Here we go another great season of HS football ready to start. First of all I thank GOD for leaving me around to see another season provided he lets me live through this of many seasons I have witnessed! you appreciate life just a little more when you collapse and pass away like I did in April! so lets get on with my rankings this year!
I feel this years battlefield dist. will be one of the weakest fields I have witnessed in years. Most teams except Chancellor has lost key players and the dist. will be much stronger next year as the young players on the teams will have a year under their belts! Probably the dist. will be lucky to have but one team to advance in this years playoffs. Thankfully next year the VHSL will return to the old dist. format and stop teams from going to the playoffs that don't deserve to go. Here we go with my predictions:
# 1 CHANCELLOR CHARGERS : No surprise here as this senior laden team with 3 and maybe 4 D1 prospects are ripe and ready to win the district for what its worth and go far in the playoffs. But let me warn you and them championships are not won on paper because the other teams that play them could care less about that paper that says they have all this talent! A target is on their backs and the others would like nothing better than knock them off. This team is going to have to win on the field! I have seen Chancellor teams in the past have all these great players like Dominique Wallace and other D1 prospects get to the playoffs and flounder away! will this team like other charger teams under achieve? I hope not! they have a great QB Jason Brown that has steadly gotten better since his freshman yr. Good arm and legs also. he has a bevy of receivers lead by Jenkins and Matos and to make things worse for the other teams CJ Washington transferred from Riverbend! Great speed and a dangerous kick off and punt returner he is a definite game changer. Saw them in a scrimmage and got reports from the Lafayette scrimmage that the defense was impressive and that was one of two question marks for them! As everyone knows you need defense to win championships and it seem that question mark has been answered. My other weakness of the chargers is still my question are their running backs up to the task? Mario Wisdom has graduated but can backs up from the JV team run enough to keep defenses off Browns back giving him time to hit his receivers? As good as Brown and his receivers are they need to run a little bit to have a successful passing attack. Also they don't field but 30 or so players so are they deep enough to have injuries to keep the train moving? Last season Brown got hurt just before the playoffs and they got eliminated quick. So Chancellor you are on top so play to your potential and make the area proud with a state crown! Good luck my dear friend Bob Oliver.
# 2 KING GEORGE FOXES: The Foxes like Chancellor have about half of their starters back lead by speedster Jordan alley! Alley can do it all on offense and defense and even run punts and kick offs back. the QB has graduated but they still have adequate receivers back! They have a good RB back Jordan Reed back but like the downfall of most other KG teams can their defense be good enough to keep them in ball games against the Chargers and JM? In the scrimmage last week against Riverbend the fox defense held the Bears to 1 TD and it will take efforts like that to keep KG in the running! GOOD LUCK FOXES!
# 3 JAMES MONROE YELLOW JACKETS: JM is a team that lost a lot of talent last season and what really hurt was their QB AJ Felton going to Freedom! saw them in a scrimmage and both young Sophmores Shawn Smith and Zac Davis looking pretty good. Smith is a better runner and Davis a better passer will have to learn the ropes and by mid season I feel one will be adequate enough to drive the team. They have two quick backs in Dirk Jones and Dibyne Ford and two power backs Chris Coghill and Kemarjah Conway that ran well against a good Mountain View defense. The thing they lack is those long tall fast wide outs this year.The receivers are shorter than usual but one taller one was Brandon Woolridge that was impressive against MV. The jackets are lead by Eli Baylor and Conway as line backers and the interior line is pretty big and aggressive. like always the DB's are smallish and quick and looks like Ford is going to be a ball hawk as I saw in their scrimmage.
All in all don't sell any Serbay team short. The loss of Felton hurt them but that good JM coaching staff will develop these young QB's and mold this team into a contender by years end! Always talent and speed this year like all JM teams but right now too young to rank them higher but stay tuned! GOOD LUCK JM JACKETS!
