FRANKLIN
Windsor High School, fresh off of 5 straight losses, will travel to face Franklin High School, fresh off of a win, this week in WLQM’s Real Country 101.7 Football game of the week. The game will air on sister station AM 1250 starting at 6:40 p.m.

Meanwhile, Southampton High School, with 2 wins in their last 3 contests, will travel to face Park View (3-5) in South Hill; Southampton Academy will begin postseason play against Hobgood Academy; and Isle of Wight Academy, on a bye, looks for favorable results to extend their season.

BRONCOS VS DUKES

The Dukes (2-6) and Broncos (2-6) are each looking for wins to help turn their seasons toward the postseason in this out-of-conference TriRivers District match.

Dukes Head Coach Charles Parrish said Franklin has a good football team that has a balanced offense they would have to stop.

“Franklin has good athletes, and they run the ball well,” Parrish said. “And they mix in the pass.”

For Franklin, Head Coach Darren Parker said the team would have to execute in all four phases of the game, coaching, offense, defense and special teams, just like they practice.

“They are coming in and they have a lot of athletes,” he said. “They are athletic and they do a lot of things on defense, offense and special teams.

“We have had a great week of practice, and the kids are focused on competing against Windsor on Friday night. God is awesome.”

Parrish said his team has had a good week of practice as well, and he looks for them to continue getting better each week of the season.

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

INDIANS

The Southampton High School Indians (2-6) will travel to face the Park View Dragons (3-5) in a Conference 25 football match.

Two weeks ago, the Dragons lost Jamond Salley in a game against Brunswick. Salley died on Friday, Oct. 17, in a South Hill hospital after sustaining a suspected head injury during the first half of the game.

“We just continue to pray for the players, coaches and family, and hopefully they can get through it,” said Southampton Head Coach Willie Gillus.

Gillus said it is important for teams to take precaution in preventing injuries such as Salley’s.

“It’s not a problem that’s just at the high school level,” Gillus said. “It goes from Pee Wee all the way to the NFL. My take is you have to develop better equipment. You do all of the precautions. You do all of the new tackling drills, but it’s a difficult situation.”

As far as the game, Gillus said the Indians have to control the line of scrimmage.

“Our offensively line is going to have to dominate,” he said. “We are not expecting anything short of them giving us a complete effort. But our guys have played well the past couple of games. They’ve done a great job coming along since the start of the season.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in South Hill.

RAIDERS

Just like when they faced Hobgood (4-5) in the regular season during the first battle of the Raiders, Southampton Academy (7-2) has to match serve and compete for turnovers on defense during this first-round playoff game, Head Coach Dale Marks said. SA won the first Colonial Carolina 8-man football meeting 78-42.

“Our scores have been high on both sides for the past 3 years,” he said. “It’s been something outrageous each meeting. But you have to keep scoring because they are going to keep scoring.”

The HA Raiders have what Marks considers the conference’s best running back in Greg Mullins, a senior, who has rushed for more than 2,000 yards each season during his 3-year career and accumulated more than 100 touchdowns during that period.

On defense, Marks said Hobgood is high risk and high reward.

“They do a lot of blitzing and running around on defense,” he said. “That’s good when you are in the right place, but it’s bad, particularly when you are going into a slow-developing play and they catch you in the backfield.”

In good news, Marks said they would have Matt Rose back at quarterback, and Ethan Edwards, who was hurt during the Halifax Academy game, ought to be able to play tonight.

Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. at Pillow Field.

CHARGERS

The Isle of Wight Academy Chargers won’t take the field this week, but that doesn’t make it unimportant.

“Last week, after we lost, we were sad because we thought we were totally out of it,” Head Coach Dale Chapman said. “But lo and behold, we are possibly still in it.”

The regular season for VISAA Div. 4 football will conclude this week, and at 4-5, IWA is on the outside looking in, but barely so.

The Chargers can clinch the No. 4 seed if Fuqua (8-1) defeats or ties Broadwater (5-3) and Roanoke Catholic (7-2) defeats Kenston Forest (3-5). As it stands, Broadwater Academy, Isle of Wight, Kenston Forest and Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot are all battling for the No. 4 and No. 3 spots.

Which does mean that there is also an outside hope for the Chargers to take the No. 3 spot, but only if both Broadwater and BSH lose. BSH (4-5) is playing Trinity Episcopal (5-4), a Div. 2 team.

“We are taking a week to get healthy,” Chapman said. “We’re hoping to get some guys back who have not been able to play and get back to 100 percent to form Isle of Wight football.

“The guys are excited. The school is excited. We’re just going to have to sit back and see.”