“The Game” in Virginia college football is not Nov. 29 when Virginia Tech plays in Charlottesville against the Cavaliers.
Instead, “The Game” refers to the annual clash between two Division III powers in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference: Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney.
This year’s contest will be Nov. 15 in Ashland as the Yellow Jackets host the Tigers of Hampden-Sydney.
It is considered the oldest small college rivalry in the South. The series began in 1893.
“The Game has always been exciting and being a part of the oldest small college rivalry is an honor,” Joe Freeland, a former Bridgewater College standout and current assistant coach/outside linebackers at Hampden-Sydney, wrote to AFP. “So many players and families know each other, sometimes since childhood and the stories that have been told and remembered by all those involved in The Game makes it a part of sports in Virginia.”
Randolph-Macon has won the last 11 games against the Tigers and leads the series, but barely – 59-58 with 11 ties. Last season, the Yellow Jackets won 27-6 against a foe that is about 80 miles southwest of Ashland.
Both teams have been nationally ranked this season in d3football.com. The Yellow Jackets are ranked No. 21 this week.
The Tigers are coming off a stunning 45-42 loss at home on Nov. 8 to Bridgewater, which trailed by 14 points early in the fourth quarter.
Augustin Miguel, a graduate of Staunton High, made a 26-yard field goal as time expired for the win on the road. He is now 6-of-7 on field goal attempts this season. His only miss, from 48 yards, came earlier in the game against the Tigers.
Hampden-Sydney is now 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the ODAC while the Eagles are 3-6, 3-4. The Tigers entered the game ranked No. 25 in the country but dropped out of the poll after the loss.
Stuarts Draft High grad Aaron Nice, a senior linebacker for Bridgewater, had seven tackles – one week after he had 15 tackles against Washington & Lee. He has a team-high 75 tackles this year after taking off the 2024 season to focus on powerlifting.
Randolph-Macon had a bye week Nov. 8 and is 8-1 overall and 7-0 in the ODAC.
Freeland shares Bridgewater memories
Freeland, the assistant at Hampden-Sydney, earned 11 letters in football, indoor/outdoor track and tennis at Bridgewater and was all-ODAC in football and track. He played football for coach John Spencer, who passed in 2021, and got to know Tom Kinder, the former athletics director and baseball coach who passed away in 2001.
Spencer led BC to its first ODAC football title in 1980.
“Enjoyed my time at Bridgewater. Met my wife and made lifetime friends. Coach Spencer recruited, coached, and mentored me throughout my career. Dr. Kinder came to BC my junior year, where I had good relationship with him and family. Current AD Curt Kendall and I have been friends since our time together at Bridgewater,” Freeland wrote.
Kendall, who took over for Kinder as the baseball coach, played for the Eagles and in the Rockingham County Baseball League for Bridgewater. He went into the Virginia Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame last year.
Freeland played for the Virginia Hunters of the American Football Association when the commissioner was Billy Kilmer, the former Washington Redskins quarterback.
“The coach of the Hunters was Eddie Joyce, who was the actual coach of Andrew Lewis High School, the real team played by T.C. Williams (now Alexandria High) in the movie ‘Remember the Titans.’ I played with and against multiple guys that went onto NFL and CFL,” Freeland noted.
A wideout for that Andrew Lewis team was Billy Sample, who grew up in Salem and became the first JMU product to play in Major League Baseball.
Freeland had a tryout in the CFL with the Ottawa Rough Riders after playing in 1981 and 1982 in the AFA.
The Baltimore native began coaching with the Tigers in 2013, took off in 2022 and 2023 and came back in 2024. Hampden-Sydney made the national playoffs in 2013 and 2014.
“Playing in the playoffs was exciting. The trip we took to Oregon gave players and coaches the chance to take a chartered flight, see new parts of the country, tour Nike headquarters and play a competitive game with the number 2 team in country (Linfield, in a 2013 loss), where we led at half. The relationships I’ve developed over my time here has been among the best thing about my time at HSC,” he noted.
Freeland went into the BC Hall of Fame in 2003, one year after Kinder.
“From 1991-1998, Joe built the postgraduate football program at Hargrave Military Academy from its inception to national recognition. He coached more than 130 players who went on to play at the Division I level and 21 who signed with the NFL,” according to the Bridgewater website.
Christopher Newport also pulls upset
Another state Division III school that has been nationally ranked this season is Christopher Newport, a member of the New Jersey Athletic Association.
Like Bridgewater, they also won 45-42 over a nationally-ranked team on Nov. 8 as they downed Salisbury. Salisbury entered the game ranked No. 7 in the country in d3football.com. Christopher Newport entered the game ranked No. 13 in the country.
This week, Christopher Newport (9-0, 6-0) is ranked No. 7, while Salisbury fell to No. 11. The Captains and Randolph-Macon have secured bids to the national playoffs.
Harrisonburg High grad Mason Smith is a freshman offensive lineman for the Tidewater school, while Aiden Gillette of Turner Ashby is a sophomore offensive lineman.
Historic season for Roanoke
Roanoke, in its first varsity season since 1942, is 5-4, 3-4 in the ODAC after loss to Washington & Lee.
The program began again last season with a JV schedule.
“It’s been the single greatest undertaking I’ve ever been a part of,” Roanoke coach Bryan Stinespring, a former Virginia Tech assistant who also coached at VMI, told d3football.com. “It’s one of the most difficult challenges, if not the most difficult challenge, I’ve ever been a part of, and yet, it’s the most rewarding I’ve ever been a part of.”
The Clifton Forge native played at JMU and also coached at Lexington High, Patrick Henry High, JMU and ODU.
Notes
- Other top programs in the state this season include ODAC schools Washington & Lee (6-3, 6-1) and Shenandoah (7-2, 5-2). The teams play 15 in Winchester.
- Shenandoah quarterback Mekhi Brown completed 21 of 22 passes with five touchdowns on Nov. 8 in a 52-14 win over Gallaudet. Wideout Caleb Weston, a Riverheads graduate, caught one pass for 65 yards and a TD for the Hornets. He has 20 catches for 399 yards this season, and both are second on the team.
- Staunton High grad Marc Geffrard is a first-year running back/wideout at Washington & Lee. He played football, basketball, soccer, and track in high school and helped Staunton win a district title in basketball. Jaden Steppe of Western Albemarle is a junior defensive back for the Generals. He has played in six games this season and 13 in his college career.
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David Driver