# 4 COURTLAND COUGARS: Thought it would be many a day before I would rank the cougars this low but with everyone on last years powerful team gone and their playoff QB Chet Welborn gone to Riverbend its a rebuilding year for JC Hall and his cougars. The only experienced player in the backfield is Dakota Woodward son of Rodney Woodward that was player of the year at Chancellor in the 80's. Dakota got hurt last year but is also a good defensive back. The cougars have a good experienced coaching staff and will have this team back to their normal class of teams in a couple years. Courtland is too good of a program to be a bottom team for long. They have a tough schedule and will have to rely on last years JV players to have a respectable year! GOOD LUCK COURTLAND!
# 5 CAROLINE CAVALIERS: This year the Cavaliers may just be a surprise team. No not to make the playoffs or even a winning season but as Caroline always does plenty of speed and talent and I have said they now have a good coach Antron Yeates. If he stays the Cavaliers will be on the road to recovery. They have a excellent returning QB David Ware with a good receiver Brandon Williams both juniors. their offense has a few starters back and a few good JV players moving up! Half of the defense returns but what does that mean when the defense was the worst in the league. Still with these players that have a few years under coach Yeates system I see things on the up swing for Caroline! This team with a good QB and receivers if they can get a good back or two and a decent defense they will be my surprise team this year? Possible 3 wins? We shall see. Good luck Caroline Cavaliers!
#6 SPOTSYLVANIA KNIGHTS: This hurts me to no end to pick my boys from post oak dead last. In the scrimmage I saw very little talent size or speed. That's ok its a new beginning for the knights with new administration AD and more. I hope now with a coach the players like in AL Johnson and the hall of fame coach Tim Coleman helping greatness will be sooner than later. The only bright spot I saw was a good young QB and one decent RB with hour glass speed! But one thing that will be for sure the Knights will play hard until the game is over and who knows with a break or two might win a couple games! GOOD LUCK SPOTSY there is light at the end of the tunnel!
There we go friends another season ready to start with my fearless predictions. Not hard to pick a number 1 in Chancellor and all that talent. The rest of the teams have ifs and buts all over them. Only two teams KG and JM have any shot at the Chargers but to overtake them a lot of things have to fall into place and a little luck involved! AINT HS FOOTBALL GREAT! See you at the games!
I feel this years battlefield dist. will be one of the weakest fields I have witnessed in years. Most teams except Chancellor has lost key players and the dist. will be much stronger next year as the young players on the teams will have a year under their belts! Probably the dist. will be lucky to have but one team to advance in this years playoffs. Thankfully next year the VHSL will return to the old dist. format and stop teams from going to the playoffs that don't deserve to go. Here we go with my predictions:
# 1 CHANCELLOR CHARGERS : No surprise here as this senior laden team with 3 and maybe 4 D1 prospects are ripe and ready to win the district for what its worth and go far in the playoffs. But let me warn you and them championships are not won on paper because the other teams that play them could care less about that paper that says they have all this talent! A target is on their backs and the others would like nothing better than knock them off. This team is going to have to win on the field! I have seen Chancellor teams in the past have all these great players like Dominique Wallace and other D1 prospects get to the playoffs and flounder away! will this team like other charger teams under achieve? I hope not! they have a great QB Jason Brown that has steadly gotten better since his freshman yr. Good arm and legs also. he has a bevy of receivers lead by Jenkins and Matos and to make things worse for the other teams CJ Washington transferred from Riverbend! Great speed and a dangerous kick off and punt returner he is a definite game changer. Saw them in a scrimmage and got reports from the Lafayette scrimmage that the defense was impressive and that was one of two question marks for them! As everyone knows you need defense to win championships and it seem that question mark has been answered. My other weakness of the chargers is still my question are their running backs up to the task? Mario Wisdom has graduated but can backs up from the JV team run enough to keep defenses off Browns back giving him time to hit his receivers? As good as Brown and his receivers are they need to run a little bit to have a successful passing attack. Also they don't field but 30 or so players so are they deep enough to have injuries to keep the train moving? Last season Brown got hurt just before the playoffs and they got eliminated quick. So Chancellor you are on top so play to your potential and make the area proud with a state crown! Good luck my dear friend Bob Oliver.
