If history repeats itself, the Shenandoah University football team will have a dogfight on its hands this weekend. Coming off a victory over Ferrum last week, Shenandoah (4-1, 1-1 Old Dominion Athletic Conference) will take on Bridgewater at 6 p.m.
on Saturday for a high-stakes ODAC matchup. A road win would give the Hornets an edge over the Eagles (4-1, 2-0) in the ODAC standings as both teams immerse themselves in conference play. The average margin of victory in the last seven meetings between the two teams is six points.
Of those seven matchups, all but one of them were decided by one score — SU’s 24-10 loss last year was the only game that wasn’t. SU head coach Scott Yoder is expecting this year’s game to play out in a similar fashion. “I’ve always felt that when you play Bridgewater, you throw the records out,” Yoder said on Wednesday.
“Not that you need to this year — both teams are 4-1 and look pretty strong — but this is probably a game that goes down to a possession or two at the end of the game. Just the way the series has gone, it’s been tight; it’s been good college football games.” SU has struggled with turnovers in the last two games, giving away the ball three times against Randolph-Macon and twice last week against Ferrum.
All of those turnovers were interceptions from quarterback Steven Hugney. In last year’s matchup against Bridgewater, Hugney had two interceptions and ended up completing 27 of 58 passes for 266 yards. The senior.