Who takes this battle between unbeatens. A win for Luray would mean they are legitimate contenders for 2a and win by gladiators would mean the same.
Riverheads vs Luray
- Thread starter Baseball215
- Start date
I think Luray is already contenders, and even a loss by Riverheads and they are overwhelming favorite to win 1a
Riverheads has not played a contender yet Luray had only played one contender in Lee High to say Riverheads is overwhelming favorite in 1a is premature you have beat some of the top teams in 2a first to be considered.
No that isn't true. There was 1 contender in Shenandoah last year in 2a and Riverheads lost to them and then blew through every 1a team. Riverheads doesn't have to play a 2a team in playoffs, so beating a 2a team doesn't matter.
Just being the overwhelming favorite also doesn't mean they will win it, but they certainly are the favorites.
I may also have some bias, but I wouldn't write off Stuarts Draft as a contender. They have had a few 50/50 plays go against them from being the top team at the moment in 2a region B. Again I am not saying they should have won those games, not predicting they will run the table, but they are that few plays from everyone thinking they are contenders. I would say that the favorite in 2a B is Central Woodstock, and 2a championship favorite is Appomattox
The game with Draft last year went to wire with Draft . Where did they finish final 4. Not much difference between the top team in 1a and 2a the difference is 2a is deeper a lot tougher road to get to Salem. If you can play with the top teams in 2a you got good chance in 1a.
Big difference in what you said that I replied to. You said you gotta beat some of the top 2a teams to be a contender, I just pointed out they didn't last year and still crushed all of 1a. That's all I meant, nothing against Riverheads
Riverheads wins 2 of next 3 games they will be the favorite. Don't think that I don't want see Riverheads in Salem again because I will be there yelling for them just don't like putting the cart before the horse.
They were the overwhelming favorite before the season, would have been if they lost the game to Stuarts Draft, and will be no matter what the record is
The OP wants us to talk about the Luray at Riverheads game, but we kind of started looking ahead there. So to get back on track, here is my take on this week's entire Shenandoah slate, including of course this huge game:
Lee High: The Lee coaching staff and perhaps some of their players will spend their night off in Greenville thinking back on what might have been and looking ahead to what they hope will be.
Stonewall Jackson at Stuarts Draft: To their credit, the Generals are hanging in there and at least putting up some points here and there, having topped the 20 point mark twice and 19 on Friday. They won't have a ghost of a chance at SD Friday, but heck just go out and have fun and score a couple of times. I say the Cougars win by about 55-13.
The other three games are absolute toss-ups in my opinion and I would be afraid to bet money on any of them.
Wilson at Page County: The Panthers have been on an upswing this year and with a win Friday, could be above .500 heading down the home stretch. If the Wilson team that I saw Friday night shows up, the Panthers will get that win. Wilson was completely dominated by Riverheads and showed no fire at all. I think Page will want this one more, will have the home crowd behind them and will get that fourth win of the season. But it will be close. Panthers win 34-27.
Buffalo Gap at East Rockingham: Although Luray/RHS is the headliner this week, this one gets my vote as the week's absolute toss-up. I personally have nothing to go on, except maybe home field advantage. I will go with East Rock in a high-scoring squeaker 44-41.
And that leaves the big one............A couple of weeks ago I hit the nail right on the head when I told you guys that the key to a Riverheads win at Buffalo Gap would be for the Gladiators to keep their poise and overcome whatever emotion the Bison showed up with. Sure enough the Gap jumped out to that 14-0 lead but RHS stayed the course and pulled out the ten point win. This one I have to say is going to be just a "little bit" harder to analyze. At first I had the impression that Jenkins was Luray's main weapon and that if you stop him, you stop the Dogs. But I believe I read that Luray had two other guys that scored two TDs each against Lee, so apparently they are deeper than I thought. So what do do, what to do...................Well of course I HAVE to pick Riverheads, you guys know that, but to justify it, I am going to look at the fact that Luray does give up some points........33 against the Leemen despite four Lee turnovers, and 20 against a weak Stonewall team. So with Riverheads scoring at a 40 point clip and only giving up 10 themselves, I have to conclude that RHS will be able to score enough to win the game and that they will be able to come up with enough big plays on defense to prevent the Dogs from gaining any major momentum. But it will be close, maybe even a field goal or less. I will definitely be shocked if either team wins by more than a touchdown margin. As for that Gladiator poise, they will need it again and I think it will be there........they will not beat themselves. So you are hearing it here first.......RHS wins it 24-20.
