Upset Alert PH 14-0 Varina in 3rd Q
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Yep. PH played tough tonight. Can’t compare scores and I believe HS/Varina will be close next week.
I don't think it will be. HS playing on a different level this yr
You just hit the nail on its head in another thread. Football is all about how you match up with the other team. Varina’s worse teams didn’t even get blown out by HS. That “best Springer team ever” in 2018, beat a middle of the pack team Varina 33-12. Varina got caught looking ahead last night and answered when they needed to. PH got up for Varina, like Varina will be up for the Springers on Thursday. That’s 15-18 year olds for you. Will be shocked if the game is decided by more than a TD.
Totally agree guys. Hope PH did not awaken the sleeping giant. @BoKnowsSports your comment about "answering when they needed too" is exactly what I thought about when I saw the final score. The top 3 teams in B struggled a bit this week. Dinwiddie had a few silly turnovers negating scoring opportunities and King George took care of business late against Spotsy. The top seed is on the line this week and it's going to be close. A Varina win and it's a battle for 2nd. Dinwiddie must win and hope for a Varina loss. King George needs a win and Varina and Dinwiddie losses plus they must secure the maximum rider points to secure the top spot. A GW Danville and Thomas Dale victories today will help the Dinwiddie cause; however, a North Stafford upset win next week would make things even tighter. .2 point could decide 1st through 3rd with Dinwiddie and Varina losses.
Actually, in the first State championship year(2015),Highland Springs beat Varina 55 to 7. In the “down year” state title season,it was 28-7. This is not the Varina offense of last year! This HSHS team is better than the 2018 team that went undefeated,IMO. They really do not have a weakness! I guess they have been looking past every game this year,because they have played the same the entire year. For the record, they have not played a good team this entire season
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I’ll let you talk. Varina played the same schedule as they played last year and we know what happened when these two teams met. Real East Enders know it can go either way this year. Varina is head to head with Chambers as the best team HS will see this season.
One thing is for sure now, with TD winning today, TD at Din and HS at Varina, next week will generate a tremendous amount of interest in the area football community.
Hey Bleeding Navy, with Matoaca getting beat, what do the bottom four look like now?
Hey Bleeding Navy, with Matoaca getting beat, what do the bottom four look like now?
@BoKnowsSports , I agree the game is a neighborhood dogfight and anything can happen; however, the difference between last year and this year is Varina's running game. To date, the Blue Devils have not been able to consistently establish a ground game. @HooSprings in high school offers don't make the man. Derricott has lost one game in two years, won a state championship last year and is having another big year.
Just my opinion, but unlike most teams HSHS will be able to cover Varina's talented receivers and without a running game the Springers front 7 will pin their ears back and force Derricott to rush his throws or take sacks. HSHS offense is extremely good and unless you slow them down by keeping them off the field they will score points in bunches. It's going to take one heck of an effort to beat the Springers. Miracle maybe????? Good luck to both teams.
@BleedingNavy I agree. Varina hasn’t had a running game the past 4 years if you ask me but that could be critical Thursday. They also aren’t as deep at the LB position as the Springers. Coach Johnson’s youngest is their best player on defense and is only a sophomore. Hell him and the kid at Freeman may be the best linebackers in the same class since Ashby/Moore at Bird. Plays the LB position the way it’s supposed to be played. Varina will send Keys as a spy on Martin all night. He gets after it and lines up at LB and DE. He’s improved so much since his sophomore year at Henrico. Varina’s bread and butter is luring teams to sleep and throwing it deep. They’ll bring out a lot of gadget plays and try to get Keys, Brown (who’s finally 100% healthy) and their slots into position for big plays. I watched HS play Chambers live and Chambers was able to move the ball until their play calling got shaky and they stopped being aggressive. Believe it or not, Varina has more weapons and a better O-Line than Chambers (I’ve seen Chambers play live 7 times this year including a beat down of a nationally ranked team last night).
Powhatan lost, Matoaca lost, PH lost and EV won. Hmmm. I will take a peak at it tonight. I have completed an estimate (think I am right) of the top three:. 1. Varina 2. Dinwiddie and King George tied. The Foxes will drop to third with a win on Tuesday. Yes, beating Culpeper will hurt them.
