One at a time

GRETNA — While the Gretna High football team was preparing for today’s Group A Division 2 state semifinal against Essex, a few of their fans were caught looking ahead to next Saturday and a possible trip to Salem for the championship game.

Head coach Chris Thurman isn’t letting his players fall into the same trap.

“I had students (on Tuesday) ask, ‘well, who do we play next week?’” he said. “And you can’t look at next week. It’s got to be focused on whom you have to play this week. You can’t play the state championship game this week. You have to beat Essex, and that has to be our focus. The boys, they’re never too high or too low. They’re going to be even keel the whole way, and you have to put all your focus this week on Essex. If they come in here and beat us, we’re done.”

Gretna (11-1), which captured the Region B title last week with a 51-27 win over Clarke County, is the reigning Division 2 champion and has won three state titles in the last five years. But the road to No. 4 goes through unbeaten Essex, the Region A winner.

The Trojans (12-0) have won their games by an average margin of 33 points. Only one of those was closer than 20 points; Essex squeaked by Washington & Lee 33-27 on Nov. 1. The two teams met again last week, and Essex came away with a 34-14 victory, capturing the Region A Division 2 championship in the process.

Thurman drove to Tappahannock last Saturday and watched Essex roll over Washington & Lee. What he saw reminded him in many ways of his own squad.

“They’re very similar to us,” he said, “similar offense — they run the spread with the wing instead of two slots; they’re one slot and one wing — but really similar to us, a lot of the same plays.”

The Hawks, for the most part, have dominated their opponents as well, outscoring them by 28 points per game. Only two of their contests have been decided by fewer than 20 points, a 34-18 loss to William Campbell and a 41-38 win over Nelson County. The Gretna defense has four shutouts to its credit, compared to just one for the Trojans.

Thurman declined to compare Essex to any other team the Hawks have faced this season. “They’re one of the two teams that’s left in front of us if we’re going to make another run at the state,” he said, “so they’re pretty good, I’ll be honest. They’ve got two receivers that can go get the ball, and they’ve got a really good running back and they’re pretty decent up front.”

In the regional playoffs, Gretna defeated two teams (Goochland and Clarke County) who operate out of a single-wing formation. Now, the Hawks will face a spread offense, something they’ve seen against William Campbell — and every day in practice.

“At least by playing Campbell and knowing what we do offensively, we know how to line up to it,” said Thurman. “It’s not one of those things where you really have to study how to get lined up to it. And everybody now in our district is running some version of the spread, so I feel comfortable with what we’ve got going in. It’s not anything we haven’t seen.”

Of the four Division 2 semifinalists, only Gretna has previously won a state title. The Hawks have three championships in nine prior state tournament appearances, including the 2007 crown. Essex has 15 appearances without a title; Region C champion Floyd County is 0-for-8 and Region D winner Lebanon is 0-for-17.

Experience could work in the Hawks’ favor today. Gretna has 20 players on its roster who went through last year’s playoff run.

“It’s a long season,” Thurman said. “We’ve been doing this since the first of August, and you can see light at the end of the tunnel now. It’s two weeks. And whomever can get their kids to stay focused and get after it these last two weeks will win it.”