It is strange to think that we have only played two games thus far, but Friday's third game will actually mark the halfway point of the abbreviated season. However the Shenandoah District teams are making the most of it as all six of them have tasted victory at least once. If you throw neighboring Waynesboro into the mix, which I have been doing for these previews, even they almost won last Friday.
They have now taken rain out of the forecast for this Friday, so if that turns out to be true, we will have our warmest weather yet this season. Here is the slate of games..........
Riverheads at Fort Defiance: Hard to believe that this will be RHS' first trip to the Fort for a varsity football game in 40 years. It should be a good one and has the potential to be the best game on the docket. The Indians gave Riverheads a decent game in Greenville last year, trailing only 7-0 at halftime before RHS pulled out to a 28-0 win. Trevor Bartley is the primary back for the Indians but it sounds like he had some help Friday against Staunton so the Gladiators will not be able to focus just on stopping him. Likewise Riverheads is also developing more variety in its offense as six different guys scored rushing touchdowns in Friday's romp over Wilson and quarterback Bennett Dunlap has tossed a TD pass in each game so far. If the Indians can get some early breaks and gain some confidence, this could be a close one, but on paper it looks as if the Big Red will have too many weapons for them. I see a 35-14 kind of win for the visitors.
Wilson at Stuarts Draft: Wilson had a couple of long runs against the Red Pride Friday but they also had a ton of mistakes and just could not put together much in the way of consistency. The Cougars on the other hand have yet to be scored upon and just might make it three in a row for that particular statistic. You can usually throw the record books out the window when any two county teams meet, especially these two, but this one has the potential to get ugly early. I don't think the Draft will wait until the second half this time to settle the issue. The question of whether Wilson can score at all will be the subplot to look for in this one.
Buffalo Gap at Staunton: If I remember the last couple of years, these two have had a tendency to run all up and down the field against one another, trade the lead back and forth, and just give their fans an all-around entertaining game. Each team is 1-1 on the season after pulling out a narrow non-district win first and then getting brought back down to earth last week in their district openers. So this one may come down to a case of which team has licked its wounds the fastest and can re-establish some rhythm. I would have to go with the Bison, mainly because I get the idea that their loss last week to a very good Stuarts Draft team was not "quite" as bad as a 30-0 game might normally be. Adding all that up, look for a Gap win somewhere in the 34-28 range.
Rockbridge County at Waynesboro: As I have mentioned more than one place, the Little Giants almost pulled off the shocker of the season last week when they traveled to Harrisonburg to face the Class 5 Blue Streaks and took them right down to the wire, losing a tough 6-0 decision. According to a game story I read, the Giants drove deep into Streak territory late in the game but just could not push across a tying or winning TD. Maybe we will find out that H'burg is down this year but whatever the case, the Giants have to still be feeling good about their work in progress. However, the Wildcats so far sound like a quality team and their 38-6 rout over Spotswood raised some eyebrows for sure. On paper, this should be an easy win for the visitors but after last week, we should not really be surprised if Waynesboro puts up a fight.
They have now taken rain out of the forecast for this Friday, so if that turns out to be true, we will have our warmest weather yet this season. Here is the slate of games..........
Riverheads at Fort Defiance: Hard to believe that this will be RHS' first trip to the Fort for a varsity football game in 40 years. It should be a good one and has the potential to be the best game on the docket. The Indians gave Riverheads a decent game in Greenville last year, trailing only 7-0 at halftime before RHS pulled out to a 28-0 win. Trevor Bartley is the primary back for the Indians but it sounds like he had some help Friday against Staunton so the Gladiators will not be able to focus just on stopping him. Likewise Riverheads is also developing more variety in its offense as six different guys scored rushing touchdowns in Friday's romp over Wilson and quarterback Bennett Dunlap has tossed a TD pass in each game so far. If the Indians can get some early breaks and gain some confidence, this could be a close one, but on paper it looks as if the Big Red will have too many weapons for them. I see a 35-14 kind of win for the visitors.
Wilson at Stuarts Draft: Wilson had a couple of long runs against the Red Pride Friday but they also had a ton of mistakes and just could not put together much in the way of consistency. The Cougars on the other hand have yet to be scored upon and just might make it three in a row for that particular statistic. You can usually throw the record books out the window when any two county teams meet, especially these two, but this one has the potential to get ugly early. I don't think the Draft will wait until the second half this time to settle the issue. The question of whether Wilson can score at all will be the subplot to look for in this one.
Buffalo Gap at Staunton: If I remember the last couple of years, these two have had a tendency to run all up and down the field against one another, trade the lead back and forth, and just give their fans an all-around entertaining game. Each team is 1-1 on the season after pulling out a narrow non-district win first and then getting brought back down to earth last week in their district openers. So this one may come down to a case of which team has licked its wounds the fastest and can re-establish some rhythm. I would have to go with the Bison, mainly because I get the idea that their loss last week to a very good Stuarts Draft team was not "quite" as bad as a 30-0 game might normally be. Adding all that up, look for a Gap win somewhere in the 34-28 range.
Rockbridge County at Waynesboro: As I have mentioned more than one place, the Little Giants almost pulled off the shocker of the season last week when they traveled to Harrisonburg to face the Class 5 Blue Streaks and took them right down to the wire, losing a tough 6-0 decision. According to a game story I read, the Giants drove deep into Streak territory late in the game but just could not push across a tying or winning TD. Maybe we will find out that H'burg is down this year but whatever the case, the Giants have to still be feeling good about their work in progress. However, the Wildcats so far sound like a quality team and their 38-6 rout over Spotswood raised some eyebrows for sure. On paper, this should be an easy win for the visitors but after last week, we should not really be surprised if Waynesboro puts up a fight.