Lee High: The Lee coaching staff and perhaps some of their players will spend their night off in Greenville thinking back on what might have been and looking ahead to what they hope will be.
Stonewall Jackson at Stuarts Draft: To their credit, the Generals are hanging in there and at least putting up some points here and there, having topped the 20 point mark twice and 19 on Friday. They won't have a ghost of a chance at SD Friday, but heck just go out and have fun and score a couple of times. I say the Cougars win by about 55-13.
The other three games are absolute toss-ups in my opinion and I would be afraid to bet money on any of them.
Wilson at Page County: The Panthers have been on an upswing this year and with a win Friday, could be above .500 heading down the home stretch. If the Wilson team that I saw Friday night shows up, the Panthers will get that win. Wilson was completely dominated by Riverheads and showed no fire at all. I think Page will want this one more, will have the home crowd behind them and will get that fourth win of the season. But it will be close. Panthers win 34-27.
Buffalo Gap at East Rockingham: Although Luray/RHS is the headliner this week, this one gets my vote as the week's absolute toss-up. I personally have nothing to go on, except maybe home field advantage. I will go with East Rock in a high-scoring squeaker 44-41.
And that leaves the big one............A couple of weeks ago I hit the nail right on the head when I told you guys that the key to a Riverheads win at Buffalo Gap would be for the Gladiators to keep their poise and overcome whatever emotion the Bison showed up with. Sure enough the Gap jumped out to that 14-0 lead but RHS stayed the course and pulled out the ten point win. This one I have to say is going to be just a "little bit" harder to analyze. At first I had the impression that Jenkins was Luray's main weapon and that if you stop him, you stop the Dogs. But I believe I read that Luray had two other guys that scored two TDs each against Lee, so apparently they are deeper than I thought. So what do do, what to do...................Well of course I HAVE to pick Riverheads, you guys know that, but to justify it, I am going to look at the fact that Luray does give up some points........33 against the Leemen despite four Lee turnovers, and 20 against a weak Stonewall team. So with Riverheads scoring at a 40 point clip and only giving up 10 themselves, I have to conclude that RHS will be able to score enough to win the game and that they will be able to come up with enough big plays on defense to prevent the Dogs from gaining any major momentum. But it will be close, maybe even a field goal or less. I will definitely be shocked if either team wins by more than a touchdown margin. As for that Gladiator poise, they will need it again and I think it will be there........they will not beat themselves. So you are hearing it here first.......RHS wins it 24-20.
Uh. Luray was up 63-6 on Stonewall at one point in that game. Those last points were scored on whatever last string players Luray has on the roster. It was also 42-0 late in the first half. So Riverheads may win, but there was no weakness from Luray in the game with Stonewall. Also, Justin Vaughan is probably the best of several offensive scoring threats for the Bulldogs.
1993, they beat them 8-0. I scoured the internet, only to find a post from longtimerhsfan. I am not saying there were not other years, I just searched that one, since I know that was Luray's really good year.
Give me until I can get home this afternoon and I can give you the overall series record. The three most memorable games I can think of right now were:
1999 at Luray: RHS was undefeated and Luray had a stud that had run wild all year. They were 6-3 going into the game and it was a wild back and forth battle. Riverheads won 49-47 by stopping a two-point conversion in the final minute.
2007 or 08 at Luray: Another back and forth battle and Riverheads won something like 34-28 on a very late TD pass to freshman Logan (last name escapes me) who would go on to become one of our all-time great backs and win the state in 2010.
