As reported so far this season, the Shenandoah District, since it has only six teams, has no choice but to have each team play 5 non-district games first and then, starting on October 11th, they will finish out the season battling each other for the district title.
So we are roughly halfway through those non-district games and so far things have been fairly predictable. In fact, not that I am bragging (OK I sort of am!) but I have correctly picked all 16 games so far involving Shenandoah teams. But I do have to send a shout out to the Page Panthers for their second-half rally Friday night that produced the (predicted) win over Wilson. Without that rally I would have had my first loss of the season.
Speaking of which, Page has its annual tussle with Luray this week so that will be big news up that way. But since they are no longer with us, it won't have any bearing on the Shenandoah. So off the record, best wishes to the Panthers but Luray sounds like they might be just a tad better again this year. They should have great weather for what I am sure will be a fence-liner.
But for now, let's back to the subject at hand. Here is the line-up for our Shenandoah District teams this week, but I will tell you I am nervous because there are two in particular that worry me:
East Rockingham at Buffalo Gap: Right off the bat, this is one of them. On paper you have a winless team on the road facing a team that has averaged 60 points in its last two games. Sounds like a no-brainer right? But keep in mind that those two Bison wins came over extremely weak competition, whereas East Rock's two losses came against two of the better teams in this entire area. My point being that East Rock is a better team than they have shown. I am tempted to go with them in this one, but I am instead going to give the nod to the Bison, in what I expect to be a shootout.
Stonewall Jackson at Fort Defiance: The Indians are the one team that we cannot quite gauge yet, since we don't know exactly what kind of team Liberty Bedford had. So the Indians could be an average team or they could be a very good team. Their win over Waynesboro proved nothing, but I think we can be assured they will have little or no trouble with the Generals. The Fort wins this one by a minimum of four scores.
Staunton at Turner Ashby: It is looking like things are going to be rough for Coach Phillips in his first year. TA on the other hand has come out of the gates looking like a team to be reckoned with, so I see a pretty easy win for the Knights in this one.
Stuarts Draft at Clarke County: And here we are.........the one that worries me the most. I read that Clarke is unbeaten, but so are the Cougars and in fact they have only given up seven points in three games. But again, let's look at the competition they have faced. I think you just cannot overlook the butt-whooping that Clarke put on Buffalo Gap to open the season, so even though the Cougars are sky-high after their great start, I think they will be brought back down to earth this week.
OK, since you guys are pretty smart, you have already figured out my punch line. Riverheads will not win this week because they are not playing. Along with their country cousins over at Wilson, they have their bye week this week. I can assure you that everyone within a 30 mile radius of Greenville would much rather be playing a game this week, but what can you do? I think that will then leave Buffalo Gap and Stuarts Draft as the only teams that have not yet had their bye week.
So we are roughly halfway through those non-district games and so far things have been fairly predictable. In fact, not that I am bragging (OK I sort of am!) but I have correctly picked all 16 games so far involving Shenandoah teams. But I do have to send a shout out to the Page Panthers for their second-half rally Friday night that produced the (predicted) win over Wilson. Without that rally I would have had my first loss of the season.
Speaking of which, Page has its annual tussle with Luray this week so that will be big news up that way. But since they are no longer with us, it won't have any bearing on the Shenandoah. So off the record, best wishes to the Panthers but Luray sounds like they might be just a tad better again this year. They should have great weather for what I am sure will be a fence-liner.
But for now, let's back to the subject at hand. Here is the line-up for our Shenandoah District teams this week, but I will tell you I am nervous because there are two in particular that worry me:
East Rockingham at Buffalo Gap: Right off the bat, this is one of them. On paper you have a winless team on the road facing a team that has averaged 60 points in its last two games. Sounds like a no-brainer right? But keep in mind that those two Bison wins came over extremely weak competition, whereas East Rock's two losses came against two of the better teams in this entire area. My point being that East Rock is a better team than they have shown. I am tempted to go with them in this one, but I am instead going to give the nod to the Bison, in what I expect to be a shootout.
Stonewall Jackson at Fort Defiance: The Indians are the one team that we cannot quite gauge yet, since we don't know exactly what kind of team Liberty Bedford had. So the Indians could be an average team or they could be a very good team. Their win over Waynesboro proved nothing, but I think we can be assured they will have little or no trouble with the Generals. The Fort wins this one by a minimum of four scores.
Staunton at Turner Ashby: It is looking like things are going to be rough for Coach Phillips in his first year. TA on the other hand has come out of the gates looking like a team to be reckoned with, so I see a pretty easy win for the Knights in this one.
Stuarts Draft at Clarke County: And here we are.........the one that worries me the most. I read that Clarke is unbeaten, but so are the Cougars and in fact they have only given up seven points in three games. But again, let's look at the competition they have faced. I think you just cannot overlook the butt-whooping that Clarke put on Buffalo Gap to open the season, so even though the Cougars are sky-high after their great start, I think they will be brought back down to earth this week.
OK, since you guys are pretty smart, you have already figured out my punch line. Riverheads will not win this week because they are not playing. Along with their country cousins over at Wilson, they have their bye week this week. I can assure you that everyone within a 30 mile radius of Greenville would much rather be playing a game this week, but what can you do? I think that will then leave Buffalo Gap and Stuarts Draft as the only teams that have not yet had their bye week.
