Marty Gordon
Area high school teams head into the final three weeks of the football season with questions on their playoff future.
Defending Class 2 state champions Radford is climbing the ranks, while Christiansburg is on the region’s basement looking up and wondering if they will even make the postseason.
Blacksburg still has a shot in Class 3D but will need to win two of their final three games.
This past week, Christiansburg downed Blacksburg, while Radford picked up a win over James River.
Player of week: Christiansburg’s Donovan Richardson who was in the backfield against Blacksburg almost every down, collecting two sacks. Also, on offense, he scored on a 60-plus yard pass.
Top Five: 1) Glenvar, 2) William Byrd, 3) Salem, 4) Narrows, 5) Radford.
This week:
Hidden Valley (0-6) at Christiansburg (4-3)
Hidden Valley dropped to 0-6 for the second straight season. Matt Annis rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries for Christiansburg in the win over Blacksburg. Izaiah Cotto also threw a 66-yard scoring pass to Donovan Richardson.
Patrick County (3-4) at Radford (4-3)
Patrick County dropped its third straight game in a loss last week to Glenvar.
Radford moved to 4-3 on the season. Luke Woodard caught two touchdown passes and had an interception return touchdown on defense for Radford, while Luke Gaither completed 17 of 20 passes for 240 yards with three touchdowns. JD Grubb scored two touchdowns on the ground.
Blacksburg (3-3) at Pulaski (0-6)
Jaxon Keys tallied 72 yards on 20 carries for Blacksburg (3-3) in the loss to Christiansburg, while Nathaniel Means caught seven passes for 38 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown pass from Sam Szefc, who was nine of 15 for 77 yards with three interceptions.
Pulaski’s Trevor Gallimore rushed for 213 yards on 24 carries, scoring four touchdowns in a loss to Salem. Bryant Nottingham finished the game five of nine through the air for 126 yards.
Eastern Montgomery (0-6) at Bath County (5-0)
Bath has dominated opponents (63-0) shutout win over Bland. Their closest game this season was a 41-6 win over Stonewall Jackson.
Last week, Wyatt Campbell completed 6 of 7 passes for 99 yards with four touchdowns for Bath County (5-0), throwing two scores to Braiden Mabe and one each to Luke Turner and Issac Ingram.
Eastern Montgomery was shutout last week in a 48-0 loss at Craig County.
Predictions:
Christiansburg 40, Hidden Valley 6
Blacksburg 32, Pulaski 24
Bath County 40, Eastern Montgomery 6
Radford 42, Patrick County 14.