The James River football team will open their Three Rivers District schedule this week with a Homecoming game against Floyd County. The Knights come into the game at 1-3 after losing to Staunton last Friday, while the Buffaloes come to Springwood at 2-2.
Floyd has a new coach for the first time since 1981, when Winfred Beale replaced Jeff Highfill as the Buffaloes coach. Beale retired after the 2023 season and the field at Floyd was named for him four seasons before he retired, if that gives you an idea of how well he was thought of in the county.
Tim Cromer, who coached Christiansburg High for 14 seasons, is the new Floyd coach and thus far the Buffs have beaten Fort Chiswell and Blacksburg, while losing to his old Christiansburg team by three points, 27-24. Last Friday they lost to Grayson County, 42-15.
Photos by Leigh Downey
“They’re going to be different from what we’ve been seeing from Floyd,” said River coach Tim Jennings. “They run a double-wing offense and they’re big up front. Coach Cromer has a wealth of experience and they’ll be well-coached.”
It’s Homecoming at James River and the Knights will be playing at home for just the second time. Last Friday they opened their home schedule with a 49-7 loss to visiting Staunton in a game that started out bad and didn’t get much better.
“We didn’t help ourselves much,” said Jennings. “We were holding our own against a much larger team but big plays killed us. Everyone’s going to be bigger than us this year.”
River held Staunton on their first series, but after the Knights went three-and-out the visitors hit a 50-yard pass play for a touchdown. River fumbled away the kickoff and on the next play Staunton scored again and it was 14-0 early.
Trailing 35-0 at the half, the clock ran continuously after intermission. Turnovers plagued the Knights again, who finally got on the board when Kody Park hit Cam Saunders with a 17-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Some strong running by Gavin Binns put the Knights in good position to score.
The loss gives River a 1-3 non-district record heading into this week’s Three Rivers opening game. They now have three at home and three on the road with a bye on October 18.
