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Shenandoah District Week Three- Could be Rough for Home Teams

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longtimerhsfan

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Dec 12, 2006
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Had some free time this morning so I will get an early start on this week's slate of non-district games. It is only fair to warn you that I am a perfect 10 for 10 so far this season, but that bubble will probably burst this week because there are some unknown quantities and some possible toss-ups. But overall I see as many as four, maybe even five, road teams winning this week. So you home game only fans could be in for a tough week. Here is the line-up:

Buffalo Gap at Bath County: Will the real Bison team please stand up? How often do you see a team make a 90-point turnaround from Game One to Game Two? So this week, which direction will the Gap go? My guess is that they will move to 2-1 on the season, and it should be a fairly easy win.

Fort Defiance at Waynesboro: Although the Indians lost a heartbreaker last week at Liberty Bedford, they showed that they will be competitive this year, so they will easily pick up that first victory this week against the struggling Little Giants. However I do expect to see some gradual improvement out of the home team. Not a win, but at least they will score in this one (you heard it here first) and maybe even avoid the running clock.

Riverheads at East Rockingham: The Gladiators had to work hard for Friday's win over Glenvar, a game that you could not fully appreciate unless you were there. But this week the Big Red will jump from the frying pan into the fire with a trip to Elkton, where they were whitewashed 28-0 last season. The Eagles had been building toward that banner season last year, so the win itself did not come as such a shock, but the shutout did. So this year, will RHS be motivated by revenge? Will the Eagles have enough of that championship team left over to handle the Gladiators again? Despite the Eagle defense and the superior job it did, I felt like the quarterback made the major difference last year and that the Eagles will not be able to dominate to that degree again. Might be close but the Gladiators will leave Elkton ahead 9-1 in the overall series.

Liberty Christian at Staunton: This is the toughest one of the bunch to predict because no one local knows anything about this team, not to mention that the Storm only has one game under its belt so far. I am basing my pick on having read that LCA beat Brunswick by several touchdowns Friday and I assume that Brunswick is no slouch. So as much as I would like to see the locals win in Coach Phillips' home debut, I have to go with this one as my fourth straight road team pick.

Covington at Stuarts Draft: This is the only seemingly safe home team pick this week since the Cougars are off and running with two impressive wins. I would assume this is the first-ever meeting between these two, so we have no history to call upon, but if the Draft put up 48 points against James River in their home opener, there is no way Covington is THAT much better than the Knights.

Wilson at Page County: The Panthers have been on a steady upswing the past few years, each year flirting with making the playoffs. Wilson on the other hand has been down, so I recall going with Page each time recently to knock off the Hornets. No need to change my pattern, so yes, THIS will be the year the Panthers get over that hurdle, even though a fifth road team win out of these six games is quite possible.
 
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longtimerhsfan said:
Had some free time this morning so I will get an early start on this week's slate of non-district games. It is only fair to warn you that I am a perfect 10 for 10 so far this season, but that bubble will probably burst this week because there are some unknown quantities and some possible toss-ups. But overall I see as many as four, maybe even five, road teams winning this week. So you home game only fans could be in for a tough week. Here is the line-up:

Buffalo Gap at Bath County: Will the real Bison team please stand up? How often do you see a team make a 90-point turnaround from Game One to Game Two? So this week, which direction will the Gap go? My guess is that they will move to 2-1 on the season, and it should be a fairly easy win.

Fort Defiance at Waynesboro: Although the Indians lost a heartbreaker last week at Liberty Bedford, they showed that they will be competitive this year, so they will easily pick up that first victory this week against the struggling Little Giants. However I do expect to see some gradual improvement out of the home team. Not a win, but at least they will score in this one (you heard it here first) and maybe even avoid the running clock.

Riverheads at East Rockingham: The Gladiators had to work hard for Friday's win over Glenvar, a game that you could not fully appreciate unless you were there. But this week the Big Red will jump from the frying pan into the fire with a trip to Elkton, where they were whitewashed 28-0 last season. The Eagles had been building toward that banner season last year, so the win itself did not come as such a shock, but the shutout did. So this year, will RHS be motivated by revenge? Will the Eagles have enough of that championship team left over to handle the Gladiators again? Despite the Eagle defense and the superior job it did, I felt like the quarterback made the major difference last year and that the Eagles will not be able to dominate to that degree again. Might be close but the Gladiators will leave Elkton ahead 9-1 in the overall series.

