The Shadow
Two weeks left to go in the high school football regular season, and we are in for a wild finish.
The latest VHSL regional playoff rankings came on Monday afternoon and there was little movement to the top 8. No new teams jumped into the top 8, while some flipped positions down the bottom half.
Liberty Christian Academy (7-0) remains at the top of the latest rankings following a 45-6 victory over EC Glass on Friday. The Bulldogs have two games left as they play Brookville this Friday who are tied for 12th in the latest rankings with Fluvanna County and then LCA wraps up their season next week against Jefferson Forest. Those are games LCA should win and will most likely if doing so will wrap up the top overall seed in the region.
The rest of the top-8 remained the same with the exception of Rustburg and Staunton who both entered last week’s rankings tied for 5th. This week the Red Devils are in sole possession of the 5th seed, while the Storm drop down to 6th.
We like to play the game of “if the season ended today” Alleghany would host Staunton. That’s the current projected matchup, but there’s still two weeks remaining.
Outside of the top 8 Spotswood moved up from 10th to 9th following their 40-0 Valley District victory over Rockbridge County. The Trailblazers are off this week as they prepare for a potential district title game against Turner Ashby next Friday in Penn Laird. The Blazers need to defeat the Knights in order to make the playoffs and in doing so if Alleghany wins out then the Cougars would leapfrog TA for the 2nd overall seed and have two guaranteed home playoff games.
While Spotswood moved up, Broadway moved down from 9th to 10th following their bye week. The Gobblers host the 11th ranked East Rockingham this week. It’s a game that could determine either team’s season as this game is the Eagles season finale.
Looking ahead to next week’s rankings Brookville could turn the rankings upside down if they upset Liberty Christian Academy. A win over the Bulldogs would be enough points to potentially jump potentially into the top 8.
With two weeks remaining there is a lot on the line still for the top-12 teams as key matchups get played out over the final games of the regular season.
Below are the full VHSL Week 9 Playoff Rankings.
REGION 3C PLAYOFF RANKINGS
1. Liberty Christian Academy 29.43
2. Turner Ashby 27.50
3. Alleghany 27.25
4. Heritage-Lynchburg 26.63
5. Rustburg 24.38
6. Staunton 23.88
7. Wilson Memorial 22.11
8. Monticello 21.50
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9. Spotswood 20.67
10. Broadway 20.63
11. East Rockingham 20.22
12 (T). Brookville 18.63
12 (T). Fluvanna County 18.63
14. Western Albemarle 16.75
15. Rockbridge County 15.25
16 (T). Rocktown 14.00
16 (T). Waynesboro 14.00
