Top moments in Richlands history

[Ryan4VT 4,552]

Some of you guys may have seen it, but if not, we have a Facebook page for RHS football over at facebook.com/richlandsbluetornadofootball

 

Gonna start a countdown to football with the top 10 moments in Richlands football history.

 

We will gather up all the entries and then have a vote on here as well as on the page, then release them as we come down to the Gate City game.

 

With that said, what are some of your nominees?

 

A few of mine are:

 

-The obvious: 92 and 06 state titles.

-"The Hit": Shane Wicks levels Goins from Hidden Valley

-"The Streak": the run of 33 straight regular season victories

-Blowing out Brookville in 2010

[Canes00 434]

The only positive memory I can think of and it's not hard to think of it cause it's only happened once and probably won't happen for many years to come lol is when Marion beat you guys in the playoffs in 2001.

[cityofRaven 2,443]

Just a few that come to mind from me. 

 

The first ever win recorded by Richlands football, a 19 to 0 decision over Berwind, WV the fall of 1926. Ernie Hicks, head coach. 

 

Richlands' first "regional" championship over Appalachia 13 to 6 in 1951.

 

Dedication of the first Ernie Hicks Stadium in 1957 at the then new high school. 

 

Win over Grundy October 27th, 1961. Richlands was winless, Grundy undefeated. Richlands won 12 to 6. 

 

End of an era, Ernie Hicks' last game, November 13th 1964, lost 47 to 6 at Grundy. 

 

Beginning of another era, August 31st, 1990, Dennis Vaught coached Richlands to a 30 to 6 win over Garden in Oakwood. 

 

A few during the 1992 season: 16 to 15 win over Powell Valley at Bullitt Park September 4th, 17 to 14 win over Gate City at home on October 2nd, last second field goal to beat Marion at home October 30th, and of course the state-semi and state-final games at Ernie Hicks. (Regardless of how long the cleats were.)

 

The beginning of the Greg Mance era, 21 to 6 win at Hillsville over Carroll County, August 30th, 1996. 

 

That's obviously including all the more recent history as well. 

[RichlandsAlum 678]

The 1979 upset over Gate City was a huge deal at the time. 

 

Although it didn't receive much fanfare, the program's first victory in the Bluefield series (in 1986) was also pretty significant.

 

Already mentioned, but the 2006 state championship was significant in exorcising some of the negatives associated with the aftermath of 1992.

[barondawg77 115]

Just a few that come to mind from me.

 

The first ever win recorded by Richlands football, a 19 to 0 decision over Berwind, WV the fall of 1926. Ernie Hicks, head coach.

 

Richlands' first "regional" championship over Appalachia 13 to 6 in 1951.

 

Dedication of the first Ernie Hicks Stadium in 1957 at the then new high school.

 

Win over Grundy October 27th, 1961. Richlands was winless, Grundy undefeated. Richlands won 12 to 6.

 

End of an era, Ernie Hicks' last game, November 13th 1964, lost 47 to 6 at Grundy.

 

Beginning of another era, August 31st, 1990, Dennis Vaught coached Richlands to a 30 to 6 win over Garden in Oakwood.

 

A few during the 1992 season: 16 to 15 win over Powell Valley at Bullitt Park September 4th, 17 to 14 win over Gate City at home on October 2nd, last second field goal to beat Marion at home October 30th, and of course the state-semi and state-final games at Ernie Hicks. (Regardless of how long the cleats were.)

 

The beginning of the Greg Mance era, 21 to 6 win at Hillsville over Carroll County, August 30th, 1996.

 

That's obviously including all the more recent history as well.

