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Earlier this month, the Virginia High School League released its first official set of football power ratings and will be releasing updates every week until the regular season concludes on Saturday, November 5.

Several area teams figure to represent in the postseason, including undefeated Central Lunenburg and surging Buckingham, among others.

Lunenburg, which is enjoying its first 7-0 start since the program’s last unbeaten regular season back in 1995, presently checks in as the top seed in Region 1B. That should be a slot the Chargers can hold onto, unless they slip up in any of their three remaining regular season contests: at home vs. Prince Edward on Oct. 14, vs. Buckingham on Oct. 27 and at Amelia on Nov. 4.

By virtue of their 27-7 win over Buffalo Gap, reigning six-time State Champion Riverheads jumped the Bison for the No. 2 seed in the Region 1B ratings. In 2021, every region took eight teams to the playoffs with the exception of 5B and 1B, where they advanced six schools to the postseason with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds receiving first round byes.

Buckingham, who debuted tied for fourth with Clarke County in the initial Region 2B power ratings, has won four in a row, their latest victory being a 41-0 shutout of Randolph-Henry, to improve to 5-1 overall. To move up further, the Knights need to win at least three of their final four regular season games with a trip to Nottoway (Oct. 13), home date vs. Amelia (Oct. 21), aforementioned visit to Central-Lunenburg (Oct. 27) and home date against winless Cumberland (Nov. 4) rounding out their slate.

Luray, which defeated reigning Region 2B Champ Central-Woodstock last Friday 41-25, is the only unbeaten left in Buckingham’s region.

PRINCE EDWARD, RANDOLPH-HENRY  FACE A CHALLENGE

Moving over to Region 2A, the path to the playoffs is less clear and far from a foregone conclusion for the likes of Prince Edward and Randolph-Henry.

At 3-3, Randolph-Henry should be able to snap its three-game losing skid with upcoming home games against Arcadia and Cumberland, two schools that are a combined 1-11. But after debuting in the No. 8 spot, to secure a postseason spot may require an additional road victory over either Nottoway (Oct. 28) or Prince Edward (Nov. 4) for the Statesmen.

Like the Statesmen, the Eagles of Prince Edward got off to a fast start at 3-0 before running into some difficulty, suffering a loss to Buckingham by 42 and then falling short to Greensville 22-20 in its most recent outing. At 4-2, Prince Edward slipped down a spot from No. 6 to No. 7 in the latest 2A rankings, yet will get a huge opportunity to boost their playoff chances if they’re able to take down the undefeated Chargers in Lunenburg on Oct. 14.

From there, Prince Edward hosts Nottoway (Oct. 20) and visits Amelia (Oct. 28) before the regular season home finale with Randolph-Henry, which will have significant ramifications on the entire 2A playoff field. At 6-0, the Thomas Jefferson Vikings from Richmond are the only undefeated squad in Region 2A and sit in the driver’s set to claim the No. 1 seed.

FRIDAY’S REGIONAL SCOREBOARD:

• Buckingham 41, Randolph-Henry 0

• Central Lunenburg 69, Cumberland 7

• Greensville 22, Prince Edward 20

• Amelia County 15, Nottoway 14