PREP FOOTBALL: St. Paul, TW battle for Cumberland’s top spot

St. Paul High School running back Denver Fritz has a pretty good idea of how he’ll spend his time on the bus this afternoon when the Deacons make the long trip to play Thomas Walker.

“Most likely on the ride there, we’ll probably sleep,” Fritz said.

However, count on Fritz being wide awake tonight. St. Paul (6-3) plays Thomas Walker (5-3) for the Cumberland District championship and a Region D, Division 1 playoff bid.

Also tonight in Southwest Virginia, Haysi (4-5) and Honaker (4-5) meet for the Black Diamond District crown and a postseason invite.

“We’re real excited about it,” said St. Paul head coach Mark Palmer. “I can’t think of many times that the last game of the season came down to undefeated teams [within the district] for the district
championship. The winner goes on to the postseason and the loser goes home. I think that’s a great atmosphere.”

Things have went well for St. Paul this fall and the Deacons have bounced back from last season’s dismal 2-8 showing. Fritz has been one of the key reasons for the turnaround, rushing for a team-high 811 yards and scoring 12 touchdowns. He also has nine catches for 164 yards, along with starting at middle linebacker.

“Denver’s been phenomenal this year,” Palmer said. “He’s just been running reat, breaking tackles, running hard and running real strong.”

Addison Rasnick (73 carries, 399 yards, six touchdowns) and quarterback Tyler Phillips (49 carries, 294 yards, seven touchdowns) have also played big roles in St. Paul’s rushing attack this season.

An improving offensive line has been key to producing those statistics.

“The first two games we started off slow,” Fritz said. “But from there on out, our front line has been dominating people and we’ve been running the ball well and getting good blocks.”

And after a quick nap this afternoon, Fritz hopes to churn out more yards tonight.