[barondawg77 115]

Pretty sure Vaught didn't coach at Rhs in 1990, he was my o line coach at Tazewell that year. He left my senior year and took over at Richlands and came to Tazewell and beat us in 1991 for the first time since 1984 season. It is one of the worst memories I will ever have lol

[RichlandsAlum 678]

Pretty sure Vaught didn't coach at Rhs in 1990, he was my o line coach at Tazewell that year. He left my senior year and took over at Richlands and came to Tazewell and beat us in 1991 for the first time since 1984 season. It is one of the worst memories I will ever have lol

 

Yep.  Vaught was brought in to Tazewell County that year with the notion that he would be the next head coach at whichever of the county schools had a vacancy.  Turned out to be RHS.

 

And I can tell you first hand that the drought from 1984 to 1991 was beyond rough for the Blue Tornado faithful.  During my high school years (1985-1989) we broke even against Beaver and actually had a 3-1 record against Graham.  Until very recent times that would have been a huge achievement for any RHS class -- but it was seriously tarnished by our "oh-fer" against the 'Doggies.

[cityofRaven 2,443]

All I know is I have a spread sheet of all of the recorded history of Richlands football from a very reliable source and he has Dennis Vaught as the HC at Richlands in 1990. 

 

It may be wrong but I honestly don't know. I was just going through my t-ball contract dispute in '90 so everything that year was rather hazy to me. 

 

So who was the HC in '90, Haun still?

[barondawg77 115]

Not sure but I know for sure Vaught was at Tazewell my jr year. I graduated in '92. And for the record, regardless of his downside, he was the best hs coach I've been around as far as having a feel for a game. Anybody that has been around him will tell you the same. Football genius in my book.

[RichlandsAlum 678]

All I know is I have a spread sheet of all of the recorded history of Richlands football from a very reliable source and he has Dennis Vaught as the HC at Richlands in 1990. 

 

It may be wrong but I honestly don't know. I was just going through my t-ball contract dispute in '90 so everything that year was rather hazy to me. 

 

So who was the HC in '90, Haun still?

 

Billy Haun was head coach for the following seasons and produced the following record:

 

1987  8-3

1988  1-9

1989  2-8

1990  4-6

 

And as an odd footnote,  Billy apparently has the distinction of being the only football coach in RHS history who never beat Tazewell during his time at the helm.

 

I'm privy to some of the reliable historic data for RHS myself (and we probably have the same sources), and I'm 100% positive that Vaught's first year at the helm was the 1991 season (which ended with a loss in the regional championship to Lee).

Edited July 17, 2015 by RichlandsAlum

[TazCoFootball 40]

Yep. Vaught was brought in to Tazewell County that year with the notion that he would be the next head coach at whichever of the county schools had a vacancy. Turned out to be RHS.

 

And I can tell you first hand that the drought from 1984 to 1991 was beyond rough for the Blue Tornado faithful. During my high school years (1985-1989) we broke even against Beaver and actually had a 3-1 record against Graham. Until very recent times that would have been a huge achievement for any RHS class -- but it was seriously tarnished by our "oh-fer" against the 'Doggies.

Vaughts first year was 91 at Richlands he was asst.coach at Tazewell in 90

I believe you were 2-2 against Graham from 86-89 lost in 86 &89

[RichlandsAlum 678]

Vaughts first year was 91 at Richlands he was asst.coach at Tazewell in 90

I believe you were 2-2 against Graham from 86-89 lost in 86 &89

Nope. I'm Class of '89. Which means that I specfically attended RHS from August 1985 until June 1989 and the games actually took place in 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988. The '86 game is the only one of those that we lost to the G-Men.

[Fridaynightlights 20]

Brett clayburne's blocked field goal attempt by rockbridge county has to be up there and Austin fullers fake punt for a td in the same game has to be mentioned, Austin also had an int at the end of the game to seal it

 

The most overall dominating performance (in my opinion) was 2010 at brookville in the semis. I thought we could win that game but not the way we did.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

(1) Placing the order for cleats in '92.

 

Kidding! :)

[GMan 3,569]

My top Richlands moment was the time Graham went for two leading 20-0 with just a couple of minutes left in the game.  That lit a fire under some Richlands folks...

