With a score like that, you guys would expect me to get on here and praise the Big Red, which I will get to shortly. But doggone on it all, I am fair if nothing else and for that reason, I have to give some serious respect to the Stonewall Jackson team and its fans tonight, so let me get that out of the way first.
As we all know, Stonewall's program has been struggling big time in recent years and as recently as a year or two ago, they actually had trouble on both the JV and Varsity levels even finding enough guys to field a team. So knowing that, the first thing I noticed tonight was that they had about 30-35 healthy bodies standing on their sideline. So that alone could mean that they are working on their issues.
The second thing I noticed was that they had some honest to goodness excited fans tonight. Now there were not very many of them (30 maybe) but they stuck right by their team and hollered their lungs out the entire time.
Which brings me to the real reason for starting this post with Stonewall. You may want to remember the name Justus Proctor, Shenandoah Fans! He is a 5'10" wide receiver and he had in my opinion the best individual game on the field tonight. He caught the Big Red off-guard in the first quarter when he hauled in about a 55 yard reception that brought the Generals in to the red zone. Now they did not score on that particular possession, but as it turned out, Mr. Proctor was just getting started, and he had at least another half dozen receptions, at least four of which were for 20 or more yards.
He caught the Stonewall touchdown pass and on another occasion made a great finger-tip grab of a pass that was thrown at ankle level. I would not be surprised if he had 150 yards receiving on the night, and in some cases, he wrestled the ball away from one or more defenders. So even though we will all probably forget him by this time next year, on this night at least he looked like a quality athlete that might really be able to help a struggling program.
But the Big Red won the game so hats off to them as well, as they are now 7-2 on the year, with Stuarts Draft coming in next week to wrap up the season. As has been the case all year, it was all about the running game as the only pass I can remember came on a two-point conversion.
They scored six touchdowns and added a successful conversion after five of those scores to account for their 46 points. Forgive me if I am forgetting anyone, but points of one kind or another tonight were scored by Tyler Davis, Devin Ferguson, Isaiah Dunlap, Zac Smiley, Trevor Roberts, and Deacon Moore. One of Roberts' scores came on a return of the second half kickoff that he took down the near sideline for about 65 yards.
Substitute quarterback Cyrus Cox, who was forced into action very early in the season due to an injury to starter Elijah Dunlap, continues to do a great job for the Big Red and has probably solidified his role as starter on next year's team. Which leads me to perhaps the most exciting point of all about this group......almost every one mentioned above is just an eighth-grader! So all you opponents out there who keep wondering "When will the well ever dry up at Riverheads?"......I hate to be the one to tell you, but it could be a while!
As we all know, Stonewall's program has been struggling big time in recent years and as recently as a year or two ago, they actually had trouble on both the JV and Varsity levels even finding enough guys to field a team. So knowing that, the first thing I noticed tonight was that they had about 30-35 healthy bodies standing on their sideline. So that alone could mean that they are working on their issues.
The second thing I noticed was that they had some honest to goodness excited fans tonight. Now there were not very many of them (30 maybe) but they stuck right by their team and hollered their lungs out the entire time.
Which brings me to the real reason for starting this post with Stonewall. You may want to remember the name Justus Proctor, Shenandoah Fans! He is a 5'10" wide receiver and he had in my opinion the best individual game on the field tonight. He caught the Big Red off-guard in the first quarter when he hauled in about a 55 yard reception that brought the Generals in to the red zone. Now they did not score on that particular possession, but as it turned out, Mr. Proctor was just getting started, and he had at least another half dozen receptions, at least four of which were for 20 or more yards.
He caught the Stonewall touchdown pass and on another occasion made a great finger-tip grab of a pass that was thrown at ankle level. I would not be surprised if he had 150 yards receiving on the night, and in some cases, he wrestled the ball away from one or more defenders. So even though we will all probably forget him by this time next year, on this night at least he looked like a quality athlete that might really be able to help a struggling program.
But the Big Red won the game so hats off to them as well, as they are now 7-2 on the year, with Stuarts Draft coming in next week to wrap up the season. As has been the case all year, it was all about the running game as the only pass I can remember came on a two-point conversion.
They scored six touchdowns and added a successful conversion after five of those scores to account for their 46 points. Forgive me if I am forgetting anyone, but points of one kind or another tonight were scored by Tyler Davis, Devin Ferguson, Isaiah Dunlap, Zac Smiley, Trevor Roberts, and Deacon Moore. One of Roberts' scores came on a return of the second half kickoff that he took down the near sideline for about 65 yards.
Substitute quarterback Cyrus Cox, who was forced into action very early in the season due to an injury to starter Elijah Dunlap, continues to do a great job for the Big Red and has probably solidified his role as starter on next year's team. Which leads me to perhaps the most exciting point of all about this group......almost every one mentioned above is just an eighth-grader! So all you opponents out there who keep wondering "When will the well ever dry up at Riverheads?"......I hate to be the one to tell you, but it could be a while!
