The Glenvar Highlanders have finally settled on a team to play to open the football schedule this week. Glenvar will play at Stuart’s Draft at 7 pm Friday.
It’s been a tough couple weeks for coach Kevin Clifford and athletic director Tyler Brown. The Highlanders were scheduled to open with James River, but when Roanoke County voted to play only county schools the Highlanders were set to open with Hidden Valley. Then, the county changed policy to allow district games and James River had already found another team to play.
“I was on the phone for 36 hours calling everyone in the state trying to find a game,” said Clifford. “I finally found a team that could play us.”
It should be a good game. Stuart’s Draft went to the state Class 2 final during the last football season, 2019, losing to Appomattox in the championship game. Glenvar had been eliminated by Appomattox in the regional that season.
“It will be a great opening game,” said Clifford. “They’re well coached. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
The Highlanders have seemingly finalized their schedule. They picked up a home game with Northside on March 5, and that will be the home opener. After that they play four Three Rivers District games against Floyd County, Radford, Giles and Alleghany with only Radford being on the road.
“We play all our games on Fridays,” said Clifford. “Anything we can do for sense of normalcy is good.”