Preps Plus

It’s the third week of Jefferson District football and Friday night brings us a few games that should shed some light on how the district standings will eventually shape up.

First there’s the matchup that seems to be the game of the week in Central Virginia, Louisa at Orange. The Battle for the Gordonsville Tastee Freez might very well be the battle for the district title. Louisa has been tabbed as the favorite since the beginning of the season and has played like it, cruising to a 5-0 record and winning it’s first two district games with ease. But Orange has been a bit of a surprise early in the district season, after getting handled by two Fredericksburg-area schools in the non-district. The Hornets found ways to win against Monticello and Goochland—taking advantage of turnovers against the Mustangs and showing some guts going for the win in overtime versus the Bulldogs. The winner will be the only 3-0 team left in the JD and that means, it’s one of these teams’ district to lose.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other contenders ready to step up if one or both Orange or Louisa slip up. The Monticello-Goochland game features two teams that are 1-1 in the district after the heartbreaking losses to Orange. This is a game that has playoff implications with both teams in Division 3 (Orange and Louisa are both Division 4 and are also fighting for that playoff spot). The winner can feel somewhat satisfied with a 2-1 district record, while the loser sits a bit of a whole at 1-2. It will be interesting to see how Goochland reacts after blowing a 20-point lead to Orange and Monticello’s offense seems to be finding a groove with Jhalil Mosley now the full-time quarterback.

There’s one other game of interest, no offense to Western Albemarle and Charlottesville. William Monroe and Fluvanna could shake up the standings with both teams sitting at 1-1. Fluvanna already took it on the chin against Monticello, but the upstart Dragons’ only district loss came to Louisa. Monroe still awaits its shot at Orange, Goochland and Monticello. It’s hard to know just how good the Dragons are, but their only losses came to very good Louisa and Eastern View teams. It’s easy to discount a program that struggled so much the previous few years, but with Mark Sanford coaching and the team gaining confidence and support every week, it’s too early to count William Monroe out.