On Saturday afternoon at Patrick Henry High School the William Fleming Colonels and Patrick Henry Patriots will once again meet with city bragging rights on the line.
Similar to years past, the two programs enter Saturday’s contest (2pm, Oct. 24) without much in common. The Patriots, at 2-6, are rebuilding under first year head coach Brad Bradley, while the Colonels (4-2) are seeking to capture their second consecutive Western Valley District title.
Both teams, however, have been struggling in recent weeks. The Patriots, after showing some early promise in an overtime win over Blacksburg and close losses to Cave Spring and Pulaski, have been outscored 115-7 over the past three games, suffering blowouts at the hands of Christiansburg, GW Danville and Franklin County.
“We’ve just made way too many mistakes the past few weeks,” Bradley lamented. “We were competitive against Danville until halftime, but in the other games we just self-destructed and didn’t really give ourselves that much of a chance.”
Turnovers have been the main culprit during the team’s slump; the Patriots fumbled 8 times (losing only one) against Franklin County, and shot themselves in the foot by turning the ball over 3 times in Eagles’ territory in the loss to GW Danville.
William Fleming also seems to have hit a bump in the road over the past two weeks. In a showdown against Salem on October 2nd, the Colonels came out flat and were beaten soundly by the Spartans, 27-0. One week later, the Fleming offense again failed to get going in a 14-7 loss to Franklin County in their district opener.
The lack of scoring on offense is a little mystifying for a team that was averaging 33 points per game going into the matchup with Salem. Untimely turnovers and penalties have been the Colonels undoing in the last two games. Down 7-0 in the second quarter against the Spartans, Devin Richardson fumbled during a promising drive, and the ball was returned for a Salem touchdown and a 14-0 lead. The Colonels were also penalized 7 times during the game, and were demoralized after a 17-play drive ended without the team putting any points on the scoreboard. And against Franklin County, the Colonels were able to muster a measly 158 yards of total offense.
However, like most rivalry games, records and past results are thrown out the window. “It’s a rivalry game, our kids are excited and you don’t worry about records, you have to go out there and play for pride,” Bradley said about this weekend’s showdown with Fleming.
One thing that will be worth watching on Saturday is how the Patriots plan to attack a stout William Fleming defense. “I’ve been really impressed by how they all fly around on defense,” Bradley said. “For us, we really just have to focus on executing and not turning the ball over.”
After watching the game film of Fleming’s loss to Franklin County, Bradley might do well to run the ball early and often against the Colonels, who surrendered 183 yards on the ground to the Eagles.
Conversely, the Patriots might just be the perfect team for William Fleming to fix whatever has been ailing them on offense; Patrick Henry has surrendered 31.5 points per game defensively so far in 2009.
Prediction: William Fleming 31, Patrick Henry 17.
By Matt Reeve [email protected]