“If we win and also defeat Highland on Friday, that will force a play-off with the Cougars for the regular season championship,” said River coach Dan Bowser. “This is a big game for us. One of our goals at the begining of the season was to be district champions and now we have the opportunity to make that happen. We are looking forward to the challenge and hope that our fans will come out to support us.”

River comes into the game at 16-3 overall and 7-1 in the district, having lost only at Covington in Pioneer District play. Last week the Knights had little trouble with Craig County and Bath County as they beat both to set up the big game with Covington tonight.

The Knights beat Craig in Buchanan, 57-30. River was up 29-13 at the half and coasted to the win, with everyone on the team contributing.

“It was good to get everyone some playing time,” said Bowser. “Reanna Hamm got back into the lineup with a little playing time after being sidelined with an ankle sprain.”

Taylor England led River with 13 points and Morgan Hufford had 12 points, and six steals. Ashley King had nine points, Hamm had six, Ceira Webb had five and Cassandra Shaffer and Kaye Woods both had four points. Kaitlyn Barger and Libby Rhodes each had a bucket.

Last Friday at Bath the Knights won 45-30.

“We knew going in this would be a tough game,” said Bowser. “It was a close game until about halfway through the fourth quarter. We got several stops on defense and then converted from the foul line. We have been saying that sooner or later we would win a game at the foul line and that is what happened.”

The Knights were 13-for-16 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and 20-for-27 for the game. Hufford led River in scoring with 15 points and also had five steals and five assists. King had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Hamm just missed a double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds. England and Shaffer each had 4 points and Woods had three.

At 17-3 the Knights are now tied for sixth in the state poll of sportswriters and broadcasters among all Group A girls’ teams. Floyd County, at 19-1, is the top-ranked team in the state.

“James River is a much stronger team than the score indicates,” said LB coach Robert Haynie.  “Some of their best wrestlers were out so we didn’t get the showdown I was expecting. When they have everybody in the lineup, James River is one of the top tier teams in Region C and State Group A.  I have great respect for the program Coaches Jennings and Crimp have at our sister school.”

“The LB match didn’t go very well, but we had a couple of positives,” said River coach Tim Jennings.  “Luke(Arney), Kyle(Cook) and Creek(Turner) all won their matches, but we were without four starters and two of our best wrestlers. It would not have been easy to beat LB either way, they’re a pretty talented team and wrestling is so much about match-ups, but losing three of our better guys for a match hurts.  The team wrestled extremely hard and even with the outcome I think mentally it will help us. It put some things in perspective that don’t really show up in a scorebook or scoreboard.” 

On Saturday LB went to Covington to wrestle in the “War of the Wrestlers” tournament. LB won the tournament with 221 points, followed by Greenbrier East with 199, Roanoke Catholic with 168  and Turner Ashby with 103.5. 

“Coach Ray Sullins did a great job of keeping the tournament alive after several WV school withdrew because of snow,” said Haynie. “We had three of our strongest varsity wrestlers out due to injuries, so going in I told the guys everyone needed to fight for every point.”

Bryan Barnett and Kyle Haley won their first tournaments ever and Aaron Gunter also took a first.  Seth Carlton, Paul Lucas, Taylor Keller, Daniel Lloyd, and Brandon Winger all took second for LB.

 James River was at the Daily News Leader Tournament in Stuarts Draft last weekend. River had four boys place, as Owen Deacon won at 195, King took second at 160, Ian Batterson was second at 220, and Turner was third at 170.

 “It wasn’t our best outing as a team, especially since we won it last year, but we’ve had some injuries and sickness this week,” said Jennings. “There was a good mix of A and AA schools there and some of the kids got to see kids they’ll probably see again in February.”

Deacon wrestled extremely well.

“When Owen’s running at full steam, he’s hard to beat,” said Jennings.  “He’s been nursing a nagging injury off-and-on, but you couldn’t tell Saturday. He didn’t get to wrestle against LB on Wednesday night because of the weight control program. That really frustrated him and he certainly made up for it Saturday.”

King wrestled two of the top three boys in Group A at 160, and he is also in the top three. Kyle beat Austin Sanchez from Stuarts Draft in the semis but lost in the finals, 4-3, to Zac Richey from Buffalo Gap, the runner-up at 160 last year.

