Bay Rivers District

[lucustookis]

Of the 10 teams in the district, only Bruton and Poquoson are 2A. 5 of the 10 schools are 4A, and 3 of the 10 schools are 3A.

I have the following (only my guess-opinion only).

1. Lafayette-lost in the semi's of 4A to Louisa.in a game they probably should have won. Louisa lost to Salem the next game for the state championship. Lafayette will be solid again, and they will win the district in my opinion.

2. Smithfield- If i'm not mistaken, they lost in Williamsburg last year. Lafayette has to come to Smithfield

3. Poquoson.

4. York. Returns a bunch, beat Poquoson last year. York will be slightly better than last year. So will Poquoson. In my opinion, not much difference in 3 and 4 with Poquoson and York, and really, not much of a difference overall with 3 through 6 with Poquoson, York, Warhill and New Kent. Warhill and New Kent are both going to be better than last year.

5. Warhill- 2 legit Div 1 prospects.

6. New Kent. Going to be better this year and they weren't bad last year.

7. Tabb

8. Bruton

9. Grafton

10 Jamestown

 

[anon_vu6vqwsr4nf3b]

1. Lafayette-lost in the semi's of 4A to Louisa in a game they probably should have won.

How so? This is my first time seeing/hearing this.

 

[matthew328826]

Of the 10 teams in the district, only Bruton and Poquoson are 2A. 5 of the 10 schools are 4A, and 3 of the 10 schools are 3A.

I have the following (only my guess-opinion only).

1. Lafayette-lost in the semi's of 4A to Louisa.in a game they probably should have won. Louisa lost to Salem the next game for the state championship. Lafayette will be solid again, and they will win the district in my opinion.

2. Smithfield- If i'm not mistaken, they lost in Williamsburg last year. Lafayette has to come to Smithfield

3. Poquoson.

4. York. Returns a bunch, beat Poquoson last year. York will be slightly better than last year. So will Poquoson. In my opinion, not much difference in 3 and 4 with Poquoson and York, and really, not much of a difference overall with 3 through 6 with Poquoson, York, Warhill and New Kent. Warhill and New Kent are both going to be better than last year.

5. Warhill- 2 legit Div 1 prospects.

6. New Kent. Going to be better this year and they weren't bad last year.

7. Tabb

8. Bruton

9. Grafton

10 Jamestown

Looks about right. I'm not quite as high on Smithfield this year as past couple seasons. New coaching staff, their stud Willie Drew moved on to JMU, and the likes of York as well as Poquoson return much more of their 2017 rosters. So would probably move them down a few pegs and the two below them up.

 

[affliction27]

That district would be better if it was split.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Looks about right. I'm not quite as high on Smithfield this year as past couple seasons. New coaching staff, their stud Willie Drew moved on to JMU, and the likes of York as well as Poquoson return much more of their 2017 rosters. So would probably move them down a few pegs and the two below them up.

I agree. I would move Smithfield to 6th, pushing everything above up a notch. The bottom four could shake out in virtually any order, but I don't believe any of them will end up 6th or higher.

Who is Lafayette's OOD game? No reason they don't hit the playoffs 10-0 this year.

 

[LHS Rams]

I agree. I would move Smithfield to 6th, pushing everything above up a notch. The bottom four could shake out in virtually any order, but I don't believe any of them will end up 6th or higher.

Who is Lafayette's OOD game? No reason they don't hit the playoffs 10-0 this year.

I.C. Norcom, who was good last year, but not sure about this season...Lafayette will be good, as usual, but their defense will undoubtedly drop off some.

 

[lucustookis]

I can see why many have the Pack picked lower with the coaching change and Drew graduating. They had over 20 seniors, but.......athletes everywhere and what they have in the cabinet is a bunch! Newhall is no dummy. He's a UVA former player and grad, and had a couple of years in the league on practice squads. He knows football.

I believe (and no offense to Chavis Harrell) that Newhall will end up doing better than both of them by the time he's done. He's a tough dude and a very high IQ type. I think Smithfield becomes an overall better coached team with Newhall. I understand he is a wing style guy offensively. That will take some to work out for sure. With Dinwiddie and Lafayette early on, they will be formidable in the district. Should be a fun year, and for 2019, with one year under his belt getting their new offense in place and with what they will have returning from 2018, 2019 may see them make a deep run. Time will tell, but dont think for a minute they have little talent. They lost a bunch of starters, but they reload wth athletes all over the field. I picked them them as high as I did directly because of the dude taking over. Disclaimer, and old fishing buddy so yes.....I'm biased here. They have a guy taking over who is very sharp.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

I'm a Packers fan, too. And I hope you are correct, and to an extent, I think you are. I believe before the season ends, they will be a team that you want to be careful about in the early round of the playoffs, (assuming they can get there).

Of course, I have a vested interest in them going 9-1, if you get my drift.

But I do like them. They, behind Drew, played Dinwiddie pretty darn tough last year. Drew played as hard on the first down of the game as he did on the last play of the game. He earned my respect.

 

[lucustookis]

Well, Dinwiddie, I have an interest in them going 9-1 also, but with that loss to the Islanders of course! Seriously though, I am a personal friend of the new coach (even though he is a Wahoo), so I'm rooting for him. I feel confident in the following.....Smithfield ain't beating Dinwiddie.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

LOL, I won't go that far. On any given Friday night...!

Hey, how about 8-2 then?

Did I see something that Poquosen may be close to dropping to Class 2, (2a, I'm still trying to get used to calling it "Class"!)

