FRANKLIN
Franklin, Southampton and Windsor High Schools will all play football at home this week, while Isle of Wight Academy will also be home in its Homecoming game.

Southampton Academy, the lone road team, will travel to Raleigh, North Carolina, to face St. David’s.

The WLQM Real Country 101.7 game of the week will be at Franklin High School as they face the Surry High School Cougars.

Broncos

The 1-3 Broncos will battle the 4-0 Cougars. The VHSL 1A conference rivals will kick off at Armory Field at 7 p.m.

The Cougars come into the match scoring an average of 47 points per game, while the Broncos have mustered a respectable 39 points per game. On defense, however, Surry is only giving up an average of 10 points per game — recently shutting out King & Queen Central and limiting West Point to 3 points — while Franklin is giving up an average of 43 per game.

Head Coach Darren Parker could not be reached for comment.

Indians

The Southampton Indians will look for their first win tonight against last year’s 2A runner-up Brunswick High School, currently 1-3.

The Indians are coming off of one of the toughest losses of the season against Sussex Central from an emotional standpoint, Head Coach Willie Gillus said.

“Our guys were really down after that game,” he said. “But on the flip side, on Monday, they came in and saw how well they played. They saw that if we could correct the mistakes we made, we would be singing a different tune.”

Gillus said Brunswick is a lot better than their record indicated, as during that 0-3 road start, they were playing some really good teams.

“Two of those teams were ranked top in the state,” he said. “Coach Williams had a really tough schedule in order to get ready for this part of the season. He feels that right now, his team is beginning to peak, and we feel the same way.”

Gillus said they have to limit mistakes and dominate on the offensive and defensive line.

“We have made some steps forward and some progress on both the offensive and defensive lines, and we are continuing to do better,” he said.

The Indians will not have senior quarterback Russell Ballance for two more weeks, Gillus said, as he is struggling with an ankle injury.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Southampton High School.

Dukes

Windsor High School (2-2) will face off this week in a TriRivers District match against Sussex Central High School (3-1).

The 2A Dukes are coming off a loss against Brunswick, while the 1A Tigers are coming off a victory against Southampton.

As they usually are, Head Coach Charles Parrish said the Tigers are a good football team.

“They are still doing the things they always do,” he said. “They are running the ball well, and they fly to the ball on defense.”

Parrish said they’ve had a good week of practice, and they are looking to better this past week’s performance.

“You always want to play better each week, win or lose,” he said.

“Ball control,” Parrish added as something the Dukes need to do well. “We have to play good offense, and on defense, we’ve got to tackle better.”

Parrish said Sussex Central relies heavily on the read option.

“We have to play assignment football on defense,” he said. “When playing a team like this, you’ve got to know your responsibility, and you have to do your job. Everyone on the defense has to do their job.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Windsor High School.

Chargers

A VISAA Division 4 out-of-conference match will pit the 3-2 Isle of Wight Academy Chargers against the 2-2 Broadwater Academy Vikings.

“Broadwater is a pretty tough team,” said Head Coach Dale Chapman. “They’ve got a few athletes that came in last year that are going to be threats to us.

“It is not going to be a cakewalk. You like to schedule teams for homecoming that you know you can beat, but it didn’t work that way for us this year.”

Chapman said they just have to execute well on offense and to stop giving up big plays on defense.

“Defensively, on third and long, we’ve got to stop them from converting and getting back in first down situation. I think we’ll be OK if we can do that.”

The Chargers have been working particularly hard this week as a receiving core after missing several passes last week that could have made the difference in the game. And on defense, they’ve been reinforcing some things in the secondary and amongst the linebackers.

“We hit a little harder this week,” Chapman said. “We’re just trying to get on the same page so that we will not only be ready physically, but so that we’ll be ready mentally as well.”

Kickoff is at Hooper Field at 7 p.m.

Raiders

The lone road game, the Raiders of Southampton County (4-1) will travel to Raleigh to face the Warriors of St. David’s (3-2).

Head Coach Dale Marks said the Warriors are putting up a lot of points, but they are also giving up a lot of points.

“It’s going to be a good test for us,” he said. “They’ve got some big kids that they put on end, and they will split out and try to throw on you. They are dangerous in the backfield, particularly one kid who stands out.”

Marks said the Raiders are also a little banged up on the offensive front, with Caleb Bradshaw and Alex Hasty both being questionable. Marks said Hasty is the more likely to play of the two. If they are not able to go, it might be a front three by committee.

“We have to have the next guy step up and get the job done,” he said.

However, provided they can get their line stable, Marks feels like he can move the ball on the Warriors.

“We’ll go out and do what we do normally, and hopefully that’ll be good enough for the win,” he said.

Though Marks added that they might pass it a little more this week, depending on what the Warriors are showing.

“They have shown that they are susceptible to the pass,” he said.

On defense, the Raiders are going to have to get ready to stop the run, particularly the outside sweep stuff that the Warriors like to run.

“We have to shut down their outside run game,” he said. “And we have to hold onto the ball and not turn it over. Offensively, they have the potential to score a lot of points if we give them possessions.”

Kickoff is at 7:30 at St. David’s School.