Liberty Christian at Staunton: This is the toughest one of the bunch to predict because no one local knows anything about this team, not to mention that the Storm only has one game under its belt so far. I am basing my pick on having read that LCA beat Brunswick by several touchdowns Friday and I assume that Brunswick is no slouch. So as much as I would like to see the locals win in Coach Phillips' home debut, I have to go with this one as my fourth straight road team pick.

Covington at Stuarts Draft: This is the only seemingly safe home team pick this week since the Cougars are off and running with two impressive wins. I would assume this is the first-ever meeting between these two, so we have no history to call upon, but if the Draft put up 48 points against James River in their home opener, there is no way Covington is THAT much better than the Knights.

Wilson at Page County: The Panthers have been on a steady upswing the past few years, each year flirting with making the playoffs. Wilson on the other hand has been down, so I recall going with Page each time recently to knock off the Hornets. No need to change my pattern, so yes, THIS will be the year the Panthers get over that hurdle, even though a fifth road team win out of these six games is quite possible.
Click to expand...

Its hard to gauge how good SD is or isn't, but I agree that it would appear that they should have a good night.

I don't think the Gap game is even as close to Friday vs PM. Alleghany put it on Bath, and JR was much better than Alleghany.

I think the hardest to call is ER and RH. ER, while losing a lot, played Spotswood within a score, and Spotswood is supposed to be a contender in 3a.

Not to say that LCA isn't good, but to answer your question, Brunswick isn't going off their season so far. They have been outscored 88-20 so far. And LCA, got it pretty good vs. Magna Vista 49-14.
 
I am going to stick with what @longtimerhsfan says. One slight variation though. I am one that is high on Wilson but I think Page may show how far along their turnaround is by laying the wood to the Hornets.
 
I agree.. The LCA/Staunton game will be interesting. I think Page beats Wilson. RH will ROLL East Rock. Draft looks solid but will be tested this week. Fun week of Football!!!
 
East Rock has a solid program and will be competitive year in and year out, but this year's team just doesn't have the talent they had last year. Riverheads has shown some vulnerability against the pass, but they will get that figured out before facing the Eagles. Red team will win big. As a matter of fact, I don't think they will lose a single game this year, including in Salem. Count on it.

Wilson and Page both are showing improvement, but Wilson will win this one AGAIN.

Draft might actually be back. Even if they aren't, they will still crush Covington.

Gap isn't very good this year, maybe a 4-6 team when all is said and done. Bath will be one of their 4 wins.

Waynesboro is probably the worst team in 3A and will lose to Fort. Longtimer is right though, they will get on the board. That will be as close to a win as the Little Giants will come this year. The fans may storm the field when it happens.

Again, I can't disagree with Longtimer. I have no clue about Staunton or LCA. LCA recruits, but on paper it doesn't look like they are recruiting well. It's a coin toss, but I'm going with the home team, even if the new cheers are going to be awkward.
 
obguthr said:
East Rock has a solid program and will be competitive year in and year out, but this year's team just doesn't have the talent they had last year. Riverheads has shown some vulnerability against the pass, but they will get that figured out before facing the Eagles. Red team will win big. As a matter of fact, I don't think they will lose a single game this year, including in Salem. Count on it.

Wilson and Page both are showing improvement, but Wilson will win this one AGAIN.

Draft might actually be back. Even if they aren't, they will still crush Covington.

Gap isn't very good this year, maybe a 4-6 team when all is said and done. Bath will be one of their 4 wins.

Waynesboro is probably the worst team in 3A and will lose to Fort. Longtimer is right though, they will get on the board. That will be as close to a win as the Little Giants will come this year. The fans may storm the field when it happens.

Again, I can't disagree with Longtimer. I have no clue about Staunton or LCA. LCA recruits, but on paper it doesn't look like they are recruiting well. It's a coin toss, but I'm going with the home team, even if the new cheers are going to be awkward.
Click to expand...

