Game Time Blog

Welcome to this week’s edition of Things you didn’t know before reading this.

First on the dockett is that one of the area’s longest streaks is possibly in danger of ending this week.

That’s right, Battlefield’s streak of 24 consecutive regular season wins might come to a close in Danville Friday. I don’t neccessarily think George Washington is better than Battlefield, but it’s tough to win down there.

To start, it’s a long ride before you even get to the game. According to mapquest, it more than 210 miles to Danville from Haymarket.

Next, there is the home field advantage. Not only do the Eagles not have to ride a bus for four hours, but there have long been rumors that teams from the north don’t always get a fair shake when they make the trek to the southern boarder. I’m not saying that’s the case, but it’s what I’ve heard.

> Collin Frazer is a beast. I don’t know if I’ve said that here before, but he is. I did mention him a bit in my game story from two weeks ago and in the blog a few times since.

The senior rewarded me with an all-around performance like few others in a 49-17 win over Stonewall, scoring four touchdowns. He even varied the way he scored them, catching two TD passes, returning a punt 75 yards and an interception 30. None of his scores went for fewer than 30 yards.

Frazer is our player of the week and he certainly deserved it. No one can say he’s not trying while he’s out there.

> Something struck me today while I was at Potomac waiting to do an interview. No, it wasn’t a linebacker or an errant kick.

I watched DeAirius Thomas running the offense and something about his throwing motion looked off to me. I’m not sure if he tinkered with it in the offseason, but sometimes it looked good and others it was kind of sidearm.

The sidearm motion is not working for him. That is the same arm slot I saw in the season opener against Gar-Field and it seems to cause the ball to hang a little bit as opposed to zipping to the target like I remember it the last two years.

Thomas, a three-year starter, has been one of the area’s most accurate passers recently—he had a 45.9 completion rate entering the season—but this year has not been so good. He was just 7 of 20 for 27 yards in a 17-3 loss to North Stafford and threw an interception (I haven’t yet seen his numbers from the win over Forest Park).

I could actually tell if he was going to be near his target or not from his arm slot alone: if he came over the top, it’d be catchable; if he dropped down, anybody’s guess.

The ball definitely hung in the air more when he changed angles, making it easy to pick off or bat down.

> Power Rankings: Well, I’m adding a team to the rankings thanks to some nice, convincing wins and a rivalry victory.

Again, these aren’t official and they really don’t mean anything, but it’s fun to do. Banter among yourselves about them, or in the comments section. Please.

1. Woodbridge (4-0): At least you can say this about Stonewall’s efforts: they stuck to their gameplan. Like I mentioned yesterday (link), the Raiders wanted to make the passing game beat them.

Well, it did. Again, Frazer killed the Raiders, as did Frank Buckley (242 yards, four touchdowns).

Here’s something else to keep in mind: Woodbridge isn’t even at full strength yet. Demetrius Quarles is still out, Darius Smith didn’t play last week and even coach Keith King missed the Stonewall game.

2. Battlefield (5-0): The Bobcats won another low-scoring affair, showing they can take care of the close ones. Bo Revell threw for more than 100 yards and a touchdown and Bobo Beathard averaged 23 yards a catch.

The special teams actually got in on the action during the 13-7 win over Hylton with a 37-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter from Andrew Smith.

It’ll be a big test to go to Danville this week, however.

3. Osbourn Park (3-1): It was another edition of the Dominique Terrell Show last Friday and it was one for the books.

You can really see why all those D-I schools are after him already. He won’t play quarterback at that level, but he’s certainly an athlete that can make a lot of things happen.

4. Quantico (4-1): The Warriors return to the rankings after stomping Fishburne 65-27. Quantico scored five straight times from the last three minutes of the first quarter to the end of the third.

Denzel Brothers is looking like quite a talent for Quantico, picking up nearly 13 yards a carry in the lopsided win. He and Trey Blackson each scored three touchdowns.

Please go ahead and comment below. Feel free to disagree with rankings, assessments or just in general. You can also ask questions and I’ll do my best to get an answer or at least speculate.