JF hosts rival Brookville in regular-season-ending clash

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.

“It’s always a fun night when you play your rivals,” said Cavaliers coach Don Rice, who has called for a fan “blackout” for the game, playing on JF’s red and black color scheme. “You know you’re going to get your money’s worth when you come to see Forest and Brookville play. They’re going to bring their fans, the place is going to be packed.”

“It’ll be a playoff type of atmosphere,” Bees coach Jeff Woody added. “You can sense the passion on the field. It’s pretty heated, a great atmosphere to coach and play in, as it’s always been.

“It’s what a rivalry should be — a physical, hard-fought, emotional football game,” he added. “It’s going to be a ballgame where emotions have a lot to do with it and whoever can grab the momentum first is going to get the edge.”

Both teams feature stacked defenses, with size on the lines, speed in the secondary and hard-hitting linebackers.

“They’ve got a lot of guys that play physical,” Woody said. “That’s the way they’re coached. Don Rice does a good job of getting them ready to play that type of football. We pride ourselves on playing physical football, too.”

Nowhere is that more apparent than in the linebacking corps, a strength of both squads. JF is loaded as usual at that position, even after graduating Tyler Rosser and losing Tommy Neal to a season-ending ACL tear in a Sept. 11 win over Bassett. Andrew Brown, a Richmond recruit, Mikey Wallman and Jeff Brown anchor the Cavaliers’ defense while Brookville boasts two all-district-caliber backers in Zack Burns and Michael Leeman.

“Every year, both linebacking corps are physical (players who) love to hit, are very aggressive and intelligent,” Woody said.

Last week, 6-foot-4, 275-pound sophomore tackle Michael Yost put plenty of pressure on Amherst quarterback Kirby Anderson while Jeff Brown and freshman tackle Aaron Bannister made a few tackles for loss in the 30-0 defeat, the Lancers’ most competitive district game to date.

“They’re big and they give you some versatility up there,” Woody said of Forest’s line. “They’ve got some guys that are quick, they get off the football and they’re tough to move. They’re using their quickness to their advantage.”

The Bees counter with a formidable offensive front led by seniors David Brandt and Zack McCray and sophomores Brett Woolard and Victor Montalbano.

“They’ve got some weapons, a young kid at quarterback (Deshon Foxx) who did some good things (in last week’s 32-0 win over E.C. Glass),” Rice said. “They’ve got athletes, they’ve got some size.”

On offense, JF has relied heavily on junior tailback Rashad Hall, the area’s second-leading rusher.

“It’s no secret Rashad’s going to get the most carries of anyone on the team,” Rice said. “We’ve tried to not run him 30 or 40 times. We want him to touch the ball about 25 times per game. When he does that, he’s averaging about eight yards per carry and we’re usually in the game.”

Senior quarterback Hunter Hannell has given the Cavaliers a multi-dimensional attack by connecting regularly with receivers Colby Rhodes, Ryan Gingrich, Harrison Loy and Marcus Jones.

“They give you a number of different offensive sets,” Woody said. “They can run a Power I, where they can pound it down your throat, or a spread formation, with three guys at wide receiver. They’ve got a lot of good athletes.”

Rice hopes Brookville’s defense is a little more porous than Amherst’s was last week.

“Brookville’s just as physical as Amherst, but Amherst had the speed factor (and) tends to get to the point of attack a lot quicker,” he said. “Brookville’s a very good defense and we’ve got our hands full. We’re up for the challenge.”

JF can clinch a Division 4 playoff berth with a win, perhaps supplanting Bedford County rival Staunton River (now in the Blue Ridge District) as the No. 5 seed.

“If we win, we don’t need any help from anybody — we’re in,” Rice said. “If we lose, we need some help. The ball’s in our court.”

Brookville’s status is less certain as it could fluctuate from No. 3 to 6.

“We can’t improve our standings, sitting in the 3 spot with Liberty being 1 and Spotswood being 2,” Woody said, noting the Bees could lose and stay at No. 3 or win and drop to No. 4, depending on what other teams do. “All you can do is take care of what you can take care of. If we take care of business (tonight), it will give us a really good chance of hosting a playoff game in the first round.”