“Both matches were really close and Kyle did a great job pushing them for three periods,” said Jennings.  “He came out of the finals about as confident as he’s been all year. He knows he can beat the kid if they see each other again.”

The Knights travel to Magna Vista Saturday for the “Border Clash.” River was second in this tournament last year and won it the year before.

“The tournament gets stronger every year and I feel it will do the same again this year,” said Jennings. “It’s always great competition from Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, and it’s good to see schools not from our area.”

Lord Botetourt will wrestle district matches against Alleghany and Staunton River at William Byrd tonight. LB is currently 12-3 in dual matches.

“Given the tougher schedule this year, I would be very happy to close out our dual season with two more wins,” said Haynie.

This Friday and Saturday LB will participate in the “Big Blue” Tournament in Christiansburg for the first time. In past years this was held the same weekend as William Byrd’s Big Orange, a tournament LB always attends. This year the two are not on the same weekend, and the Cavs will participate in both. The Big Blue should be one of the top tournaments the Cavaliers participate in all season.

“They battled us the whole way,” said River coach Dan Bowser. “Give Craig a lot of credit, their girls played hard.”

Caitlin Bellassai pushes the ball up the floor for the Rockets at a recent game. Photo by Jon Fleming.

The Rockets led after one quarter, 9-8, and were tied with River at the half, 16-16. Craig hit a shooting dry spell in third quarter and River was able to grab the lead.

“In the third quarter we had a spell where we were getting good looks at the basket, but the shots would not fall,” said Craig coach Donald Eggleston. “In the fourth quarter we cut the lead down to five, but then we hit another cold shooting stretch.”

Melia Hutton led the Rockets with 12 points and Anna Smith had six. Hutton, who is averaging 16.5 points per game, also had 11 rebounds and five steals and Jordan Persinger pulled down a game-high 21 boards. Hutton is averaging 13.8 rebounds per game and Persinger is averaging 12.6.

This week the girls will stay busy, beginning with a game at Parry McCluer on Tuesday. On Thursday the girls are at Highland in the first game of a doubleheder with the boys and on Saturday the girls host Montcalm, also in the first game of a doubleheader with the boys, beginning at 5:30 pm.

The win comes just a week and a day after the Cavaliers hammered River, 58-35, in Daleville. That broke a string of five straight River wins and appeared the mantel of county supremacy was being passed to the Cavaliers. Well, let’s put that on hold for the time being.

“We’d beaten them so many times the law of averages was bound to catch up with us,” said River coach Mike Goad. “They came after us with enthusiasm and pride last week and they beat us so badly, maybe they were a little overconfident this time. They found out we have pride ourselves, and we focused a little better in our gym. Let’s call it a ‘Tale of Two Towns’.”

Botetourt jumped off to an 18-12 lead after one quarter but the Knights cut the lead in half by intermission at 32-29. LB held on to a one point lead, 48-47, after three quarters and River passed them down the stretch.

“Give them credit, they attacked us off the dribble,” said LB coach Chad Conner. “They played zone and we didn’t do a good job of attacking it.”

River won the game at the line, hitting 16 of 21 free throws while visiting LB was five for seven.

“They attacked the basket and we didn’t,” said Conner. “We’ll learn from it. They were out to get us and they played with a lot of pride.”

John Bennett led the Knights with 19 points, Caleb Lythgoe had a season-high 12, and JT Sandidge had 11. Justin Goode led LB with 17 points and Zack Kelly hit three threes and had 11 for the Cavs.

It was a good week for the Knights, who lost their first five games before winning at Glenvar last Tuesday, 63-49. Sandidge had 20, Bennett had 17, and Bryan Hoppe had 10 for the Knights in that game.

A night later the Knights were back home to host Rockbridge on Saturday and dropped a 67-35 game, as Andrew Rowsey scored 23 for the Wildcats. Sandidge had 14 to lead River.

A busy schedule continued on Monday of this week as River dropped a 41-36 game to Cave Spring in Buchanan. River jumped off to a 10-2 lead but Cave Spring bounced back to go up two by the half, 19-17. Sandidge had 10 to lead River.

Now 2-7, River is 1-1 against Group A schools and 1-6 against Group AA teams. They continue a brutal schedule with a trip to Alleghany tonight.

“We play over half our schedule in December,” said Goad. “We have our 10^th game this week and some teams have only played five or six.”

