Rockbridge County (0-4) at Stuarts Draft (3-1) WHEN: 7 p.m. on Friday WHERE: Stuarts Draft High School in Stuarts Draft. Tickets are $7.
LAST YEAR : The two teams did not meet.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS: After dropping their season opener to Central Woodstock 28-12 on Aug. 29, the Cougars have won three games in a row. Stuarts Draft earned a 26-20 victory over Luray on Sept. 5 and then defeated their first two Shenandoah District opponents, 29-13 over Riverheads on Sept. 12 and 24-0 over Fort Defiance last Friday. Leading Draft’s offense is senior quarterback Derrick Moore, while running back Baylor Graber will be tough to stop. Against Fort, Graber rushed for 66 yards on 11 carries and scored the final touchdown on a 31-yard pass from Moore.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS: Despite starting 0-4 overall and 0-2 in Shenandoah District action, the Wildcats have shown improvement the last two weeks, losing by a touchdown in each contest. RC came up short 14-7 on Sept. 12 at Staunton before making a ferocious second-half comeback last Friday but falling at home 28-21 to Waynesboro. The Cougars have proven themselves to be a strong defensive team early in the season, and the Wildcats will have to focus on avoiding turnovers and moving the ball down the field. The Wildcats committed four turnovers against Waynesboro, and a rough second quarter saw the Little Giants outscore RC 21-0 to leave the Wildcats trailing 28-7 at halftime. If the Wildcats can play with the type of intensity they had in the second half last week, they have a good chance at upsetting Stuarts Draft, but a bad quarter would be costly against the talented Cougars. Grayden Brown is making progress as RC’s quarterback and, if Taylan Tyree is not back from injury, Brown will have another chance to step up and lead. The Wildcats defense stepped up in the second half against Waynesboro, and they also were successful when they went to their running game, led by Marshall Earhart and Andrew Kelly.
THE NEWS-GAZETTE’S PICK: We expect the Wildcats to continue to improve, and they will need to in order to compete with a Stuarts Draft team that has been in a roll lately. The Wildcats will avoid a first-half letdown, but Draft’s offensive prowess will be too much to deal with, and we see the Cougars dealing the Wildcats a 35-22 loss.
