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Council walks out of another season without a loss.

Toilet paper should go over the top and absolutely never come from underneath. Anyone that prefers toilet paper come from underneath is a truly disturbing human being!

How do you guys think each district will finish this year? 2A: M7 Union- Not sure if this is picked correctly but Union or Abingdon one will win the M7. Polier will be BIG on defense for the Bears. not sure how the Offense will look but Turner will have them ready come August. Abingdon- As I said I’m not sure who will but one of these two will. Abingdon has a community behind their coach and the players. Not sure what they have returning but I think some coaching up with the size of the school they will be ok. Ridgeview- Adkins will be a one man show with Sexton graduating. Graduated most of OL I believe should be interesting to see if the pack stays afloat in the M7 Gate City- Akers has a tale.. oh wait a new coach in Houseright has a talented bunch coming in. Community seems to be behind him should be a solid first year in for coach. Central- Owens had to make due with a new QB after his got injured last season. Warriors have a lot of good talent. Should be a scary bunch this year or next Lee- New coach and some young talent looking to make a name for theirselves. May win a few they aren’t supposed to. John Battle- First year head coach. Struggled much of 2018. Should be young team looking for experience SWD Graham- great coaches will keep this team in the front after losing a game changer like Cam Allen Richlands- Richlands will be Richlands. They got a good kicker 🙂 Virginia High- Lost a lot of kids from last year not sure how the talent looks below that. I think injuries may had been the problem last year. Tazewell- I have no idea what to expect this team seemed so promising last year but struggled. Seems to be a lot of talent being groomed hopefully they can capitalize. This is my 2A dark horse pick. Marion- new head coach should be decent year for the Canes. Have some good younger talent returning this year Lebanon - Struggled in 2018. Hopefully they can load in some talent and gain some experience 1A Cumberland John I Burton- a lot of young talent on this team last year but also lost some very good talent in the Thacker kid. Seemed to be their glue last year. Expect the raiders to be a front runner for the Region D. Eastside- Lost the best QB in the area in Rasnick. Not sure if they have anybody that can match him coming up. Whited kid will be a star for them along with LB Bellamy. Rye Cove- I believe this team will shock many people this year. Aside from losing DC to Gate City I think they had some solid players last year and may have one of the dark horse squads in the Cumberland. Thomas Walker- Unfortunately TW couldn’t live up to the hype last year. I know a lot of people on the board were “on board” for the Pioneers. Got a few returners hopefully they can get something going and get a few wins in the district. Twin Springs- 2018 wasn’t good to the titans. Hopefully in his 2nd year coach Warner will get something going. Castlewood- still no coach and nearing June. Not sure they return a lot I know the Mullins kid was pretty good but I believe he was a SR Hogoheegee Patrick Henry- Should be one of the better if not the best team in region d. Returning almost an entire offense from last year. PH should thrive behind the 2 back tandem of last year. Only lost twice to the buzzsaw known as Chilhowie. Chilhowie- Lost a lot not real sure if they have the talent on lower levels to reload with the amount of talent they have had over the previous 2 years. BHC Article has one “Key Player” returning from last years squad Rural Retreat- first year back in the Hogoheegee should be interesting for the Indians. Not much should change seeing as they play almost all the district teams already. Holston- Their QB was the bright spot but he is graduated and it’ll be interesting to see how they regroup after a very impressive 2018 Northwood- it’ll be interesting to see how new head coach Tim Johnson recruits some of the athletes at Northwood. They have talented athletes on basketball team maybe some of them come to play and they win a few. Black Diamond Honaker- should have one of the top teams in region d. QB and Hubbard’s son was one of the best tandems in our area last year. Grundy- Lost one of the best backs in 1A to graduation will be interesting to see how the wave does in 2019 Hurley- First year head coach few kids coming back. May surprise some people with a few more wins than expected Twin Valley- Lost a lot. missing Keen kid will hurt

He has a good arm and great speed. But the QB position is one that is tough to predict based purely on athletic ability. Honestly I feel better going into this year at that position than i did going into last season.

Virginia High has a true chance to only win 2-3 games. They have a great group of assistant coaches and a couple of good, young athletes, but they are a couple of years away from trying to be competitive again. Eighth graders had to try and carry their JV team last year, and unless a kid is a D1 or high level D2 talent, freshmen tend to take lumps at the varsity level, especially with the schedule that VHS has had the last couple of years. Numbers will be a problem again and they won’t have that same core of seniors having to carry the load, despite all of the in-house cards being stacked against them. Region 2D should be Graham’s play thing again this year. Tazewell, Ridgeview, Union, Richlands, and Wise Central will be the 2nd tier teams. Battle and Gate City would round out my top 8. Marion, Lee, Lebanon, and VHS will be at the bottom looking up.

I predict the officiating corps will be stretched to it's limits once again. Fans on Twitter will skewer them at any opportunity with blanket statements for an entire association and/or state. The AOA is trying to be more proactive in recruiting officials for ALL sports. This is not just a local issue but, a national one as I am sure most of you are aware by now. For the football association, the average age is somewhere between 50 and 60. We need younger blood before the numbers game gets any worse. If you or anyone you know has even the slightest interest in officiating, we need to talk with them.

Appomattox isn’t close?

