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I just let dad listen to the part about the horn and he absolutely loved it!

Silly easterners...

Pun intended?

No problem @Union_Fan! Even though we didn't get the outcome that we wanted, me and my father had a blast! Looking forward to making future trips to BSG!

That should have been in Star Wars somewhere.

-SWVAGridiron doesn't have connections. He is the connection! -Rick "Bear Dog" Blevins was a stud on the wrestling mat for Chilhowie. Well, maybe he was a "steed". He was whichever one is more impressive. -Entertaining show, guys...Thanks

You're right. They finished the regular season at 19th. The next Big 12 team is Texas at 42.

Outrage follows postponement of GA prep title games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium due to snow https://www.seccountry.com/sec/georgia-high-school-association-moves-state-championship-games-mercedes-benz-stadium-due-snow-atlanta

Sweet!

Bad news for the rest of 1A. "...I only have eight seniors on this year's team and some of them weren't even there two years ago. We've got a ton of sophomores and juniors and we start two freshmen. We truly are a young football team." Robert Casto, Riverheads' Head Coach http://www.heraldcourier.com/sports/class-football-championship-casto-has-riverheads-back-in-familiar-territory/article_08694144-dba8-11e7-9f8c-e70114f4a38b.html

"But we have to lookout for the safety of everyone traveling" translation from VHSL to common speak "We have to lookout for our pockets not getting full by people not traveling in snow"

I say play them in the snow. State Championship game in the snow, what would be more memorable?

Probably won't matter either way as so many people freak out about a snowflake falling and won't get out.

Thanks for the shout out @Ryan4VT. My daughter was pretty proud of the job she did getting those seats, LOL. Really enjoyed you and @BlueRazor cheering with us. And now that Spiderman has been unmasked, thanks again @SWVAgridiron, we appreciated you guys coming down and really enjoyed the horn. :)

They might make it to the sweet sixteen for their area but will bounce in the 1st round. Their district/region is comparabe to this years region 1d in football. And no Harlan County is stepping up competition and playing in a Lexington tourney. Girls Basketball is on a different level there and it's scary. Ive not been out of the gym to scout much 2d but on paper for any team to face them they would need to merge with another team then pray really hard for it to be a game by half time.

Not that I go to church or anything, so it won't affect me, but those who do and want to go to the noon games can't be happy about that decision to keep them at noon.

Hate is a cancerous attitude if fed long enough it will consume your life and you will become hate.

My bad on that, thought you were saying they had a defense lol

That's for sure a very rough slate. @UoL isn't a notorious tough place to play but having to face Lamar Jackson is an unenviable task. @VT is a very tough road game, arguably second toughest road ACC game after at Death Valley. I think @MSU is tougher than @UoL, and @Auburn is tougher than Auburn at home but playing @Tech is probably at least as tough as hosting LSU, this season. I didn't realize Clemson had such a tough start to their season, props to them. They prob repeat.

It's Cave Spring....no "s" at the end. I lived there for a decade when he was in high school. Even refereed a few of his games while finishing college. No, it's not SWVA. The image at the top of the homepage of this website clearly shows the SWVA boundary and schools represented. Welcome to the board!

It's a business decision first and foremost because no other teams had a demonstrably better argument than Alabama. Simple as that. You can't play down Bamas schedule and prop up UCF, UCF played three quality teams all season. They had a three game season, only having to get up three times. Bama had six of those (FSU, LSU, MSU, TAMU, AU, OM). UT beat GT, got smacked around by Alabama. Vandy beat Kansas State, got smacked around by Alabama. When you're Alabama, or Clemson, or Oklahoma, every team has incentive to beat you. You're never the underdog. That's a tough proposition for college kids, you never get that edge. And playing quality teams back to back is rough. Injuries happen, look at Auburn and Alabama both. Bama has lost four starting LBs this season, and still lost only once. Look at the November schedule for Alabama. Playing LSU, at Mississippi State and at Auburn over the course of four weeks. Show me another school with that amount of quality games in such a short time frame. Auburn is only other team, but there's was five weeks IIRC. Not to mention Bama had three OOC wins over teams with 6+ wins. FSU was preseason #2, Fresno State won NINE games and Colorado State won seven. Three bowl teams OOC. Who else did that?

I'm a CHS alumni and I can be realistic and say that Riverheads will win by 3+ TD. Chilhowie doesn't have the depth or the size like they do. Riverheads are playing against far more superior teams throughout the season. As someone else mentioned, Chilhowie got some lucky turnovers against Galax. Also, go ahead and commit 10 penalties in a state game and see what happens. I wish I could make the trip to Salem to support them and it would be cool that they win, but they will not.

The Jervis kid will be a good LB also coming out of that class

Haters are going to hate. And haters hating hate is alright by me, I just hate it for some people though because hate is all they know.

