Like Jefferson Forest, which travels to Turner Ashby, and William Campbell, which hosts Riverheads, Brookville’s football team prepares to face a Wing-T attack tonight, for the first time since it beat Amherst 24-21 in its season opener.

Similar to that game, the Bees have had plenty of time to get ready for Northside, their 7:30 p.m. Division 3, Region III semifinal opponent at Stinger Stadium. Brookville’s last game was Oct. 24 before taking its scheduled bye week and receiving a first-round bye in the playoffs’ first round.

Despite a scare from Heritage on Friday, Brookville claimed its first Seminole District title since 1996 with a 21-7 win over the Pioneers.

Heritage scored the game’s first points, but the Bees answered with 21 points to give coach Jeff Woody his first district crown since he was a senior wide receiver for Brookville.

Coming into the season, everyone knew Brookville would have plenty of offensive firepower.

But just one win away from their first undefeated regular season in 37 years, it’s been the Bees’ defense that has stood the tallest this fall.

When Brookville and Heritage staged a Week 10 high school football showdown last fall, the Bees were decided underdogs against the undefeated Pioneers, who lost three of their final four games, starting with a 28-21 upset by Brookville at City Stadium.

Tonight, the roles are reversed as it’s the Bees who are unbeaten at 9-0, ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Group AA state poll and no worse than a No. 2 seed going into the Region III, Division 3, playoffs, while the Pioneers (3-5) are battling for a postseason berth in Region III, Division 4.

FOREST — Running negative splits — starting conservatively and finishing each mile with a faster time — has proven to be a successful tact for Jefferson Forest’s cross country teams.

That’s especially true on the Cavaliers’ 3.1-mile home course of Wolf Branch Farm, site of Wednesday’s Seminole District championships.

The first game of Wednesday night’s non-district volleyball match between Brookville and E.C. Glass was hanging in the balance before an agonizing injury to Bees setter Alyssa Kidd threw things out of whack.

If homecoming didn’t provide enough pageantry for Brookville’s football game against Liberty, guest appearances by Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer and offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring added to the festival atmosphere before a near-capacity crowd on Friday night.

If Liberty High’s football team is to advance to the Group AA, Division 3, state playoffs for the first time in three years, it will most likely have to beat Brookville, the Seminole District favorite and top-ranked AA team in the state.

FOREST — Brookville was leading Jefferson 10-7 in a key Seminole District football game with just over four minutes to play when the Bees’ star quarterback finally broke loose from the Cavaliers’ defense.

Logan Thomas burst through the line untouched on an option play and sprinted straight up the middle of the field and through Jefferson Forest’s secondary for a 57-yard touchdown that put Brookville up 17-7 en route to a 19-7 triumph.

Brookville senior running back Stacey Houston, who gained 445 yards in the past three wins over Salem (143), Lord Botetourt (150) and William Byrd (223), firmly established himself as the area’s leading rusher with a 223-yard, four-touchdown effort Friday night in a 28-6 triumph over visiting Rustburg.

Brookville’s football team will mark the 60th anniversary of its program prior to the start of tonight’s game against Rustburg, with eight players from that year’s team and eight of the program’s 12 head coaches expected to be on hand.

Logan Thomas may have outdone himself Friday night.

The quarterback, widely considered the best senior college prospect in Virginia, accounted for five touchdowns, including two in the decisive third quarter of Brookville’s 49-34 win over William Byrd.

Back in 1996, Brookville’s football team traveled to Salem for the first time and came away 21-0 winners.

The Spartans went on to capture their first of three Group AA, Division 4, state championships of the 90s that season, beating Sherando 20-12, while the Bees lost in their first Division 3 state final appearance, 7-0 to James Monroe.

Tonight at Salem Stadium, Salem will host Brookville in an early-season battle between two teams eyeing Division 4 and Division 3 state playoff berths.

Brookville was able to rise to the challenge of beating Amherst, 24-21, on its home turf Friday night before a huge partisan crowd at Lancers Stadium.

In a season opener with huge implications in the Seminole District race, Brookville proved it could win a big game in a hostile environment, Friday night at Amherst. The Bees’ 24-21 triumph, which ended two-time defending Group AA, Division 4, state champion Amherst’s 26-game winning streak and spoiled coach Cecil Phillips’ debut, pivoted on two big plays and two fourth-quarter, fourth-down defensive stops.
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