Who has seen Indian River, in addition to Hampton, Norview, Salem and the CR faves?
- Thread starter TBone
- Start date
IMHO, Defensively IR will stack up well. Offensively IR better hope they aren't forced to one dimensional because that will be their undoing. I have never been a big fan of their play calling and QB play. Their rb runs hard and if they get him established and ride him he can take them for a little bit of a run.
Hampton is too one dimensional, but they might have the best 1 player out of all those teams in the QB and their defense is very underrated and is solid.
Salem has offensive problems and so they will have to rely on their defense to bail them out.
Norview probably is as balanced as IR, and we will see how this bye week before the playoffs impacts them. They have been a little inconsistent lately.
All of these teams have had fine seasons, but honestly whoever comes out of the Richmond area will be playing for the state title again. I think IR is the slight favorite to play for the opportunity, but I think their season ends there.
The WB team has four losses. One in Florida, By 8 to Kings Fork early, By 3 to Grassfield, and 2 to Oscar Smith So their 3 district losses were by a combined 13 points. They could have easily been 8-1, 7-2 going into that game. That's the 2nd year in a row Indian River has laid an egg going into the playoffs as they lost to Great Bridge last season. IR did play without 4 star DB/WR Devon Hunter. I didn't consider it that big of a surprise that WB won the margin was more than I expected.
IR has a tough defense #4 is a big hitter but at least a step or 2 slower than when he played for Oscar Smith. Their offense is not consistent and they have a hard time with blitzing defenses. They have run the ball well. Salem appears to be a mirror image of IR. Both teams will likely struggle against the Richmond teams. I haven't seen Hampton play but their reputation is to also be very tough defensively. Their offense appears to be very talented based on the video highlights & the local press seems to favor Hampton's offense too.
Hampton will go as far as Bubba Quillen will take them. He's an exceptional athlete but Hampton's play calling is too predictable. They only throw to one person and mainly run QB draws. When they come up against a team like Indian River (if motivated) or LC Bird they should lose and it could be by 14+.