Even more recently at Riverheads: Luray dominated the game, but RHS took it into overtime and won 17-14. Luray came oh so close to scoring a TD in its overtime session.
Will follow up later in the day.
Thanks. I drew a blank at the time I was posting but it did come to me as I was driving around town running errands.
OK. here is the scoop. My records have them meeting 33 times with Riverheads leading the series 27-6.
Here are the highlights, going backwards because it is easier to check them that way:
That overtime game I mentioned (at Riverheads) was more recent than even I remembered. It was just in 2014. It must have been one of the Dogs' all-time best games against RHS, because it was the regular season finale and Riverheads was shooting for a perfect regular season. Although they held off the Dogs to accomplish that goal, they then lost by a point in the second round of the playoffs to King William, to finish 11-1.
From 2011-13, the Gladiators were the model of consistency, winning 55-7, then 56-7, and then again 55-7.
The Logan Moore game I mentioned was later than I thought...in 2009. I am sure he was only a freshman that year, which means we won the state in his sophomore year. I was close on the final that night in Luray...it was 35-28.(Baseball 215, your correction came along as I was typing this.)
I was correct about the 49-47 game in 1999. I still consider that to be the best regular season game I have ever seen.
The teams did not play one another from 1996-98. Too bad for the Dogs, because one of those years was Casto's first season and we went 0-10.
As someone pointed out, the last time Luray beat Riverheads was that 8-0 game in 1993. I remember that game and it was at Riverheads. And guess what else? It was a scoreless tie at the end of regulation, which of course has to mean that they got the first possession in OT, scored a TD and a two-point conversion, and then held Riverheads scoreless.
Other Luray wins were 20-7 in 1991, 16-0 in 1990, 15-12 in 1988, 42-19 in 1986, and 23-6 in 1982.
The running joke around Riverheads over the years has always been that when we travel to Luray, it always rains. It is true that we have had some wet ones up there but the 1999 game for example was played on a beautiful warm night, even it it WAS the last game of the regular season.
Here are the highlights, going backwards because it is easier to check them that way:
That overtime game I mentioned (at Riverheads) was more recent than even I remembered. It was just in 2014. It must have been one of the Dogs' all-time best games against RHS, because it was the regular season finale and Riverheads was shooting for a perfect regular season. Although they held off the Dogs to accomplish that goal, they then lost by a point in the second round of the playoffs to King William, to finish 11-1.
From 2011-13, the Gladiators were the model of consistency, winning 55-7, then 56-7, and then again 55-7.
The Logan Moore game I mentioned was later than I thought...in 2009. I am sure he was only a freshman that year, which means we won the state in his sophomore year. I was close on the final that night in Luray...it was 35-28.(Baseball 215, your correction came along as I was typing this.)
I was correct about the 49-47 game in 1999. I still consider that to be the best regular season game I have ever seen.
The teams did not play one another from 1996-98. Too bad for the Dogs, because one of those years was Casto's first season and we went 0-10.
As someone pointed out, the last time Luray beat Riverheads was that 8-0 game in 1993. I remember that game and it was at Riverheads. And guess what else? It was a scoreless tie at the end of regulation, which of course has to mean that they got the first possession in OT, scored a TD and a two-point conversion, and then held Riverheads scoreless.
Other Luray wins were 20-7 in 1991, 16-0 in 1990, 15-12 in 1988, 42-19 in 1986, and 23-6 in 1982.
The running joke around Riverheads over the years has always been that when we travel to Luray, it always rains. It is true that we have had some wet ones up there but the 1999 game for example was played on a beautiful warm night, even it it WAS the last game of the regular season.
He would have been an 02 graduate, meaning 01 would have been senior football year so yes
Knew he shined his junior and senior years he was big part of winning first state title didn't know it started in his sophomore season years run together
Luray had a QB in who graduated in 88 or 89 named Cubbage, first name Reggie I think, who was big, strong, fast and could really sling it. Madison County and SD were still the class of the district, I think, but that guy was a great player.
Soooo what they got for 2017 all them other years not going to be worth a plug nickel Friday night.
