Max Meadows… This Friday night the Fort Chiswell Pioneer football team will open their football season with county rival the Indians of Rural Retreat.

The Indians have a new head coach in Casey Stewart. Stewart comes from Patrick Henry-Roanoke where he was their defensive coordinator. The Indians are known for the split back veer on offense.

Fort Chiswell head coach Todd Tiller remarked, ”From what we have seen in their pre-season they are still running the split back veer on offense. Their quarterback is Trent O’Neil. He’s a real good athlete back there and is quick.” Coach then added, ”Their tight end to watch is Cory Hayes, and Tyler Foster is a wide receiver that we’ll have to keep an eye on.”

O’Neil for the Indians is a senior as is Hayes and Foster. O’Neil is 5’10” 165, Hayes 5’11” 160 and Foster is 5’9” 140.

On defense Coach Tiller said. ”Rural Retreat has been in a 4-3-4 look. That’s in pre-season they have. Once again the O’Neil kid at safety is very athletic for them and Cade Rouse is extremely talented on the line.“ Rouse is a 5’11” 240 senior. Coach Tiller said, ”Now in pre-season they haven’t been sending their linebackers, but they probably will against us.”

The Pioneers will start on offense with Logan Smith at center, Patrick Crawford and Grant Milgrim at guards. The tackles will be Billy Shrewsberry and Alex Brooks. Colby Rider starts at tight end with Hunter Parrott and Anthony Morris as the wide receivers. Sean Morgan will be the tail back, TJ James the H back. Tanner Bailey will get the start at quarterback. Warren Moore, Andrew Stoots, Tyler Jakubiak and Jarrett McGee will all see action on offense.

Defensively the Pioneers will lineup with Brooks at nose tackle, Crawford and Devin Newman will be the tackles. The outside linebackers will be Stoots and James. The inside backers are Rider, Milgrim and Chris Crigger. The secondary will consist of Morris and Logan Newman at cornerbacks, with Bailey the safety. Ethan Woods, Moore, Shrewsberry and Morgan seeing time as well on defense. The place kicker is Tyler Dunford and handling the punting will be Bailey. Kickoff returns and punt returns will be Jakubiak and Morgan.

Last year Rural Retreat defeated the Pioneers at Rural Retreat 27-0. The Indians went on to post a 7-3 regular season and finished 8-4 losing to J I Burton in the second round of the playoffs.

Kick off is slated for 7 pm Friday night at Fort Chiswell High School.