Due to the distance involved and an early Saturday morning obligation, I have to bow out of my usual responsibility of writing up this game. So if anyone else wants to give live updates or fill in for me this time, please feel free to do so. I will be able to chime in sometime over the weekend to add my two cents worth, but just not Friday night as I usually do. Good luck to both teams and of course to all the RHS fans for safe travels.

Hermitage Panthers
41

2nd Quarter

Deep Run Wildcats
0

Strange game as both teams pushed to score until the end,

Nansemond-Suffolk Academy 35 Catholic HS 0

Salem 56 Hidden Valley 6

Greetings from Yorktown on this 70-degree night as the sun sets in Yorktown at Bailey Field, where the reigning Region 3A Champion Lafayette Rams (4-0) visit the Grafton Clippers (1-4).
We'll have updates on this first Thursday of October 2024 throughout the night here and via Twitter or 'X' as it is more commonly known @hatfieldsports

Before we kick it off, let's get to our mini capsule and picks from the game earlier on the V.I.P. Board...


Lafayette (4-0) at Grafton (1-3) . . . Andy Linn’s Rams of Lafayette have won 13 straight in the head-to-head series with Grafton, which last prevailed over the Bay Rivers District power in 2010 by a count of 35-31. Ironically enough, that was the final season under Paul Wheeler as Head Coach for Lafayette before Linn took over. The Clippers are putting up just 9.3 points per game, being held to single-digits in each of the past three games since a 46-14 home loss to Grafton. Conversely, the Rams are putting up 49.3 points per contest, fresh off a 47-0 thumping over Smithfield where they piled up 525 total yards of offense. Tailback Brayden Smalls ran wild with 180 yards rushing and 3 TD’s in the shutout.

Matt Hatfield Says – Lafayette 42-8
Coach Ed Young Says – Lafayette 38-6

A win is a win but this is not a good sign for the Salem defense. With how strong 4D is this year a lot of teams in 4D could very well knock off Salem in the first round if this defense does not shape up.

We've got Thursday night Football Predictions - the first of October 2024 - in the next post...

Dinwiddie @ Thomas Dale
Caroline @ Culpeper Co
Chancellor @ James Monroe
King George @ Courtland
Patrick Henry Ash @ Hanover
Monacan @ Manchester
Norview @ Manor
Hampton @ Phoebus
Glen Allen (C6) @ Freeman (C5)
Indian River (C5) @ King's Fork (C5)
Green Run (C5) @ Salem VB (C5)
Prince George (C5) @ Petersburg (C3)
Lake Taylor (C3) @ BT Washington (C3)
Powhatan @ LC Bird*
Eastern View @ N Stafford*

GW Danville @ Magna Vista*
Loudoun Co @ Riverside*
James Wood @ Meridian
Woodgrove @ Independence
Franklin Co (C5) @ Brookville (C3)
Riverbend (C5) @ Mountain View (C6)
Briar Woods (C5) @ Fort Hill MD (C2)
Northside (C3) @ Heritage Lyn (C3)
Glenvar (C2) @ Radford (C2)
Riverheads (C2) @ Christiansburg (C3)

*GOW 2 pts each

1. Sherando 24.50
2. EC Glass 22.50
3. Jefferson Forest 22.25
4. Mecklenburg County 21.75
5. GW-Danville 21.33
6. John Handley 21.25
6. James Wood 21.25
7. Salem 20.75
8. Orange County 19.33
9. Amherst County 17.66
10. Blacksburg 17.25
11. Millbrook 17.00
12. Halifax County 12.66
13. Charlottesville 12.33
14. Liberty-Bealeton 12.00

Context:

So yesterday in my news feed was a headline "Virginia High School Football Rankings". So I clicked on it and it said that some college professor had created an algorithm, yada yada, yada to come up with these rankings. So I clicked on it to find.........
Rappahannock County is ranked 5th! The professor didn't even know they play 8-man football!!! Plus, Auburn and Cumberland were ranked (although much lower on the ladder) and both even had records despite not fielding teams this season! I immediately swiped left!

1. Clarke County(4-0): 23.00
2. Strasburg (5-0): 22.80
3. Buckingham (4-0): 21.00
3. Central (3-1): 21.00
5. Riverheads (4-1): 20.20
6. Fort Defiance (3-2): 19.80
7. Madison (2-2): 16.75
8. Stuarts Draft (3-2): 16.20

9. Page (2-2): 13.25
10. Luray (1-4): 12.80
11. Stonewall Jackson (1-4): 12.4

Updated with the CW news. Page was WAY off, and I did the math a bunch of times. It never looked right to me. Fixed

I added Hampton @ Phoebus a few minutes after my original post.

