BeaverHokie

All the schools in Gwinnett are huge. Instead of consolidation like we see they split them off. Peachtree Ridge was created to ease the load on Duluth HS (just a few miles to the west of PR). I can't remember where Archer is...think the opposite side of I-85. Even with all the schools, the school population at all the schools are enormous. The county is probably somewhere between 900,000 and 1,000,000 people. About half the size of the entire state of WV. The talent is crazy. My daughter's HS (Duluth) is not usually very good at FB. Noted alumni are George Rogers and Brian McCann, though. Oh yeah, one other thing. Peachtree Ridge is out there where the "real" housewives live (well, I think one did, for a while), but also a lot of the area's professional athletes. Wouldn't be surprised to see the sons of some pro ballplayers on their roster.

Two questions about the game. I didn't go to the game, listened to the legendary Jim Nelson call the game on the radio. This is 50 years for Jim Nelson calling football games, and while he has some small opportunities (I don't believe he gives the time remaining enough), he is good. So good at setting the play, you can almost see the offense and defense through the radio. Listening to his tapes ought to be Broadcasting 101 for anyone that wants to do radio. Anyway, question 1: On the Bluefield pregame radio show, Freddie said something about Graham being about to practice "year round" and the benefit it gives. Can anyone speak to the allowed practice times of each state? I honestly do not know, which is why I'm curious? Not really a question, but a comment. Jim Nelson mentioned Bluefield being in an unbalanced line several times. That phrase is overused, most that use it do not know what it really means. In local legend, unbalanced is when the interior linemen are not "balanced". A regular balanced line will be LT....LG...C.,..RG...RT. Back in the day, Bluefield would use LG...C...RG...IT...OT. Usually the short side had a TE, sometimes both did. I saw a picture on the BDT site, and it looked to be seriously unbalanced left. Did Bluefield run a lot of that? Also, what are the thoughts about Bluefield. I guess mine tend to be a little cynical, I do like to be wrong about it. They seem to focus on speed, the passing game has a lot of growth needed. Bluefield appears to have a pretty big OL, and I heard early on that they were handling the LOS, but it appeared later they were not. Scheme change by the defense, or fatigue. Thoughts?

Wait, did someone mention Portabella's? I've got nothing to add about the VAPreps issue. I do know that SWVA suffers from so many who think the state ends at Roanoke. Heck, even when I consider Tazewell County SW Virginia, you can go an awful long way west from there. I've been to Jonesville VA (Lee County) once to do some marketing for my company, and that is a long way. To draw a parallel, being born in Bluefield, it's a place that so many north of Charleston don't care for. Politically, the state seems to end at Beckley. Now, back to Portabella's. Yum. Beautiful place in downtown Bluefield. I love the food. I've heard the service can be sketchy, but I've had good service the two times I ate in. Got a pizza once to go.

I think it's easy to get spoiled. Folks are used to Bluefield just reloading in basketball, to an extent, but that appears to not be the case now. Bluefield is playing 0.500 basketball, and it's easy to say "What happened?" as that isn't the norm. Also, the WV competition is apparently pretty solid, with Bluefield beating an apparently really good Graham team twice in a season.

Well, a loss to Pikeview and two to Westside don't seem to bode well for the Beavers. I don't keep up with hoops a lot, but this team isn't as good as before. Add to it, having a player off the team for being ineligible, not sure. As you say, they sound like they do well in the transition game, but not when forced to slow down and play a half court game.

Apparently long dormant topic, but with another loss to Westside, what the heck is wrong with Bluefield basketball? Or is Westside that good all of a sudden?

Interesting in AAA, that I see three teams that finished with 9 games. Capital (9-0), Point Pleasant (9-0), and Woodrow Wilson (6-3). That was the problem that Bluefield used to have, having a hard time getting 10 games. So, #3 Bluefield will play #14 Ravenswood at home. What I am curious about is how good Bridgeport and Frankfort are...

They gave away about 100 yards on penalties. To win the game even with that is a good thing. It worries me for any possible close games...I thought field position would be critical in this game, and it was...but Bluefield did manage to overcome their own mistakes. But really...there's no excuse for all those false start penalties in game 10.

I'm going to guess Bluefield wins 19-14. :-) I wasn't there, either Bluefield played horribly sloppy (almost 20 penalty flags) or there was home cookin'. Either way, Bluefield will get to play at home through most of the playoffs.

The cat gets to be best man. I think it may involve the....ummm....cough, cough..."personal trainer". That's all I'm saying.

Jim Nelson says that Bluefield is missing several of their receivers due to disciplinary actions. Can anybody add any good facts or fair/reasonable speculation? Appears some kids and their dumb decisions have really cost Bluefield horribly. Bluefield has completed zero passes tonight. Well, zero to their own team, two to Richlands players.

Agreed. I feel like we get a lot of chances to beat up on a lot of really bad teams through the year, and fear that the big games (this, Wayne, playoffs) are way different. I'm not ready to give up on this game, though, but I never like being behind at the half. Not sure how this team will react to that adversity.

I'd heard quite the opposite, that they actually enjoy it, and they're looking forward to it.

Perhaps Richlands gets a 4th time out (if Jim Nelson is correct). Didn't matter, but still... Halftime score is Bluefield 14 Richlands 21. Not a great start for Bluefield.

I suspect these young men have not had many tacos in their life. Victory, pink, or otherwise. :-)