# 2 KING GEORGE FOXES: The Foxes like Chancellor have about half of their starters back lead by speedster Jordan alley! Alley can do it all on offense and defense and even run punts and kick offs back. the QB has graduated but they still have adequate receivers back! They have a good RB back Jordan Reed back but like the downfall of most other KG teams can their defense be good enough to keep them in ball games against the Chargers and JM? In the scrimmage last week against Riverbend the fox defense held the Bears to 1 TD and it will take efforts like that to keep KG in the running! GOOD LUCK FOXES!
# 3 JAMES MONROE YELLOW JACKETS: JM is a team that lost a lot of talent last season and what really hurt was their QB AJ Felton going to Freedom! saw them in a scrimmage and both young Sophmores Shawn Smith and Zac Davis looking pretty good. Smith is a better runner and Davis a better passer will have to learn the ropes and by mid season I feel one will be adequate enough to drive the team. They have two quick backs in Dirk Jones and Dibyne Ford and two power backs Chris Coghill and Kemarjah Conway that ran well against a good Mountain View defense. The thing they lack is those long tall fast wide outs this year.The receivers are shorter than usual but one taller one was Brandon Woolridge that was impressive against MV. The jackets are lead by Eli Baylor and Conway as line backers and the interior line is pretty big and aggressive. like always the DB's are smallish and quick and looks like Ford is going to be a ball hawk as I saw in their scrimmage.
All in all don't sell any Serbay team short. The loss of Felton hurt them but that good JM coaching staff will develop these young QB's and mold this team into a contender by years end! Always talent and speed this year like all JM teams but right now too young to rank them higher but stay tuned! GOOD LUCK JM JACKETS!
# 4 COURTLAND COUGARS: Thought it would be many a day before I would rank the cougars this low but with everyone on last years powerful team gone and their playoff QB Chet Welborn gone to Riverbend its a rebuilding year for JC Hall and his cougars. The only experienced player in the backfield is Dakota Woodward son of Rodney Woodward that was player of the year at Chancellor in the 80's. Dakota got hurt last year but is also a good defensive back. The cougars have a good experienced coaching staff and will have this team back to their normal class of teams in a couple years. Courtland is too good of a program to be a bottom team for long. They have a tough schedule and will have to rely on last years JV players to have a respectable year! GOOD LUCK COURTLAND!
# 5 CAROLINE CAVALIERS: This year the Cavaliers may just be a surprise team. No not to make the playoffs or even a winning season but as Caroline always does plenty of speed and talent and I have said they now have a good coach Antron Yeates. If he stays the Cavaliers will be on the road to recovery. They have a excellent returning QB David Ware with a good receiver Brandon Williams both juniors. their offense has a few starters back and a few good JV players moving up! Half of the defense returns but what does that mean when the defense was the worst in the league. Still with these players that have a few years under coach Yeates system I see things on the up swing for Caroline! This team with a good QB and receivers if they can get a good back or two and a decent defense they will be my surprise team this year? Possible 3 wins? We shall see. Good luck Caroline Cavaliers!
#6 SPOTSYLVANIA KNIGHTS: This hurts me to no end to pick my boys from post oak dead last. In the scrimmage I saw very little talent size or speed. That's ok its a new beginning for the knights with new administration AD and more. I hope now with a coach the players like in AL Johnson and the hall of fame coach Tim Coleman helping greatness will be sooner than later. The only bright spot I saw was a good young QB and one decent RB with hour glass speed! But one thing that will be for sure the Knights will play hard until the game is over and who knows with a break or two might win a couple games! GOOD LUCK SPOTSY there is light at the end of the tunnel!
There we go friends another season ready to start with my fearless predictions. Not hard to pick a number 1 in Chancellor and all that talent. The rest of the teams have ifs and buts all over them. Only two teams KG and JM have any shot at the Chargers but to overtake them a lot of things have to fall into place and a little luck involved! AINT HS FOOTBALL GREAT! See you at the games!
Last edited:
