (43-40).

Junior Jakobe Reid scored seven of his team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter and his 3-pointer with 3:27 left in the game tied the score at 47.

With Menchville looking for offense, junior Jordan Watlington hit perhaps the biggest shot of the night with a wide open three off a pass from Devin Keasey with 1:40 remaining in the game. Watlington finished with 12 points including two treys. After the teams exchanged free throws.

Dietrick drained another jumper to slice the lead to 54-52. Clark went to the line for a 1-and-1 and swished both free throws. he then went to the other end he blocked a shot and was fouled. He converted two more free throws for the final 58-52 margin

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Nice district win for the Red Devils!! They now move to 7-0 in the district, 18-0 overall.

Let’s Go Red Devils!!!👺👺🏀🏀💪🏾💪🏾

Good luck to all regions that has to go against that Bronco defense. Chaevon Torrence ended the game with 36pts

C'mon .... we have to be better than this!

1. Lancaster
2. Franklin
3. Altavista
4. George Wythe
5. Auburn
6. Northampton
7. Middlesex
8. Narrows
9. Chilhowie
10. Lebanon

Honorable Mention:
Twin Springs
Carver Academy
Honaker
Westmoreland

The Lady Royal Tigers earned a hard fought 43-40 victory over the Lady Drifters of Colonial Beach.

Congrats to Westmoreland’s Jordan Saunders who committed to Old Dominion University today.

Boys were shooting lights out tonight!! Way to go Red Devils!!!

Battled the whole way!!! JV boys first list of the season. Hold your head up Red Devils!!!

If you have any 2023 football schedules post them here.

Mannn one hell of a game…. The first half. Let’s go Red Devils!!!!

11th Annual Coaches for the Cure
Jan 28, 2023
VSU Multi Purpose Center