By Fred Persinger II
Riverside (0-4) at Woodrow Wilson (1-2)
The Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles return to action this Friday night after having their bye week last week. Last time out for the Flying Eagles was a struggle as they could not move the ball against Huntington, falling 33-0.
The Flying Eagles were only able to manage 143 yards of total offense in the game, turning the ball over four times.
This week, Beckley will try to get back to .500 on the season, welcoming Riverside to Van Meter Stadium for Homecoming. Riverside has struggled this season, sitting at 0-4 against a very difficult schedule.
The Warriors have faced No. 9 Cabell Midland, No. 3 Capital, No. 13 Hurricane and No. 2 George Washington. Offensively, Riverside has improved each week, as sophomore quarterback Cole Sigman is coming off his best game of the season against George Washington where he went 7-for-15 for 143 yards.
On the ground for the Warriors, it has been senior captain Will Jackson who has rushed for 215 yards this season. The biggest struggle for Riverside has been the defense, as they have given up 270 points through four games – an average of 67.5 points per contest.
The matchup between these two teams has developed into a pretty good rivalry – Riverside leads the all-time series 5-4. Beckley won 36-13 last season. Gametime is set for 7:30pm Friday night, and the game can be heard on The Big Dawg 99.5 WJLS and WJLS.com.
#12 AA Bluefield (2-1) at Greenbrier East (3-1)
For the second time this season the Bluefield Beavers will step up in classification to take on a Class AAA school in the Greenbrier East Spartans. Bluefield is coming off an impressive 61-7 win over Gate City, Va. Greenbrier East is also coming off a win as they defeated Perry McCluer High School from Buena Vista, Va. 55-49 last week.
It will be a battle of two good offensive teams, as Bluefield who is led by the quarterback/running back duo of R.J. Bourne, and D.J. Edwards. East East is led by the QB/RB duo of Isaiah Kinder and Dalton Cline.
Bluefield and Greenbrier East will battle Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Spring Valley (2-2) at Princeton (2-2)
Spring Valley and Princeton meet up this week in a pivotal game when it comes to potential playoff positioning. For Princeton, a promising 2-0 start has been followed up by a two-game losing streak – a heartbreaking overtime loss to Capital, and then a 41-21 loss last week to Hurricane.
From Princeton’s standpoint, this game against Spring Valley is a huge game when it comes to potential bonus points. The Tigers have winnable games throughout the year, but several are against teams that are struggling in St. Albans, Riverside and Class AA James Monroe – those three teams will not give the Tigers a lot of bonus points. The other two games will be against Class AAA No. 2 George Washington and rival Beckley.
Spring Valley and Princeton will battle in a very important game this Friday night in Princeton at 7:30 p.m.
Other Games:
#6 AAA Oak Hill (3-0) at Buckhannon-Upshur (2-2)
Shady Spring (1-3) at Pikeview (1-3)
Mount View (1-3) at #8 AA Wyoming East (3-1)
#15 AA River View (2-1) at James Monroe (1-2)
Nicholas County (2-2) at Clay County (1-3)
Westside (1-3) at Independence (1-3) – Game can be heard on AM 560 WJLS and WJLS.com
Liberty Raleigh (1-3) at Sherman (2-2)
#5 A Greenbrier West (4-0) at #3 AA Summers County (4-0)
#6 A Valley Fayette (3-0) at Fayetteville (2-2)
#8 A Meadow Bridge (4-0) at Pendleton County (2-2)
Montcalm (1-3) at Auburn, Va.
Richwood (1-3) at Pocahontas County (1-3) – Game can be heard on 3WS 95.7 and 3ws957.com