Lord Botetourt fell to 2-4 with the loss to River, and the Cavaliers were scheduled to play at Blacksburg on Tuesday of this week. Glenvar is at LB on Thursday for the final game before the holiday break.

“We’re getting better every game,” said Conner. “Every game we see something we need to do to get better and we’re working on it.”

The October street festival has been a staple in the town’s revitalization efforts that started in the mid-1990s; and now it’s perhaps the largest single-day event in the county.

The festival runs from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and will feature six groups playing bluegrass music on a stage next to Town Hall. The music begins at 10 a.m. (bring a chair) when Warren Amberson and Kelly Green kick things off. Six more groups follow with performances on the hour until 5 p.m. (See the supplement in this edition of  The Fincastle Herald for a schedule of performers).

More than 100 crafters, antique dealers, food vendors and community groups will be set up on Main Street, while as many as 100 antique and collectible cars and trucks will be on display for the annual Car Show.

There will be apple butter, baked goods, hot dogs, barbeque, Petros, fried apple pies and more for sale from community groups and vendors.

The shops and restaurants will also welcome visitors– some with Mountain Magic specials.

The Buchanan Special Events Committee will be selling this year’s festival T-shirts for $10 each, sweatshirts for $20 each, long-sleeve T-shirts for $15 each, children’s T-shirts for $6 each and tote bags for $15 each. For those collecting shirts from each year, past designs are available. Proceeds are used to support the festival and other downtown activities.

James River High School art students will also hold their annual Mountain Magic Art Show in the Fellowship Hall of Trinity Episcopal Church on Main Street. Awards will be given in several categories, along with the People’s Choice Award voted on by visitors to the show.

Main Street will be closed all day between the two Lowe Street intersections.

For more information, call Buchanan Town Hall at 254-1212.

The Knights stunned host Lord Botetourt last Friday with a convincing 15-9 win over the host Cavaliers as their intra-county rivalry continued in Daleville. River dominated the line of scrimmage, and thus the game, as the Knights never trailed in winning the county match-up for the first time since ’93.

A setting sun lit up the sea of red in the home stands as Lord Botetourt and James River squared off last Friday night in Daleville. Photo by Ed McCoy

“That’s too long,” said a happy James River coach Philip King. “This was a big win for the whole community. So many people from the community called me over the weekend to congratulate me, but I told them this team is everyone in the community. Our football community extends far beyond the locker room and this win is for them.”

The Cavaliers enjoyed a big size advantage on the line, but it didn’t appear to be much of an advantage in the first half. The River defense swarmed the LB ball carriers wherever they went, and when the Knights had the ball, quarterback Jordan Talbott stood in the pocket calmly and picked out receivers.

“We couldn’t get any pressure on the quarterback,” said LB coach Tater Benson. “Our defensive backs played well enough, they covered the receivers as good as possible, but you can only cover them for so long. They have some good players.”

When Botetourt had possession the Cavaliers had a tough time moving the ball. Botetourt didn’t get a first down until midway though the second quarter, and had only eight for game.

“I’m as proud as I can be of our effort on defense,” said King. “Our kids played every play like it was their last play. They hustled and laid it on the line.”

River never trailed in the game. The Knights drove deep into Botetourt territory on their first possession but settled for a 31-yard Zach Ewen field goal to take a 3-0 lead.

On their next possession, River drove 85 yards to paydirt. With the ball on the LB 11, Talbott rolled right. Assessing the situation, he waved Jonny Falls to the left corner of the end zone, where Falls was all alone for a touchdown catch. It was a heady play by the senior quarterback.

“I didn’t know whether to chew him out or give him a hug,” said King. “We tell him if no one is open, just throw it to grandma in the seats. But with Jordan, you have to give him a little leeway because he’s so cool out there.”

Indeed, Talbott was as cool as a cucumber with bodies flying around him. He would calmly study the secondary and pick his receiver, frustrating the LB defense.

“Their kids played with a lot more confidence than ours, and that surprised me,” said Benson.

The Cavalier defense stiffened up in the second quarter and kept the Knights off the board in the second and third periods. Meanwhile, Botetourt cut the lead to 9-6 late in the third quarter on a touchdown by Derell Stone, who fumbled the ball into the end zone but recovered it himself for the score.