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Well dumbass me, they are all ready 2a. Sadly, I knew that.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

I just forgot.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

And I haven't been drinking, either.

 

[matthew328826]

I can see why many have the Pack picked lower with the coaching change and Drew graduating. They had over 20 seniors, but.......athletes everywhere and what they have in the cabinet is a bunch! Newhall is no dummy. He's a UVA former player and grad, and had a couple of years in the league on practice squads. He knows football.

I believe (and no offense to Chavis Harrell) that Newhall will end up doing better than both of them by the time he's done. He's a tough dude and a very high IQ type. I think Smithfield becomes an overall better coached team with Newhall. I understand he is a wing style guy offensively. That will take some to work out for sure. With Dinwiddie and Lafayette early on, they will be formidable in the district. Should be a fun year, and for 2019, with one year under his belt getting their new offense in place and with what they will have returning from 2018, 2019 may see them make a deep run. Time will tell, but dont think for a minute they have little talent. They lost a bunch of starters, but they reload wth athletes all over the field. I picked them them as high as I did directly because of the dude taking over. Disclaimer, and old fishing buddy so yes.....I'm biased here. They have a guy taking over who is very sharp.

We had Newhall on our radio show last weekend on ESPN 94.1. We'll have the replay up, likely later today, if you want to hear what he had to say / more about his background as well as plans for this coming season.

 

[lucustookis]

We had Newhall on our radio show last weekend on ESPN 94.1. We'll have the replay up, likely later today, if you want to hear what he had to say / more about his background as well as plans for this coming season.

Thanks Matt, I will try and catch the replay. I'm interested in what he's stated publicly, if anything about his offensive scheme/preference. I know for sure he's a guy that loves "wing stuff" and I suspect we will see lots of wing variations, Pro T, Split T, etc. Time will tell. I don't know about what was discussed on your show or how well you know him, but I'm sure that you can tell simply by your discussion, the dude is articulate and very sharp. Many times when a program has had some success and a coach leaves pretty late in the school year and not to far from the late summer/fall football start (Smithfield), the incoming coach is one that often doesn't do very well. This isn't always the case, but it does happen a bunch at many programs. This in my opinion, is the assumption many may make with Smithfield (and rightfully so) and there coaching change. In my opinion only, this will be a wrong assumption. He will get things going much quicker than we may expect and he's do well. Smithfield has got them a winner.

 

[matthew328826]

Interview with Smithfield Head Football Coach Mike Newhall on Sat. July 7, 2018 on ESPN Radio 94.1's High School Sports Talk Presented by VirginiaPreps.com:

 

[obguthr]

I can see why many have the Pack picked lower with the coaching change and Drew graduating. They had over 20 seniors, but.......athletes everywhere and what they have in the cabinet is a bunch! Newhall is no dummy. He's a UVA former player and grad, and had a couple of years in the league on practice squads. He knows football.

I believe (and no offense to Chavis Harrell) that Newhall will end up doing better than both of them by the time he's done. He's a tough dude and a very high IQ type. I think Smithfield becomes an overall better coached team with Newhall. I understand he is a wing style guy offensively. That will take some to work out for sure. With Dinwiddie and Lafayette early on, they will be formidable in the district. Should be a fun year, and for 2019, with one year under his belt getting their new offense in place and with what they will have returning from 2018, 2019 may see them make a deep run. Time will tell, but dont think for a minute they have little talent. They lost a bunch of starters, but they reload wth athletes all over the field. I picked them them as high as I did directly because of the dude taking over. Disclaimer, and old fishing buddy so yes.....I'm biased here. They have a guy taking over who is very sharp.

Pretty much this.Smaller district teams wish they had Smithfield's talent and depth. I wouldn't expect them to finish lower than 4th. With a bit more consistent play, York could make waves this year.

Poquoson was fun to watch last year, and this isn't really a rebuilding year, but didn't they lose their two biggest play makers?

 

[lucustookis]

Lost 1 of the 2. Hicks and Green return.

 

[obguthr]

Lost 1 of the 2. Hicks and Green return.

Schmidt and Henesey are the two I was thinking of. Did they both graduate?

 

[lucustookis]

Schmidt and Henesey are the two I was thinking of. Did they both graduate?

Yes, but I was counting Hicks, as well as the emergence of B.Green. I thought you were referring to running/offense. Hunter, like RH are huge losses. RH not just as a backer and pulverizing runner, but he was another coach on the field. Schmidt is surely going to be missed up front, but with all the pieces returning and what is coming up, I think we will be ok. Time will tell. One thing is key....Hicks needs to stay healthy. Its critical. He is going to be that valuable fro O to D to special teams to leadership, he's another first team All State type player that will be the team leader in 2018.

 

[LHS Rams]

I'm pretty certain Schmidt was a junior last season, so he should be back...however, in addition to Henesey, they also graduated a very good athlete in McDevitt. Their line play will go a long way in determining how successful they are, as it often does...w/the exception of Schmidt, I'm not sure who they have returning on the lines, but they'll be sound, physical and very well coached.

Everyone knows about Hicks and the emergence of Green, but I see Barrett having a phenomenal year...looking forward to the season!

 

[lucustookis]

Just checked with my buddy who has a son who is an upcoming sophomore on the Poqouson football team. He tells me Schmidt is back, and will be an upcoming senior. I thought he graduated. That's an all state player returning. LHS Rams, I agree on the lineplay. Its all about the biggin's up front.