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I know Varina's receivers are good, but you mentioned something very important. Keys will be spying Martin. Depth! Varina will have a lot of two way players and if you have to spend a tremendous amount of time stopping someone you aren't going to be doing normal damage on offense. I am not arguing with you. You know all of the parties/atmosphere much better than I do. Just looking at it from a strategy point of view and to quote my former coach father "if you have to rely on gadget plays to win then you are in trouble". Do you think this will be a high scoring affair?
I like the Springers in a 21-14 type game. That Henley kid just as special as Ant Fisher was last year for Varina. Between him, Martin and Heath, the Springers will get it done. Varina has no real offensive identity and won’t be able to out athlete the Springers. I still think it’ll be the most even match up the Springers will see. I don’t expect many fireworks as this game really isn’t important other than just braggin rights. HS has 5C locked up and Varina won’t drop past the 2 seed more than likely.
Yeah, agree on all points. The point totals are crazy. Varina can drop to third if KG and Dinwiddie win, but KG must get all rider points available.
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Chambers would shut Varina out! IMHO,Varina will be the 4th best team HSHS has played. They have NO RUNNING GAME. HSHS played the same schedule last year too,but not exactly the same results. This ain’t last year. This is a completely different monster this yr. Varina is struggling to score on teams HSHS has embarrassed. They look like HSHS from last yr. Little to no chemistry. If y’all can’t see,this is not the same teams as last yr,you’re blind. I’m guessing you haven’t watched Martin this year compared to last year. Only 1 team has held them under 5 TDs. Varina just gave up 3 TDs to a weak PH offense. So I’m not sure they can hold Highland Springs under 5 tds either.
Chambers isn’t what you make them out to be. Their offense has been just as bad as Varina’s, if not worse. I’ve seen Varina, Chambers and HS, not much difference in talent. Varina played ugly last year. Herm game was ugly, lost to PH, beat HS 7-6, almost got beat by Powhatan, beat KG, played about an ugly ball game against PH and won with a walk off FG, beat Kings Fork on the final play, almost blew it in the state championship. None of those wins were anything spectacular but they got it done.
Here’s the problem you have…. Martin is a pocket passer. He’s 6’4-210lbs and has developed into a dual threat. He’s same size as Keys(if you can imagine the collision between those 2). The HSHS RB is 5’8-215. A bowling ball! Lol. Martin has an accurate(80% completion),howitzer for an arm ,He’s 10x better than he was last year,and I’m quite sure anyone would agree,Varina hasn’t seen anything close to his talent all season. Henley and Heath both line up in the slots. How do you cover Johnson and Noah Jenkins(17 offers) if you’re double covering Henley & Heath? You HAVE to drop 6 into coverage. That leaves 5 to deal with that running game behind that BIG,experienced OLine. You gotta pick your poison.
So you’re saying Varina is on par with the team ranked #115 in the nation,but Varina is nowhere to be found in the top 300? Chambers only 2 losses are to #93 HSHS and #84 Hough. Chambers is 8-2 including defeating the defending NC state champions. Their offense hasn’t been held under 27 points except in the 2 losses. If that’s weak,what the heck is Varina? Even Martinsburg is also ranked #231 nationally.
This is not last year’s Highland Springs team. Nobody and I mean NOBODY can stop this team from scoring 28pts. HSHS set up this schedule to test the talent,and I don’t think anyone had them 9-0 at this point.
Chambers doesn't have an explosive offense this year. They've tended to struggle on that side of the ball against teams with similar talent. But they've also faced some pretty good defenses. Hough, Mallard Creek and Highland Springs. Mallard Creek held Gaffney to 13. Hudson won't be as good as Howell or Maye but they held Hough to three FGs. I think they've been cautious with Concepcion too.
