GW sitting pretty during bye week

George Washington sits in excellent position to possibly capture the Western Valley District championship and a postseason appearance after righting itself with consecutive victories to begin its district schedule.

GW ended a three-game losing streak, its longest since 2002, by routing Patrick Henry 31-0 in the district opener Oct. 9 and escaping with a 35-34 victory against archrival Halifax County on homecoming Friday night to enter the bye week with renewed life. The Eagles (5-3, 2-0) close the regular season by hosting Franklin County on Oct. 30 and visit William Fleming on Nov. 6. Victories in those WVD games will clinch the district title and a home playoff game.

“We did what we needed to do against PH and we were fortunate to win against Halifax,” GW coach Dan Newell said, “but it really comes down to … these next two ballgames for us.”

All was not well with GW as it was outscored 114-19 in consecutive losses to Amherst County, West Forsyth (N.C.) and Battlefield earlier this season, undefeated opponents ranked among the best in their respective states. Newell challenged the Eagles to persevere, going so far as to state that the high level of competition would either serve to wear his team down or polish it up.

“Everybody knows who those teams were that we played. We’ve heard enough about it and we’ve heard enough about how we should win these two ball games,” Newell said after the victory against Halifax. “I’d have been disappointed in any other response. We knew it was in our kids all along. We just had to keep them together and get them to believe in themselves that they were a good football team, or that they had the potential to be a good football team.

“When everybody was saying so many negative things, we told them that, ‘You’re going to hear all that kind of talk until you do something about it, until you win some ball games here, however you’ve got to. You could win ’em by one point, you could win ’em blowing them out, if you win them all the naysayers about that three-game streak will go away, and I think the kids took that to heart and they fought like tigers out there (against Halifax) just to get that chance.”

GW rushed for 430 yards on 45 carries against Patrick Henry as its defense pitched a shutout for the first time since 2005. DeVaughn Benion led the attack by rushing for 198 yards on 11 carries.

Benion again ran wild, this time for 246 and two touchdowns on 18 carries, and Terrance Jackson churned out 179 yards and three scores on 26 carries as both attained career-high rushing totals in the one-point victory against Halifax.

The Eagles appear to have clearly responded to their coach’s call, and have two weeks to prepare for Franklin County (6-1), a much more difficult test than either Patrick Henry or Halifax County.

“To be in this position, we’re not surprised,” Newell said, “but I think you might be reading too much into it if you think a two-game win streak right now against a 1-6 team and a (2-6) team means anything when you’re going up against Franklin County, as big and large as they are… Fortunately for us, they’ve got to come to us, and we’ll find out what’s going to happen. But we’ve got a little time to prepare, and that’s a good thing.”