Due to the reduction to only six teams, this year's Shenandoah District teams will have to wait a while, over half the season in fact, before they can tangle with each other. Starting tonight there will be a six week period in which each team in the league will have five non-district games plus a bye week. District competition will then start on Friday, October 11, and over that final five weeks, everybody will play everybody else to determine a district winner.
If I remember to be consistent about it, I will post most of my general stuff here on the 2-A thread, since we have three 2-A teams, two 3-A teams and one 1-A team. But for all my Riverheads faithful I will try to always post information about their games only on the 1-A thread. (Like I said.....if I remember????)
So shall we get started? Two of our teams have that bye I just mentioned this first week. So we will have to wait till next week to see how new coach Jake Phillips will fare at the newly-named Staunton High School and how hungry Fort Defiance will be to build upon its success from last year. But the other four teams get their seasons started tonight, and if you are a neutral fan in the area who just likes to go out and see a game, then three of them are here in the county, and you won't have to drive far. Here is tonight's slate, with of course my usual fearless predictions..........
Buffalo Gap at Clarke County: The Bison are the only local team hitting the road tonight and they will likely have their hands full. The whole season at the Gap this year will be all about "Life After Rivenburg." Clarke fans will remember him especially well as he ran wild over them last season in the playoffs, so they will likely be thrilled to see someone else wearing that number unless it has been retired. On paper this looks like a victory for the home team, unless the Gap has another two or three Rivenburgs ready to roll. I will say Clarke 28-14.
James River at Stuarts Draft: Last year's Cougars took their lumps due to youth so the season will be defined by how fast and how much they have grown up. This game will be a complete toss-up because there is no comparison, no past history, etc. Coach Phillips (the one now at Staunton) appears to have left the Knights in pretty good shape and on an upward trend, but overall the Shenandoah is generally stronger than the Pioneer (at least I "think" JR is still a Pioneer team??). So on home field advantage, I will go with the Cougars 28-22.
Washington & Lee at Riverheads: This will be the Gladiators' first match-up against a Northern Neck team other than Essex, so for that reason it could be a hard one to predict. One of the local papers today has a story on the Big Red and reports that they lost something like 15 out of 22 starters. That would normally be a scary stat but RHS just reloads every year. I cannot imagine the Gladiators losing this one after impressive scrimmages, but will it be a 49-6 rout or a 28-21 dogfight? I am leaning more toward the former, so maybe it will be something in the middle. At any rate, Eagles fans........come on up the weather is going to be awesome!
Waynesboro at Wilson: I personally have Wilson near the bottom of the 'Doah this year but they should still pick up that first win here tonight. The Little Giants will try hard all year but they are sooooooooo young and soooooooo inexperienced that just scoring most nights will be a moral victory. I see the green team winning this one by at least 34-6.
If I remember to be consistent about it, I will post most of my general stuff here on the 2-A thread, since we have three 2-A teams, two 3-A teams and one 1-A team. But for all my Riverheads faithful I will try to always post information about their games only on the 1-A thread. (Like I said.....if I remember????)
So shall we get started? Two of our teams have that bye I just mentioned this first week. So we will have to wait till next week to see how new coach Jake Phillips will fare at the newly-named Staunton High School and how hungry Fort Defiance will be to build upon its success from last year. But the other four teams get their seasons started tonight, and if you are a neutral fan in the area who just likes to go out and see a game, then three of them are here in the county, and you won't have to drive far. Here is tonight's slate, with of course my usual fearless predictions..........
Buffalo Gap at Clarke County: The Bison are the only local team hitting the road tonight and they will likely have their hands full. The whole season at the Gap this year will be all about "Life After Rivenburg." Clarke fans will remember him especially well as he ran wild over them last season in the playoffs, so they will likely be thrilled to see someone else wearing that number unless it has been retired. On paper this looks like a victory for the home team, unless the Gap has another two or three Rivenburgs ready to roll. I will say Clarke 28-14.
James River at Stuarts Draft: Last year's Cougars took their lumps due to youth so the season will be defined by how fast and how much they have grown up. This game will be a complete toss-up because there is no comparison, no past history, etc. Coach Phillips (the one now at Staunton) appears to have left the Knights in pretty good shape and on an upward trend, but overall the Shenandoah is generally stronger than the Pioneer (at least I "think" JR is still a Pioneer team??). So on home field advantage, I will go with the Cougars 28-22.
Washington & Lee at Riverheads: This will be the Gladiators' first match-up against a Northern Neck team other than Essex, so for that reason it could be a hard one to predict. One of the local papers today has a story on the Big Red and reports that they lost something like 15 out of 22 starters. That would normally be a scary stat but RHS just reloads every year. I cannot imagine the Gladiators losing this one after impressive scrimmages, but will it be a 49-6 rout or a 28-21 dogfight? I am leaning more toward the former, so maybe it will be something in the middle. At any rate, Eagles fans........come on up the weather is going to be awesome!
Waynesboro at Wilson: I personally have Wilson near the bottom of the 'Doah this year but they should still pick up that first win here tonight. The Little Giants will try hard all year but they are sooooooooo young and soooooooo inexperienced that just scoring most nights will be a moral victory. I see the green team winning this one by at least 34-6.