I know the Chambers’ kids and they’ll tell you themselves that they need to pick it up offensively. I don’t believe KC is fully healed (he was very gimpy last night) but they do look a lot better offensively going into the playoffs. The best thing that could’ve happened to Chambers, is them getting that 10 seed and having to play on the road. They’ve beaten very good Cardinal Gibbons, Hickory Ridge, and Mallard Creek teams on the road in dominating fashion. They are at their best when they let Bubba Camp loose early by taking deep shots and RPOs. They had HS on their heels and took their foot off the gas.
It wasn't a major bodily injury or anything that kept him out earlier in the year. You get what I'm saying though. That game against Creek is always physical. They usually have a good defense. Hough has an above average defense. I don't remember the exact sequence, but Highland Springs just stood them up a couple times in short yardage situations 🤷♂️. You're not gonna just out talent those guys like you might some other teams.
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I can't guarantee these numbers are totally correct, but I will give it a shot. #5 EV 25.70 (season done), #6 Matoaca 24.88 (Meadowbrook left), #7 Powhatan 24.666 (Cosby left), #8 PH Ashland 24.00 (Mechanicsville left). Everybody else is virtually eliminated.
I ran the numbers with everybody in the bottom 4 winning and available rider points. My best guess for seeding would be #5 Powhatan, #6 EV, #7 Matoaca and #8 PH Ashland. Only Powhatan has a slight chance of losing. If that happens they will switch places with EV. Matoaca and PH are basically locked in place.
Varina is the 3rd best team we faced this year. I promise you Varina would not have went into Martinsburg WV and knocked them off. Martinsburg is a good team but I think people are dismissing how tough of an opponent they were due to how badly HSHS beat them. I believe the 1st half will be close but HSHS will win by 2 tds
Yeah KC got banged up during the HS game and was held out until the Hough game, 3 games after. I thought play calling was the difference in the HS/Chambers game. Martin got the keys and ran over Chambers’ defense for 3 quarters. They stuck to that game plan unlike Chambers who had trouble getting any offense going. Their offense has looked lost at times and has for a good portion of the season. Still don’t know understand that play call from the 2 yard line to win against Springs but who am I?
I’m not drinking the Martinsburg Kool Aid either. I do look at HS going to Charlotte (8 hour round trip) and a 6 hour round trip to Martinsburg and winning as a big deal. That’s hard to do with these kids today. So many other distractions and HS completed the mission. HS is well coached and I think Varina is the only thing standing between them at 15-0.
That was a physical game, no doubt, but the hit that kept him out was early in the game (the following week) against Glenn. It was minor, but no reason to really rush him back when it's early in the season, and the guy has already locked up a full ride at the next level. Honestly, Booker is the one people are sleeping on.
Booker is excellent and I’m really impressed with the younger Concepcion too. He’s already putting people on notice. KC(NC State commit)played well in the loss to HSHS,but like someone said,Martin took over that game with Foster-Powell and that defense.
I wouldn't say they got run over for three quarters either. It was really the second quarter that hurt Chambers iirc. Back and forth game. You can't make mistakes against a team like that because they're going to make you pay. And when they make mistakes, you have to capitalize. Highlands Springs answered the bell. Chambers didn't 🤷♂️. Ball game. Gotta give them credit. I think that's what you're missing. Yeah, Chambers lost a step on offense. But look at Highland Springs schedule and results. That's a senior heavy team. They have D1 talent at just about every level. That's not to say Varina can't beat them or won't hang. I know they got some dogs. Rivalry game. Lotta hype. Teams are familiar with each other. Not your run-of-the mill game. IJS Highland Springs is pretty good. They probably going to be mad too 😂.
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That's what I meant on another thread. Highland Springs is a balanced team. Harder to pick on them this year. Chambers is missing what you guys have in Powell. He's a bully.
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If Pry and Elliot are going to turn things around that's where they need to start. Don't have to get all the top rated guys from VA or NC. But it's been State, Wake Forest, App St, Coastal, Pitt, etc scooping 3-stars good enough to build a program, even Syracuse got a QB 🤷♂️. Pry seems to at least understand that a little better starting off than Fuente did. I'm interested to see how Keys does in this game and the remainder of the season. He looks to be pretty solid.
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