Game Time Blog

Steve Schultze confirmed to me Tuesday that starting quarterback Thomas Keith was held out of last week’s 35-31 win over Mountain View due to a “bad knee” and that Keith might not be able to play this Thursday against Freedom

“He didn’t practice a whole lot last week,“ Schultze said, “and that’s why we went with Chaz [Bates]. [Keith’s] knee’s been bothering him and he might have been able to go, but we felt it was the right decision.“

Keith
Adding injury to, well, injury, Keith sprained his ankle in P.E. class Tuesday. Schultze said he is unsure of the extent of the injury, but he’s not confident that Keith will be ready to go with the short week.

Keith, who passed for 1,436 yards and ran for another 948 in 2008, ran just one time last Friday, earning seven yards on the attempt to end the first half. He’s already up to 215 yards and three scores on the ground this season and has completed better than half of his passing attempts for 259 yards and two TDs.

Bates battled Keith and Jerell McFadden for time at quarterback last year and was considered again before this season began, so he’s familiar with the offense. Versus Mountain View, Bates was 9 of 17 for 195 yards and a touchdown.

“We wanted to get him reps in the first couple of games,“ Schultze said. “He played really well in the scrimmages, so we’re not missing a beat with him. He’s not as quick, not as fast as Thomas, but he throws the ball well. He’s more of a pocket-type [quarterback].“

Bates has completed 10 of his 22 passing attempts on the year, good for 212 yards and the one touchdown. He, like Keith, has also been intercepted twice.

> So I’m thinking about moving the Things you didn’t know before reading this part of FDtF to Tuesdays instead of as part of the Monday update. It’ll make the posts a little less unwieldy and an easier read.

Basically, it’ll be the same thing as what you saw yesterday, just on Tuesdays. It’ll spread out the updates over a couple days, too.

> Power Rankings: Here’s another addition to Things… I’m going to do a quick, unofficial rankings of area teams. There are no rules for this—i.e.: no set number of teams each week or requisite level they need to play at. It’s just where I’d rank them each Tuesday. Without further delay, here are the Conroy Power Rankings, for whatever they’re worth.

1. Woodbridge: The Vikings (2-0) are really rolling now, winners of two straight, including a marathon, five-overtime game against Colonial Forge. Have you seen the boxscore from that game? If you haven’t, check it out. The linescore is insane. Quarterback Frank Buckley is not missing De’Antwan Williams much, throwing four TDs, and he even caught one. There were two touchdown passes from non-quarterbacks (Collin Frazer and Darius Smith). Smith is also the area’s second-leading receiver with 192 yards on 10 catches and four touchdowns.

2. Battlefield: Now 3-0 and having won

21 straight regular season games, the Bobcats look poised to win their third consecutive Cedar Run District crown. The only team that might give Battlefield trouble is Osbourn, but with Keith a question mark for the forseeable future, that’s not as likely. Nagee Jackson is looking like the heir apparent to Adrian Ingram with 250 yards in his first three games this year. Quarterback Bo Revell is completing more than half his passing attempts and thrown for more than 330 yards. More impressive is the fact that he has yet to throw an interception. And the defense? Well, that unit is looking very disciplined and will be tough to beat. However, the Bobcats are still making mistakes that an elite team will take advantage of and they need to convert more of those opportunities they’ve whiffed on in the game against Potomac and last week’s win over Osbourn Park.

Right now, if they played Woodbridge, I have the Vikings winning by a pretty good margin. Unfortunately, these teams never play each other during the regular season.

3. Quantico: Surprise, surprise. I bet none of you saw this coming. The Warriors are 3-0, though, like the two teams above them, and they have two of the top three rushers in the area. Trey Blackson (352 yards, 3 TDs) and Denzel Brothers (290, 2) are making the Warriors look like real players on the independent schools side. They beat up on first-year varsity program Pope John Paul the Great this last week, but they’re beating the teams they’re supposed to beat, even with a first-year head coach at the helm.