As we touched on during our Hat's Hits that we go to Twitter or 'X' with after Friday night's games + during the On the Hash with Hatfield Podcast (see that epsiode here), there feels like a bit of a changing of the guard when it comes to Virginia High School Football.
The quartet of Highland Springs, Riverheads, Salem and Stone Bridge ALL lost on the same evening last Friday. That's a combiend 28 state titles in the past 30 years. We're talking about 10 each for the Gladiators and Spartans with five from the Springers and three by the Bulldogs.
Stone Bridge was one of three teams along with Lake Braddock and reigning Class 1 State Champ Galax to fall out of the rankings this week. Each of the No. 1 teams - Hayfield, Maury, Phoebus, Liberty Christian, Graham and Essex - hold firm at the top.
But there are some fascinating matchups involving ranked teams this week as Maury puts its 17-game winning streak on the line against Dinwiddie, a team that led them at half-time last year before the Commodores rattled off 27 unanswered points in a 46-29 decision.
Heritage-Lynchburg collides with fellow unbeaten Jefferson Forest in a Seminole District clash, while in Class 2 it's two Region 2D heavyweights squaring off as Graham visits Bullitt Park to take on a familiar foe in Union, who fell last week to Tennessee power Science Hill.
The Graham defense is one of the early-season storylines with three straight shutouts to its credit, but they aren't the only ones absolutely dominating on that side of the ball. So too are the likes of Thomas Jefferson of Richmond and Bruton, each with three shutouts. Bruton will be hard-pressed to keep that going as they visit Class 1 contender Northumberland, which fell to the Panthers in a 43-41 head-spinner last year.
** Keep Updated with Virginia High School Results & Remaining Schedules Here **
Remember to check back here on VirginiaPreps.com for periodic updates, and to see results, make sure you visit our Scoreboard Forum as well as the VHSL's Football page. Also, you can view all of the teams ranked in our initial Top Tens for 2024 by clicking on the hyperlinks of the schools listed.
Let's now get to our latest rankings update, the first one for September 2024 as we've flipped the calendar over from August last weekend...
Note - This list was published on Thursday, September 129 2024
Honorable Mention:
Brooke Point (3-0)
Glen Allen (3-0)
George Marshall (3-0)
Yorktown (3-0)
Stafford (3-0)
Honorable Mention:
Granby (2-0)
Cox (3-0)
Nansemond River (2-0)
Douglas Freeman (3-0)
Honorable Mention:
Hanover (2-0)
Smithfield (2-0)
Woodgrove (2-1)
Honorable Mention:
Abingdon (2-0)
Monticello (2-0)
Alleghany (2-0)
Armstrong (2-0)
Honorable Mention:
Strasburg (3-0)
Lebanon (3-0)
Bruton (3-0)
Gretna (2-1)
Honorable Mention:
Twin Springs (2-0)
Bath County (3-0)
Buffalo Gap (2-1)
Matthew Hatfield serves as Publisher for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and be sure to Subscribe to Hometown Sports Productions where you can hear his Podcasts.