Marty Gordon
Christiansburg High School will face a familiar foe, Magna Vista, in this year’s postseason that begins this week.
It was Magna Vista who beat the Blue Demons in last year’s Class 3D quarterfinals.
Christiansburg, who had to sit and watch the final regular season week in order to figure out where they would play, finished as the seventh seed. Magna Vista is the second seed.
Abingdon is the top seed in 3D and will host Bassett. Lord Botetourt is at home versus Northside, and Staunton River travels to William Byrd.
In 2C, Glenvar is the number one seed and hosts Martinsville. Seventh-seeded Patrick County will play at Radford. Gretna is the third seed and will play Nelson County. Floyd and Appomattox face each other in the fourth and fifth places.
In 1C, undefeated Bath County controls its own fate with a matchup with Ft. Chiswell. George Wythe will host Giles, and Grayson will be at home against Craig. Narrows will host Pioneer District-mate Parry McCluer.
All of the first-round games will be played on Friday at 7 p.m.
This past week, Magna Vista (7-3) picked up win number eight in a 29-22 win over Mecklenburg County. Marcus Scott through a 70-yard touchdown to Torian Younger in the third quarter and finished eight of 17 for 186 yards with two scores. Younger had five catches for 164 yards. Scott also scored on a run and had 11 carries for 69 yards.
This year, Magna Vista’s losses have come to Staunton River (23-15), Franklin County (21-17), and George Washington (42-26). MV has outscored its opponents by a 371 to 157 clip this season.
Magna Vista knocked Christiansburg from the 2023 playoffs in a 27-20 win before losing to William Byrd a week later.
Radford’s opponent, Patrick County, finished the season 4-6 which included a 28-14 loss to Radford during the regular season. They also lost to four other common opponents in Carroll County (21-0), Floyd (36-0), Glenvar (49-7) and Alleghany (47-10).
Patrick County has been outscored by a 275 to 169 mark this season.
In the first matchup earlier this year, JD Grubb and Luke Woodard both had interception return touchdowns. Radford QB Luke Gaither finished the night 16 of 21 for 154 yards.
Easton Harris ran for 114 yards on 22 carries for Patrick County.
The Virginia High School League also made an announcement, which affects the top ranked Class 6 school, undefeated Hayfield. The team was given a two-year postseason ban for allegations that as many as 30 players transferred from Freedom High School and are not living in the Hayfield school district.
Coach Darryl Overton moved this year from Freedom to Hayfield, bringing the large amount of players and coaches with him. Overton had won two state championships at his former school.
Predictions for this week’s playoffs:
Radford 44, Patrick County 10
Christiansburg 33, Magna Vista 26