Still getting very random pings from small colleges, but now starting to hear from larger ones as well. Just received an invite to an ID camp from an American Athletic Conference school today. Also received interest from a college in England through the recruiting service (which seems an unlikely outcome, but is the kind of rare thing that you just have to check out). Boy is playing in his first "showcase" event next month -- which includes a few coaches who have already been in touch with him. Will be interesting to see what (if any) kind of effort they make to actually contact him as part of that venue. And we aren't tipping them off about his participation -- we want to see if they find him. I'm still thinking that most of the attention he is receiving is simply because he matches a recruiting profile (big, quick, and has good grades). My theory is that if he doesn't get some personal attention from the coaches who have contacted him in connection with the event itself, then that's an early litmus test of how realistic his chances are of playing at the next level. We will also probably get to test the real value of travel ball as it relates to the college recruiting process. Things are a bit up in the air with the club and team for which he has been playing the last four years. He was already planning to try out for another club's elite level team just to see where that might lead. We think his chances of being invited to join are a long shot -- it's an extremely exclusive team that participates in an extremely high level league -- and there would obviously be some serious travel and expenses associated with it, so from a practical sense we're completely fine with the notion that it won't happen. If that doesn't pan out, his best option is probably to "play up" for the older team at his existing club next fall. But there is also a very strong possibility that he could play for a team that competes almost exclusively in tournaments. In our area, most of the better teams are involved in league play (Blue Ridge Soccer League or Skyline Club Soccer League). So one thought is that playing for a "vagabond" club might actually put him at something of a disadvantage in terms of the travel ball part of the recruiting equation. While it's exciting for him and kind of fun for us, I'm approaching this realistically And I'm still sticking with my prediction that he hangs up his competitive cleats and winds up at Tech. I may be off about his major. Some days he likes chemistry better than physics.

I still maintain that Fulmer doesn’t have the intelligence, wherewithal, and personality to run a $110M athletic department. Very different matters to run a football team and run an entire athletics department.

I hate Appomattox's AD, Principal, and fans that cry about a train horn. Other than that I have much respect for the team, coach Smith, and the community. My rant for the day.

I know that it was a disappointing end to a great season, but I could not be prouder of these young men. Each and every year since 2011, we have seen improvements in some area. They have continued to gel, mesh, and fine tune each detail. Every advance will eventually culminate in a perfect season, and I can't wait to be a part of that. Hold your heads up high boys, and know that you have the sum total of 2 communities behind you. The name "Union" wasn't randomly pulled out of a sack, it was selected with purpose because the faculty, students, and citizens of Appy and BSG knew that we would have something special when we combined. United We Stand Divided We Fall.

Sir was you even speaking English in this?

Too bad Gate City isn't in this tourny... I'd love to see Mac dunk over a full-size China Cabinet or maybe a stacked up Living Room suit.

We're still pretty early in the process (obviously, since he's a sophomore). Digested version thus far is like this: 1. Signed up with online recruiting service (offered free through his travel soccer team membership). Started getting pings from random small schools all across the country. 2. Talked with varsity soccer coach for honest assessment of the boy's future in college. Coach says he's definitely got an opportunity to play Division II/III. Division I is a long shot for anyone, but my son will at least get some looks because of his size and speed (which confirmed one of my previous assumptions about the process). Also said that he would make a point to promote my son to colleges. 3. Had honest conversation with the boy about his level of interest. Gave him hypothetical option to consider.... If he had to choose, would he go to Virginia Tech with the knowledge that there is little to no chance that he could play soccer there? Or would he go to on ODAC school primarily because he would have a chance to play? He said that he'd probably choose Tech -- but he at least wants to explore the options available to him. 4. After playing in the tournament last month, he's received some communication from scouts who referenced our team's specific results and who noted particular plays that my son made (it's obvious that they actually had eyes on him). Three of these are from Division I schools (albeit ones in lower tier conferences). In the mean time, the random pings are becoming more focused and a few ODAC schools in particular are really stepping up the email/mailings. We've also gotten a couple of cold calls from coaches. Right now we are at the point where we are evaluating which ID camp invitations to consider for the summer. The current mix contains the 3 or 4 Division III schools that are basically within our area and a couple of Division II schools in North Carolina. My son is also thinking about signing up for Tech's open soccer camp just to see if it leads anywhere. While playing soccer for any ACC school obviously looks like the longest of the long shots, that's the soccer option that is most attractive and which he wants to at least explore. But on that last note, he's also understandably intrigued by the interest of the Division I schools that have actually reached out to him. My prediction right now is that he will enjoy playing soccer through high school, but will ultimately give up playing to go to Virginia Tech and major in physics. But he's already a certified game official and he's helping to coach some of the youngest players in our club and our local Rec association, so I've told him that he can continue to have a future with the sport in either of those roles if he wants one. (Although, to be somewhat ironic, his coaching and officiating experience also stand out on his recruiting profile and probably enhance his attractiveness on paper.)