I have to see if Midlothian can sustain through the turnover. The Trojans graduated a ton of talent that was crucial to the previous two seasons and they have a new coach.
I do like what Coach Wild is doing at Cosby, I think they are trending up and Manchester & Bird we have come to expect to be there. James River is one of my sleepers... them and Matoaca.
Huguenot has a lot of talent coming into the program but we need to see it in action. I am eyeballing that opener against TJ the first week of the season as a game I might hit.
I know coaches on all 3 staffs. The coaching community in the Dominion is small and a lot of the guys have worked with each other at other schools or know each other through Youth football.
Midlothian returns proven QB in Chambers and playmakers like WR Kleski and RB Sowers. Was told they kept a lot of the assistants on staff. Losing Coach Hutchings will hurt in the long-term but he established a program that will be competitive for years.
Cosby lost QB Lambert to Benedictine which will hurt. Titans also lost RB Coley who was as important to Cosby as Berry was for Midlo. They do have some big time players like LB Snyder and well traveled Ath Justice Thompson. The staff is excited about the young kids in the program.
Anybody who thinks Huguenot will not be very good doesn’t know much about youth and HS football in this area. I am not a fan of some of the things that the former LCA staff has done but Scott might have the most talented team overall in the Dominion.
Dabney brothers, Cohen, Dereck Carter, Johnson-Lee and Manchester transfer QB Wright are D-1 players and there’s at least 3 other freshman that I was told will be D-1.
Bird RB Lowe transferred to the falcons and Huguenot has never struggled to find size. The CVA canes feeding into Huguenot will mean that they will have as much talent as anyone in the league year in and year out.
This will be the best Dominion district in 10 years when it comes to depth of teams who can really play. Traditionally the league has been very top-heavy with Manchester, Bird and Monacan. Midlothian has been knocking at the door the last 3-4 years.
Clover Hill and Wythe are the only teams that are guaranteed to struggle. Both Hendersons are rebuilding at Powhatan and Monacan but I wouldn’t bet against either of those coaches track records. They are proven winners.
Manchester has the best combination of talent, experience and coaching coming back. Going to be interesting how much QB Abernathy grows going into his sophomore year. Byerson and OL Walz might be the best two players in the district.
The staff at Bird seems to think they will be very good too. They return some great players like DL Ramadan, Ath Lewis and LB Vaughan. Bird will always have athletes.
James River will have an explosive offense behind QB Layne and RB Mangabang.
Going to be a good year for the league.