River answered with a drive in the fourth quarter, and this time it was Talbott’s running that was the difference. Talbott picked up five and six yards at a time as the Knights ran time off the clock and chewed up yards. Then, from the LB 14, Talbott hit KW King on a slant, and the senior receiver kept his balance after being hit in the air and raced in for a big touchdown with just over eight minutes remaining.

“That was his wrestling ability right there,” said coach King, KW’s dad. “He was able to keep his balance, and you can credit wrestling for that.”

River missed the extra point again, and on the ensuing kickoff Stone broke loose and almost broke the return for a touchdown. He was hauled down at about 35 by Thomas Lythoe, and a huge tackle it was. If Stone takes it to the house Botetourt would have been back to within a field goal, or less, with almost eight minutes still to go. Instead, the Cavaliers had to use more clock to try and score, and then they settled for a 27-yard Jay Phillips field goal to cut the lead to 15-9 after being stalled at the 10.

River was able to run the clock down to just over a minute before giving the ball back to LB. However, the Knights weren’t about to let this one get away, as they stopped LB’s final effort and celebrated on the Cavaliers’ field.

Talbott was the player of the game. He hit 17 of 33 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 59 yards. On defense, he had 12 tackles, including two for a loss, along with a first half interception and a fumble recovery. A couple times he was in the backfield before LB quarterback Will Cline could hand off the ball.

The Knights had three receivers with 50 yards or more. Chris Ware had 70 yards on five catches, Falls had six catches for 50 yards, and KW King had five catches for 50. Brandon Garrett ran for 31 tough yards.

Teamwise, River outgained the Cavaliers 278 to 124 and there was only four seconds difference in time of possession, with River holding the ball for 23:58 and LB for 24:02. The Knights had 14 first downs to eight for the Cavs.

For LB, Stone ran for 34 yards, as the Knights did a much better job than last year when Derell, as a freshman, ran for over 100 yards. Cline hit nine of 18 passes for 75 yards, including 49 yards on five catches by Cody Weddle and three for 23 yards by Andrew Williams.

On defense, Lythgoe had 13 assists and five solo tackles for River, and Dylan Johnson had 11 tackles. Both had two tackles for losses.

KW King had 10 tackles, Owen Deacon had nine, and Justin Stevers had a key pass breakup.

For LB, Thomas Kennedy had three tackles and five assists, while Mark Reynolds had five tackles, an assist, a sack and a tackle for a loss. The Cavaliers weren’t able to pick off any of Talbott’s passes.

“James River’s a good team,” said Benson. “I knew we’d have to play a good game to beat them and we didn’t execute well on offense or hustle enough on defense, and that’s very disappointing.”

For LB, it’s a tough way to start the season with a trip to Salem on the schedule next. However, Benson doesn’t see River as just another Group A team.

“They have an experienced team,” he said. “I don’t worry about that A, AA or AAA stuff, it’s 11 on 11.”

For River, it was a very sweet win. The Knights will get some nice VHSL points for beating a Group AA school, and now King is pulling for the Cavs because that will help River’s point total every time LB wins a game.”

“What a great win,” said a happy Philip King, who has two sons on the River team. “Everyone can share in this. Our football team extends beyond this locker room, I’m just lucky enough to be able to stand on the sidelines.”

Salem will have a big crowd at the spacious stadium and the Spartans will be ready to play after sitting out last Friday with a bye while everyone else in their district, the River Ridge, played. Salem is coming off an 11-1 season and the Spartans expect to be good once again.

River's Jonathan Falls pulls down a pass in Friday's game with Lord Botetourt. Photo by Ed McCoy

Returning for the Spartans is quarterback Adam McGarrell, the first time since 2004 Salem has had the same QB for two years in a row. Most of the rest of the offense is rebuilt with high-jumping twins Reggie and Stephen Barnette at the University of Richmond and Salem’s top three ball carriers from a year ago graduated. McGarrell does not have a receiver or back who has caught a pass in a varsity game, and the line has newcomers at four of five positions.

Salem’s strength should be the defense, led by returning all-state candidate Seth Fisher. He’s a linebacker who gets to the ball quickly and is a sure tackler. Salem has solid linebackers, a good line and speed on the corners.

LB has only beaten Salem or Andrew Lewis, the former high school in Salem, once ever. That was in 2001 when Jared White kicked a long field at the end of the game for a 10-7 win. Salem then beat LB in the playoffs that year, 41-0.

