Four Shenandoah District teams will be starting their second season this week when the high school football playoffs begin. The Virginia High School League released playoff brackets Sunday afternoon.
Riverheads, Fort Defiance and Stuarts Draft all will be in the Region 2B playoffs while Buffalo Gap qualified for the Region 1B playoffs.
Wilson Memorial, Staunton and Waynesboro all missed the playoffs.
Fort Defiance reached the playoffs for the first time since 2012 following a 7-3 regular season. Fort has won seven games in a row, the program’s longest winning streak since 2002. Fort is the No. 5 seed and will travel to No. 4 Strasburg (7-2) Friday. It will be the first meeting ever between the two teams.
Meanwhile, Riverheads is the second-seed in the region and will host No. 7 Madison County Friday. The Gladiators are 9-1 following a forfeit victory against John Marshall the final week of the regular season.
Riverheads has won the past seven Class 1 state championships before moving up to Class 2 this year. The Gladiators haven’t missed the postseason since 2004. Riverheads has lost to Madison all 17 times they’ve played, but the two haven’t met since 1998, two years before Riverheads won its first of 10 state championships.
Stuarts Draft enters the playoffs as the eighth seed. The Cougars are 5-5, but finished the regular season dropping three of four. Getting back on track won’t be easy as Draft travels to top seed and unbeaten Central Woodstock Friday. Central, which played for the Class 2 state title a year ago, has given up just 6.9 points a game this year.
The other game in Region 2B will be No. 6 Clarke County at No. 3 Buckingham County
Meanwhile, Buffalo Gap will be the No. 7 seed in Region 1B despite a 1-9 record. It was the least amount of wins in the regular season for Gap since 1988. The Bison will travel to No. 2 Brunswick (8-2). The only meeting between the two in football came in 2016 when Gap beat Brunswick 8-6 in the first round of the playoffs.
More than half of the teams in Region 1B playoffs — Franklin, William Campbell, Surry County, Gap and Cumberland — have a losing record. The only teams with winning records are No. 1 Sussex Central (9-1), No. 2 Brunswick (8-2) and No. 3 Altavista (7-3). The bottom three teams in the regional playoffs are a combined 4-26.
While no Shenandoah District teams reached the Region 3C playoffs, two Valley District teams will continue their season. No. 2 Turner Ashby will host No. 7 Heritage while No. 3 Spotswood is at home against No. 6 Monticello.
All games involving local teams appear to be scheduled for Friday night, 7 p.m. MaxPreps originally had the Buffalo Gap at Brunswick game on Thursday night, but the Brunswick’s AD Harold Williams confirmed Sunday afternoon that it will be played Friday night.
REGION 1B
- No. 8 Cumberland (0-10) at No. 1 Sussex Central (9-1)
- No. 7 Buffalo Gap (1-9) at No. 2 Brunswick (8-2)
- No. 6 Surry County (3-7) at No. 3 Altavista (7-3)
- No. 5 Franklin (4-6) at No. 4 William Campbell (4-6)
Region 2B
- No. 8 Stuarts Draft (5-5) at No. 1 Central Woodstock (10-0)
- No. 7 Madison County (5-5) at No. 2 Riverheads (9-1)
- No. 6 Clarke County (8-2) at No. 3 Buckingham County (9-1)
- No. 5 Fort Defiance (7-3) at No. 4 Strasburg (7-2)
Region 3C
- No. 8 Fluvanna County (5-5) at No. 1 Liberty Christian (9-0)
- No. 7 Heritage (6-4) at No. 2 Turner Ashby (9-1)
- No. 6 Monticello (8-2) at No. 3 Spotswood (9-1)
- No. 5 Rustburg (7-3) at No. 4 Alleghany (9-1)
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— Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com
