The Virginia Media rocking chair, symbolic of the rivalry between the James River and Glenvar football teams, won’t be up for grabs this year. River’s season opener with Glenvar was canceled due to the flip-flopping of the Roanoke County School System on scheduling due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Knights were originally scheduled to open at Glenvar on Monday of this week, February 22. That’s George Washington’s birthday, but don’t listen to the folks in Roanoke County if they tell you they “cannot tell a lie.” They decided to play only within Roanoke County at a meeting on February 11, and that eliminated the annual River-Glenvar game, which is always highly anticipated.
In the meantime James River replaced that game with a contest against Narrows on River’s scheduled bye week on March 27. Then, on Wednesday of last week, the Roanoke County School Board bowed to pressure and backtracked to allow their teams to play district schedules, whether in the county or not. By that time River’s schedule was final.
“I wasn’t going to go back and tell Narrows we weren’t going to play them after they agreed,” said River football coach Tim Jennings. “That wouldn’t have been right.”
So, the Knights will now open this Friday, Feb. 26, with a home game against Alleghany. The Knights will play four of the six Three Rivers District schools along with Narrows and Parry McCluer. Glenvar and Giles of the Three Rivers are not on the schedule.
Things are looking up at James River. Jennings didn’t know what to expect with a delayed season and the pandemic, but he has a roster of 31 on the varsity and 42 kids in the program from the ninth through 12th grades.
“I was very pleased with the turnout,” he said. “We have some kids who came out for the team who are good athletes but haven’t played a lot of football. We have to teach them how to play football, but they have physical tools that you just can’t coach.”
River has some big shoes to replace but the talent is there. In fact, Jennings notes that this is likely to be the biggest line the team has had since he’s been there. Although this is just Tim’s second season as head coach, he was a long-time assistant under previous coaches Philip King and Jake Phillips.
“Pound for pound this is one of the biggest teams we’ve had since I’ve been at River,” he said. “We have good size among the starters and a good supporting cast.”
Up front the Knights will start John Austin at center, Logan Camper at left guard and Matthew Walker at left tackle. Walker is the younger brother of graduated Levi Walker, who was an outstanding lineman for River, and Matthew has the potential to be just as good.
Senior Nathan Farris is the right guard and the right tackle position has been a battle between Dakota Gilliam, Nathan Bobbitt and several others. Addison McCaleb and George Toliver will be the tight ends.
That line will block for a stable of backs headed by Hunter Forbes, the top returning ball carrier. Conner Church and Colin Cook are coming up from the jayvee team, Carder Miller is a transfer with promise and Tanner Dillow is the H-Back.
The top returning receivers are seniors Kahlique White and Adam Bridges. Ben Bailey and Sam Bell are newcomers with promise.
“We have a lot of depth at wide receiver, and that’s a good thing because most of them also play defensive back,” said Jennings. “We’ll be able to keep fresh players in there at all times.”
The quarterback position has been a two-way battle in the preseason between senior Aaron Bridges and freshman Zeal Hammons. Bridges has some experience relieving Dyllan McAllister last year but Hammons has been very impressive despite being just a freshman.
“We have two good ones,” said Jennings. “Bridges has been in the program and he’s a good leader, the kids really respond to him. Zeal is a coach’s dream. He has talent, and when you tell him what to do he does it.”
On defense, Jennings must replace two of last year’s best players on the line, Levi Walker and Caleb Shipwash. Matthew Walker, Austin, Bobbitt and Gilliam are battling for those spots.
Outside linebackers are Forbes, Toliver and junior Logan Campbell, who alternates between line and linebacker. Campbell was one of the leading tacklers in the area last year.
McCaleb and Cook are strong inside linebackers and freshman Keegan Mundy has been impressive as well. Dillow leads the secondary and will play strong safety or free safety depending on the opponent.
“He’s worked his tail off and he’ll be the leader of our defense,” said Jennings of Dillow. “We’ve made the defensive calls from the sidelines in the past but this year he’ll be making them on the field. He’s really stepped it up.”
Other defensive backs include Adam Bridges, Brian Moran, James Voight, Jake Benson, Bailey and Bell.
“We have a lot of guys who can play,” said Jennings.
Morgan Marshall, a girl who also plays volleyball, is a senior place-kicker. Bell, who plays soccer, can also kick as can Matthew Walker. Jennings is still looking for a reliable punter.
“I’m just hoping we don’t have to punt,” he said with a chuckle.
The River assistant coaches include Tre Chilcott, Ryan Firebaugh, Anthony Kyle, Freeman Nester, Jesse Witt and Josh Witt. Firebaugh was jayvee coach last year but Tim has all the coaches coaching all the kids this year.
“I’m really pleased over how the kids have responded to the coaches,” he said. “They’ve been very coachable and they’ve really bought in to what we’re trying to do. We’ve had to wait awhile, but I’m excited to finally be able to play some football.”
