Three Rivers Games - Week 1

Pulaski @ Radford
7:30 – Radford High School

By Cody Dalton

A rivalry will be renewed on Friday when the Radford Bobcats face off against the Pulaski County Cougars. Deemed the “Battle of the Bridge”, it is a match up that is 30 years in the making, as it marks the first time since 1979 that the two teams will play one another.

“The Pulaski game was something I wanted when I was first hired here,” said Radford coach Matthew Saunders. “We hadn’t played them in 30 years. It’s also a community thing. It helps our program down the road and helps us for district play.”

Radford leads the overall series, 1-2-1, with wins in 1976 (32-12) and 1978 (13-0). The two teams tied, 13-13, in 1977. Pulaski got their lone win in the 1979 game, 13-0, with the help of the late King Harvey and future Redskins Pro Bowl receiver Gary Clark. The sidelines were also filled with VHSL coaching legends Norm Lineburg and Joel Hicks, who was coaching his first game for Pulaski.

While the cast may have changed, the show will remain the same. The Cougars started 12-0 last season with help from Virginia Tech commit Nubian Peak before finally losing to Amherst, 13-7, in the State Semi-Finals.

Radford also had an impressive year and finished the season an 7-3 record, but fell just short of a post-season berth.

Radford’s main struggle for this game and the season will be lack of veterans. 17 seniors graduated from the program last year, while five players transferred out.

“We’re a little inexperienced,” Saunders said. “A lot of kids haven’t been on the field for a varsity game. So we are trying to get the kinks out. It’s tough. We are looking for leadership and we’ve had some kids step it up.”

Some of that experience will come from junior quarterback Donte Carter. He threw for 1,431 yards and 13 touchdowns last year, while also rushing for 378 yards on the ground.

“We’ll have him this year and next year too,” Saunders said. “It’s a real good feeling as a coach, especially at a single A school because you don’t always get that. He’s a good leader and football player. We’ll ride him as far as we can go.”

The Bobcats will need his leadership against Pulaski. The team got a glimpse of the Cougars at this Saturday’s Shelor Motor Mile Touchdown Classic. They also picked up some valuable experience against two good teams – Lord Botetourt, who they beat 13-6, and AA State Runner-Up Amherst, who they lost to 6-0.

Despite somewhat of a rebuilding year for the Cougars, they were able to win their lone match up at the Touchdown Classic against Heritage, 26-0.




Auburn-Craig County Preview
7:30 – Auburn High School

By Cody Dalton

The Eagles will begin their season against Craig County. Last year’s match up between the two saw Auburn get one of their two victories on the season over the Rockets, 45-29. The main issue concerning Coach Phil Collett will be the youth and size of his team.

“Our numbers are extremely low,” Collett said. “Our numbers are such that it’s going to be hard to compete with the good teams who have a lot of depth. When you are only playing 12-15 guys every week for most of the game, one of our biggest challenges is to adequately prepare and keep our players fresh for most of the season.”

Auburn finished the season with a 2-8 record and lost a few key players. Their star halfback last season, J.C. McPeak, graduated and the Eagle’s will certainly miss his 890 yards and 10 touchdowns. However, he will be replaced by a newcomer in senior Michael Spencer.

“We are a lot smaller team,” Spencer said. “I have the same expectations that I did last year, but I think we can go further this season.”

Derrick Duncan will return under center for the Eagles as well. Duncan had 1287 passing yards last year and 10 touchdowns. However, he also threw 22 interceptions.

The Eagle’s opponents this Friday also finished with a 2-8 record last year. The Rocket’s two wins were against Pioneer District foe Covington and out of state opponent Montcalm, WV.

The youth that plagued Craig County last year has matured and is coupled with a strong base of upperclassmen. Quarterback and Captain Adam Howards leads his team into what could be a surprise year and team in the Pioneer District.

“They are well coached,” Collett said. “They play extremely hard. We will have our hands full.”



East Mont-Bath County Preview
7:30 – Eastern Montgomery High School

By Cody Dalton

The battle for another playoff berth for the Mustangs begins with Division 1 opponent Bath County. Both teams are being considered two of the best in Group A, Region C. The Chargers present an early look at how Eastern Montgomery will play against teams they may face in the playoffs. Coach Mark Poston was eager to make a match up like this on his team’s schedule.

“We’ve always said since my first season here that we will play any one in Division 1,” Poston said. “From William Campbell to Bath County to Holston, we will play them all. Our out-of-district schedule is so hard that we feel like we need to play good competition.”

That early playing preparation is coupled with fantastic off the field training. The team underwent a new rigorous conditioning program that has some players losing 10-15 pounds of fat. Borrowing from AA State Champion Broad Run, Eastern Montgomery began a gauntlet style regiment that helps to work on most the muscle groups in the body.

“It is a combination of endurance, cardio, and core workout,” said assistant coach Ryan Poff, who works mainly with the offensive line and defensive ends. “It takes 30 second intervals with 10 second rests. We can sometimes go for 2-3 evolutions just to really pump these guys up. It’s just for endurance and we know we are a small school with 300 kids and 40 of them in the football program, so they have to be ready to go both ways.”

Eastern Montgomery will need as much training as they can get in planning for the Chargers, who are coming off of an impressive 8-4 campaign where they lost in the Region C Final against Holston, 13-3. That team only departs six seniors, including four starters, and looks to be strong yet again.

Bath County will replace many of their key weapons from last season. Running back Dillon Perdue, as well as wideouts Matt O’Conner and Jim King graduated. The good news for Bath County is that Michael Robertson built some experience from last year and will return for his second season as quarterback.

On defense, they also return All-Region C defense end Derek Brinkley for his junior season. The key areas to watch for the Chargers against Eastern Montgomery will be the defensive back and wide receiver areas, as they lack experience in those positions.