Playing at Salem is a tough way to try to rebound from a disappointing loss.

Botetourt County, Virginia

The Knights will try to make it two in a row as they travel to Glenvar to play the Highlanders. This will be Glenvar’s first game of the season, and the Highlanders haven’t hit someone else since scrimmaging Gretna two weeks ago.

This game is for the Main Street Newspapers Rocking Chair. James River administrators initiated this “prize” after Glenvar pulled from the Pioneer District to join the Three Rivers. It was expected that with the rocking chair on the line it would add extra meaning to this game.

Well, this game is pretty important as it is. Both teams are in Division 2 of Group A so they could end up fighting for playoff position at the end of the season. At the worst, it will be a good game for points for the team that wins.

Glenvar is expecting to have a good season. The Highlanders are huge this year, averaging about 250 pounds per man across the front, including a couple in the 280 range who can move pretty good for their size. With the beef up front, the Highlanders will “come right at you” more than they have in the past.

Glenvar will start Jacob Mabry at quarterback, which is somewhat of a surprise since three-year starter Cam Holshouser returns. However, Mabry beat out Holshouser in summer practice as GHS coach Kevin Clifford likes his ability to run and create plays.

“It was a very exciting win,” said LB coach Cheryl Shockley. “A lot of credit goes to all the team members. The girls really played well.”

Katey Hall of the Lord Botetourt volleyball team serves one up. Photo by Brian Hoffman

It was a heartbreaker for River, who led 12-4 in the fifth game before the Cavaliers rallied behind the serving of Erin Lee. Botetourt then pulled out the game, and the match, by a 16-14 score in the fifth game.

“The girls played very hard through the whole match,” said River coach Audrey Easter. “We are very grateful for all the support we had at LB to play our cross-county rival and hope for the same amount of support when we play against them at home next week.”

The gym was rocking at LB as the host team took the first game, 25-21. River rallied to win the second, 25-19, but LB edged the Knights in a close third game, 25-24, to regain the lead. River then won the fourth game, 25-16, to tie the match and appeared to have it under control in the fifth game to 15 until Lee served eight consecutive points to swing the momentum. River was up 9-1 at one point of the fifth game.

“Our girls just never gave up,” said Shockley. “It was a great match. James River played very well.”

Katey Hall led the Cavaliers with nine kills. Macey Tyree had eight kills and 17 digs and Brooke Fuhrey had six kills. Allyssa King had four kills and Lee finished with 13 digs.

Rachel Parker and Kelsey Argabright split the setting chores and both did well. Parker finished with 19 assists and Argabright had 13.

For the Knights, Conner Sprinkle had five aces, one block, five digs and seven kills. Taylor Statome had three blocks, 14 digs, 30 assists and two kills on a busy night. Maribeth Kern had two aces, four blocks, two assists, eight digs and 13 kills.

“And Haily Cook performed phenomenally as we moved her positions and she still earned 17 digs,” said Easter.

The two teams will play again next Thursday, Sept. 9, only this time River will host.

Monday’s win improved LB to 2-1 overall. Last Thursday at home the Cavaliers dropped a four-game match to a strong Jefferson Forest team, 25-13, 25-13, 19-25 and 25-20.

“They had some big hitters,” said Shockley. “We got off to an awesome start. Our girls were pumped up and went right after them, but they called a timeout and made some adjustments. They were very good.”

Hall had 10 kills, Tyree had nine and Fuhrey had three. Parker and Argabright split 23 assists, and Lee and Tyree had 14 digs each.

LB was scheduled to host Pulaski County on Tuesday, and Thursday night the girls have their first road game with a trip to Glenvar. Next week Glenvar is here Tuesday.

The Knights are 1-1 after Monday’s loss, having opened with a three-game win over Alleghany in Low Moor, 25-14, 25-22 and 25-17.

The Knights were led by Kern, Statome and Savannah Sharkey. Kern, playing both as a middle hitter and an outside hitter, posted four kills, a block, five aces and two digs.

“Her jump serve proved to be our best offensive weapon against the Mountaineers,” said Easter.

Statome, the setter, added seven assists, two aces, four digs and one kill. Sharkey, River’s senior middle hitter, posted two kills, one assist and two blocks.

On Thursday the Knights have their first home game of the season against Floyd.

