How nice is it to have football back our lives? So great to say the least.
There was some excitement to kick off the 2024 campaign as five separate games needed overtime to decide winners. They involved some ranked teams, too.
Indian River rallied on the road to beat Varina in a matchup of Top Ten squads in different classifications as the Braves, who got shut out 13-0 by the Blue Devils at home a year ago, prevailed 37-31 on the road in double-overtime.
E.C. Glass, which just missed the cut in our initial Top Tens in Class 4, continued its mastery of Class 3 contender Lord Botetourt in the head-to-head series, erasing an 8-0 deficit in Daleville as they won on a field goal in OT, 11-8.
There were other noteworthy results across the Commonwealth, such as Madison shutting out Stone Bridge, marking the first time the Bulldogs went without scoring in a game in 23 years. George Wythe toppled defending Class 2 State Champ Radford, 28-7, to halt the 15-game winning streak by the Bobcats.
New-look Hayfield put up 48 points in an easy win over West Springfield, which knocked them out of the first round of the playoffs last year. And William Fleming served notice they can score points in bunches by putting 90 on the board against Hidden Valley.
See our Initial VHSL Football Top Tens for 2024 Here
Final VHSL Top Ten Football Rankings for 2023
See Final Playoff Brackets from 2023 Here
Mega matchups await us all over the state this week with two of the bigger showdowns involving teams from Tidewater as defending Class 5 State Champ Maury opens its season against Wise, a Maryland power that has captured six state titles.
Meanwhile, it's the first ever meeting between powerhouses Highland Springs and Phoebus, who have won a combined 15 state titles since the turn of the century.
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 5, 2024
Honorable Mention:
Fairfax (1-0)
Gainesville (1-0)
Mountain View (1-0)
Honorable Mention:
Granby (1-0)
William Fleming (1-0)
Nansemond River (1-0)
Honorable Mention:
E.C. Glass (1-0)
Warhill (1-0)
Loudoun Valley
Powhatan
Sherando (1-0)
Loudoun County (1-0)
Honorable Mention:
Norcom (1-0)
Hopewell
Rustburg (1-0)
Monticello (1-0)
Alleghany (1-0)
Honorable Mention:
Amelia (1-0)
Buckingham (1-0)
Nottoway (1-0)
Bruton (1-0)
Chatham (1-0)
Honorable Mention:
Twin Springs (1-0)
Chilhowie (1-0)
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.
