Leaderboard

Hello everybody. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been on the boards. Nearly 5 months now. While I won’t go into exact details — I felt it necessary to get away and take a break from most forms of social media. I left the board and also left Facebook for over 2 months. I used that time to look inward, instead of always looking outward and trying to find the negative around me. Through it all, I feel like I’ve started to turn a corner in my mental health. My family has went through the gauntlet this fall and winter. Multiple deaths — many due to Covid — have taken away people I loved dearly. Rifts with family and friends. Personal health and financial hardships. We’ve been through it all and come out (so far) stronger. Over the last several years, I’ve become unnecessarily combative to those around me — and that includes many of you here. For that, I am sorry. I’ve seen the pattern of who I was as a human, and continue to strive to correct that flaw on a daily basis. I don’t always win the battle — but I am determined to win this war. I hope that you can forgive me for things I may have said or done in the past that were out of line and unnecessary. If not — I understand that as well and truly respect where you’re coming from. I did years of damage to relationships and friendships that aren’t easily repaired. In any case, I am excited to get back and talk local sports with all of you. We are so lucky to be alive and healthy and able to talk about our amazing athletes from Radford to Ewing (hey Brady). Also, a huge thank you to GMan for checking in on me in what was a low point. I really do appreciate it.

At the end of the day, who ever scores the most points in the time allotted will win.

TazewellBulldogRadio.com

Correction....they are a 2A team enrollment wise playing in 1A

Giles and glenvar did when they played in their right class...and both stomped them...neither were afraid of the "red team" lol

What a shocker, Riverheads with an enrollment of zero!!!

Gives “Riverheads” a whole new meaning!

Dear Pink Rabbit... Oh, in about 1986 or so, I went with a couple of friends to a beer can convention in Freddiesburg one weekend. On the way home, after a 48-hour drinkfest, coming down I-81, everyone in the car needed to "lose liquid". We pulled off an exit, in the middle of nowhere south of Stan-ton, to find a place to drain our swollen bladders. With nothing around but a school, the three of us pulled into a school parking lot and proceeded to write our names on the wall of said school. Found out a few years later that was the home of the Glade-e-ators. You're welcome. Sincerely, G

As stated here multiple times, until the Little League program has a complete overhaul to get kids interested at an earlier age, there won’t be much success. GC needs multiple seasons like last year to build momentum and attract players walking the halls while developing the elementary age kids at the same time.

https://gfycat.com/adoredmisguidedamethystgemclam

Some ugly football played tonight just about everywhere, but that's to be expected. Weather has been horrible for practice, and no scrimmages.

What “things” were instilled, may I ask? In 1980, the juvenile felony arrest rate was somewhere in the neighborhood of 31.9 per 1000 juveniles nationwide. If you had a 32-person classroom, odds are 1 of your classmates was going to be locked up with a felony. Today, that figure is 4.5 per 1000 juveniles nationwide. That’s an sevenfold drop. It appears as if the generations before weren’t having very good qualities instilled in them. In 1980, the high school graduation rate nationwide was 72%. Today, the high school graduation rate nationwide is 84%. It appears as if about 1 in 7 households before weren’t preaching the importance of education to their children. In 1991, the first year data was available, 27.5% of minors smoked cigarettes. In 2020, 9.2% of minors smoked (which includes the Juul pods that have been marketed toward them). It appears as if 1 in every 7 households before were A-OK with their kids smoking cigarettes as compared to now. Naturally, I’m being facetious, but the point remains. I love Boomers and Xers, because so many of them remember things the way they never were.

Understand the safety factor and sad not to see games live, but keeping the parents of the players from attending is totally insane. Unless I am just a crazy old man, I believe football is still played outside, and if I recall correctly the science points to being out in fresh air as a positive. I think the player's family members could set in groups and maintain spacing efficiently enough to match what science dictates. This pandemic is for real, but our politicians need to let science do the talking, not their unimaginable control syndrome. We have no common sense in VA's government for sure.

Glad to see you back... Some winters can be especially hard, but I thank God you are seeing the renewing of spring. May you continue to grow stronger each day. At times friendships may pause or end, but friends last in the winter seasons. Your insight and depth are an integral part of this board. GO LORIS LIONS!!! GO BLUES!!!!

Scotch and Glenrochie typical UT fan living in the bright lights of A town.

Naturally, Northam's illogical Executive Orders will receive the most attention as they pertain to high school sports, given the nature of this Board and what interests the majority. But the arts have been done a grievous injustice by how these orders have been constructed. Losing a solid year of music (choir, band, or orchestra) is a severe detriment for the kids' musicianship in addition to how it impacts college prospects of doing the same. Those kids work just as hard as any athlete on any team to hone their craft, and they've been virtually forbidden from it.

