We Friday Night Fanatics are not accustomed to having to share the spotlight with something as insignificant as March Madness, but since that was a necessary evil this year, let me at least give a little bit of attention to the hardwoods before I get to tonight's main events. To no great surprise, today's first full day of action had its share of upsets, as a number 12, a number 13, and even a number 15 seed took down higher-profile opponents.
Meanwhile, I am sorry to say that our beloved ACC did not have a good day as four of the five teams that were in action (Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, and Clemson) tasted defeat, with only Syracuse managing to win today. UVa and Florida State each swing into action in the Saturday sessions and will try to balance the scales a bit. However, an even bigger surprise were the embarrassing defeats suffered by two of the mighty Big Ten's heavyweights, as number two seed Ohio State lost in overtime to Oral Roberts and number 4 Purdue lost, also in overtime, to North Texas.
In other teams that some of you might follow, Gate City's Mac McClung and his Texas Tech team posted an impressive first round win, and Huggie Bear picked up what I believe was his 900th career win as West Virginia finally put away a pesky Morehead State team. Liberty gave a good effort but could not handle Oklahoma State. I am sure there are some other favorite teams out there but let's move on to the matters at hand.
Here in Augusta County, we had four games of interest tonight as previewed for you earlier. Two of those went very much as expected with Riverheads rolling over Staunton 55-7 and Stuarts Draft posting its third shutout in four games, this one over Fort Defiance 35-0. But the other two games might make some of you go "ohhh you don't say" when you read this report Saturday morning.
The first of those was maybe not a huge surprise after all as it involved two winless teams, but the monkey is finally off the back of the Waynesboro Little Giants as they traveled to East Rock tonight and won their first game since 2017 with a 20-7 victory over the Eagles. Not quite sure why East Rock is having such a down year, but the Giants needed that win and all of Augusta County should be happy for them.
But for my money, the BIG local upset of the evening, and since I had been watching so much basketball I just learned about this a few minutes ago, was Wilson Memorial's 27-14 road win at Buffalo Gap. Supposedly their QB Kadin Welcher had a big hand in the win. So that kind of upsets the apple cart for the Bison, who were still in the running for a Class 2 playoff berth. Since their next game is at Riverheads of all places next Friday, something tells me that playoff berth has a pretty good chance of going to someone else.
So it was an odd evening for sure with all four wins going to the visiting team. To sum up the Gladiator win, and forgive me for shortening that part of the story due to the March Madness games, but the Big Red took control early as they forced a fumble on the Storm's second play from scrimmage and only needed to go 18 yards for their first TD.
Senior Zac Smiley got the honors and before the evening was over, he would hit paydirt twice more, one coming on a 34-yard pass play, as he set a new Riverheads record for career touchdowns, breaking the previous record held by Logan Moore. His classmates Cy Cox and Cole Burton each scored in the first half as the Gladiators rolled to a 35-0 lead to set the running clock in motion, which probably did not bother anybody, due to the chilly temperatures.
Last but certainly not least, having the game of his still very young career was freshman running back Cayden Cook-Cash, who has scored in all four games so far this season and added three scores of his own tonight. Stick around for the next three seasons folks and we may be reporting that he broke Smiley's record!
The Gladiator defense manhandled Staunton all night long and the only thing the home team did that confused Riverheads even the least little bit was to switch quarterbacks after that disastrous opening possession and the new guy had a different cadence that drew the Big Red offsides a time or two. But once RHS adjusted, that problem solved itself and the Storm's only score came late in the game against the Gladiator reserves.
As mentioned the Gladiators will entertain the Bison next week and Staunton will host its third straight county team when Stuarts Draft comes calling. Assuming that those two games go the way they will be expected to, that will set the stage for the BIG showdown in Greenville between what should be two undefeated teams. That one will be a Thursday night game, April Fool's Night to be exact.
Also on the docket next Friday (26th) will be the Fort at Wilson game, and am I correct Hornet fans, that will be your FIRST home game of the season??? Not sure how that happened, but after the big win at the Gap tonight, you should be sky high for that one and just might send the Indians tumbling to a third straight defeat. We will take a closer look at all of next week's games soon, including a preview of whatever Waynesboro will be doing for an encore.
