The Craig County football team has clinched a spot in the Region 1C playoffs, now the only question is how high they’ll be seeded. After beating Parry McCluer, 33-6, in Buena Vista last Friday the Rockets are tied at the top of the Virginia High School League region standings.
With a 7-0 record the Rockets have a point rating of 20.57, the exact same rating as 6-1 Giles. The top eight make the playoffs and the top four open with a home game. The top seeded team is assured home field advantage throughout the three team region tournament as long as they win.
Through last Friday four Pioneer District and four Mountain Empire District teams occupy the top eight spots, with Craig and Giles tied at the top. George Wythe(5-3) and Grayson County(3-4) are at the third and fourth spots and three Pioneer District teams follow, Bath County(4-2), Narrows(2-5) and Parry McCluer(4-4). Auburn, of the Mountain Empire, is eighth at 4-4 and the rest of the region is either winless or 1-7.
Craig finishes up with a trip to Bath County this Friday, a home game with Narrows on Halloween and a trip to Meadow View of West Virginia on November 7. Giles has Grayson County this week followed by a scheduled game with Galax. The Maroon Tide is forfeiting the rest of their games so that’s a sure win for Giles, and the Spartans will play George Wythe to end the regular season.
Ironically, the two teams in the region that run the single wing offense are leading the region. The Rockets would love to grab that number one seed to assure a home game with Giles if they would meet in the region final. However, right now the Rockets are just happy to be 7-0, the best start in the history of Craig County or New Castle High School football.
“We are doing a good job of staying focused on the next game, and not looking behind us or ahead.” said Craig coach Jimmy Fisher. “We are going to keep trying to get a little better every week. We continue to work hard for each other.”
This week’s opponent, Bath County, has been a challenge for the Rockets over the years. Record-wise this has been the toughest opponent for the Rockets as the series record stands at 4-48 in favor of the Chargers.
“That is probably the worst statistic of all,” said Fisher. “Bath County has a proud community and program with multiple championships and takes a lot of pride in their record against us. Just four wins in 52 attempts against a school whose enrollment has always been close to the same as ours is absurd to me, but they have found a way to consistently win the close games most of the time. There have not been a lot of close games, the point differential for 52 football games is over 25 points.”
The Chargers are coached by Jacob Phillips, who was a quarterback for Bath County during some of their best years. He’s also a close personal friend of Fisher as the two coached together at James River when the Knights won a district championship.
“Jacob Phillips is a great coach and will squeeze every bit of talent from a team,” said Fisher. “They will have a great game plan and be ready for us on Friday. We have to have a great week, too.”
