Coming off a second unanticipated bye week, Essex is now preparing for its Region 1A semifinal football game against Northumberland which will take place Friday night in Tappahannock.
Defending state champion Essex (11-0) has been devising a game plan for the semifinal round since it received a forfeit from Charles City in the opening round. Charles City also forfeited to Essex during the regular season.
“We’ve been working on the basics of blocking and tackling,” Essex coach Todd Jones says about last week’s practice sessions. “We’ve been doing conditioning. We’re taking it day-by-day and our preparation will be important as far as the outcome of the game is concerned.
Friday night’s contest will be a rematch of a 62-42 shootout won by Essex four weeks ago. That game featured more than 1,000 combined yards of total offense.
In that one, Northumberland QB Tyreek Lundy passed for 297 yards and four scores. Essex countered that performance by getting 239 yards rushing and 4 TDs from Jaden Holmes and 238 ground yards from Demetrius Stewart.
“Hopefully, we’ll come into this game fresh and focused,” Jones said. “Our guys need to do their individual responsibilities and play as a unit. We need to be under control defensively and understand what needs to be done for us to be successful. Offensively, we’ve got to stay ahead of the chains and avoid turnovers and penalties.”
Meanwhile, Northumberland coach Aaron Lewis says his team must play a perfect game to advance past Essex.
“Essex has great chemistry and we’re going to have to play a clean game to win,” Lewis said. “We’ve got some things that we are going to do differently. We’re simply going to put the pedal to the metal and see what happens. Hopefully, it will be a competitive game.”
Northumberland reached the semifinal round by virtue of a 46-14 win over Middlesex.
Essex and Northumberland have met twice previously in the playoffs with the Trojans winning both encounters.
“When you think of Essex, the first thing that comes to mind is their coaching staff,” Lewis said. “Coach Jones is the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) when it comes to Northern Neck District coaches. They have a great team and we have to play a clean game to be successful.”
Essex leads the series 44-11-2.
Like Essex, Rappahannock is coming off a bye week after West Point forfeited its opening round game with the Raiders (9-2) who will travel to the Eastern Shore to take on number two seed Northampton (10- 1) Friday night. Northampton advanced with a 43-8 quarterfinal win over Colonial Beach.
This will be the Raiders’ second trip across the Chesapeake Bay this season as they ventured to Onley back in August to face Class 2 Nandua. Rappahannock won that contest 65-27.
“Northampton has a veteran team that has some quality skill guys,” Rappahannock coach William West said. “They have three solid running backs and appear to be a well-disciplined team that will give us some challenges.”
This is the first-ever meeting between the programs.
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