I honestly haven't given it much thought until now. Human nature being what it is, our concerns tend to be self-serving to a large degree. At least in the sense of where we are in our daily lives and how "COVID times" have affected those daily lives. My larger concern at the moment is pretty far from high school sports. My daughters haven't been in band, class or extracurricular, since March 23, 2020. To say the least, I am disappointed in the Galax School System. They are seemingly bending over backward to make sure games are played, practices are held, and conditioning is undertaken for athletics. They have yet to make any such concession for other 50% of the student body that don't play sports. My daughters have put in a lot of hard work, practice and expense in an activity they thoroughly enjoy. My oldest daughter plays 7 instruments (guitar, mandolin, piano, ukulele, banjo, fiddle, sax). Her frustration is overwhelming. My younger daughter is frustrated but she is far more laid-back. She doesn't show it as much as the older one. There is no excuse for these kids to not be able to get together in small groups to play music. Galax could and should do better!

Yep. Blame good ole Senor El Presidente Ralphie.

I think that at this point the defenses should have a big advantage this week as Offences take more time to gel For this week I think teams that return most of there starters from last season and run the same system may have it tougher than schools Like Richlands with a new coach bringing in a new system

The first game is a non-district game. So it won't count towards the SWD standings -- but I think it does count for power points. I think.

Bears win!!! Awesome job, congrats to the players and coaches for a great game plan!! Bring home the hardware Bears!!

The overall enrollment number drives the state and federal funding, so it’s easy just to shift boundaries to keep schools at a relatively equal size. See also: Charlottesville/Albemarle County. Augusta County has 5 HSs, so it’s easy to hide.

ATW will be filming for this season, looking forward to getting back at it! Long Live Mance Cream!

Logic doesn’t really matter to the king 😂 . Follow the science is all we’ve heard but only when it suits the ones in “control”.

Go to nfhsnetwork.com You'll have to subscribe. It's $10.99 per month or $69.99 per year. Once you sign up and subscribe you'll get to choose a school to support. I'm pretty sure the supporting school will receive some type of monetary reward. That should get you setup. You'll also be able to follow certain schools and watch live events. If you hit the "on demand" tab you'll be able to watch archived games. Some of those games going back years depending on when the school got set up with nfhs In order to watch games you can either search by school or if you have followed certain schools it should pop up on the main page.

My dad graduated from high school with a regular, old high school diploma in 1977, wasn't in special education, and didn't know how to read. Like NCLB or not, kids have a much stronger education now than they did before, and you can't water down the material when every student in the state takes the same final exam. Whether or not that education is useful is another story. I think the problem is that the last 25 years or so of tech development has shifted the definition of hard work and discipline, and its finally started to come to fruition in rural America in the last ten years. Very few people work 9-5 jobs doing hard labor anymore; and the few who do are, with due respect, are doing it not because they want to, but it's because it's all they can do. Plus, with the widespread coverage of CTE research, it's hard to convince a teenager to commit themselves to something that will have no positive impact on their life after they graduate. It's become more apparent that football has can potentially be devastating to a person's long term health, and the physical toll may not be worth it to kids who aren't going to be playing for world beater teams. I'll entertain the idea of Gen Z being soft all day and twice on Sunday, but it's due to the environment that my generation and my parents generation put them in, namely, study as hard as possible and protect your health. In regards to playing football, there are no longer any apparent benefits to them, so a lot of them are choosing just not to play.

Just under two weeks from kickoff. In the words of Bart Scott: CAN'T WAIT

Everyone say it with me: the transitive property has no place in sports. Lol

While this is probably true in some cases I also know that there are some kids who simply don't want to "commit" to the program the way a winning program requires. Their are parents that let their kids quit things when they get tough, don't teach them that when you start something -you finish it. Sitting at at home in front of the video game is much easier than being held accountable for workouts and conditioning. See it every day in the schools systems.

Total ridiculousness! Outdoor stadiums are far larger and obviously open air in contrast to gymnasiums. Our Governor is an idiot! He’s stolen enough from our kids the past year. Common sense has left the house so to speak. I mean what’s the capacity of Mitchell Stadium? 10.000??? There are going to be maybe 100 people allowed in? I mean at least give coaches a pair of tickets too. It’s not like it’s going to be a gazillion more people. I’ll be tuning in my radio. Thank goodness for that at least. Sorry for the rant!

vent away because this is stupid! hardees can have up to 49 people in there but football outdoors can have zero? crazy

Here in the People's Republic of Bedford, the only home team attendees will be the actual football team and cheerleaders. However, the visiting team can bring as many spectators as VHSL/state protocols will allow (including their band, if they choose). Because....you know....science?

To me one of the biggest question marks for Graham is the linebackers. Graham lost two of the best linebackers quite possibly the school has seen. The chemistry and talent that Kastner and Edwards had isn't something that comes around every year. It's definitely not something that can be replaced in 3 weeks of practice. Graham has a lot of young kids that will get playing time this year. Should be an interesting year for sure.

