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Narrows’ Reid Bowman directs blockers during an open field run versus Giles.

NARROWS, Va. — Back in September, Narrows High School football fans were gnashing their teeth after arch-rival Giles managed to slip the noose in a 12-7 upset victory at Harry Ragsdale Field.

It’s amazing how different the trials of the regular season can appear in the wan autumnal light of November.

The Green Wave (8-2) will make their fourth consecutive foray into post-season play tonight, taking on Auburn (5-5) in Narrows. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Just down the road,  Giles (5-5) will face a long bus ride to confront three-time defending state champion Appomattox County (9-1). This is the third consecutive year the Spartans have taken on the Raiders in post-season play.

Giles lost all three previous meetings with Appomattox.  The Green Wave will be seeing the Eagles for the second time this season, having opened the 2018 regular season slate with a 23-21 win at Riner back in August.

“They’ve gotten a lot better. They run the triple option and they do what they do extremely well. Their starting quarterback from the beginning of the year got hurt, so they have a different quarterback,”  said Narrows head coach Kelly Lowe, whose second-seeded team is guaranteed at least two weeks at home if it advances. 

The Green Wave ended the regular season with a disappointing 35-34 loss at Parry McCluer, but have the added motivation of possibly obtaining a home field rematch with the Blues.  Parry McCluer (6-4) plays Bath County (5-5) tonight in the opposite bracket. 

“We obviously played in some pretty poor field conditions. But we just came up a little short. It was definitely a heartbreaker. The last three games we’ve lost (including last year’s regional championship game with Galax) have been by a total of seven points. That’s tough,” Lowe said.

Narrows’ football program, which split the Pioneer District title with Parry McCluer and Covington, is getting to the point where playoff appearances are expected. But the Green Wave knows better than to take any opponent lightly at this point of the year, Lowe said.

Auburn certainly won’t take Narrows lightly.

In addition to its long-established penchant for rushing the football, the Green Wave passing attack has been one of the most prolific — if not THE most prolific — in school history.

Senior quarterback Wyatt Freeman has passed for 1,494 yards and 18 touchdowns. Lowe hasn’t verified yet if that single season mark is another school record (Freeman holds the single game record— 308 yards vs. Covington this season), but the Green Wave head coach has all kinds of reasons to be impressed with his signal caller.

“What he has done that’s phenomenal. He’s had 90 completions for 148 passing attempts and only two interceptions on the year. And one of those came late in the game against Parry McCluer. He was just trying to make a play,” said Lowe. “He takes care of the ball.”

Chase Blaker leads the receiving corps with 25 catches. Isaac Taylor has 18 snags, Matthew Morgan has 16 catches and Dustin Wiley has 11 receptions. Morgan leads the rushing attack with 767 yards. Freeman has rushed for 362 yards, while Chad Blaker (242 yds.) and Slater Ferguson (212 yds.) have also contributed to the Grounds Committee.

“We try to balance it. We feel like we’ve got a good running game and we’ve got a pretty good passing game, as well. We try to keep a good mix coming and to keep the defense off-balance,” Lowe said. 

Reid Bowman leads the Green Wave defense in tackles with Ferguson the squad’s second-leading tackler.  Chase Blaker has nine interceptions on the season and Cole Needham has nine sacks on the year.

“Over the past couple of years the kids have learned that it takes a lot of hard work to get to this point. It’s not just hard work from August 1 until now ... it’s year-round hard work. The kids are buying into that and seeing it.

"I’m happy that we’re getting to the playoffs. But we want to get to the next level, too. We’re not just satisfied with making it to the playoffs. We want to keep going 1-0 each week,” Lowe said.

 

 

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