Handley stays No. 1 in rankings

Daily Staff Report -- sports@nvdaily.com

The Northern Virginia Daily Sports staff collaborated to create a football top 10 list. Each staffer voted, with 10 points being awarded to the top ranked team, nine to the No. 2 team and so on. Numbers in parenthesis indicate where each team was last week.

1. Handley (1) 9-0, 3-0 Northwestern -- Handley won another close, defensive game Friday, this time against rival Millbrook. That defense will be tested in another rivalry game this Saturday, though, when Brock Lockhart and James Wood visit the Handley Bowl.

2. Clarke County (2) 9-0, 3-0 Bull Run -- Must be nice to score 41 points on a team like Manassas Park, hold the Cougars scoreless, and still walk into the locker room disappointed. The Eagles have high expectations for themselves, which is why they play consistent football every Friday night.

3. Sherando (3) 7-2, 2-1 Northwestern -- Zach James and his last-minute interception at Skyline guaranteed Sherando its second district win of the season. There are no guarantees against Millbrook, though, which gave Handley something of a scare on Friday.

4. James Wood (4) 6-3, 1-2 Northwestern -- If the double overtime loss to Fauquier last week wasn't hard enough for James Wood to take, the Colonels are now faced with trying to end a two-game losing streak at Handley on Saturday.

5. Skyline (5) 5-4, 1-3 Northwestern -- Quarterback Josiah Patrick threw the ball all over Sherando in a 23-19 loss to the Warriors. It should be interesting to see how he's used in Skyline's non-district rival game against Warren County this week.

6. Millbrook (6) 5-4, 1-2 Northwestern -- Against James Wood, Millbrook showed it can stop the run; against Handley, it showed it can stop the pass. If Reed Prosser's team can bring both together this Friday, the Pioneer defense could give Sherando fits.

7 tie. Central (7) 4-4, 1-2 Shenandoah -- Central looked spectacular in its 2-0 start this season; traveling to Page County on Friday, Central will fight to avoid an 0-3 finish.

7 tie. Warren County (8) 3-6, 2-2 Evergreen -- The Wildcats are coming off two wins heading into their season finale against Skyline, while the Hawks are coming off a three-game losing streak.

9. Stonewall Jackson (9) 2-6, 1-2 Shenandoah -- Stonewall will host Buffalo Gap this week, a team which has shown an uncanny ability to score a lot of points in a short amount of time. The Bison defense, which held Central to only six points last week, is nothing to sneer at, either.

10. Strasburg (10) 1-8, 0-3 Bull Run -- The Rams' final opponent this season is a George Mason team they defeated at home last year. Could lightning strike twice?