HOT SPRINGS – Eight weeks into the high school football season and the Bath County Chargers (7-0, 1-0 Pioneer) continue to get more impressive.
Following their 49-0 victory on the road over the Eastern Montgomery Mustangs on Friday, there’s no question that the Chargers football program is back on the map.
Often the Bath County team of 2003 gets talked about as they were the last team in the program to start out with seven straight wins.
The last time the program had at least seven wins was in 2009 when the Chargers finished 8-5 overall.
The 49-0 shutout victory over the Mustangs was the teams second straight and their third in the last four games. It’s been 16 years since the last defense pitched three shutouts in one season, That team in 2007 also finished with eight wins.
On Friday, the Chargers will be looking to continue with their unbeaten season as the 2-4 Craig County Rockets come to Carl F. Williams Field for a Pioneer district contest.
The Rockets will enter Friday’s game riding a three-game losing streak and are coming off their second worst defeat of the season following a 45-12 loss at Parry McCluer.
And if heading to play against the undefeated Chargers isn’t enough, the Rockets will play three games in a seven-day span as the team will also be back on the football field on Tuesday for a makeup game with Montcalm (W.Va.).
So the question is (much like it has been all season), how do the Rockets slow down this Chargers football team?
The best answer might be – the weather.
The weather in Hot Springs does not look promising on Friday as there’s an 87% chance of rain throughout the day and into the evening during the football game.
The Chargers offense is so talented that it can beat you on the ground with their rushing attack or in the air with their passing game.
Could the weather slow down the Chargers offense and make them one-dimensional? I personally don’t see it.
With how dominant this team has been both offensively and defensively, the weather might make them even more dangerous. If the Chargers score 40+ points in the drizzling rain, then no one is stopping this football team.
While the Rockets sit at only two wins, they do have some talented players on their team that they’ll need to rely on if they want to pull the upset off.
Carter Calfee is a player that can burn you in both the run-game and in the air. In the Rockets’ loss last week to the Fighting Blues, Calfee had 85-yds rushing on 17 carries and also reeled in a pair of catches for 49-yds and a touchdown. If the Rockets can get Calfee loose, he may be the team’s best chance at the upset.
However, you’re talking about doing so against a defense who has given up less than 13-points a game this season.
As the Chargers offense puts up a ton of points on the scoreboard, it makes the opposing offense play catch-up, which causes errors in their offense in which the Chargers defense capitalizes on and they force turnovers.
Prediction; Rockets 7, Bath County 42.
In last week’s win over the Mustangs, junior standout Wyatt Campbell surpassed the 1,000-yd mark for rushing yards. Through seven games, Campbell has over 1,200-yds on the ground and a total of 37 touchdowns (20 rush, 16 pass, and a punt return). Even in the rain, the Rockets will have a tough time slowing down the dynamic offensive player that Campbell is.