“Floyd is a great game for us because they are a Division 2, Group A school as well and will be a perfect match,” said Easter. “We split games with Floyd last season.”

In a statement about the opening of school, Brads said the school division expects nearly 5,000 kindergarten-12^th graders on opening day.

School opened today, but many students have already been busy in the “preseason.” The sports teams and bands at the high schools started practices the first week of August and already have their pictures done. James River volleyball player Savannah Sharkey is among them. She posed for an individual picture during picture day recently. Football season also gets started this week when Lord Botetourt hosts James River in the annual intra-county rivalry kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday in Daleville. For details about both football teams, and the volleyball and cross country teams, be sure to see the fall sports special section in this week’s Fincastle Herald. Photo by Ed McCoy

“Additionally, we anticipate approximately 55 students in our preschool and regional programs. After a slight decline in enrollment two years ago, the first decline over the past several years, the division is trending upward for a second straight year,” he said in the statement.

The school division is carrying a much lighter wallet this fiscal year after making $4 million in cuts that resulted in a $44.8 million budget.

The goal when the School Board was making those cuts was to have as little impact as possible on students.

Still there were cuts in personnel across the board.

Brads said in addition to students, the school division welcomed new and returning teachers and support staff as well last week.

Teachers new to the school division, 19 in all, began their formal orientation on Monday, Aug. 16. “Our returning teachers also began their preparation on the same day, which was earlier than last school year,” Brads said.

“The administrative staff has worked closely with instructional staff and support staff in preparation of another great school year,” he continued. “The focus of this preparation is the continuous improvement of the teaching and learning process. Our overall educational goal continues to be the effective preparation of our students for college, careers and citizenship.”

Brads said students and staff were greeted with a number of physical improvements at many of the county schools. Those include updated desks and chairs, cafeteria tables, computers, instructional technology equipment and school buses.

“As always, administrators, teachers and support staff are very excited about the new school year. We hope that students, parents and patrons are equally excited to begin another great school year in Botetourt County Public Schools,” Brads added.

The BRD was scheduled to play at Mariners’ Landing and Ole Monterey last week. After a rain delay that forced a late tee-off in Moneta Tuesday, the Blue Ridge golfers played a little more than half a match before the skies opened up and washed out play for the day.

“Everyone got in between nine and 12 holes,” said LB coach Todd Smith. “They saw lightning on the radar and cleared the course, but it didn’t rain all that much. I think we could have gotten it in.”

On Thursday there was no debate, as heavy rain for most of the day made it impossible to start. That match was scheduled for Ole Monterey with Northside as host.

On Tuesday of this week the BRD was scheduled to play Blue Hills, with Byrd hosting. At that time the coaches were to decide when to finish the match at Mariners’ Landing, and reschedule the match from Ole Monterey.

The Pioneer District had a little more luck. On Tuesday of last week the district had a match in Buena Vista at the Vista Links, hosted by Parry McCluer. It was a big match for James River, as the Knights are getting a challenge from the Blues this season for district supremacy.

The Pioneer golfers played nine holes Tuesday and tied Parry McCluer, as both teams shot a 159. That necessitated a one-hole playoff, with the top four from each team playing one hole. Parry McCluer won that playoff and took the head-to-head result.

Irina Boothe led River with a 36. She was two-under after eight holes but double-bogeyed the ninth to keep her from having an even better round.

Korey Watts was ill and not expected to play, but he gutted it out and shot a 40. Colin Guilliams had 41 and Tyler Duke had a 42.

On Thursday at the Botetourt Country Club, the Knights shot a 313 to win their head-to-head with Parry McCluer, who shot 326. Watts had 71, Duke had his best ever score of 77, Boothe had an 80 and Guilliams shot 85.

River is now 10-2 against Pioneer teams and Parry McCluer is 11-1. There was some confusion over how the standings would be kept, as in past matches only the home team played all the others. This year, it’s head-to-head with everyone at every match.

“They need to get this cleared up, because I wasn’t sure what we were doing and neither were the other coaches,” said River coach John Shotwell. “I wish they’d just do like the other districts and keep a total score.”

River had a chance to tie Parry McCluer for the Pioneer lead on Tuesday as the district took a turn at Needle’s Eye, with Highland County hosting. Next Tuesday, Aug. 31, the Knights are at Ashley Plantation for a non-district match with Glenvar.