The 'Doah represented itself quite well last night as four out of the five teams that were in action emerged victorious, including two lower seeds that pulled off "upset" wins on the road, if you can really call any playoff win an upset these days. Our other area district, the Valley, didn't fare quite as well, only going 1 for 3, but overall I would say having 5 opening night wins out of 8 games was not too shabby. Here is a recap in no particular order:
Wilson had drawn the misfortune of traveling to Goochland once again. (Rumor has it they were able to put the bus on auto-pilot.) The Bulldogs prevailed 35-0 but overall I suspect that the Hornets are "OK" with the season they had as they stayed competitive in most games and knocked off their biggest rival Stuarts Draft.
Speaking of Stuarts Draft, that had to be the game of the night last night as they traveled to King William as a 12 seed and squeezed out a 27-20 overtime win. They won by stopping KW on 4th down in the OT from the one-yard line. In a roundabout way, could that have been a "payback" game after KW came to Riverheads last season and surprised the Gladiators with an unexpected win? Just saying.......
The other underdog win was by number 11 seed East Rockingham, as the Eagles knocked off Washington and Lee 35-21. I don't know enough about W and L to speculate how big an upset that was, but if there is any team out there that is peaking at the right time, it would have to be ER. Their trip to Lee next week should be the obvious choice for any neutral fan just looking for a good game to go to.
Speaking of Lee, they started out slowly against Strasburg, but poured it on with a 48-point second half. Coach G really has them clicking now and they could make a deep run. Might want to invest in a new scoreboard this week however. Oh, to my knowledge, there is nothing wrong with the current one, but considering those two offenses, they might want to have a second one on standby!
Buffalo Gap was another local team that hosted and pleased the home fans as they rolled over Central Woodstock 41-14. They now host Stuarts Draft in a re-match of a tight 22-14 regular season game. Not sure if the Cougars were fully healthy for that one, as they have had some issues this year, but they seem to be OK now so that will be another "hmmm, now that my team is not playing, where can I go tonight" option.
Luray was the final Shenandoah team to come out with a win as they edged out Middlesex either 40-28 or 42-28, not sure which. They will now travel to Essex next week, and that will give us local fans an idea as to just how good Essex is, once we have a local score to compare to ours. If I am not mistaken, Luray has been there once before and given them a decent game.
The final two local losses were on the road as Turner Ashby lost to Brookville 56-28 and Waynesboro lost to Monticello 25-6 in a game that featured odd scores such as 5-0 and 11-0 before the home team finally scored a touchdown in the third quarter.
So next week, we will have the already-mentioned match-ups of Lee/ER, BG/SD, and Luray/Essex. Riverheads will also join the party as the "we didn't want the cottonpicking bye in the first place" Gladiators will now host a familiar foe in Altavista. I guess the Big Red will find out first hand in that one if the Colonels are really "down" this year, as some folks have said, or did they just have a particularly tough schedule?
I am already seeing 30% rain chances mentioned for next Friday, so for those of you who believe in such things, be sure to do your "no rain" dance this week every chance you get!
Wilson had drawn the misfortune of traveling to Goochland once again. (Rumor has it they were able to put the bus on auto-pilot.) The Bulldogs prevailed 35-0 but overall I suspect that the Hornets are "OK" with the season they had as they stayed competitive in most games and knocked off their biggest rival Stuarts Draft.
Speaking of Stuarts Draft, that had to be the game of the night last night as they traveled to King William as a 12 seed and squeezed out a 27-20 overtime win. They won by stopping KW on 4th down in the OT from the one-yard line. In a roundabout way, could that have been a "payback" game after KW came to Riverheads last season and surprised the Gladiators with an unexpected win? Just saying.......
The other underdog win was by number 11 seed East Rockingham, as the Eagles knocked off Washington and Lee 35-21. I don't know enough about W and L to speculate how big an upset that was, but if there is any team out there that is peaking at the right time, it would have to be ER. Their trip to Lee next week should be the obvious choice for any neutral fan just looking for a good game to go to.
Speaking of Lee, they started out slowly against Strasburg, but poured it on with a 48-point second half. Coach G really has them clicking now and they could make a deep run. Might want to invest in a new scoreboard this week however. Oh, to my knowledge, there is nothing wrong with the current one, but considering those two offenses, they might want to have a second one on standby!
Buffalo Gap was another local team that hosted and pleased the home fans as they rolled over Central Woodstock 41-14. They now host Stuarts Draft in a re-match of a tight 22-14 regular season game. Not sure if the Cougars were fully healthy for that one, as they have had some issues this year, but they seem to be OK now so that will be another "hmmm, now that my team is not playing, where can I go tonight" option.
Luray was the final Shenandoah team to come out with a win as they edged out Middlesex either 40-28 or 42-28, not sure which. They will now travel to Essex next week, and that will give us local fans an idea as to just how good Essex is, once we have a local score to compare to ours. If I am not mistaken, Luray has been there once before and given them a decent game.
The final two local losses were on the road as Turner Ashby lost to Brookville 56-28 and Waynesboro lost to Monticello 25-6 in a game that featured odd scores such as 5-0 and 11-0 before the home team finally scored a touchdown in the third quarter.
So next week, we will have the already-mentioned match-ups of Lee/ER, BG/SD, and Luray/Essex. Riverheads will also join the party as the "we didn't want the cottonpicking bye in the first place" Gladiators will now host a familiar foe in Altavista. I guess the Big Red will find out first hand in that one if the Colonels are really "down" this year, as some folks have said, or did they just have a particularly tough schedule?
I am already seeing 30% rain chances mentioned for next Friday, so for those of you who believe in such things, be sure to do your "no rain" dance this week every chance you get!
