Gretna leads the Dogwood into Region B playoffs

As the Region B playoffs finally get underway this weekend, Gretna and Appomattox find themselves in familiar positions. The Raiders are in the playoffs for the third consecutive season and the Hawks have won four state titles in the past six seasons.

The ninth consecutive trip to the postseason for Gretna comes without perennial Dogwood power William Campbell, as Altavista built off a 5-5 season last year to make the jump into the playoffs.

This marks the third consecutive year that three teams from the Dogwood advanced to postseason play. Each year, both Gretna and Appomattox advanced in Division 2, and in the previous two seasons, William Campbell advanced in Division 1.

Buckingham at Gretna
WHERE: Gretna
KICKOFF: 1 p.m., Saturday
RECORDS: Buckingham 10-0; Gretna 8-2
LAST WEEK: Buckingham defeated Central Lunenburg 40-10; Gretna throttled William Campbell 69-30.
FACTS: This is a Region B Division 2 semifinal game. It marks Buckingham’s first postseason appearance since 2002 and it’s Gretna ninth consecutive trip to postseason play. … The Knights, champions of the James River District, have allowed a meager 80 points this season, which includes three shutouts. Buckingham has also scored 320 points — the most in a season since 2002. … Buckingham is led by running back Maurice Taylor, who has churned out more than 1,300 yards rushing and 26 touchdowns. Senior fullback Jarrod Wade has added 670 yards and nine scores rushing. Sophomore quarterback Tarian Ayers has completed more than 50 percent of his passes. … Defensively, the Knights are led by James River District defensive player of the year Taylor Boyers. … Buckingham and Gretna last met in 2003 and ’04, with Gretna winning both meetings by scores of 55-6 and 48-13. … Gretna running back and Dogwood District first-team member Andre Dickerson has rushed for 1,029 yards and added 16 touchdowns. Junior quarterback Nick Miller finished the regular season with 985 yards passing, 691 yards rushing and 17 total touchdowns. … Six Hawks were named to the Dogwood District first-team defense: Rory Haskins, Tyler Rouff, Darion Jefferson, Stephen Payne, Joe McGhee and Kevin Dale. Gretna’s defense allowed 142 points in the regular season. … Gretna has not lost a home game — regular season or playoffs — since 2005, when Dogwood District rival Chatham upended previously undefeated Gretna 34-27.

Altavista (9-1), after winning a combined total of 14 games from 2000-’07, has won 14 in the past two seasons and replaces William Campbell this season as the Region B Division 1 playoff representative from the Dogwood District. This is the Colonels’ first postseason appearance since 1990, as they host Madison County tonight at 7 p.m.

“We’re not looking at it as we’re happy to be here,” Altavista coach Mike Scharnus said. “We’re trying to lock in and focus on this one game and try to advance to the next game.

“It was a goal of ours to begin with to make the playoffs. That was good to reach that goal,” Scharnus said. “The kids are excited and I guess the community’s really excited and all that stuff.”

Altavista, which also won a share of the Dogwood District title for the first time since 1971, fell from being the No. 1-rated team in the Region B Division 1 VHSL power ratings to No. 2 — despite winning its season finale against Nelson County. Riverheads took the top spot by one-tenth of a point.

The Colonels are hosting a team that is also making a postseason appearance for the first time in a while. Madison County (9-1), which finished second in the Bull Run District to Appomattox’s quarterfinal opponent — Clarke County, is playing in the playoffs for the first time since 2001. The Mountaineers finished 8-2 last season and missed the playoffs.

“Nobody on either one of the teams has played in the playoffs, so I don’t think that has any affects on the game,” Madison County coach Stuart Dean said. “Both teams are excited to be there and both teams have worked hard to be there. I would image both teams are excited for Friday night.”

Madison County lost its regular season finale 47-7 to Clarke County, giving the Eagles enough points to jump Gretna as the top seed in the Region B Division 2 ratings. Prior to that game, the Mountaineers had scored 26 or more points in every game.

“One of the things we’ve done the best all year long is we’ve had a balanced attack offense of run and passing to make people defend the whole field,” Dean said. “On defense, we’ve been a pretty consistent team in stopping the run.”

Madison County senior wide receiver/safety Antonio Childress is arguably one of Dean’s best athletes, as he has been instrumental in spreading the field with his ability to turn short passes into long gains on the boundary and is also been key in helping with run defense from the safety position.

Altavista senior Johnny Wimbish, who was named to the Dogwood District first team as a defensive back, has come to life since he was moved from the quarterback position to a multipurpose back in the Altavista offense following the Colonels’ contest against Gretna — helping him contribute more on both sides of the ball.

“It’s allowed Johnny to not have the pressures of quarterback and released him … physically and mentally,” Scharnus said. “He’s played some defense since he made that move, simply because he’s not as tired and that burden of being the leader on that offensive side.”

Altavista is riding a five-game winning streak after being shutout 22-0 at Gretna and Rick Adams took over at quarterback. Since then, no team has scored more than 14 points against the Colonels, including Appomattox.

The Raiders are in the playoffs for the third consecutive season in Region B Division 2 after finishing with eight wins each year. The next logical step for Appomattox (8-2) is to finally breakthrough and get that elusive playoff win. Though, that is going to have to come against a rather stout top seed Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s first-round game.

