Thoughts on Tonight’s Hopewell/Beaver Football Game

The Hopewell Vikings will be on the road to take on the Beaver Bobcats tonight as they look to pick up their 3rd win of the season.

I’m not going to sugarcoat things, tonight will be their most difficult opponent to date and possibly that they play all season.

This 2024 Beaver team is really good, and I wouldn’t be surprised if at the end of the season, they’re playing in the championship game.

The Bobcats have a handful of top tier athletes but none more talented than No. 2 senior wide receiver/cornerback Amari Jackson, who’s already given a commitment to play at Villanova.

Last season, the 6’1″, 175-pound Jackson collected 1,044 all-purpose yards (913 yards receiving and 131 yards rushing) and scored 13 touchdowns. On defense, he had 24 tackles and 3 interceptions. The combination of Beaver junior quarterback Travis Clear to Jackson is a matchup that Hopewell is aware of and will do everything possible to limit his touches.

It would not be surprising to see Hopewell try and double-team him all evening and force someone else to beat them. If that happens, look for Beaver to get the ball to No. 19 senior wideout Brady Mayo, another explosive weapon.

Two things have to happen if Hopewell has any chance of winning this game: 1) they will have to dominate the time of possession. 2) the defense will have to make “splash plays”, meaning sacks and turnovers.

If they try and get into a shootout with Beaver, they won’t win this game.

Beaver will no doubt be keying on freshman running back Brody Rock, junior running back Thomas Pipkins and freshman quarterback James Armstrong running, so the Vikings offense will need their passing game to become a factor. They need to be able to move the chains through the air, from time to time. Junior wide outs Zander Muzy and Logan Triscilla have been Armstrong’s main weapons so could tonight be a breakout game for players such as Tre Cameron, Avery Bokor, Julian Baldwin or James Gill in the passing game?

Last season, Beaver defeated Hopewell, 58-14, in the final game of the regular season and they return a majority of that team.

I’m not going to make a game prediction with an exact score, I’ll just say that Hopewell is probably a year away from being able to really compete with Beaver. That being said, I do think that they’ll keep the score closer than the 44-point loss last year.

I’m not a person that believes too much in moral victories, however, considering the youth of this Hopewell team and the experience and talent of Beaver, if they can still be in the game in the 2nd half, that would be a positive sign and something to hang their helmets on.

But also remember, these are young kids not professionals, so anything can happen in athletics.

Regardless, Go Vikings!!