Battlefield/Northwestern District Playoff Preview

 With the end of the regular season PLAYOFF Season is upon us... and boy oh the 540 will be represented well but this week I wanna touch on ALL of the teams that made it. So to do that I will separate my previews by district, and next up is the Battlefield and Northwestern Districts. These districts will see 5 teams in playoff action tonight 3 in Class 4 and Two in Class 3, so let's get into it.

#4 Tuscarora (8-2) at #1 Kettle Run (9-1) 

For nine weeks in a row now the Cougars have left the field victorious. And they have done it behind the arm of Beau Lang who has done a spectacular job of spreading the football to players like Jordan Tapscott and Jacob Robinson as well as behind the legs of Peyton Mehaffey and Andrew Strickland. Many maybe looking at the Cougars saying exactly who is this team? It is something that opponents in their district better find out how to solve soon or else Charlie Porterfield and his crew will make a run to a regional championship. But on the other side of the field is a team that is far from mediocre. Normally when you net a 9-1 a season you are gifted with a average team in the first round. That is NOT the case for the Cougars and VT commit Bryce Duke and the Tuscarora Huskies come to town. The last 2 years that a Loudoun team has traveled to Fauquier and played Fauquier's top dog it's been a rough go for the Fauquier team. However that is normally later in the playoffs when it is Loudoun's top dog vs Fauquier's top dog. This has potential to be the best game in the area. The Huskies can at times be one dimensional but Duke is not your typical dimension. I'd look for this one to come down to the wire

Prediction: Tuscarora 34 Kettle Run 31

#7 Chancellor (5-5) at #2 King George (9-0) 

The last time we saw these two meet up this season, it wasn't close. The Foxes were simply the better team as they cruised to a 37-0 win. That was nearly a month ago and since then all the Foxes have done is look even more dangerous as they have become even more comfortable running the ball in what seems to be a two RB system now. The defense has been consistently stingy and now the Foxes have wrapped up their second straight undefeated season and are the 2 seed in the region. The Chargers have talent, players like Brycen Edwards and Cameron Hawkins won't just idly stand by and let the Foxes advance, but it may take everything to fall the Chargers way to pull an upset

Prediction: Chancellor 6 King George 39

#6 Skyline (3-6) at #3 James Monroe (5-5) 

We've seen a lot of fight and resilience out of this JM club and man have they needed it. Things were looking bleak for a while after the Yellow Jackets fell to Charlottesville and got blown out by Mountain View and King George. But man did the Yellow Jackets pull it together in the second half of the season. And a lot of it has to do with the teams defense in the second half of the season that carried them to wins over Eastern View and Chancellor. This years version of the Yellow Jackets truly embodies TCB  

Prediction: Skyline 12 James Monroe 24 

#5 Culpeper (4-6) at #4 Goochland (5-5)

In my opinion the Blue Devils are probably one of the more fun teams to watch in the region when playing a team their equal. Why? Because when the Blue Devils need yards the opponent knows where the ball is going. The fans know, heck even the refs know. But there simply in no stopping the wrecking ball that is Malachi Terrell. I am very happy that Culpeper is still playing football. But there challenge will be a tough one. Goochland has dropped 3 straight but make no mistake this team will be well coached and are well aware of who they must stop tonight

Prediction: Culpeper 16 Goochland 31