COURTLAND
Three of the five Western Tidewater football programs will be on the road this week looking to break losing streaks, as Isle of Wight Academy and Southampton Academy remain home looking to secure playoff positions.

The WLQM Real Country 101.7 game of the week will be at Pillow Field in Courtland for the Raiders’ contest. The game will air on their sister station, AM 1250.

RAIDERS

Northeast Academy is entering tonight’s 7:30 kickoff on a five-game losing streak. Their only win of the season, a 28-20 contest, comes against Community Christian. Southampton Academy beat Community 58-0 earlier this season.

This NCISAA Colonial Carolina 8-Man football matchup will also be the Raiders’ Homecoming contest, and Head Coach Dale Marks said that can sometimes be a problem.

“I wish every one of our away games was someone’s homecoming,” Marks said. “Whenever a school has homecoming, there are a lot of activities and distractions that week besides football, at least if they do it big like we do.”

Overall, though, Marks said he thinks that as long as the Raiders (5-1) are not looking ahead to the playoff implication matchup against Rocky Mount, SA should get the W.

“If we go out and play our game Friday night, we should win the ball game,” he said. “We’ve been playing well, and I think we will be able to move the ball on them. I also think we will be able to stop them on defense.”

CHARGERS

For their last home game before perhaps the postseason, the Isle of Wight Academy Chargers will look to help secure the No. 2 VISAA Division IV seed by knocking off Division III school North Cross.

The Chargers (4-2) will need to be ready to stop the pass this week, as Raiders’ senior quarterback Max Revercomb has already thrown for more than 1,500 yards this season and has pitched 21 touchdowns.

“As long as our linebackers and defensive backs can keep that passing attack in check, it’s a great opportunity for us to get some points against an upper division team,” Head Coach Dale Chapman said. “Ever since Atlantic Shores, our guys have done a better job covering the deep ball, so I’m excited to see what’s going to happen.

“We’ve got a game plan like we always do, and hopefully we can stick to it and come out victorious.”

Currently, IWA is tied for the No. 2 spot in the division.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Hooper Field.

BRONCOS

The 1-4 Franklin High School Broncos will take to the road for a TriRivers Matchup against 2-3 Brunswick. The Brunswick Bulldogs, a 2A team freshly removed from making it to the Championship Game, are coming into the match with a two-game winning streak.

On average, the Bulldogs are allowing 23 points per game, while the Broncos are scoring 35. On the other side, the Broncos are giving up 39 points per game and the Bulldogs are scoring 17 on average.

Head Coach Darren Parker could not be reached for comment.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Lawrenceville.

DUKES

Windsor High School is looking to break a 2-game losing streak as they travel to face the Surry County Cougars (5-0) in a TriRivers match. The game will be out of division, however, as Surry is a 1A program and Windsor (2-3) is 2A.

Head Coach Charles Parrish said the Cougars have athletes all over the field, so it’ll be tough.

“We’ve got to run to the ball and tackle,” he said. “We’ve got to play good defense.”

On offense, Parrish said, they need to break the scoreless streak, as they have been shutout for two straight games.

“We tweak some things each week,” Parrish said. “We get better each week.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Dendron.

INDIANS

The Southampton High School Indians, putting together two close contests in a row against Brunswick and Sussex, look to get their first win of the season tonight at 7 o’clock in Emporia as they face the Greensville High School Eagles (1-4).

Head Coach Willie Gillus said that to pull off the win, the Div. 3A Indians are going to have to cut down on the penalties and match the Div. 2A Eagles’ speed in this TriRivers District contest.

“They are one of the fastest teams that we will see this year,” he said. “We need to get after them and play good offense, defense and special teams.”

Gillus said they have a good chance at pulling this one off.

“We think we can be successful the rest of this season,” he said. “We thought that we should have won both of the previous games, but penalties really hurt us. Penalties in crucial points of the game, so we couldn’t seal the deal.

“Offensively and defensively, we’re playing a lot better than we were at the beginning of the season. We can move the ball and score, as long as we avoid penalties and turnovers.”

Senior quarterback Russell Ballance will not return for this match, and backup quarterback Andrew Blunt is questionable, Gillus said.