A version of the capsule previews of the 14 high school football playoff games involving Timesland schools seen below will appear in Friday’s Roanoke Times.
 Here’s an early look at the games with statistics, historical notes and injury updates.
 First, a couple of items:
 *Brookville quarterback Kendall BeCraft will play against Northside despite a sprained UC joint the thumb on his throwing hand. He played two games with the injury and threw six touchdown passes combined. BeCraft ranks No. 3 in the VHSL in career passing yards and No. 4 in career TD passes.
 *Richlands will be without star receiver/defensive back A.J. Johnson in its game against Cave Spring. Johnson earned a one-game suspension after drawing two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the regular-season finale against Tazewell.
 *Galax lost star running back Donte Peoples to a broken ankle in the regulars-eason finale against Grayson County. Last week, his brother, Steven, suffered a sprained ankle. His status for Saturday’s game at Honaker is highly questionable. The Peoples brothers have combined for 2,996 rushing yards this year.
 *John Battle is ailing heading into Friday’s game against Giles. Fullback Matthew Chapman is out with a leg injury, while leading rusher Cody Rogers is nursing a sprained ankle. 
 The previews are below:

REGION III DIVISION 4
WILLIAM BYRD (5-6) at HERITAGE (9-1)
Friday, 7 p.m.
Coaches: William Byrd (Jeff Highfill), Heritage (Brad Bradley).
Last week: Heritage was idle. William Byrd won 23-0 at Lord Botetourt.
Statistical leaders: William Byrd – QB Zac Hill (165-1,156 rushing, 12 TDs, 508 passing yards, 3 TDs); RB Simeon Horstmann (177-933, 11 TDs), WR-DB Tanner Weaver (22-293, 1 TD, 3 INTs); LB Timmy Meador (84 solos). Heritage – QB JeVontae Parrish (1,847 pass yards, 22 TDs, 7 INTs, 1,145 rush yards, 14 TDs); RB Uriah Hammond (33-145 rushing, 2 TDs, 7-161 receiving, 2 TDs); WR I’Shantii Rosser (40-655, 4 TDs), WR Demonte Elliot (22-357, 8 TDs).
Quick kicks: Byrd is one of two teams left in the playoffs with a losing record.… Hill returned last week after missing two games with a dislocated elbow and rushed for 168 yards and two TDs.… Freshman PK Brent Coleman has kicked 6 FGs.… Byrd’s only postseason win in school history was 21-14 over Heritage in 2007.… Highfill is in his 32nd year at Byrd.… Heritage’s only loss was 19-17 to Brookville on Oct. 19.… Bradley, a Salem High School graduate, coached William Campbell to Division 1 state titles in 2002 and 2005. He was the head coach at Patrick Henry from 2009-10 before coaching last year at Amelia County.
Next week: The winner plays either Amherst County or Jefferson Forest. Read more »

 This story went up yesterday and was in today’s paper, but in case you missed it Cave Spring sophomore Zac Foutz was sent home from the hospital after 15 days of treatment for fungal meningitis.
 Here it is:

 Zac Foutz, the Cave Spring High School athlete who contracted fungal meningitis from a tainted steroid injection, was released Monday from Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital following a 15-day stay.

 The 16-year-old football and basketball player at Cave Spring had been hospitalized at Roanoke Memorial since Oct. 27 after he was taken to the emergency room at LewisGale Medical Center the previous day.

 Zac received a steroid injection in mid-September at Roanoke’s Insight Imaging, whose supplier was the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass. The supply was later found to be tainted and has been tied to the deaths of 32 people in 19 states, including at least two in Virginia.

 Zac’s father, Ben Foutz, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Nov. 1 that his son was the youngest patient in the United States to contract fungal meningitis from the tainted injections.

 ”We are so blessed to have him home,” Ben Foutz said in an email. “The pediatric doctors and staff, infectious disease doctors and pediatric neurologist at Carilion did a wonderful job with Zac. We love those folks.

 ”It was a long and painful 15 days for Zac, but he is getting better; still has a long road in front of him.”

 Zac Foutz, a 6-foot-3-inch, 205-pound sophomore, played for Cave Spring in a football game Oct. 26 and intercepted three passes, returning one for a touchdown.

 Cave Spring has a Region IV Division 3 playoff game Friday in Richlands, but Zac Foutz will not play for the remainder of the Knights’ season.