They don't recruit like they used to. Before anything was open, but since entering the VHSL they have been limited to a certain area. And they used to get the kids by offering a scholarship to Liberty. I think they cant anymore. If I understand correctly, they were able to get from 3 schools and had to use something that put them into 4a. They moved to 3a this year and can only get kids from 2 different schools

Again, my pick is Riverheads, but in ER one game they played a 3a contender 20-12. That was a good showing. I didn't know SW QB was out, which benefitted ER, but people are talking about how W & L and Glenvar looked against the Red Team to make a case that those 2 teams will be fairly good or better. RH is also missing their QB.

But to sum it up, I think the only team that we can say right now is good is RH, because of the schedule. SD could be really good, but nothing to glean from the 1st 2 games.
 
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You mentioned that RHS is "missing its quarterback." You are referring of course to the senior who was expected to be the starter but suffered an off-season baseball injury. He has coincidentally been replaced by his younger brother, who is only a freshman.

So although this is nitpicking your words, yes RHS is "missing" the senior in terms that he cannot play yet, but the Gladiators are certainly not suffering because the freshman, who will of course likely be the starter the next three years anyway, is performing at a higher level than I think anyone expected. In fact, I would not be surprised to see him still get some time at QB, even when big brother is able to come back full strength. The Big Red coaching staff might be sharp enough to find another spot where the senior would be just as valuable and thereby have the best of both worlds. Or they might devise a situational type game plan that puts the best one taking the snaps at any given time.
 
longtimerhsfan said:
You mentioned that RHS is "missing its quarterback." You are referring of course to the senior who was expected to be the starter but suffered an off-season baseball injury. He has coincidentally been replaced by his younger brother, who is only a freshman.

So although this is nitpicking your words, yes RHS is "missing" the senior in terms that he cannot play yet, but the Gladiators are certainly not suffering because the freshman, who will of course likely be the starter the next three years anyway, is performing at a higher level than I think anyone expected. In fact, I would not be surprised to see him still get some time at QB, even when big brother is able to come back full strength. The Big Red coaching staff might be sharp enough to find another spot where the senior would be just as valuable and thereby have the best of both worlds. Or they might devise a situational type game plan that puts the best one taking the snaps at any given time.
Click to expand...

I'm saying that were are without their starting QB, just as Spotswood was. Now, with the difference in offenses it isn't as big of a difference, but we don't know how good the backup is at SW either.

Look at it this way. Navy being without their starter probably isn't as big a deal (Flexbone) as Texas Tech (Spread). My point was that I don't think it's fair to discount ER for challenging a contender because their QB was out, but to give credit to someone else for playing with a contender in RH when RH is without their starting QB.

That doesn't mean that any of this matters going forward, because it doesn't. Credit or discount doesn't win or lose football games
 
Oh believe me.......despite my bold prediction for a Big Red victory, East Rock does worry me Friday night. Although the quarterback made them roll last year on offense, their defense did just as good, and maybe an even better, job against RHS. We could not get ANYTHING going and as I recall, we did not even come close to scoring until maybe the last five minutes or so.

Therefore if they have enough of that defense left over or if Coach Coleman taught the same things to his younger charges, then we could be in for a long night. I did notice that he was at RHS Friday night scoping out the situation, and the fact that they had a bye last week might help them.

Now for the most important question about the trip to East Rock..........what is the gas price at that Exxon station as soon as you turn off Keezletown Road on to 33? I noticed prices as low as $2.17 yesterday in the city of H'burg, so I would like to think that station would have something even lower, whereas most prices down here are still in the $2.25-2.29 range. Any other station along the way to East Rock would be OK too as long as the price is right.
 