Going to have these up at noon today since some games are moving to Thursday night.

*HereForTheRumors you got till noon to get a GOTW picked if not I guess I’ll pick.

Both games were in our weekly pickem also.

Grayson Co 28 Giles 7
James Monroe (WV) 34 Narrows 6

TJ pulled out Varina JV matchup for 10/3, any JV teams looking for a game in the upcoming weeks?

It took a couple of extra days but the Shenandoah District teams managed to squeeze in their first full week of district play with Staunton, Riverheads, and Buffalo Gap coming out victorious. The district race still looks completely wide open with six out of the seven teams still very alive for the district title, not to mention regional play afterwards.

Three teams.........Staunton, Buffalo Gap and Fort Defiance.......are all 1-0 in district play and three others........Stuarts Draft, Wilson and Waynesboro...........are 0-1. Riverheads is the only team to have played two district games and they are 1-1, although Wilson tried their darnedest to make sure the Big Red opened district play at 0-2.

With such a tight race, there are many possibilities for how things may turn out. If one team stays hot and wins out, they will obviously be the district champs, but one thing is for sure, those three 1-0 teams cannot ALL finish unbeaten, so something will have to give.

For at least two teams, injuries may have an impact on the rest of their season. Riverheads has lost a couple of guys for the year, most notably Austin Roberts, and Saturday they had another half dozen out of action, only to see yet another one, Jaden Dotson, leave the game with a possible neck issue. Meanwhile up at Fort Defiance, their amazing pass receiver Talyn Armentrout is out for an extended time, possibly the whole season, so their chances may hinge on who else can step up and give Miller some reliable targets. There may be other injuries at other schools that I have not heard about.

When do we expect the first dropping of the regional points rankings from the VHSL

TJ pulled out Varina JV matchup for 10/3, any JV teams looking for a game in the upcoming weeks?

TJ pulled out Varina JV matchup for 10/3, any JV teams looking for a game in the upcoming weeks?

1. Glenvar(4-0). 19.500
2. Gretna (3-1). 18.500
3. Floyd (3-2). 17.600
4. Nelson (3-1). 17.250
5. Patrick (3-2). 16.800
6. Radford (3-2) 15.800
7. Chatham (2-2). 14.500
8. Martinsville (2-3). 14.400
9. Dan River (1-3). 12.250
10. James River (1-4). 11.400
11. Liberty (0-5). 11.200
12. Appomattox (0-5). 11.000

1. Graham (5-0). 21.600
2. Ridgeview (5-0). 20.800
3. Lebanon (4-0). 20.000
4. Union (3-2). 18.600
5. Gate City (3-2). 15.800
6. Tazewell (2-2). 15.000
7. Lee (2-2) 14.750
8. Virginia (2-3). 14.200
9. Central (1-2). 13.000
10. Battle (0-4). 9.750
11. Marion (0-4). 9.750
12. Richlands (0-4). 9.250


Some cancellations that don't know when will be made up and still trying to figure out why no one has Central played but three games.

Effective immediately football in the greater Richmond region has been cancelled. Football will now be replaced with mud wrestling, outdoor swim meets, and snorkeling competition. Kayaking and canoeing will be added as demonstration sports. White water rafting on the former football fields has been deemed too dangerous because of the currents.

Week 5 was highlited by some teams putting up video game numbers

I have to start with the Rappahannock Raiders who put up 72pts vs the Chargers. This is the 2nd time this year that they have touched 70pts which is an impressive thing to do. They go into their bye week 5-0 with Essex next up. Should be a good one in Tappahannock on Oct 11th and my candidate for game of the week!

Speaking of high scoring, Lancaster over Arcadia 64-62 was something I certainly didn't expect. Lancaster bounced back after a close loss to Middlesex which is good when is comes to playoff seedings in Region A.

Rye Cove continues their dominant start to the season where it is clear that they may be the Favorite to come from the Region C/D side of the bracket to the championship

Sussex loses to Greenville which certainly is a blow to their top seed chances as they have conceded that to Altavista in Region B

Buffalo Gap over Waynesboro putting them square in the drivers seat for the #2 seed in Region B

After 2 early losses, GW looks to have righted the ship and won 2 in a row. Next up is a big time match up with Galax who hasn't shown up yet this year and is coming off a bye week

Altavista wins big over WC and won't face another test the rest of their regular season but maybe Gretna.

Essex with the forfeit win over KQ and with Charles City next up should be another game over in the 1st qtr. They def need to change up their schedule when it comes this upcoming cycle.