GRETNA — It’s an odd feeling for a Gretna Hawk football team: Trying to bounce back from a regular-season loss more than once in a year.

It hasn’t happened since 2002, when the Hawks went 8-4. But that was exactly the task in front of Gretna this week. The Hawks were coming off a loss to Appomattox, the first Dogwood team other than William Campbell to defeat them in the last seven years. Gretna also lost its season opener at LCA.

And pity poor Chatham, which was on the other side of Gretna’s rebound effort. The Hawks scored two touchdowns before the Cavaliers could blink as Gretna cruised to a 52-0 victory that lasted less than two hours, thanks to a second-half running clock.

If football games were beauty pageants, Friday night’s Amherst-Rustburg matchup would not have even made it out of the first round.

But thankfully they’re not, and Amherst clinched another Seminole District championship with a 45-0 victory over the Red Devils.

RINGGOLD — Neal Thomas did not play like his heart was heavy and his mind was elsewhere. For the senior wide receiver, the plays that he made on offense and defense seem to come as naturally as they would in any other game.

Thomas, who lost his father earlier in the week, scored two touchdowns midway through the Raiders’ contest against Dan River that swung the tide toward the Appomattox sideline.

That momentum — and a key stop by the Raiders’ defense on a potential Dan River game-tying two-point conversion in overtime — gave the Raiders a 28-26 victory and ensured Appomattox a share of the Dogwood District title and a berth in the Region B, Division 2, playoffs.

Fourteen jumping jacks. That’s how many the Liberty Minutemen football team will do in practice.

The number is 14 because that is how long coach Chris Watts wants this season to be. A 14-game season for the Minutemen would mean a first-round bye in the playoffs and a run to the state championship game.

The playoff picture may still be uncertain, but with a 43-23 home win against Heritage on Friday, the Minutemen locked up that first-round bye and assured themselves of at least two more weeks of practice and sets of 14 jumping jacks.

FOREST — Early in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s Seminole District finale at Sabre Stadium, Brookville’s Deshon Foxx took a pitch from quarterback Kendall Becraft, just like he had three times before.

He had turned one into his second first-half touchdown, slanting inside the left pylon on fourth-and-goal from Jefferson Forest’s 2.

But this time, with the game tied at 20 and the Bees facing third-and-8 at JF’s 28, Foxx rolled to his right and unleashed a 30-yard spiral that hit Alec Thompson in stride in the right side of the end zone for the winning touchdown in a 27-20 triumph.

Brookville at Jefferson Forest and G-Dub at Fleming top the list of games this week. Staunton River still has a chance to get into the playoffs if they can win against Northside. Check back for scores and highlights. Don’t forget to make sure we’ve got your team’s score. You can call 540-981-9126.

At the start of this season, Appomattox second-year coach Ben Martin anticipated there would be five legitimate contenders in the seven-team Dogwood District race.

Two obvious candidates were Gretna and William Campbell, which have won the last nine district titles, capturing six state championships in the past seven seasons.

The rest included the Raiders, who last won a district title more than 10 years ago, Altavista which last made the regional playoffs nearly 20 years ago, and Dan River.

Preview capsules of Friday night’s football games involving area teams

There will be plenty at stake tonight at 7 at Sabre Stadium when Jefferson Forest, which occupies the sixth and final spot in the Region III, Division 4, playoff race, hosts Brookville, rated third in Region III, Division 3.

But even if that wasn’t the case, there would still be a different vibe in the air for this Seminole District showdown.

Win or lose, week 10 highlighted some outstanding individual efforts.

AMHERST — Jefferson Forest’s football team gave Amherst its toughest test of the season, Friday night at Lancer Stadium, before allowing the Lancers to capitalize on a couple of big plays and come away with a 30-0 victory, their second shutout of the season.

Brookville got back to the basics in practice, and it got back to its winning ways on the football field.

The Bees’ defense held E.C. Glass to 67 total yards and four first downs and their offense accounted for 342 yards in a 32-0 home victory Friday night.

NARUNA — Altavista had endured a lot of pain at the hands of William Campbell over the years, and plenty of humiliation.

The scores the last four seasons: 28-3, 56-0, 56-6, 70-0, all in favor of the Generals.

And when the Generals won those games, they made sure the Colonels knew how many points they scored, jumping up and down at the middle of the field once for each point tallied.