2A MountaIn 7 Union, Abingdon, Ridgeview all are a toss up and could go either way. All three teams are well coached and have a ton of talent coming back. Pollier and Adkins are two of the best players not only in this area, but the entire state. Central will be the sleeper, always talking about being good, now it is time to be good. If they can't win with this great group of kids they all talk about, might be time to move in a different direction. Battle and Gate City should be in the mix for the 5 spot, both are rebuilding, but Gate City will be good again in a year or two, just wait and see Lee with the new coach is a ?, very young and a new staff SWD Graham is the team to beat, maybe in state again Richlands is always good Va High should have a few athletes Tazewell is always the underachiever, but might take a giant step this season Marion has a new coach so we will see what happens, been pretty competitive the last few years Lebanon might have another long year 1A Cumberland J.I. Burton - Loaded with young talent, speed, and size. Should be one of the best teams in the region, if the QB can step up. Thacker was a stud and good leader for them. Eastside- Lost the best QB in the area as stated above, but have some big time talent and a good coaching staff. Thomas Walker- Won 7 games and made the playoffs for the second straight year, but they need to move forward this year and win some more important games. Have to beat someone good in order to be considered a good team. Eastside and Burton are top dogs until anyone proves different. Rye Cove - Had a great season, honestly were about 3 plays from being 7-3, but look for them to improve record this season. Should win 5 or 6 games with the schedule they have and who they got back. the key will be replacing Houseright, he was the heart of the team and the players played hard for him. Twin Springs- Warner is doing a great job and I look for them to win 3 or 4 games this season Castlewood- This is a complete cluster and it won't get any better. Good luck to those poor kids. Hogoheegee Patrick Henry- Best team in Region 1D, should be undefeated and playing in the Region Championship again. Palmer is a great coach and has a ton of talent. Chilhowie- Still Chilhowie until someone proves any different, should win between 7-9 games in a reloading year Rural Retreat- to be determined Holston- Should be competitive again, lost a lot, but Patterson is doing a great job with this team. Northwood- Give him a few years and Johnson will have this team competing, he is one of the top offensive coaches in SWVA. Just needs to find some players to help. Black Diamond Honaker- Should have a great season, one of the better teams in Region D. Alot coming back, but they play a very tough schedule. Grundy- Lost about 18 Seniors so this could be a long year for Grundy, could finish anywhere from 2nd to 4th in the district depending on how the young kids step up. The Hurley game will be huge in determining position. Hurley- I look for Hurley to get back to the playoffs and win about 6 or 7 games. They have a great core coming back, and the coach should do a good job with what he has. Look for them to be very much improved. Twin Valley- Lost the best 2 players they had on the roster, but the Ward kid is an up and coming star. Look for about the same out of the Panthers. Region 2D Playoff Predictions Graham Union Ridgeview Richlands Va High Tazewell Central Battle Region 1D Playoff Predicitions Patrick Henry J.I. Burton Chilhowie Honaker Eastside Hurley Thomas Walker Rye Cove, Grundy, or Holston Top 5 could finish anywhere in between 1-5 1 Gridiron60 reacted to this

Adkins has received an offer from UVa!

That's what I heard

Good chance

Ok

I recently spoke to a coach at Graham and was told that the kid from Giles was going to Radford.

I'm just glad yall have found the football thread again!!!!

Oh how I have missed football season. Only a few more short weeks and this board will be a bustle with football talk and camaraderie once again.

There isn't a need to argue it and this will be my last post in the thread. I can tell you with 100% certainty no member of the Graham coaching staff called this kids family first. To put it another way, the first inquiry about this kid playing for/interest in Graham can from Giles County, VA, not Bluefield, VA, and I know that exactly. Follow up or phone calls about his interest? Of course, Graham obliged and who wouldn't. I can tell you with that the call to the young mans father came AFTER the folks at Giles had reached out/contacted/inquired about Graham. I will leave it at that and Hokiebird7, I respect your take and dont deny or question what you were told. I'm saying the first inquiry was from Giles Co, VA, to Tazewell Co, VA, and not the other way around. For the comments about kids transferring or being recruited or whatever you want to call it in the Bluefield area, of course it's gone on for 50+ years with Bluefield and Graham. The two are in the same city. Sure, different states but Bluefield is Bluefield and these kids grow up with each other playing at the local community center, families have families on both sides of the state line and cousins, etc. When Graham has a good run, some of the Bluefield kids will come over, and Bluefield got some from Graham in Grahams down years after Coach Carlock passed and up until a few years ago. There's a couple of kids out at the divide (Western part of Springville towards Tazewell) that have come to Graham for football and some that have gone to Tazewell over the years for Tazewells baseball. This stuff happens. I dont blame Richlands for having the kids from McDowell Co, come over. Richlands is a better school and theor football team is solid. As for Bluefield, you cant tell whether your in WV or VA unless you pay close attention to the state signs (for people not familiar with Bluefield). The shifting and transferring of players from Graham and Bluefield has and will happen for as long as they have High schools simply do to proximity. Graham has the edge now or the momentum. Bluefield will have it or take it back in a few years. It goes in cycles.

No need for anyone from Richlands to be jealous of Graham, this has been happening for years in Bluefield, nothing strange about it, except for the fact that now they have been open about it, while back in the day they did it all behind closed doors. I wish all area teams well, but to say Richlands is jealous of anyone in this area is a misnomer in my book, and your talk about the economy in Richlands shows that the jealousy may be on your side of the field.

I'm wondering if Stone is positioning himself to start a football program at Cornerstone in the future They're still too small (enrollment) to play 11-man any time soon, but they could theoretically play 8-man or 6-man in the next few years It wasn't that long ago that Mountain Empire Baptist School in Bristol (TN) was winning regularly at the 8-man Christian school level