Friday’s high school football preview capsules

Dogwood District
Altavista at Chatham
KICKOFF: 7 p.m.
RECORDS: Altavista 4-1, 1-0 Dogwood; Chatham 1-4, 0-1.
LAST WEEK: Altavista beat Nelson County 32-20; Chatham lost to Dan River 46-0
LAST YEAR: Chatham beat Altavista 27-6
FACTS: The Colonels got an upper hand against Nelson County’s experienced line last week with an impressive rushing attack led by Johnny Wimbush (83 yards and three touchdowns) and Jamison Robinson (115 yards and two scores). The Cavaliers just seemed to be overwhelmed as Chatham was crushed by 2-2 Dan River.

Gretna at Nelson County
KICKOFF: 7 p.m.
RECORDS: Gretna 4-0, 0-0 Dogwood; Nelson County 2-3, 0-1
LAST WEEK: Gretna beat Graham 42-3; Nelson County lost to Altavista 32-20.
LAST SEASON: Gretna beat Nelson County 45-12.
FACTS: The defending Group A, Division 2, state champion Hawks are the No. 1-ranked Group A team in the state and are flying high with Jayme Barksdale at quarterback, replacing injured sophomore Nick Miller. The Governors have relied on M.J. Wells at QB with an inexperienced corps of receivers to throw to. 

Dan River at William Campbell
KICKOFF: 7 p.m.
RECORDS: Dan River 2-2, 1-0 Dogwood; William Campbell 4-1, 1-0
LAST WEEK: Dan River beat Chatham 46-0; William Campbell beat Appomattox 58-7.
LAST YEAR: William Campbell beat Dan River 43-0.
FACTS: Both teams rolled in their Dogwood District openers. William Campbell’s Baron Adams rushed for five touchdowns and threw for a score in the Generals’ destruction of Appomattox. The Wildcats moved some people around during their bye week before the Chatham game. Their outside linebacker was moved to quarterback and passed for 116 yards and three scores. Former quarterback Kevin Eldridge was moved to wide receiver and caught two TDs.

Seminole District
Heritage at Liberty
KICKOFF: 7:30 p.m.
RECORDS: Heritage 2-4, 1-1 Seminole; Liberty 4-1, 1-0
LAST WEEK: Heritage lost to Jefferson Forest 33-13 on Monday; Liberty beat Staunton River 40-14.
LAST SEASON: Heritage beat Liberty 35-0.
FACTS: These teams have shared a strong rivalry since both won Group AA state titles — Liberty at Division 3 and Heritage at Division 4 — in 2002, the first year at the helm for coaches Chris Watts and Chris Jones, respectively. The Pioneers dominated last year’s matchup at City Stadium and the Minutemen look to turn the tables at Bedford tonight, with Heritage working on three days rest.

Amherst at Rustburg
KICKOFF: 7:30 p.m.
RECORDS: Amherst 4-1, 0-1 Seminole; Rustburg 1-4, 0-2
LAST WEEK: Amherst beat Freedom-Woodbridge 41-7; Rustburg lost to Brookville 28-6.
LAST SEASON: Amherst beat Rustburg 61-6.
FACTS: The Lancers, now running a Wing-T, face a team coached by former defensive coordinator Jon Berlin, who has installed the same triple-option threat once used at Amherst, with Tevin Cobbs, Javon Campbell and Stacey Charlton providing options 1, 2 and 3. “We’re going to be in for a dogfight,” Lancers first-year coach Cecil Phillips said. “They’re scrappy (and) they will fight you tooth-and-nail for 48 minutes. We’ve got to stop the run game.” Amherst has averaged 370 yards per game on the ground, with only one player, Mario Vaughn, rushing for more than 300 yards and four or five others right around 200 yards including Anthony Rose and Jamal and Jamar Glover.

ODFC
St. Anne’s-Belfield at VES
KICKOFF: 4 p.m.
RECORDS: STAB 2-3, 2-0 Old Dominion Football Conference; Virginia Episcopal School 3-2, 2-0
LAST WEEK: STAB beat St. Christopher’s 27-16; VES beat Fishburne Military 55-6.
LAST SEASON: STAB beat VES 42-22 in the VIS Division II state championship game.
FACTS: VES junior QB Daniel Alexander got his debut against STAB last year, replacing an injured Will White and completed 22 of 35 passes for 269 yards and two TDs in three quarters of work. The son of Bishops first-year head coach Kyle Alexander squares off against the Saints’ Howie Long Jr., who has signed to continue his career at Virginia on a lacrosse scholarship. STAB completed its win over St. Christopher’s on Monday after the game was suspended by lightning in the second half on Saturday. It was just the Saints’ second win over their Richmond rival since 1999.

Non-district
Alleghany at Staunton River
KICKOFF: 7:30 p.m.
RECORDS: Alleghany 2-3, 0-0 Blue Ridge; Staunton River 0-5, 0-2 Seminole
LAST WEEK: Alleghany beat Bath County 10-7; Staunton River lost to Liberty 40-14.
LAST SEASON: Alleghany beat Staunton River 40-15.
FACTS: The Mountaineers only return three offensive and three defensive starters from last fall, when they made the playoffs for the first time since 1988 in a new spread formation, with Steven Wilkes, now at Liberty University, catching more than 40 passes. Ryan Kessinger, a left-handed quarterback, is one of the returnees after throwing for more than 1,500 yards last fall. Staunton River struck first last week against Liberty High, on a 20-yard pass from Cody Jones to Geary Cunningham, but finished with less than 200 yards of total offense.

Forest Park at E.C. Glass
KICKOFF: 7 p.m.
RECORDS: Forest Park 2-2; E.C. Glass 1-3.
LAST WEEK: Forest Park lost to Hylton 28-14; E.C. Glass had a bye
LAST YEAR: Forest Park defeated E.C. Glass 27-0
FACTS: This is the Hilltoppers’ final warm-up before entering the Western Valley District fray and Glass needs to pick up a win to get some momentum going after tough losses to Jefferson Forest and Amherst. The bad news for the Hilltoppers is that the Bruins are getting back two of their best players (QB Bruce Facundas and WR/DB Miguel Marshall), both of whom were held out of last week’s game against Hylton for disciplinary reasons. 

Randolph Henry at Appomattox
KICKOFF: 7 p.m.
RECORDS: Randolph-Henry 1-3; Appomattox 3-1.
LAST WEEK: Randolph-Henry had a bye; Appomattox lost to William Campbell 58-7.
LAST YEAR: Appomattox defeated Randolph-Henry 40-6.
FACTS: The Raiders were spanked last week by William Campbell and will be looking to get that bad taste out of their mouths against the Statesmen. Appomattox’s rushing attack led by Joe Reed and Kenny Montgomery. Randolph-Henry’s lone win came in a 33-7 victory over Bluestone. 

St. Mary’s Ryken (Md.) vs. LCA
WHERE: Liberty University’s Williams Stadium
KICKOFF: 7 p.m.
RECORDS: St. Mary’s Ryken 1-3; Liberty Christian Academy 4-0, 1-0 VIC
LAST WEEK: St. Mary’s Ryken lost to Bishop O’Connell 54-6; LCA did not play.
FACTS: After winning its season opener over Annapolis Area Christian 35-0, St. Mary’s has lost its last three games by a combined score of 157-13, including a 61-0 second-week setback to Bishop McNamara. It shouldn’t pose much of a challenge for the rested Bulldogs playing on their home turf, two weeks after shutting out Covenant 21-0 in their VIC opener.