Friday night was perhaps the most captivating of the high school football season in Southwest Virginia, or at least the most revealing.
There’s still plenty of football left to be played, but the first month reached a fever pitch this week as legitimate teams, as well as illegitimate, made themselves known.
Here are five things we learned from Week 4.
PH is the best team in the area
Patrick Henry is clearly the team to beat in the Timesland area. It didn’t just knock off rival William Fleming on Friday, it stifled its crosstown rival with a 14-2 victory. It has a dynamic offense that can pass the ball between burgeoning quarterback Jake Painter and Syracuse commit Cameron Hairston-Taylor, along with the power running back prowess of Damarion Perdue.
The Patriots defense is also a thing of beauty as they’ve allowed just 26 points all season to get to 4-0. With Salem weaker this year, a River Ridge District championship and an undefeated regular season is very possible.
It’s not time to jump off ‘The Cliff’
Yes, William Fleming was smothered by Patrick Henry. Yes, the Colonels are just 2-2. But don’t press the panic button yet. Fleming’s two losses have come against tough opponents, the first against powerhouse Varina in Week 1, and in the Mayor’s Cup it had several untimely false start and offside penalties and took a dozen sacks.
You clean that up and you’re back on the winning path. Zhiy Steelman still rushed for over 100 yards, Jycer Preston made some heads-up runs from the quarterback position and the Colonels did reach the red zone multiple times. Tough opponents GW-Danville and Lord Botetourt, as well as Staunton River, which was their one regular season loss last year, remain on their schedule, but a Blue Ridge District title is still on the table.
Bengals could disrupt the Piedmont, maybe even the region
Without question, the biggest surprise of the week was Bassett’s remarkable 44-35 victory over William Byrd, handing the Terriers their first loss of the season. That seemingly came out of nowhere, since the Bengals opened the season 0-2, but they’ve righted the ship and now we’re left wondering what the rest of the year holds.
David Cook has been slinging it lately, throwing for a school record 415 yards with four touchdowns against Byrd. When you look at Bassett’s schedule, opening against Franklin County and Gretna was tough, but it’s battled-tested them and now they’re a real contender for the Piedmont District, taking on unbeaten Magna Vista on Oct. 17. Get into the Region 3D playoffs, and who knows what they could do as a likely lower seed.
Cougars the ‘Cardiac Kids’ this year
For the second time in three weeks, Alleghany needed late-game heroics to pull out a victory. In Week 1 it rallied from a two-score deficit to beat Brookville, and on Friday, trailing by a point after a touchdown, the Cougars elected to go for two and took the lead on a Des Jordan pass to Colten Jack with 6:44 remaining to beat Staunton in their Shenandoah District debut.
Alleghany also beat Greenbrier East, West Virginia by just 10 points, so it’s been a grueling start in Covington but one the Cougars have come out of with a 3-0 record and now 18 straight regular season wins. The close games will only strengthen their resolve come playoff time.
Things are booming in Buchanan
Welcome back to James River, Jack Baker.
The one-time Knights assistant and longtime head coach between Alleghany, Rustburg, Parr McCluer and Nelson County has seemingly restored things in Buchanan. James River is 3-1 after a 1-9 campaign last year, and has outscored opponents 85-7 the last two weeks. This week the Knights routed Hidden Valley 50-0, and yes that is a weaker opponent, but it marked the first 50-point performance for James River since 2018.
Three Rivers District action starts next week, and their opener against Radford should be revealing.
Undefeated tracker
The list of teams saw significant downsizing as William Byrd, Chilhowie and Northside all picked up their first losses. We’re now down to eight teams across five classes.
Patrick Henry
Jefferson Forest
Alleghany
Magna Vista
Lord Botetourt
Floyd County
Glenvar
Craig County
Contact Matt Case at mcase@roanoke.com
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