[V-Cats 472]

How about the crazy 37-34 3OT comeback win over Virginia High in the 2013 playoffs

[mv91 259]

Va High OT win was one of the more exciting Richlands games I have attended.

 

"Get him Wicks" hit against Hidden Valley is very memorable.

 

Gate City playoff win last year.

 

Not sure if it was 05 or 06 but Richlands defense had a 6 game scoreless streak going into the game @ Tazewell.  Tazewell kicked a FG to go up 3-0 in the 1st quarter and you would have thought that Tazewell had won the state championship. 

[BlueTornadoFan 17]

Gee, there are quite a few good moments in Richlands history. Let's see.

-The 3OT game against Va. High. Still don't know how we ended up winning that one, but I'll take it.

-Wicks hit courtesy of Josiah Goins. Poor guy. That swung all of the momentum to Richlands and Hidden Valley rolled over after that.

-'06 Title game vs. Rockbridge. Fuller's interception to seal the championship.

-Playoff game against Gate City last year. Heck of a game, and honestly felt like a home game. Was surprised how loud we were down there.

-The Win Streak.

-Beating Tazewell in the playoffs in '08, 28-27 (:

[rvtne216 278]

I think the 3OT game against Virginia High in 2013 is definitely up there.....

[HM3-8404 103]

The Liberty-Bedford playoff game. The crowd was quite the team looked nervous. Then right before the game started the big D1 lineman from LB came out and ripped the pad off the goal post. The crowd went off and the Richlands players started going crazy. The rest is history, but I have to say that the longer the game went on the better LB played. I think they were surprised by how aggressive we were playing. I know I was.

[#1BLUESFAN 169]

That was a great game....

[RichlandsAlum 678]

The Liberty-Bedford playoff game. The crowd was quite the team looked nervous. Then right before the game started the big D1 lineman from LB came out and ripped the pad off the goal post. The crowd went off and the Richlands players started going crazy. The rest is history, but I have to say that the longer the game went on the better LB played. I think they were surprised by how aggressive we were playing. I know I was.

 

That was a tremendous game.  I thought that both teams were pretty evenly matched -- and Liberty was ready to play, although their inability to get things going early wound up costing them.  IMO Rob Stanton's TD catch and run in the 2nd quarter was the play of the game.  Liberty kids were dumbfounded that a kid that big could move that well, but they did get their heads together and started to make things interesting after that.  And the point about improvement as the game went on is well made.  If that last minute FG attempt had been good, Liberty would have had major momentum heading into overtime.  In hindsight, it seems to me that Liberty did some of the same things in that game that wound up costing the Blues the next week in Lynchburg. 

 

That game was also unexpectedly difficult for me personally.  I have always been (and shall remain) a proud Richlands alumnus who bleeds blue, but Bedford is my adopted place of residence and LHS is/will be my kids' school.  At that point back in 2005 we had already started to establish roots here.  Coach Watts is a good friend of ours and we knew a lot of the kids on that team personally.  So while I was relieved when the aforementioned field goal attempt was no good, at the same time my heart really went out to the kid who missed it (whose parents are also good friends and we all attend the same church) and to the team in general.  As long as current classification/enrollment trends hold, it seems unlikely that Richlands and Liberty will face each other again.  Which is fine with me because I'd prefer not to have that kind of emotional experience again, and the situation would likely be even more intense as my own sons work their way through the LHS athletic system. 

[Irishman 30]

Stanton was a great receiver at Richlands and lettered for the Virginia Tech Hokies.

[techfan 43]

Was that the Liberty-Bedford game when Austin Fuller drilled their D-1 WR/TE when he went up to catch a pass? That was nearly as devastating as the Wicks hit and as big of momentum changer that kid never even tried to catch another ball.

[Blues Man 48]

Was that hit in the liberty game or the Brookville game a year or so later.