Shenandoah District games this week

[FaithFamilyFishersville114]

With my hornets not doing as well as they should, I am looking at other games this week. Looks like the big match up is Gap/ Riverheads. What are the opinions out there for this weeks match ups?

Wilson/Luray
Riverheads/Gap
Page/East Rock
Stonewall/Draft


Go Hornets!

 

[RedPrideNation_RollPride]

My opinion has it going like this;
Luray winning 28-13 over an improving but depth challenged Wilson team.
Riverheads by a smidge over Gap 21-13, both defenses should play exceptional but I don't think either have played against as tough as they will face this Friday. I don't see a blowout either way so points will be a premium.
East Rock will get their passing game going but struggle with Pages speed. That's right I said speed, at least more than they have had in recent years. ER 35-20.
Draft will do well to sub early and often before they get deep in to district play. No need to keep Izzy and company in for the forgone conclusion of them winning big, 48-6.

I think most eyes will be in Swoope as two of the perceived powerhouse teams clash to gain control of the district. ER, Luray, and SD will all have a say in this with Draft having the inside edge to own the whole thing if not one of these two.
Wilson will be very competitive in most games, especially early. Conditioning and lack of subs will hurt late in games but they are a more talented group than their record will reflect. Stonewall, well what can you say really? Low numbers and apathetic play lead to more of the same. Wishing them well but this will be a long and tough district season for them.

Sorry for going a little outside the box but sometimes I just get on a roll.

 

[longtimerhsfan]

Thanks for the head start on this discussion. I would have to agree with Red Pride Nation's predictions almost down to the letter. Clearly the headliner this week is RHS at Buffalo Gap as somebody will get their first loss of the season.

I agree that it will be a defensive struggle as opposed to a shootout. I might be more inclined to go with a two-TD Riverheads win, such as something like 20-7. I believe Riverheads has played the tougher schedule (no disrespect to the Parry McCluer fans on here) and it sounded like BG had a little bit of a turnover problem last week. So I think RHS' precision will be the difference here. They will not make the mistakes to beat themselves whereas the Bison might. Having said that, I will be very surprised if one team or the other really dominates the game and it may be in doubt until the very end.

The other interesting game to watch will be Page at East Rock. The Eagles will be licking their wounds from the Draft loss whereas Page will be sky high in trying to pull off a fourth straight win. The fact that they are only 15 miles apart should make for a great atmosphere. Again I suspect that Page's schedule has been the softer one, which may possibly mean a big East Rock win. I am sure the Panthers have already circled the Luray game on their calendar this year, whenever that is. Regardless of what happens for them this week, they have a legitimate shot at a .500 or better season and that will be an amazing turnaround for them.

I see Red Pride's margins in the other two games being almost right on the money.

 

[RedPrideNation_RollPride]

Thanks for the shout out longtime as you are well respected on these boards (and by the Gladiator fence crew).

I have to revise one of my predictions slightly though. I may be just a tad over zealous in my thoughts on Page. My thinking is that ER struggled with the speed of Draft and I do believe Page has some speed. My score may be way off and ER may certainly run away with this but I am glad Page is competitive this year. I have good friends through baseball in that community and know they look forward to turning things around.

That said, Friday will be here soon enough and we can discuss all the what might haves next week, lol. I am seriously just hoping for good weather and no injuries for any of the teams.

 

[longtimerhsfan]

Thanks for the shout out longtime as you are well respected on these boards (and by the Gladiator fence crew).

I have to revise one of my predictions slightly though. I may be just a tad over zealous in my thoughts on Page. My thinking is that ER struggled with the speed of Draft and I do believe Page has some speed. My score may be way off and ER may certainly run away with this but I am glad Page is competitive this year. I have good friends through baseball in that community and know they look forward to turning things around.

That said, Friday will be here soon enough and we can discuss all the what might haves next week, lol. I am seriously just hoping for good weather and no injuries for any of the teams.

That good weather may be a tall order, with a 70% chance of rain on Thursday and 40% on Friday!

 

[RedPrideNation_RollPride]

I am holding out hope because the weather affected last years game. Not the outcome but the margin in my opinion. Lots of fumbles recovered by the offense that may not have happened on a dry track. It should be a slobber knocker for sure

 

[obguthr]

I'm confident that East Rock will prevail in the Battle of Nekkid Creek.East Rock looked a little too one dimensional on offense against Draft, but they should be able to mix it up more against Page. Draft's defensive front got into the backfield at will against East Rock, but Page won't find it so easy.

