Once again this year, the Shenandoah District finished with no ties in the standings and a straight up and down 1 through 8 line-up. So here is my take on how the season went and what we can expect from these teams in the playoffs and in the future.....
1) Stuarts Draft-Congratulations to the Cougars for their undefeated season, although I was among the ones that did not think they could take down Riverheads. But they did, so now we welcome them into the group of county schools that have won the Shenandoah. All four of them have now won the district title outright within the last 10 years and the other three all made it to Salem at least once. So no pressure Cougars, but we will be expecting you to keep that tradition going! In fact it would be great to see two county teams down there the same Saturday, so maybe they can make it in 2-A and the Big Red in 1-A. So best of luck to the Draft, but count me among the ones who have pretty much already handed Appomattox a second straight title.
2) Riverheads-The loss Friday will sting for a while but it could be one of those things that will benefit RHS in the long run......you know make them hungrier and all that jazz. We will all hate to have to wait the extra week to play, but it is what it is and maybe we can use it to get over some injuries. The coaches will be the ones to preach "one game at a time", which they most certainly should do, but fans are fans, and we will not be able to help ourselves from looking ahead and speculating on all the "if we win this one, then we play......" aspect of things. If Sussex wins its first two games and remains in the hunt, and the Gladiators do as well, then we could be looking at a semi-final weekend trip to Galax, maybe a return trip to GW, or maybe even a wild ride to "The Cliff" which I have to admit does sound intriguing. So for those reasons, any Gladiator fan who follows such things will be pulling for Sussex to lose so we can move up the ladder and be the highest East seed. But realistically, that first game with Essex (assuming they get by WC) could be just as tough a game as any for Riverheads. Not sure how we have avoided each other all these years anyway.
3) East Rockingham-The Eagles will not be an easy out for anyone, and in fact I am leaning toward their game as my "gotta go somewhere Friday night" game. Only I would drive 40 miles to see a game I don't have a stake in as opposed to driving the five miles down to Stuarts Draft to see them roll all over someone. Anyway, the Eagles' passing game is strong enough to put points on the board against anyone, but their defense is suspect, and if they run up against another high-powered offensive team, they could be in trouble. But I still see one, maybe two wins in their future.
4) Buffalo Gap-I won't make any new Bison friends with these comments, but I honestly cannot see how this team won 7 games this season. They were terrible against Riverheads, and although they competed hard against Stuarts Draft, they still only managed something like 56 yards of total offense. For county pride, of course I would like to see them win some games, but if they win more than one, I will be surprised.
5) Luray- As usual the Dogs will be our "test the waters" team in the playoffs. They seem to finish in roughly the same position every year, which means that in the first or second round, they end up traveling back east somewhere. But they generally make a good showing when they do, which helps the rest of us figure out how we stack up. So do your thing, Dogs, win a game or two, and we will do it all over again next year.
6) Wilson- The Hornets have to get the award for the Weirdest Season this year. In most of their games, they couldn't even find their own offense, but in the last two games, they ran amok and scored more points than they had in the first eight combined. (For those of you who might not have read about it, they ended their season with a 70-51 basketball-sounding win over Page Friday night.) So my guess is that the more-productive end of the season will inspire them to try and get off to a better start next year.
7) Page County- The Panthers probably had more fun than anyone else this year. They won 3 games, which was a big improvement over most of their recent campaigns, and even when they weren't winning, they were scoring a ton of points. If they keep up that attitude, more wins could come in the future. I have no doubt that they will be one of the favorites when basketball rolls around in a few weeks so these things balance themselves out.
8) Stonewall Jackson- As I reported recently, the numbers were up this year for both their JV and varsity teams. So that tells me that someone is getting them interested in playing and keeping their spirits up. Also on Senior Night, they only had about five on the football team. So this team can turn it around if they will just be patient and if their fan base will stick with them.
And of course Lee High joins the district next year as a 9th member. I doubt if they will make it past their first playoff game next weekend, and next year they will probably finish somewhere in the middle of the pack. They will make their biggest impact in basketball, which has always been a Lee tradition.
