River will play host to Auburn in Springwood at 7 p.m. on Friday. Admission will be charged and it will be played like a game situation with the exception of some special teams play.
“We’re going to make it as close to a game situation as possible,” said River coach Tim Jennings.
The Knights had a scrimmage with Staunton last Friday. Staunton is coached by former River coach Jake Phillips.
“I thought it went well,” said Jennings. “Neither team scored. I was pleased with our defense, I thought they played really well.”
Lord Botetourt will scrimmage Jefferson Forest and Pulaski County this Friday at LB. The Cavaliers will scrimmage Pulaski at 6 p.m., followed by Pulaski against Jefferson Forest at 6:45 p.m. The night will wrap up with LB against Jefferson Forest at 7:30 p.m.
The Cavaliers battled Dobyns-Bennett of Tennessee last week in their first scrimmage, and it was held at Emory & Henry College. LB coach Jamie Harless is a graduate of Emory & Henry and he knows several of the coaches on the Dobyns-Bennett staff.
“It was a chance to scrimmage at a nice facility and it saved some driving time,” said Harless. “It was about a two-hour drive for us and about an hour for them.”
Dobyns-Bennett is a large school that has strong teams in all sports in Tennessee.
“They’re a big 6A school that was in the state semifinals last year,” said Harless. “They have a beautiful stadium with luxury boxes, a massive field house and a turf baseball field. Just great facilities for all their sports.”
The football regular season will open on Friday, Aug. 27, with Botetourt playing E.C. Glass in Lynchburg and River opening at home against Buffalo Gap. Look for team previews in a special fall sports section in next week’s Fincastle Herald.
