The cool thing about this matchup is, it's 2 teams that mirror each other in a lot of ways.
Dinwiddie out in the country.
Even though Varina is in Henrico the school is surrounded by acres of cornfields.
Dinwiddie has a blue collar workman program under Mills. No excuses just work.
Varina since the Chilcoat days have prided themselves on being the hardest working team in the area and it's a lot of guys that played under Chilcoat on the staff.
Both teams have physically worn down their opponents all year. Varina more defensively and Dinwiddie more offensively.
Strengh of schedule is about the same for both teams. Varina was super unfortunate to lose the Freedom/Hayfield/PME whatever you want to call them game. Since Dinwiddie played Maury that will be the best team either team has played. I think that could play a factor. Dinwiddie won't be shocked by Varina’s defense how Huguenot was.
Both teams have "Weaknesses" but I don't think they're glaring. It's just a matter of can a team take advantage.
Let's start with Dinwiddie.
Pass defense seems to be the only weakness. But if you look a lot of those big plays it's just other guys making plays. Matoaca literally only had success hitting bombs and most of King George's success was on bombs. King George easily has one of the more sophisticated and well run offenses in the state and Dinwiddie adjusted to that as the game went on. Varina to me really only has 1 guy in particular that can challenge you deep but he is a MONSTER. Varina's passing game isn't sophisticated like KG so let's see how they plan to attack the secondary.
For Varina: Their main weakness is just the offense overall. Sometimes it's play calling. Sometimes the oline is just stuck in mud and doesn't move very well. I'm sure you're looking at the numbers (33 ppg)and thinking I'm crazy but look at what's actually happening in the games. Simply put KALEB WYCHE is freaking ridiculous. When Varina has success it's just been "Wyche go do something". We've talked about Varina having an improved offense, but it's largely due to Wyche being a better player. 5 Henderson at RB has been an upgrade over previous backs and has played well but again he hasn't exactly put up great numbers this year. Overall the offense being bland and not creative worries me at this point of the year.
So with that said can Varina’s Dline overwhelm Dinwiddie's Oline? Maybe but I think it will be close to a stalemate.
Will Dinwiddie be able to shut down Varina’s offense? Possibly but Varina has dudes that will make something out of nothing.
I think most thing between the teams balance out where one team has an advantage then other team has an advantage in a different spot.
Finally coaching. Varina has had some question marks but they're in the Region championship for 3rd the time in 4 years. So hey, they're doing something right on Messer Rd. The defense will be ready to play. The offense will have to make adjustments but I'm skeptical as to what they can come with.
I dont have any questions about Mills and crew bringing the kitchen sink to the game. They'll adjust and adjust and adjust until something sticks. The question is will this be a 1 possession/tie game going into the because that's where those moves will show.
Last X factor: with all things very close it might be as simple who makes more plays between Dalton and Wyche. Dalton has been there and done it and Wyche looks next in line to take best player in the region.
Wyche goes both ways but hasn't face an offense like this that might wear him down.
Will we see Dalton on defense????
As the name says GoBlue !!! I'm going to punk out and not make a pick.
