High School Football

2021 High School Football

around the New River Valley

Text by Joanne M. Anderson

Auburn High School

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“My main goal is to bring some excitement back to Auburn football,” states new Head Coach David Seabaugh. “I plan to create a culture that is proud of its football team.” He’s delivering a different style and brand of football to the royal blue and white Eagles. Although numbers are not where anyone wants them right now, Coach Seabaugh believes they have enough pieces to turn some heads and win some games. “We have great senior leadership with Jackson Brockman, Jackson Bain, Jaden Dadras and John Keith, along with a lot of young talent that I'm extremely excited about.”

Blacksburg High School

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Coach Eddie Sloss is quite pleased with the direction that the Blacksburg Bruins’ football program is going. “We have some ground to cover. It is great to see all the time and effort that the coaches and players are spending honing their skills, practicing plays and fine-tuning each position.” Be prepared for some fine football when the blue and gold BHS team takes to the gridiron this season.

Christiansburg High School

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"The 2021 Blue Demon football team is looking to make another step forward," states 5th year Head Coach Alex Wilkens. The offense has returned players at 10 positions, while the defense will return 7 starters. "We expect a continuous upward trend after making the regional semi-finals in the 2021 shortened spring season. These young men have worked through challenging circumstances and are focused on continuing to set the bar higher for the Christiansburg football program."

Eastern Montgomery High School

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“The outlook for fall is a unique situation since we played a spring 2021 season of seven games; thus, it has been a very short off-season,” says Coach Jordan Stewart. On top of that, the Mustangs have had to follow some covid protocols which limited off-season competitions. “However,” he continues, “we have a solid group which has put in a lot of work over the past few months. We are prepared, and it’s going to be nice playing a full 10-game regular football season.”

Floyd County High School

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The Buffaloes have had a wonderful off-season and preseason, according to long-time Coach Wilfred Beale. “This team has great energy, chemistry and leadership,” he declares. “Offensively we return with Nate Saltus, Kaiden Swortzel, Freddy Garcia, Gus Chaffin, Josh Fletcher and Seth Dunbar. Several key newcomers and JV players moving up contribute a wide range of skills. There are players vying for some of the starting positions, and as always: We have a hard working, blue collar team mentality and good speed at all positions.”

Giles High School

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The Giles Spartan varsity football team returned to Stephen C. Ragsdale Field on August 27 to kick off the 2021 season against the Blacksburg Bruins. “This year the Bandana Gang will play at home on new, all-natural turf as the grass underwent a complete renovation over the summer,” says Coach Jeff Williams. “The Spartans are now a member of and competing in the Region C Mountain Empire District after dropping to the Group A level of play due to its school enrollment dropping below the Group 2A numbers.”

Narrows High School

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“During the shortened season, our Green Wave players responded extremely well during the unprecedented times,” Coach Kelly Lowe proudly relates. “We got beat in the state quarterfinals finishing the season 7-1.” Several key players donning the green and gold, along with new ones on the team, have worked very hard in the off-season. They are all expecting a great winning season.

Pulaski County High School brought to you by:

Mark Dixon is stepping into this coaching position with enthusiasm on the heels of a productive summer with great attendance in the off-season weight lifting program. “We will be extremely young in a lot of areas, having graduated a significant number of starters from last year,” he states. “However, it’s exciting to see the way our young players have stepped up to the challenge. The cardinal and gold Cougar upperclassmen have modeled incredible leadership for the coming season.”

Radford High School brought to you by:

The Bobcats plan to take to the field with returning players Tyrel Dobson, Marcel Baylor, Andrew Moore, and Darius Wesley-Brubeck and have been challenged with having to replace 14 seniors. “We’ve had a short, but productive off-season,” Coach Michael Crist reports. “The players have worked hard to be in position to compete this year. We return some talent at our skill positions. We have to advance more depth at those positions and continue to develop young linemen on both sides of the ball.” Their pre-season was great, and everyone on the team is excited to play football again!