So it was with great satisfaction Friday night after Altavista’s convincing 28-6 victory that the Colonels gathered at one end of William Campbell’s stadium and jumped up and down 28 times.

CHATHAM — As Chatham’s defense time after time held Nelson County out of the end zone when the Governors were threatening in regulation, it was only fitting that the defense made two stands in overtime to give the offense a chance to get that elusive first win.

Chatham junior quarterback Cam McClellan scored on a touchdown run on the Cavaliers’ first play in the second overtime, sending Chatham to a thrilling 28-22 homecoming victory Friday night in a Dogwood District matchup.

Heritage scored 13 unanswered points in the second half to knock off Rustburg 34-14 in a Seminole District matchup at City Stadium on a decidedly emotional senior night for the Pioneers.

“We knew with all the injuries coming into the year that it was going to be rough, but they stuck it out,” Heritage coach Doug Smith said.

E.C. Glass plays Brookville, and Gretna travels to Appomattox in two of the big games this week. Send your scores in, or call to report scores at 540-981-9126

Amherst coach Cecil Phillips got a first-hand glimpse at Jefferson Forest junior running back Rashad Hall’s speed last spring, during a football combine held at Lancer Stadium.

It’s been a season of struggles for Heritage’s football team, ever since senior quarterback O’Shawn Bryant blew out his right knee in the Pioneers’ opening scrimmage at GW-Danville.

“We’ve been through a lot of adversity this year,” said fellow senior Lakuan McPhaul, Bryant’s replacement who grew up playing basketball in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Fridayfootball.com’s Week 9 saw its share of outstanding performances. Here are three of the best.

Check out a recap of the latest Friday Football videos and photos here.

The logjam atop the Dogwood District didn’t loosen up Friday night as Gretna, Altavista and Appomattox all won convincingly.

The Raiders routed Nelson County 50-14 to stay in the race for the district championship. Quarterback Kenny Scott accounted for 193 total yards (139 rushing) and two rushing touchdowns, and Joe Reed rushed for 76 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries to lead the attack.

GRETNA — Gretna running back Andre Dickerson rushed for career highs of 219 yards and five touchdowns as Dan River could never find an answer for the fleet-of-foot running back in the Hawks’ 33-20 Dogwood District victory Friday night.

The name on the schedule was Chatham, just another in a string of conference games for Altavista. But it might as well have read trap game.

The Colonels were coming off an emotional 19-6 road win over Appomattox and facing a winless Chatham team that nearly knocked off William Campbell last week. Coupled with homecoming, the game had the makings of a letdown. However, Altavista dominated both sides of the ball, forcing five fumbles and scoring seven touchdowns to notch its seventh victory of the season, 47-14.

FOREST — With its backs against the wall, Jefferson Forest’s football team was at its absolute best, Friday night in a back-and-forth Seminole District battle against Heritage at Sabre Stadium.

All four of the Cavaliers’ touchdowns in the 29-26 triumph were set up by or scored on fourth-down conversions, including the last two by sophomore slot receiver Marcus Jones.

Our featured games include Salem at Christiansburg, Dan River at Gretna, and Heritage at Jefferson Forest

ALTAVISTA — In the seven seasons Mike Reavis has served as Mike Scharnus’ defensive coordinator, dating back to their years at Rustburg, his players have had a history of hard knocks.

This year’s defensive unit at Altavista may rank as the hardest hitting group the two have coached, led by two senior, four-year starting linebackers Daelyn Myers and Chris Clark.

The last time Gretna’s and Dan River’s football teams met, Sept. 11 in Ringgold, there were no Dogwood District implications.

Tonight’s rematch, starting at 7 at Gretna, counts in the district standings, with the two-time defending Group A, Division 2, state champion Hawks (5-1, 2-0 Dogwood) in the driver’s seat, leading the Wildcats (5-2, 2-1), Altavista and Appomattox by half a game.

And they have home-field advantage and a healthy quarterback to boot.

Friday night’s high school football preview capsules

It was a great weekend for running backs across the region.

“Unfinished Beesness” read one of the banners hanging outside Amherst’s football fieldhouse prior to Friday night’s showdown with defending Seminole District champion Brookville at Lancer Stadium.

The sign played off the theme of the season for the Lancers, who lost to Broad Run on a snowy field at Liberty University in last year’s Group AA, Division 4, state championship game immediately after Brookville fell short in a shootout to James Monroe in the Division 3 final.