 

[obguthr]

I should go to the Gap Riverheads game, but I I'm curious about the Auburn Parry Mcclure matchup and will make the trek to BV. I've already seen Gap and Riverheads play and expect to see them both again in the playoffs.

The key to this game will be if Gap can force Riverheads into making mistakes while minimizing their own. Buffalo Gap has some instigators/troublemakers that just might get the Gladiators out of their game. Gap likes to go for the ball, but that might be their undoing. It should be a great game.

 

[longtimerhsfan]

I am starting to worry about that weather forecast. They said on the news that we can expect anywhere from 2-5 inches of rain between now and Friday. However, granted that was a Charlottesville TV station and there seemed to be a line drawn indicating that the worst could be east of the Blue Ridge. However, having said that, this is SUCH a big game that I would hate to see it played in slop. The weather is looking beautiful for Saturday and beyond, so if we do have a lot of rain, I would hope the ADs would at least explore the idea of moving it to Saturday.

 

[obguthr]

I am starting to worry about that weather forecast. They said on the news that we can expect anywhere from 2-5 inches of rain between now and Friday. However, granted that was a Charlottesville TV station and there seemed to be a line drawn indicating that the worst could be east of the Blue Ridge. However, having said that, this is SUCH a big game that I would hate to see it played in slop. The weather is looking beautiful for Saturday and beyond, so if we do have a lot of rain, I would hope the ADs would at least explore the idea of moving it to Saturday.

That would be awesome if the game is moved to Saturday. I could see the both the PM game and Gap-Riverheads.

 

[THEGOATFROMJMU]

I think gap is good..... but i'm not sure a team has played a weaker schedule than them..

Bath County, Fort Defience, Wilson --- have 2 wins total
Parry Mccluer solid but not spectacular 1A team

 

[RedPrideNation_RollPride]

Gap is solid on D and they play downhill most of the time. I wouldn't overlook them based on opponent records cause we don't have any stellar teams except Luray. And with all due respect to Coach Cline, Rod Bowers is a phenomenol resource to have on his staff. One of my favorite coaches from the area and one that knows both sides of the ball extremely well. I don't discount his contribution to the uptick of success in Swoope. All the glad handing aside, Riverheads should be able to out execute them but that's why you play the games.

 

[Keith_Stone33]

With my hornets not doing as well as they should, I am looking at other games this week. Looks like the big match up is Gap/ Riverheads. What are the opinions out there for this weeks match ups?

Wilson/Luray
Riverheads/Gap
Page/East Rock
Stonewall/Draft


Go Hornets!

I look for Wilson and Luray to battle for 3 quarters, with Luray scoring a 4th quarter touchdown or 2 to seal it. As RPN stated earlier, their depth is an issue this year.

I look for Riverheads to be the sharper team vs the Bison, with them coming out on top again this year. Gap has a good combination of size, speed, and toughness this year, but they need to play better than they did against Wilson last week to win this one, and I'm not sure they will be able to get all the turnover and penalty problems solved just yet. I will say this: if they can limit their turnovers and penalties they will have a good shot at pulling off the upset. Gap's defense is good, so I'll be curious to see if and how they are able to slow the big red machine. I know Gap wants this one as they feel like they should have beaten them last year so we will see how it goes. I will actually be going to this game tomorrow as I think it has the potential to be a wild one.

East Rock should beat Page, but Page should be a little more competitive this year than in years past.

Stonewall and Draft should see a running clock and lots of 2nd teamers in the game for the cougars.

I'll throw in some Valley action as well:

Harrisonburg and Waynesboro: Waynesboro surprised us all a little last week playing Spotswood so close and putting themselves in a position to win late so this game may be a coin flip depending on which Waynesboro team shows up.

Lee and Broadway: The Leemen should be able to win this game, and I actually think this is a must win to get the morale up and get some positive things going.

Spotswood and TA: This one should be a pretty competitive game and based on last week, I'm leaning more towards TA in this one. This could determine who wins the Valley, although none of the teams are playing great football right now.