Meanwhile, I am sorry to say that our beloved ACC did not have a good day as four of the five teams that were in action (Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, and Clemson) tasted defeat, with only Syracuse managing to win today. UVa and Florida State each swing into action in the Saturday sessions and will try to balance the scales a bit. However, an even bigger surprise were the embarrassing defeats suffered by two of the mighty Big Ten's heavyweights, as number two seed Ohio State lost in overtime to Oral Roberts and number 4 Purdue lost, also in overtime, to North Texas.
In other teams that some of you might follow, Gate City's Mac McClung and his Texas Tech team posted an impressive first round win, and Huggie Bear picked up what I believe was his 900th career win as West Virginia finally put away a pesky Morehead State team. Liberty gave a good effort but could not handle Oklahoma State. I am sure there are some other favorite teams out there but let's move on to the matters at hand.
Here in Augusta County, we had four games of interest tonight as previewed for you earlier. Two of those went very much as expected with Riverheads rolling over Staunton 55-7 and Stuarts Draft posting its third shutout in four games, this one over Fort Defiance 35-0. But the other two games might make some of you go "ohhh you don't say" when you read this report Saturday morning.
The first of those was maybe not a huge surprise after all as it involved two winless teams, but the monkey is finally off the back of the Waynesboro Little Giants as they traveled to East Rock tonight and won their first game since 2017 with a 20-7 victory over the Eagles. Not quite sure why East Rock is having such a down year, but the Giants needed that win and all of Augusta County should be happy for them.
But for my money, the BIG local upset of the evening, and since I had been watching so much basketball I just learned about this a few minutes ago, was Wilson Memorial's 27-14 road win at Buffalo Gap. Supposedly their QB Kadin Welcher had a big hand in the win. So that kind of upsets the apple cart for the Bison, who were still in the running for a Class 2 playoff berth. Since their next game is at Riverheads of all places next Friday, something tells me that playoff berth has a pretty good chance of going to someone else.
So it was an odd evening for sure with all four wins going to the visiting team. To sum up the Gladiator win, and forgive me for shortening that part of the story due to the March Madness games, but the Big Red took control early as they forced a fumble on the Storm's second play from scrimmage and only needed to go 18 yards for their first TD.
Senior Zac Smiley got the honors and before the evening was over, he would hit paydirt twice more, one coming on a 34-yard pass play, as he set a new Riverheads record for career touchdowns, breaking the previous record held by Logan Moore. His classmates Cy Cox and Cole Burton each scored in the first half as the Gladiators rolled to a 35-0 lead to set the running clock in motion, which probably did not bother anybody, due to the chilly temperatures.
Last but certainly not least, having the game of his still very young career was freshman running back Cayden Cook-Cash, who has scored in all four games so far this season and added three scores of his own tonight. Stick around for the next three seasons folks and we may be reporting that he broke Smiley's record!
The Gladiator defense manhandled Staunton all night long and the only thing the home team did that confused Riverheads even the least little bit was to switch quarterbacks after that disastrous opening possession and the new guy had a different cadence that drew the Big Red offsides a time or two. But once RHS adjusted, that problem solved itself and the Storm's only score came late in the game against the Gladiator reserves.
As mentioned the Gladiators will entertain the Bison next week and Staunton will host its third straight county team when Stuarts Draft comes calling. Assuming that those two games go the way they will be expected to, that will set the stage for the BIG showdown in Greenville between what should be two undefeated teams. That one will be a Thursday night game, April Fool's Night to be exact.
Also on the docket next Friday (26th) will be the Fort at Wilson game, and am I correct Hornet fans, that will be your FIRST home game of the season??? Not sure how that happened, but after the big win at the Gap tonight, you should be sky high for that one and just might send the Indians tumbling to a third straight defeat. We will take a closer look at all of next week's games soon, including a preview of whatever Waynesboro will be doing for an encore.
