The Athens Bulldogs (8-0) will play their last regular-season road game against River Valley (1-7) at the Raiders’ football stadium this Friday evening, with kickoff coming at 7 p.m.
Last week, the Bulldogs were nothing short of brilliant in their supreme victory over Wellston on the Golden Rockets’ home field. It was their seventh out of the eight games played this season where they scored 40 or more points against their opponent.
As for the defense, the Bulldogs were again excellent, holding Wellston to just seven total points, the seventh time that they have held a team to seven points or fewer.
For the Raiders, their season has been at the very least forgettable. The only game they have won was when they scored a single field goal over Wellston. In no other game have they played has the score been close between them and the opposing squad, with the second closest game being a 26-6 loss against Alexander.
In recent years, River Valley has not seen much success with the football program. They have had one monumental season in 2015, which included beating Athens on their home field to clinch their first-ever playoff birth. For the past two seasons, they have gone 0-11.
The Raiders have broken that winless streak this year, however, winning a low-scoring contest against Wellston with the aforementioned field goal, to secure a 3-0 win.
They typically win one to three games a year, usually over schools like Belpre, Alexander, Wellston and their rival South Gallia. In general, their athletics have not been pretty. River Valley offers a few selections of sports, of which their best is undoubtedly softball.
There’s always that team that will be at the bottom of the conference that gets blown out by other teams, and that just so happens to be the Raiders. To their credit, compared to last season, they have actually gotten better at scoring, and they have secured a win this season.
In the 2024 season, River Valley went scoreless in its final three contests and only scored higher than 10 points once, in another low-scoring game against Wellston.
The most they have scored was in week three against Symmes Valley in a 55-27 loss. In terms of rebuilding, the road is long ahead for the Raiders in terms of their football program.
Athens has been untouchable all year, and this team is shaping up to be even better than last year’s team, which won double-digit games. With two games remaining on the regular season schedule, Athens is no doubt primed to go on a deep playoff run, and with a win over River Valley this week and a win over Nelsonville-York next week, it could have an undefeated regular season for the first time since 2013.
The game on Friday will more than likely be another career night for Bulldogs’ players such as senior running back Anthony Sutton, who rushed for 214 yards and scored four touchdowns.