Post from Pulaski Co Schools few days ago: Pulaski County Public Schools Pulaski County Public Schools' Response To Governor Northam's Amended Executive Order #72 Pulaski County Public Schools received notice last week that Governor Ralph Northam has amended executive order #72 in a way that reduces the number of potential spectators at football games and prohibits public schools from counting cheerleaders and band members as participants/players. The amended order is forcing schools throughout the state to choose between excluding band and cheer from participation or reducing the number of parents who can attend these events. We are opposed to the restrictions imposed by the amended order for the following reasons: 1. The order is discriminatory in that it diminishes the role of predominantly female groups of student athletes and musicians, who are essential participants in the football game experience, by classifying them as spectators. 2. The order is not grounded in the science that we currently utilize in implementing Covid mitigation strategies. We know from experience that we can safely put 1000 students a day into our high school with classrooms at 80% capacity by masking and social distancing. Counting band and cheer as participants in addition to 250 spectators would still leave our football stadium, an outdoor venue, at less than 5% capacity. 3. The order is arbitrary and capricious. There is a noticeable lack of consistency in how executive order #72 establishes expectations for outdoor venues. Public beaches and amusement parks are afforded much more leeway and allowed incredibly higher attendance rates than high school stadiums which have been relegated to the category of community rec programs. It's a designation that is insulting to our extracurricular and co-curricular programs while tying the hands of local governments to meet the needs of their communities. Pulaski County Public Schools will abide by the guidance set forth in the amended executive order #72 while exploring available options for challenging it such as seeking a legal remedy through the courts or requesting a Title IX investigation regarding the possible gender discrimination aspect. It is our sincerest hope that Governor Northam will reconsider his decision and include band and cheer as participants when new guidance is issued at the end of the month. Our teachers and coaches are doing incredible things to create positive experiences for kids and our students deserve the same effort from their state government. Pulaski County Public Schools appreciates the overwhelming amount of support that we've received from throughout the state over the past week regarding our original plan to classify band and cheer as participants. It is our hope that these individuals and others will exercise their right to reach out to the Governor's office to advocate for equal consideration for all student athletes and musicians as his administration works to develop new guidance that will go into effect on March 1, 2021.

Exactly.....like I said “been too long”. I have faith in the current coaching staff, but the current crop of kids is pretty far removed from the moxie of the last successful GC team, with a few exceptions. Reed’s brother was an all state DB in ‘14. Him, Edwards and Jenkins are players. The rest are very young and/or very inexperienced, and most don’t even remember a successful season. Times are different, kids are different, and the once successful feeder program has been broken for some time.

As someone with limited knowledge of both teams, this score seems surprising.

Starting QB, and only experienced senior, went down early in the 1st with an ankle injury. They had a few seniors come over from basketball but none have played since little league. Had a couple in quarantine, including Jenkins who is their speedster. Youth and inexperience across the line. Rough night for sure.

Seems like the game that should have the most juice this week with Richlands vs Graham being a non-District tilt Central is returning 11 on a D that held Adkins and Ridgeview to 7 points at home in there last meeting given the weather I am looking for it to be a low scoring game. with the winner having a big leg up in the playoff hunt

I’ve skipped around a few different games and from a quality standpoint this game is the only one even close to being watchable. So far the NFHS camera quality is terrible all around. Sad that all of SWVA got duped.

Congrats to Union. Proved a lot of us wrong, myself included. Now bring home another title to SWVA on Sunday!

True Story. I was talking to an assistant coach from Riverheads several years ago at a family gathering, after they had won a controversial state title game over J.I. Burton. Not sure why he was there, I think he came with a family member to go fishing (we were at the New River). I didn't go to the game, but saw the hi-lights. He asked me for my thoughts. First, I told him that I thought Burton was ripped off because of the unsportsman like conduct call after a touchdown scored by Burton late in the game was bogus. The kid from Burton scored and gently flipped the ball toward the referee... the ref threw a flag and gave Burton an unsportsman like conduct penalty, which forced them to go for 2, instead of 1 for the tie. Needless to say, they missed it and ended up losing the state title game by 1 point. I also asked him how Riverheads was able to stay A, with AA numbers. I told him that their record would be much different, if they had to play the likes of Graham, Richlands, Giles, Gate City, etc.. Needless to say, I think he was expecting me to praise Riverheads success, but heard quite the opposite.

Our region has seen three consecutive years of record-setting precipitation. We had roughly 63 inches in 2018, 65 inches in 2019 and 70+ inches in 2020. Considering we average 43 inches per year, a 50% increase for three consecutive years has left wetter conditions in most areas than anything we have ever seen. This region has water in places water has never been seen before. Grass fields are going to be destroyed in very short order. I think we will see games being played on turf after concessions are made to allow for moving games. For example, Grayson will play the majority of their season at Galax.

8 days for several teams. I know RV and Central are opening on Monday night, who else?

Good job Ryan ! Enjoyed that !

But what if they aren’t athletes and having that problem? Craig County has 160-170 kids 9-12. Middle School has about 130 6-8. Elementary school has about 230ish K-5. This pandemic has deprived many of the structure needed to succeed.

Fact...friends don't need to apologize to friends...unless they slept with their wife or stole their dog...

Lots of other opportunities, sports isn't the only game in town anymore.

if mask work why 6 feet apart and if 6 feet apart why mask?

Just found out; they chose a hybrid. Top 2 teams from each District with the most power points will advance. So the district standings will come down to Power Points.