The Wilson Memorial Green Hornets had faced a couple of challenges this week.....losing unexpectedly at home to Stuarts Draft and then pulling out a close road win at Buffalo Gap last night. But today in a hastily-arranged, pre-snowstorm afternoon game with Riverheads, they moved one step closer to a district title as they eased past the Big Red 71-55.
Jaziel Mensah was the early architect for the home team, as he scored at will, accounting for 13 of the Hornets' first 15 points. The Harrisonburg transfer cooled off after that but unfortunately for RHS, it appeared as if just about all his teammates picked up where he left off, especially in the middle two quarters where Wilson enjoyed a 38-17 scoring advantage. Riverheads on the other hand just could not find the range consistently and managed only two three-pointers in the game, as compared to the nine they had knocked down last night against Fort Defiance.
The Hornets appeared to be the fresher team and perhaps the Gladiators just could not get up emotionally to play another game just 18 hours after the previous one ended. RHS did manage to stick with Wilson for a while and in fact even took an early lead behind four quick points from Ryan Farris, followed by four more from Tye Morris. Those two would end up sharing team-high honors for Riverheads with 14 points each. But once Mensah got into his groove, the Hornets were able to gradually pull away, leading 22-16 after one and 42-27 at the half.
They continued to pad the lead in the third quarter but Riverheads kept hustling and actually doubled up the score on them 22-11 in the fourth period to make the final more respectable. In that fourth quarter flurry, the Gladiators got some quality minutes from subs Noah Williams and Levi Byer, the latter having just returned to the team after missing several games. He is gradually earning more PT, as his leaping ability and rebounding skills give the Gladiators an additional inside presence.
There was no JV game today, although one is at least on the schedule for Monday. However the top priority this upcoming week will be to finish the varsity regular season, which ends Friday, as hard as that is to believe. Since our six teams are in three classifications (1 through 3), there are many playoff berths at stake, so this final week could get wild and woolly.
The Hornets hold a one-game lead over both Fort Defiance and Staunton in the Shenandoah standings, and by coincidence, guess who their final two opponents will be? They of course will hope to win both of those so as to claim the mythical district title but also solidify the best possible regional seeding.
Riverheads is battling Buffalo Gap and Stuarts Draft for the 4-6 spots in the final standings and in another coincidence, those two teams are the Gladiators' final opponents of the regular season. They will host the Bison on Tuesday and travel to Stuarts Draft Friday.
While the boys teams were duking it out in Fishersville today, the ladies met at the same time down in Greenville. The first-place Lady Hornets opened up a huge lead in that one, but had to stave off a valiant rally by the Lady Gladiators before posting a 73-63 win in a high-scoring affair. There was no JV game played there either, but the Riverheads Juniors would no doubt like to see one still played, so they can avenge their only loss of the season.
Any way you slice it and no matter who you root for, we are lucky to have managed a season at all, given the pandemic conditions, and let's hope the various teams from our area that advance to post-season play will make us proud. A state championship banner (or even two!) hanging somewhere in the county would be something to look forward to when the fans are (hopefully) allowed back in the gyms next winter.
Jaziel Mensah was the early architect for the home team, as he scored at will, accounting for 13 of the Hornets' first 15 points. The Harrisonburg transfer cooled off after that but unfortunately for RHS, it appeared as if just about all his teammates picked up where he left off, especially in the middle two quarters where Wilson enjoyed a 38-17 scoring advantage. Riverheads on the other hand just could not find the range consistently and managed only two three-pointers in the game, as compared to the nine they had knocked down last night against Fort Defiance.
The Hornets appeared to be the fresher team and perhaps the Gladiators just could not get up emotionally to play another game just 18 hours after the previous one ended. RHS did manage to stick with Wilson for a while and in fact even took an early lead behind four quick points from Ryan Farris, followed by four more from Tye Morris. Those two would end up sharing team-high honors for Riverheads with 14 points each. But once Mensah got into his groove, the Hornets were able to gradually pull away, leading 22-16 after one and 42-27 at the half.
They continued to pad the lead in the third quarter but Riverheads kept hustling and actually doubled up the score on them 22-11 in the fourth period to make the final more respectable. In that fourth quarter flurry, the Gladiators got some quality minutes from subs Noah Williams and Levi Byer, the latter having just returned to the team after missing several games. He is gradually earning more PT, as his leaping ability and rebounding skills give the Gladiators an additional inside presence.
There was no JV game today, although one is at least on the schedule for Monday. However the top priority this upcoming week will be to finish the varsity regular season, which ends Friday, as hard as that is to believe. Since our six teams are in three classifications (1 through 3), there are many playoff berths at stake, so this final week could get wild and woolly.
The Hornets hold a one-game lead over both Fort Defiance and Staunton in the Shenandoah standings, and by coincidence, guess who their final two opponents will be? They of course will hope to win both of those so as to claim the mythical district title but also solidify the best possible regional seeding.
Riverheads is battling Buffalo Gap and Stuarts Draft for the 4-6 spots in the final standings and in another coincidence, those two teams are the Gladiators' final opponents of the regular season. They will host the Bison on Tuesday and travel to Stuarts Draft Friday.
While the boys teams were duking it out in Fishersville today, the ladies met at the same time down in Greenville. The first-place Lady Hornets opened up a huge lead in that one, but had to stave off a valiant rally by the Lady Gladiators before posting a 73-63 win in a high-scoring affair. There was no JV game played there either, but the Riverheads Juniors would no doubt like to see one still played, so they can avenge their only loss of the season.
Any way you slice it and no matter who you root for, we are lucky to have managed a season at all, given the pandemic conditions, and let's hope the various teams from our area that advance to post-season play will make us proud. A state championship banner (or even two!) hanging somewhere in the county would be something to look forward to when the fans are (hopefully) allowed back in the gyms next winter.
