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Heritage running back Zach Steele runs the ball during the Jug Bowl game against E.C. Glass in April 2021 at City Stadium.
E.C. Glass quarterback George White unloads a pass as Heritage defenders Rajan Booker (left) and Carter Banks close in during last year’s Jug Bowl game.
For players and coaches at Heritage and E.C. Glass, potential celebrations with the trophies they want most are months away.
There’s plenty of work to be done for both teams, should they see their paths end at those ultimate pinnacles in December. But for now, a different trophy occupies their thoughts. One much more unassuming.
In Week 4 of the young 2022 season, the city programs will compete for the little brown jug in a contest set for 7 p.m. Friday at City Stadium.
At Heritage this week, four seniors gathered after practice to talk about their preparations for the matchup when a question was asked. Is this Jug Bowl game — what’s been billed as one of the biggest high school contests of the school year and one of the most intense rivalries in the state — your “regular-season championship?”
Zach Steele, Rajan Booker, Diallo Graves and Terrell Washington all nodded.
Then their coach, Brad Bradley, chimed in.
“No,” he said. “It’s just another game. It’s obviously a big game, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t make or break our season. We’re not treating it like a championship game. Obviously you get a trophy at the end of it if you win. … To me, if you lose, you’ve got 365 days to think about it.”
The coach, of course, has the goal of keeping his players even-keeled heading into the game. Three of the seniors acquiesced as they looked up at their leader, sitting a few rows above them in the bleachers.
OK, sure, they can appreciate that approach. They understand the importance of striking a balance between staying calm and getting amped up ahead of kickoff.
One of the four, though, faced away from his coach, daring on this occasion to disagree. “I do. I do,” Washington whispered as he smiled.
His response wasn’t surprising. A few minutes before, after all, he’d described himself as the most competitive among the bunch. “I gotta win,” he said during the earlier discussion.
The dynamic is practically unavoidable this week. Inside both programs, the teams wrestle with their approach.
Washington and his teammates know the joy of a Jug Bowl win, and nothing else. The Pioneers have won four straight in the series. Anything other than a victory Saturday would leave HHS players nothing less than highly disappointed.
At Glass, the Hilltoppers know only the sting of defeat vs. Heritage — a sentiment perhaps more acutely felt by the Hilltoppers heading into this matchup than any of the last few, given how last season’s contest played out.
Heritage controlled early, leading 35-7 in the second quarter before Glass mounted a comeback. The ’Toppers clawed back on the scoreboard until the game was tied in the last two minutes, but then relinquished the momentum when the Pioneers quickly answered and made a stop to earn the win.
So Friday’s game offers a chance at redemption for players like George White, the Glass senior quarterback.
There’s no way to avoid thinking about the past in this one, he said, but a win can result only from continuing to execute on both sides of the ball the way his team has so far this season.
“I approach it as an opportunity to get better, just how every game is, but I also am aware of the stakes,” White said. “You put in the same preparation, you do everything the same. I just think it hurts worse if you lose and feels better if you win.”
As has been the case in each of the last four meetings, Glass enters undefeated, sitting at 3-0 this season.
The Hilltoppers were tested in Week 1 by Lord Botetourt, then earned a pair of lopsided wins over Gretna and George Washington. Following those three outings, Glass is scoring 44.3 points per game on average and holding opponents to 6.7 points per game.
Offensively, the ’Toppers have gotten contributions from White (to the tune of 489 yards and 10 TDs through the air) and from multiple players in the run and passing games. Ten different players have found the end zone at least once.
Mike Thomas, Vari Gilbert and Taeon Mosby all have proven their ability to both run and catch, and their versatility has been especially important this year following the graduation of receiver Eli Wood —described by coach Jeff Woody as his team’s “get-out-of-jail-free card” last season.
“We used it [the Wood card] often, but this year we’ve distributed the ball to a lot of different players,” Woody said. “… Credit George for getting the ball out there, and also credit the guys up front. … I feel good about the hand that I have been dealt. I feel good about the weapons that I have.”
That offensive line, Woody added, will be especially important this week against Heritage, which found success in last year’s matchup flushing White from the pocket. White, to his credit, made some incredible finds as he scrambled, but “chucking it downfield and hoping the dude catches it” isn’t part of the game plan this time around, he said.
Woody expects his team will face a well-coached, fundamentally sound Heritage bunch Friday. “And they want to win,” he added. “Especially in this game, both teams want to win, so both teams are gonna go the extra mile.”
For Heritage — which enters with a 2-1 record, having been tested in a loss to a tough Dinwiddie team — that may mean gutsy play calls from Bradley, at any point in the contest. The Pioneers could go deep via new starting quarterback Hov Bateman (area-leading 516 passing yards) and any number of receivers, including Tavion Clark, Steele and Booker. HHS also will look to Steele and Booker, as it has in the past, to churn up yards at their traditional position, running back.
Anything can happen in the Jug Bowl, Woody said, which also explains why members of both program refused to offer any specific predictions about the outcome.
Among those who will line up opposite each other Friday, though, there was consensus this week.
“I think you’re gonna get two teams that are gonna play their butts off,” Bradley said, expressing the same thoughts those on the opposite side of town offered in the lead-up. “It’s gonna be a huge atmosphere. … Something these kids will never forget.”
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Previews of this week's high school football games.
Heritage running back Zach Steele runs the ball during the Jug Bowl game against E.C. Glass in April 2021 at City Stadium.
E.C. Glass quarterback George White unloads a pass as Heritage defenders Rajan Booker (left) and Carter Banks close in during last year’s Jug Bowl game.
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