Last week’s football contest came down to the final quarter of the final game of the week with Green Bay hosting the Eagles. If the Eagles would win Bill Thorne was going to be the winner and if they didn’t someone else would get the nod.
Well, as you know by now the Eagles won and so did Thorne. He missed three games and tied several others but was closest to the high point total of the week, which was 59 by Salem High.
And, if you haven’t heard by now, the Spartans are not in this week’s contest because they didn’t make the playoffs. Blacksburg did, and that’s a farce.
By VHSL rules Blacksburg had the higher power rating, finishing eighth in the region to Salem’s ninth with the top eight making the playoffs. Blacksburg is a Class 4 school and two of their wins were against Class 2 James River and Class 1 Giles. The VHSL changed the rules recently so that any win over any team counts the same, so the Bruins got a bunch of rider points for beating Giles, who finished 8-2 play- ing a schedule of teams Salem would have easily beaten. Meanwhile, the Spartans were “penalized” by playing strong Class 4 and 5 teams like Dinwiddie, William Fleming, E.C. Glass and Franklin County. They lost to all four and I assume if they had beaten any of the four they would still be playing this week. So, Blacksburg gets to play in the playoffs despite having the same record as Salem with a much weaker schedule, losing to the Spartans head-to-head and finishing behind Salem in the district standings. Go figure!!
Back to the contest, Thorne missed Wake over UVA, the Jets over Cleveland and the rejuvenated Patriots over the Buccaneers. For that he’ll get a $50 gift certificate from Mac & Bob’s.
Our “19th Hole” question for last week was to pick the score of the Jets and Browns game. The Jets ended up winning that game, 27-20, and the closest to that score was Mike Cassell who picked the Jets to win 24-21. Mike and wife Pam have been piling up the golf coupons and it’s starting to get cold. Be assured they’ll still be good in the spring.
For this week’s 19th Hole, with Thanksgiving approaching, tell me something you’re thankful for. It should be sports related and it should make me laugh or cry, or both. The one I like best will get a free day of golf at the Salem Municipal course on Academy Street course in Salem.