 Cave Spring boys basketball coach Billy Hicks said he hopes Foutz can join the team this winter.

 ”We do not have a timeframe for his return to basketball,” Hicks said in an email. “We are hopeful that he will eventually be able to play this season.”

 Seven Timesland volleyball teams are still in the hunt for VHSL state titles this week.
 Start times have been released for Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
 The quarterfinal schedule for Timesland teams and the complete VHSL brackets are below:

TIMESLAND SCHEDULE
GROUP AAA
    Langley at Patrick Henry, 6 p.m.
GROUP AA
    Cave Spring at E.C. Glass, 7 p.m.
    Turner Ashby at Hidden Valley, 7 p.m.
GROUP A DIVISION 2
    Central-Wise at Giles, 7 p.m
    James River at Gate City, 7 p.m.
GROUP A DIVISION 1
    Clintwood at Auburn, 6 p.m.
    Galax at Rye Cove, 7 p.m.

VHSL CHAMPIONSHIPS
GIRLS
GROUP AAA
Tuesday
Quarterfinals
Ocean Lakes at Atlee
Albemarle at Stone Bridge
Lee-Davis at Floyd Kellam
Langley at Patrick Henry
Thursday
At Siegel Center, Richmond
Semifinals
Atlee-Ocean Lakes winner vs. Stone Bridge-Albemarle winner, 5 p.m.
Floyd Kellam–Lee-Davis winner vs. Patrick Henry-Langley winner, 7 p.m.
Saturday
At Siegel Center, Richmond
Championship
Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.
— Read more »

 The kickoff times have been set for the 14 second-round VHSL football playoff games this weekend.
 Thirteen of the games are Friday night with the exception being Galax’s trip to Honaker, which will be at 1 p.m. Saturday.
 Here is the full VHSL schedule:

DIVISION 6
Central Region
Meadowbrook (9-1) at Varina (9-1), Friday, 7 p.m.
L.C. Bird (10-0) at Hermitage (10-0), Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Eastern Region
Salem-Virginia Beach (10-1) at Oscar Smith (10-1), TBA
Western Branch (9-2) at Ocean Lakes (11-0), Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Northern Region
Chantilly (8-3) at Westfield (11-0), Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Oakton (7-4) at Centreville (8-3), Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Northwest Region
Battlefield (8-3) at C.D. Hylton (8-2), Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Colonial Forge (9-2) at Stonewall Jackson (9-1), Friday, 7:30 p.m. Read more »

   Patrick Henry, Cave Spring, Hidden Valley, Giles, James River, Auburn and Galax still have hopes of a VHSL state volleyball championship as all seven teams will play quarterfinals Tuesday.
   PH, Hidden Valley, Giles and Auburn will be at home while Cave Spring, James River and Galax will travel.
   We’ll supply the start times when we get them.
   The statewide pairings, including Group AAA boys, are below:

GIRLS
GROUP AAA
Tuesday
Quarterfinals
Ocean Lakes at Atlee
Albemarle at Stone Bridge
Lee-Davis at Floyd Kellam
Langley at Patrick Henry
Thursday
At Siegel Center, Richmond
Semifinals
Atlee-Ocean Lakes winner vs. Stone Bridge-Albemarle winner, 5 p.m.
Floyd Kellam–Lee-Davis winner vs. Patrick Henry-Langley winner, 7 p.m.
Saturday
At Siegel Center, Richmond
Championship
Semifinal winners, 7 p.m. Read more »

It’s 10 a.m. Saturday, mere hours since I rolled back into Roanoke from Pearisburg where Giles senior Ian Mann put up more than three bills of rushing yardage and threw a TD pass in the Spartans’ 41-14 win over James River in the first round of the Division 2 West Section football playoffs.

Sixty-four games took place across Virginia on Friday night. Eight more are today, wrapping up the opening round. The Central Region finished its regular season last night. The Richmond-area Group AAA teams will join the playoff party next week.