I think the young qb is doing a very good job but you win titles with seniors I think the only difference is that and the younger brother is going to be very good but where the older brother will make his presence felt is on defense
 
@longtimerhsfan, I couldn't agree more. He was a hammer against W&L with some fairly decent hits, and jarred a ball or two loose that could have been caught otherwise against Glenvar. If the defensive backfield plays the way they did once a few tweaks were made, I don't see an aerial assault being an effective method against this team. They held up to a pretty accurate passer and WR combo with speed.
 
longtimerhsfan said:
Oh believe me.......despite my bold prediction for a Big Red victory, East Rock does worry me Friday night. Although the quarterback made them roll last year on offense, their defense did just as good, and maybe an even better, job against RHS. We could not get ANYTHING going and as I recall, we did not even come close to scoring until maybe the last five minutes or so.

Therefore if they have enough of that defense left over or if Coach Coleman taught the same things to his younger charges, then we could be in for a long night. I did notice that he was at RHS Friday night scoping out the situation, and the fact that they had a bye last week might help them.

Now for the most important question about the trip to East Rock..........what is the gas price at that Exxon station as soon as you turn off Keezletown Road on to 33? I noticed prices as low as $2.17 yesterday in the city of H'burg, so I would like to think that station would have something even lower, whereas most prices down here are still in the $2.25-2.29 range. Any other station along the way to East Rock would be OK too as long as the price is right.
Click to expand...

I was there last year
 
longtimerhsfan said:
To make matters even worse for the opposition this season, there is a third (middle) brother, a junior, who has already made some outstanding defensive plays this season.
Click to expand...
What the hell are they feeding them boys out in Greenville? Whatever it is, send a truckload of it down to Pearisburg.
 
longtimerhsfan said:
Had some free time this morning so I will get an early start on this week's slate of non-district games. It is only fair to warn you that I am a perfect 10 for 10 so far this season, but that bubble will probably burst this week because there are some unknown quantities and some possible toss-ups. But overall I see as many as four, maybe even five, road teams winning this week. So you home game only fans could be in for a tough week. Here is the line-up:

Buffalo Gap at Bath County: Will the real Bison team please stand up? How often do you see a team make a 90-point turnaround from Game One to Game Two? So this week, which direction will the Gap go? My guess is that they will move to 2-1 on the season, and it should be a fairly easy win.

Fort Defiance at Waynesboro: Although the Indians lost a heartbreaker last week at Liberty Bedford, they showed that they will be competitive this year, so they will easily pick up that first victory this week against the struggling Little Giants. However I do expect to see some gradual improvement out of the home team. Not a win, but at least they will score in this one (you heard it here first) and maybe even avoid the running clock.

Riverheads at East Rockingham: The Gladiators had to work hard for Friday's win over Glenvar, a game that you could not fully appreciate unless you were there. But this week the Big Red will jump from the frying pan into the fire with a trip to Elkton, where they were whitewashed 28-0 last season. The Eagles had been building toward that banner season last year, so the win itself did not come as such a shock, but the shutout did. So this year, will RHS be motivated by revenge? Will the Eagles have enough of that championship team left over to handle the Gladiators again? Despite the Eagle defense and the superior job it did, I felt like the quarterback made the major difference last year and that the Eagles will not be able to dominate to that degree again. Might be close but the Gladiators will leave Elkton ahead 9-1 in the overall series.

Liberty Christian at Staunton: This is the toughest one of the bunch to predict because no one local knows anything about this team, not to mention that the Storm only has one game under its belt so far. I am basing my pick on having read that LCA beat Brunswick by several touchdowns Friday and I assume that Brunswick is no slouch. So as much as I would like to see the locals win in Coach Phillips' home debut, I have to go with this one as my fourth straight road team pick.

Covington at Stuarts Draft: This is the only seemingly safe home team pick this week since the Cougars are off and running with two impressive wins. I would assume this is the first-ever meeting between these two, so we have no history to call upon, but if the Draft put up 48 points against James River in their home opener, there is no way Covington is THAT much better than the Knights.

Wilson at Page County: The Panthers have been on a steady upswing the past few years, each year flirting with making the playoffs. Wilson on the other hand has been down, so I recall going with Page each time recently to knock off the Hornets. No need to change my pattern, so yes, THIS will be the year the Panthers get over that hurdle, even though a fifth road team win out of these six games is quite possible.
Click to expand...
If this were a Pick’Em I’d go:
Gap
Fort
Riverheads
LCA
Draft
Page
 
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