Game Time Blog

First, a bit of news.

In case you haven’t heard, Keith King resigned from his head coaching position at Woodbridge today.

King
I have to say this is a sad development as I’ve always had good dealings with coach King. Whether it be for a feature, game coverage or preview stuff, he was always willing to work with me, as well as, I’m sure, other media members.

As always, there are two sides (or more) to every story, and I don’t think we’ve really gotten all of one even. Obviously something happened and the school and school system felt it was best if coach King took some time off from the team and he eventually decided to leave the job.

I don’t know anymore than what we’re reporting in the paper or online, but I wish both he and the program the best of luck from here on out. I hope everything can get sorted out and everyone can move on with little disruption—beyond what’s already happened—as possible.

> This week’s game between Battlefield and Osbourn will be an interesting matchup of stiffling defense and high-scoring offense.

The Bobcats’ defense is giving up just a smidge more than a touchdown a game this year. They showed how to neutralize one of the area’s best athletes. And they’re one of the top-ranked teams in the state.

The Eagles, meanwhile, had their starting quarterback return fully healthy in time to help overcome Loudoun Valley. Thomas Keith will be a big part of any success Osbourn enjoys this year and he’s back just in time for a huge test in the Cedar Run.

Keith
Keith scored on a 21-yard run and threw a 60-yard pass to Vidal Greene for another touchdown. All told, the Eagles’ 231 points is the second highest total among area teams.

It’ll be interesting to see how Battlefield comes back from its bye week and how much damage Keith can do.

> Power Rankings: Once again, not much has changed in the rankings this week. I think we’re starting to see the area filter out to what it’s going to be for the rest of the season and you’re not going to see much difference here, week-to-week because of it. Now we know (for the most part) who’s good and about how good they are.

1. Woodbridge (6-0): The Vikings lose their head coach and maybe we’ll see a change if Freedom can pull the upset, but I just don’t see it happening.

This is just a team that does everything. They can score, they can keep you from scoring and they don’t make costly mistakes. They can throw it or run it with any number of running backs. The defense can certainly hang among the best in the area (16.8 pts allowed per game).

Woodbridge is now ranked seventh in the state in the AP poll, just a few spots behind…

1a. Battlefield (6-0): ... the Bobcats. Battlefield had a bye week, but its still up to third in the state poll. The Bobcats are also ranked with 31.0 points in the VHSL Point Ratings.

Like I said above, the big test is this week with Osbourn. Can the Bobcats hold Keith down like they did Dominique Terrell a few weeks ago? We’ll see.

Battlefield’s points allowed is the lowest among area teams at 43 total. This’ll be the club’s first district tilt.

3. Osbourn Park (5-1): The Yellow Jackets took care of business against Freedom with a 35-0 win and Terrell took the night off.

OP showed it is more than just its athletic quarterback with Chris Mason totaling 116 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.

Jamil Brown proved to be an adequate replacement for Terrell in the meantime, completing 5 of his 8 passing attempts for 39 yards, but most importantly, no interceptions.

4. Quantico (6-1): Wow, just wow. Who would have expected this team to win six games?

Trey Blackson is playing his way into consideration for some postseason awards, returning a kickoff 80 yards and racking up 71 yards on 13 carries (5.5 ypc).

That they struggled a bit against a 1-6 Kenston Forest team worries me, but we’ll have to see if that’s a trend that continues through the rest of the season.