Well we have this non-district business out of the way, and three of the eight Shenandoah teams have managed to escape unbeaten, so now is the time to settle down and let them start whomping up on each other to see who will come out on top.
Starting this week, we will have a full four-game slate each week, and in this case, it is a dandy because you could make the argument that any one of them, if not all four, are up for grabs. There does not seem to be a clear-cut unanimous winner in the bunch. So let's get cracking, using the 2-A board to chat, since five of the eight teams are in fact 2-A this year.
The headliner this week will be Riverheads at Luray, as it matches two of those unbeatens. People have been talking about the Dogs since last year, saying this will be their year and that this game in particular is the one they will be pointing toward. But first of all, we simply CANNOT play this game Friday night. It will be against the rules won't it? The forecast says that Friday is going to be "sunny and pleasant" but everybody knows that Riverheads ONLY plays at Luray on rainy nights. So let's get that detail straightened out first. Assuming that is taken care of, I still see RHS as being at least a touchdown or two better this year. They have two solid wins over quality teams (Lee and Waynesboro), whereas Luray has had to work hard for two of its three wins. I say the Big Red wins this one 24-14, but I will not be surprised if it is more than that. The encouraging news for RHS is that they seem to have adjusted well to the loss of Agnor and appear to have enough backfield depth to take up the slack.
Wilson at Buffalo Gap: The other unbeaten is the Bison, but again, those three wins have not come against the best of competition. Wilson on the other hand gave Waynesboro a decent game in the season opener and held their own against the Leemen. Both teams thrashed Fort Defiance so if you compare scores, they might appear to be just about even. I am going to go with the Bison, just so I can stay consistent with a pre-season prediction that I made. Expect a margin of a TD or less in this one...a blowout by either of these would be a surprise.
East Rock at Stuarts Draft: To me this is the REAL toss-up in this week's foursome, and I do not see any clear clue as to who the favorite might be. The Eagles raised some eyebrows with their impressive stomping of Madison, compared to Luray's nail-biter with the Mounties, but they have two losses and can ill afford a third one if they hope to make the playoffs again this year. Draft on the other hand pulled out a win that surprised me at least with their three-TD win over Broadway. So the more I think about it, this one may not be the barnburner I thought. I will go with SD by a touchdown but the Cougars just might make it easier than that, and may be ready to stamp themselves as a contender. Sounds like they have an impressive running game this year.
Stonewall at Page: The past few years this has been the season-ending game, but they are getting it out of the way early this season. Page has had an extra week to celebrate their win over Rappahannock County and they would be beside themselves if they made it two wins in a row. Stonewall has played better competition thus far, and based on that, I will have to go with them in this one. But again it could go either way.
So those are my thoughts....I could go anywhere from 4-0 to 0-4 with this slate. It is just too early to tell for sure until we have a couple of weeks to start separating the teams a little bit.
Starting this week, we will have a full four-game slate each week, and in this case, it is a dandy because you could make the argument that any one of them, if not all four, are up for grabs. There does not seem to be a clear-cut unanimous winner in the bunch. So let's get cracking, using the 2-A board to chat, since five of the eight teams are in fact 2-A this year.
The headliner this week will be Riverheads at Luray, as it matches two of those unbeatens. People have been talking about the Dogs since last year, saying this will be their year and that this game in particular is the one they will be pointing toward. But first of all, we simply CANNOT play this game Friday night. It will be against the rules won't it? The forecast says that Friday is going to be "sunny and pleasant" but everybody knows that Riverheads ONLY plays at Luray on rainy nights. So let's get that detail straightened out first. Assuming that is taken care of, I still see RHS as being at least a touchdown or two better this year. They have two solid wins over quality teams (Lee and Waynesboro), whereas Luray has had to work hard for two of its three wins. I say the Big Red wins this one 24-14, but I will not be surprised if it is more than that. The encouraging news for RHS is that they seem to have adjusted well to the loss of Agnor and appear to have enough backfield depth to take up the slack.
Wilson at Buffalo Gap: The other unbeaten is the Bison, but again, those three wins have not come against the best of competition. Wilson on the other hand gave Waynesboro a decent game in the season opener and held their own against the Leemen. Both teams thrashed Fort Defiance so if you compare scores, they might appear to be just about even. I am going to go with the Bison, just so I can stay consistent with a pre-season prediction that I made. Expect a margin of a TD or less in this one...a blowout by either of these would be a surprise.
East Rock at Stuarts Draft: To me this is the REAL toss-up in this week's foursome, and I do not see any clear clue as to who the favorite might be. The Eagles raised some eyebrows with their impressive stomping of Madison, compared to Luray's nail-biter with the Mounties, but they have two losses and can ill afford a third one if they hope to make the playoffs again this year. Draft on the other hand pulled out a win that surprised me at least with their three-TD win over Broadway. So the more I think about it, this one may not be the barnburner I thought. I will go with SD by a touchdown but the Cougars just might make it easier than that, and may be ready to stamp themselves as a contender. Sounds like they have an impressive running game this year.
Stonewall at Page: The past few years this has been the season-ending game, but they are getting it out of the way early this season. Page has had an extra week to celebrate their win over Rappahannock County and they would be beside themselves if they made it two wins in a row. Stonewall has played better competition thus far, and based on that, I will have to go with them in this one. But again it could go either way.
So those are my thoughts....I could go anywhere from 4-0 to 0-4 with this slate. It is just too early to tell for sure until we have a couple of weeks to start separating the teams a little bit.
