Mike Vukovcan The real part of the high school football season begins tomorrow for the Hopewell Vikings as conference begins.
Tomorrow night at 7 PM, Hopewell will host the Beaver Bobcats at Tony Dorsett Stadium.
Hopewell enters the game with a record of 3-0 while Beaver comes in at 1-2. Keep in mind though that Beaver’s two losses have come against Imani Christian and Mars, both teams are unbeaten.
The big question is can the Vikings end Beaver’s recent dominance over them. In their last 6 contests, Beaver has dominated Hopewell and frankly beaten them pretty badly. The Bobcats have outscored Hopewell in their last 6 games by a combined score of 291-81. The Hopewell offense has scored more than 17 points in any of those games and haven’t allowed 45 points or more in 5 of 6.
However, this is a different Beaver team from the past few years as they graduated star offensive players Amari Jackson, Qualan Cain and Brady Mayo. The Bobcats do return 3-year starting quarterback Travis Clear and running back Jonah Justice has performed well, rushing for 295 yards and 4 touchdowns.
This game will be determined up front and who wins the battle of the lines, both offensively and defensively.
With that being the case, I see that as being an advantage for Hopewell, who’ve gotten tremendous play up front from their big men. The o-line has protected sophomore quarterback James Armstrong, while the d-line has been the strong point of the team putting consistent pressure on the opposing quarterbacks as well as shutting down the opponents’ running attacks.
This is a big game for Hopewell as they want to start off section play strong and also realize that they travel to No. 1 ranked Avonworth next Friday.
If Hopewell can get off to a quick start, I believe this game could be over quickly. I believe Armstrong will have his best game of the 2025 season.
PREDICTION: HOPEWELL 49 BEAVER 14