Appomattox fell just short of getting an elusive playoff victory last season at Clarke County, falling 27-19 before the Eagles were torched by Gretna 51-27 in the Region B Division 2 championship game.

That loss has sparked a fire in Clarke County (10-0), as the Eagles have scored 486 points this season and allowed a paltry 35. The Eagles have only allowed five touchdowns in 10 games and Clarke County has scored 41 points or more in every game.

“If you’re able to move the ball up and down the field against them, they’re not used to that,” Appomattox coach Ben Martin said. “I think it always starts up front — the offensive line. Really from there, it opens up holes for Kenny (Scott) and Joe (Reed) to be able to run our offense effectively.”

Scott and Reed, who were both named to the Dogwood District first-team, will be asked to put some points up against a Clarke County team that Martin likened to Dogwood District rival Dan River — a team that controls the ball through the running game and may be out of their element if the Eagles find themselves trailing the Raiders.

“Appomattox — very impressed with them,” Clarke County coach Chris Parker said. “They looked like a well-coached team with athletic players. The Scott kid, he runs the midline option very well, has great speed and we’re well aware of that. They have some other athletes that we respect too.”

In Clarke County’s 47-7 smashing of Madison County to clinch the Bull Run District title, the Eagles racked up 353 yards and six touchdowns on the ground out of the Single-wing offense. Sam Shiley totaled 166 yards and four touchdowns, while brother Zach Shiley added 94 yards and a touchdown.

“Our defense is playing great, but we have to respect that speed and Appomattox definitely has some players that can fly,” Parker said.

Appomattox’s first opponent of the season is Gretna’s semifinal foe — Buckingham County. The Knights defeated the Raiders 20-13, which is the third-most points scored against Buckingham this season. The most points scored in a game against the Knights this season is 19.

“With Gretna and us, our out of district schedule is as tough as our district schedule,” Martin said of how the schedule will prepare his team for the playoffs. “We can’t really say that about last year.”

Buckingham County (10-0) has been authoritative on defense this season, but not as stout as Clarke County. The Knights, formally a member of the Dogwood District, have allowed 80 points this season in making the postseason for the first time since 2002, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. on Saturday in Gretna.

Though, two of Buckingham’s closest games came against 2-8 teams. The Knights shutout Nelson County 14-0 and squeaked out a 10-6 victory over Amelia County.

“We thought they’d be the best team we played in the regular season,” Buckingham County coach Craig Gill said of Appomattox. “We knew we wouldn’t play a team until the postseason that was as talented as Appomattox.”

The Knights are led by running back Maurice Taylor, who pounded his way to more than 1,300 yards on the ground and a whopping 26 touchdowns, and senior fullback Jarrod Wade added another 670 yards on the ground and nine scores — part of a two-headed attack that Gill relies on to help keep his defense fresh, which is led by senior linebacker and James River District defensive player of the year Taylor Boyers.

And, as the Knights coach also mentioned, Taylor and Wade, along with sophomore quarterback Tarian Ayers, would be responsible for putting up enough points to stay ahead of the Hawks.

“We just played real well at the beginning of the season and been on a roll since. Just had a good year, got some breaks early,” Gill said. “I don’t think anybody is going to stop Gretna but Gretna themselves.”

This game marks Gretna’s (8-2) ninth consecutive trip to postseason play. Like Appomattox, Gretna’s non-district schedule was one of the toughest in the district. The Hawks lost their season opener to Liberty Christian Academy (10-1), which is playing for the VISSA Division I championship game against Richmond Collegiate on Saturday. Gretna defeated Radford (8-3), which is playing the top-seed in Region C Division 2, George Wythe (7-3), tonight at 7:30 p.m.

“You look at who we played non-district,” Gretna coach Kevin Saunders said. “You look at Radford and Liberty Christian Academy and those teams that we played non-district — look at how good they’ve been playing and they’re still playing for playoffs and stuff. I think the non-district and district schedule has prepared us for the playoffs.”

Buckingham played Gretna in both the 2003 and ’04 regular seasons, with the Hawks destroying the Knights on both occasions in Gretna’s back-to-back Group AA Division 3 state title runs.

In those two state title runs, the Hawks were led at quarterback by current University of Virginia standout Vic Hall. This year’s squad has begun to show some growth in Saunders’ new spread offense and quarterback Nick Miller has shown his true form since he has returned to full health — finishing the season with 10 rushing touchdowns and seven passing touchdowns.

Gretna running back Andre Dickerson, who was named to the Dogwood District first team, added 1,029 yards on the ground and 16 touchdowns.

“They have probably the fastest back we’ll ever see,” Gill said of Dickerson.

Gretna has outscored it’s last two opponents, Chatham and William Campbell, by a combined score of 121-30. The Hawks have not lost a home game since 2005, when Dogwood District rival Chatham upended the previously undefeated Hawks 34-27 in the semifinals of the Region B Division 2 tournament.

“We played pretty decent at Appomattox and they’re a good football team. We still made mistakes and still had a chance to win, so that tells you we’re a good football team,” Saunders said. “I think if we just play good football like we’ve been playing the last few weeks — the offensive line’s got really good here lately — and getting everybody back healthy is a plus. If we keep doing that, we should have a chance.”