Here’s what jumped out at me Friday:

1. Some Group A schools from the 434 and 804 struggled big-time.
Covington destroyed Rappahannock 51-28 on the road, while Parry McCluer handled Charles City 33-7 in the Division 1 East Section. Bath County nearly pulled off a second straight first-round win in losing at No. 2 seed Sussex Central 14-10. Also, in Division 2 Gretna was hammered at Grayson County 44-31, while Dan River got steamrolled 55-27 at home by Stuarts Draft. Division 2 East top seed Essex, unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in Group A by the AP, had a fairly close shave against 3-7 Luray before winning 28-12.
Was the Dogwood District that far down this year? It appears so after last night. William Campbell, at 3-7, saved some face for the league with a 41-22 win over West Point in Division 1 East. Altavista, seeded No. 4, hosts Surry County today, but this is an Altavista team that lost earlier this year to James River.
Conversely, the Shenandoah District had a pretty good night. Stuarts Draft, Riverheads and Wilson Memorial all had blowout wins. East Rockingham also won a Division 2 East game and will get its shot at Essex next week. The game between Riverheads and Wilson Memorial next week in Fishersville should be a monster. Read more »

Jon Berlin has resigned after five seasons as the head football coach at Rustburg High School according to an email sent by Red Devils athletic director Patrick Shuler.

Berlin posted a 16-35 overall record at Rustburg, which is one of the two smallest schools in the Seminole District. Rustburg reached the Region III Division 3 playoffs once under Berlin, losing to Rockbridge County 33-7 in 2011.

Berlin’s five-year won-lost record at Rustburg was 16-35. The Red Devils were 5-5 this season, finishing with a 61-35 victory over Jefferson Forest.

Twenty-eight Timesland teams will be involved in 22 games Friday and Saturday as the VHSL football playoffs open across the state.

So, I’ve been a little busy this week collecting enough information on some of these outlying teams as well as compiling the final Timesland regular-season statistics, which will appear in their usual place in The Roanoke Times on Friday.

A version of these capsule previews also will run in the paper. They will include my predictions for Friday’s 21 games and the one Timesland game Saturday. The prep fearless forecasters contest is still running, although the emails with the list of games was not sent out until late this afternoon.

Also, check Friday’s paper for a feature story on Patrick Henry assistant coach Jeff Johnson and a story on Cave Spring place-kicker Daniel Seymour, who will play in a football game Friday night and then run in the VHSL Group AA cross country championships Saturday morning. 

One note to those who have asked. Yes, the All-Region IV team did appear briefly on the blog Wednesday. It was sent in prematurely by one of the league’s ADs, and I complied with a request to take it down until further notice.

The playoff capsules sans predictions are below:

NORTHWEST REGION DIVISION 6
PATRICK HENRY (8-2) at COLONIAL FORGE (8-2)
Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Coaches: Patrick Henry (Alan Fiddler), Colonial Forge (Bill Brown).
Scouting Patrick Henry: PH is in the playoffs for the first time since 2000 with the last playoff win in 1994. Virginia Tech-bound QB David Prince has run for 687 yards and passed for 703. Xavier Whorley (174 carries, 1,210 yards, 18 TDs) is the top back. LB Demetrius Anderson and DE Nate Lee (21 TFLs) lead the defense. PK Jacob Otterman has five FGs.
Scouting Colonial Forge: The Forge, located in Stafford, lost 21-14 at Franklin County last year in the first round. The Eagles are 3-2 against AAA playoff teams with losses to C.D. Hylton (35-16) and Massaponax (59-30). QB Damen Daniel (592 rush yards, 962 pass yards) leads the offense. Brown has won VHSL state titles at two other schools.
Next week: The NW Region reseeds. The winner gets either Hylton or Stonewall Jackson. Read more »

North Cross did not make the VIS football playoffs, but three other teams — Christchurch, Blue Ridge and Virginia Episcopal — from the Old Dominion Football Conference did.

Also, Liberty Christian again is the No. 1 seed in Division 1.

The pairings are below:

DIVISION I
Collegiate (6-3) at Liberty Christian (8-1), Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Benedictine (7-3) at Fork Union (9-2), Friday, 7 p.m.
DIVISION II
Nansemond-Suffolk (7-3) at Trinity Episcopal (7-3), Saturday, 1 p.m.
Christchurch (7-3) at Blue Ridge (7-2), Saturday, 1 p.m.
DIVISION III
Isle of Wight (7-2) at Virginia Episcopal (7-2), Saturday, 2 p.m.
Fredericksburg Christian (8-1) at Norfolk Christian (6-3), Saturday, 7 p.m.
DIVISION IV
Brunswick Academy (7-3) at Broadwater Academy (8-2), Saturday, 1 p.m.
Greenbrier Christian (6-4) at Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot (6-4), Friday, 7 p.m.