More W’s for RCHS
While not at the torrid pace of the week before, last week was another that witnessed our Panther teams notch up more tallies in the win column.
VOLLEYBALL leads the headlines this week again, with Varsity earning a win last Tuesday night at home versus the Green Dragons of William Monroe. The Dragons proved to be formidable opponents, going home with a 1-3 loss but keeping up the pressure in each set.
Stats leaders for the Panthers included Sarah East with
12 kills, Amber Smoot with 9, Hannah East with 8, and
Deanna Abdullah and Virginia Wyatt with 4 each. The Panthers played a strong defensive game as well, with Virginia notching 4 blocks, Hannah and Deanna 2 each, and Sarah 1. Setter Olivia
Atkins finished the match with over 30 assists.
The varsity match was preceded by a varsity level JV contest between Coach Seth
Wyatt’s JV squad and their counterparts from William Monroe. The Dragons took the first set but then dropped the second one and the Panthers prevailed in the third set tiebreaker. With the win Coach Wyatt’s team improved to 8 and 0 thus far in the season.
The JV match was itself preceded by a Junior Panther match, also against the Dragons but this time it was the Dragons of William Monroe Middle School. Coach Jeff Atkins’ squad worked hard in this match, taking a much older and bigger Dragon team to three sets but falling short of the match victory.
Junior Panthers return to their home court next Monday, Sept. 25, against Front Royal Christian, and all three teams take the home court together again next Thursday, Sept. 28.
Varsity CROSS COUNTRY hosted their first meet last week, running the Blue Rock course with the Mustangs of George Mason on Monday, Sept. 11. Freshman Rachel Weghorst led the girls team with a third place finish, followed by teammate
Jacklyn Humphries in 8th. Skylar Culbertson, Camryn Clark, Savannah Hensley, Brooke Athelli and Danielle Fryant finished in that order for the Rapp girls. On the boys side Chase Whorton was the first runner in blue to cross the finish line, followed in order by teammates Daniel Dalle Lucca, Matthew Paratore, Dave Wang, Hunter Nicodemus, Nick Grigsby, Trusten Murrah, Grant
PerDieu and Bryce Jones, many of them running in their first ever varsity meet.
This past Saturday several of our runners competed in the prestigious Oatlands Invitational, running against harriers from 4A, 5A, and 6A schools. Congrats to freshman runner Rachel Weghorst who finished fourth in the Varsity B race, representing herself and her teammates in outstanding fashion.
On the FOOTBALL fields, both of our teams suffered losses last week but both proved their mettle against much larger opponents. Coach Rich Hogan’s
Junior Panther team traveled to Prospect Heights Middle School last Wednesday, Sept. 13. While they came up on the short end of the score, the team did put up some points against the much bigger school’s A team and looks forward to a rematch against the Prospect Heights B team in a few weeks. Next week, on Thursday Sept. 28, the team will host Madison County.
Varsity football hosted Strasburg High School last Friday and although the Rams prevailed by a 26-0 score, the game was far closer than the score would indicate. The varsity squad played tremendous defense, particularly in the second half, and had some success with offensive drives, but just could not put the ball in the end zone. Coach Kemp Pullin’s team will be practicing hard to return to their winning ways.
This Friday, Sept. 22, the Varsity team will host King and Queen High School in this season’s Homecoming Game, kickoff at 7. The award winning
Panther Marching Band will perform at halftime and the Homecoming Court will also be presented to the crowd before the start of the third quarter. Whether you are an RCHS alumni or not, you won’t want to miss this week’s homegrown version of Friday Night Lights.