1) Stuarts Draft-Congratulations to the Cougars for their undefeated season, although I was among the ones that did not think they could take down Riverheads. But they did, so now we welcome them into the group of county schools that have won the Shenandoah. All four of them have now won the district title outright within the last 10 years and the other three all made it to Salem at least once. So no pressure Cougars, but we will be expecting you to keep that tradition going! In fact it would be great to see two county teams down there the same Saturday, so maybe they can make it in 2-A and the Big Red in 1-A. So best of luck to the Draft, but count me among the ones who have pretty much already handed Appomattox a second straight title.
2) Riverheads-The loss Friday will sting for a while but it could be one of those things that will benefit RHS in the long run......you know make them hungrier and all that jazz. We will all hate to have to wait the extra week to play, but it is what it is and maybe we can use it to get over some injuries. The coaches will be the ones to preach "one game at a time", which they most certainly should do, but fans are fans, and we will not be able to help ourselves from looking ahead and speculating on all the "if we win this one, then we play......" aspect of things. If Sussex wins its first two games and remains in the hunt, and the Gladiators do as well, then we could be looking at a semi-final weekend trip to Galax, maybe a return trip to GW, or maybe even a wild ride to "The Cliff" which I have to admit does sound intriguing. So for those reasons, any Gladiator fan who follows such things will be pulling for Sussex to lose so we can move up the ladder and be the highest East seed. But realistically, that first game with Essex (assuming they get by WC) could be just as tough a game as any for Riverheads. Not sure how we have avoided each other all these years anyway.
3) East Rockingham-The Eagles will not be an easy out for anyone, and in fact I am leaning toward their game as my "gotta go somewhere Friday night" game. Only I would drive 40 miles to see a game I don't have a stake in as opposed to driving the five miles down to Stuarts Draft to see them roll all over someone. Anyway, the Eagles' passing game is strong enough to put points on the board against anyone, but their defense is suspect, and if they run up against another high-powered offensive team, they could be in trouble. But I still see one, maybe two wins in their future.
4) Buffalo Gap-I won't make any new Bison friends with these comments, but I honestly cannot see how this team won 7 games this season. They were terrible against Riverheads, and although they competed hard against Stuarts Draft, they still only managed something like 56 yards of total offense. For county pride, of course I would like to see them win some games, but if they win more than one, I will be surprised.
5) Luray- As usual the Dogs will be our "test the waters" team in the playoffs. They seem to finish in roughly the same position every year, which means that in the first or second round, they end up traveling back east somewhere. But they generally make a good showing when they do, which helps the rest of us figure out how we stack up. So do your thing, Dogs, win a game or two, and we will do it all over again next year.
6) Wilson- The Hornets have to get the award for the Weirdest Season this year. In most of their games, they couldn't even find their own offense, but in the last two games, they ran amok and scored more points than they had in the first eight combined. (For those of you who might not have read about it, they ended their season with a 70-51 basketball-sounding win over Page Friday night.) So my guess is that the more-productive end of the season will inspire them to try and get off to a better start next year.
7) Page County- The Panthers probably had more fun than anyone else this year. They won 3 games, which was a big improvement over most of their recent campaigns, and even when they weren't winning, they were scoring a ton of points. If they keep up that attitude, more wins could come in the future. I have no doubt that they will be one of the favorites when basketball rolls around in a few weeks so these things balance themselves out.
8) Stonewall Jackson- As I reported recently, the numbers were up this year for both their JV and varsity teams. So that tells me that someone is getting them interested in playing and keeping their spirits up. Also on Senior Night, they only had about five on the football team. So this team can turn it around if they will just be patient and if their fan base will stick with them.
And of course Lee High joins the district next year as a 9th member. I doubt if they will make it past their first playoff game next weekend, and next year they will probably finish somewhere in the middle of the pack. They will make their biggest impact in basketball, which has always been a Lee tradition.
