It will be a big night in Springwood Friday. It’s Homecoming at James River High School and the Knights will host Giles in football in what’s shaping up to be a big game.
The Knights are 4-3 after splitting Three Rivers District games with Floyd and Glenvar in the past week while officially losing by forfeit to Stuarts Draft. That game was postponed by COVID concerns on September 24 and when the Knights couldn’t find a time to fit it in they were forced to forfeit, as River was the team that initiated the original postponement.
After that scenario River now occupies fourth place in the Virginia High School League Region 2C rankings. Glenvar is on top at 7-1, followed by Appomattox and Radford. River is next with Floyd County fifth, Martinsville sixth, Gretna seventh and Chatham eighth.
The Knights would like to finish in the top four, as that would give them a home game to open the playoffs. After Friday’s game with Giles they have a game at Carroll County before finishing up at home with Radford.
The Spartans have a strong tradition in football. River is 2-5 life time against Giles, winning once and losing twice since the Knights joined the Three Rivers District in 2017. They also lost to the Spartans twice in the playoffs when Giles was an annual state power, falling 50-8 in 2006 and 41-14 in 2012. They also split season openers back in 1980 and ’81.
This Giles team isn’t rolling over people like they did under Steve Ragsdale from 1978 to 2007, but they still cause plenty of problems. They run a single-wing offense that you seldom see anymore.
“Giles will be difficult to defend just because we don’t see that offense ever,” said River coach Tim Jennings. “They will be very confident coming in, rested, and will make few mistakes. We need to take care of what we do and just be the better team. I think if we play the same way we have the last two games we should be okay. They want to grind it out on the ground, so our quick strike capability will be a difference maker if we can do it.”
The Knights scored on three plays of 45 yards or more in Monday’s loss to Glenvar in a makeup of a previously postponed game. The Highlanders held on for a 24-21 win in Springwood while dominating time of possession by almost a two-to-one margin, 31:33 to 16:27 for River.
“Big plays kept us in the game and even bigger mistakes and turnovers kept us at arm’s length away,” said Jennings. “They are a very good team – always well coached, always disciplined. They made plays when they needed to and they always make adjustments.”
The Highlanders led 24-7 at the half. River’s TD came on a 66-yard TD pass from Zeal Hammons to Ben Bailey.
In the third quarter the Knights cut the lead to 10 on a trick play that worked to perfection. Hammons found Jake Benson all alone behind the secondary on a “flea-flicker” play that covered 58 yards and cut the lead to 24-14.
The Highlanders drove right back down the field and appeared to score. However, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty negated the touchdown and River’s defense then held. The Knights went right down the field on the ensuing possession, with Hammons hitting Bailey with another scoring bomb, this time from 45 yards out to cut the lead to 24-21 with 4:10 still remaining in the third period.
That turned out to be the end of the scoring. River had a few more chances but couldn’t mount a drive against a Glenvar defense that played strong down the stretch. The Highlanders were able to run out the clock and hang on to the win and keep the Virginia Media rocking chair in Glenvar.
“I thought our guys played extremely hard, which for the most part they have done all year long,” said Jennings. “We have a small group but they play with a Titanic chip on their shoulder. I think they’ve earned some well-deserved respect.”
Glenvar had 16 first downs and 309 total yards, while River had just four first downs and 218 total yards. Take away the three scoring plays and River had just 49 yards on the 32 other snaps.
Hammons finished eight for 15 for 207 yards and three touchdowns, showing great accuracy on the long touchdown passes. Bailey had four receptions for 145 yards and Benson had two catches for 59. The Knights struggled running the ball as Conner Church led with 12 yards on seven carries.
On defense, Logan Campbell had a big night with 22 tackles and an interception. John Austin and George Toliver had seven tackles each and Levi Rock also had a pick after Campbell deflected a pass.
The loss followed a big 34-19 win over Floyd County in Floyd last Thursday. The game was tied 13-13 at the half and River led just 20-19 after three quarters before outscoring Floyd 14-0 in the fourth quarter.
“The first half, as coach Witt put it after the game, was punch-counter punch,” said Jennings. “We never let up, the kids continued to battle all four quarters. Our mentality going in was the next several games were playoff games for us, so we had to play with that level of focus and energy. We definitely played that way in the second half.”
Conner Church had a big game against Floyd with 188 yards rushing on 29 carries and touchdown runs of seven, 25, three and eight yards. River had 242 total yards rushing and Hammons ran for the final score, putting the Knights up two scores with 6:08 remaining in the game.
Hammons was 14 for 24 passing for 125 yards. Bailey had five catches for 57, while Benson caught four for 41. Tanner Dillow and Rock had two receptions each and Brian Moran had one.
Defensively, Campbell had an interception and Toliver had a fumble recovery and two tackles for losses. River had a bend-but-don’t-break defensive effort as Floyd had 349 yards of offense but the Knights came through when they had to.
“Other than some big chunk plays, we played really well on defense,” said Jennings. “We made some mistakes, but never let them get us so far down or behind we couldn’t continue to move forward.”
This was a big win as Floyd is one spot behind River in the rankings. In fact, if the season ended today the Buffaloes would be in Springwood for a first round game.
