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Union has 2 good WRs, Central has 1, Ridgeview has 3. Ridgeview is the only team in the M7 with the talent at WR to run a spread offense. Central has had the most success in their history running the Wing T, Union just won a regional title and went toe to toe with Graham(and should have beat them) running the T, but you guys think they should spread it out? Its a matter of 2 things - getting your talented kids on the field(who's better your #3 WR or your #1 TE? Who deserves to be on the field?) and coaches running what they can teach. Carroll at Lee is a great example. Lee does not have the talent to throw the ball 35 times a game, their QB is young and they don't have the recievers. Idk that it's a good use of their talent BUT the offense they're running is what Carroll has ran since he was at Marion, he knows it inside and out and that's what he can best teach. They've had some success because of what he's doing. If he was a Wishbone guy I bet he would be running the Wishbone. Travis Turner knows everything there is to know about the T, everything. Unions best shot at state they went to Clarke County and got smacked by a Single Wing team that didn't have the talent they did. If you ask me that solidified Unions offensive strategy in Coach Turners mind. Going in a different direction look at the SWD, I think its insane for Tazewell, Virginia, Richlands(now), and Marion to try to beat Graham at their game. Better to be different and play to your talents strengths. Gtanted Richlands and Tazewell throw it a lot and its a different version of the spread but its still players playing in space. A good example is Lebanon. Last season they started in the spread before finding some success in the Power I. At one point they had a defending state champion wrestler (I think he wrestled at 185) at Slot Reciever. Are you kidding me??? That kid can dominate most LBs and DEs he sees, put him at FB. Not saying a team doesn't have to throw the ball, in today's game defensive strategy has came a long way and throwing the ball is a necessity, but a Offense can throw the ball effectively while still being undercenter and run based. Look at Graham, they've got a solid RB and A DIVISION ONE ATHLETE PLAYING WIDE RECIEVER AND GETTING A HANDFULL OF TOUCHES A GAME. Does anyone think they would be worse in the I Formation with Bradshaw at Tailback getting 20 carries a game? Even if they kept 3 recievers on the field (like Abingdon does) that makes sense to me but Palmer is a Spread guy. Oh, and the best teams in 1A and 2A are run heavy, old school offenses. They've got athletes everywhere but choose to run offenses that their coaches can teach and that are different than what everyone else is doing.

I would also go with option 2. Union has good running backs. They do not have good blocking backs. I'd also work on LB play they need some serious work.

You can approach it with the mentality of securing the win early with the Big Lead by doing what you do and not risking injury and getting your starters out at halftime and getting ready for the playoffs, OR.......you can do what you need to work on, and that's a short-intermediate passing game. I would choose option 2. Pass the ball early. Work on timing, routes, accuracy, and on pass blocking which many forget about. When you are way, way, run oriented, and you do it even in practice, it's a whole other ballgame when you have to pass block in a game you need to pass it some to win. The inverse is true of Richlands over the years. They were very pass happy, and that's fine, but when you get into a playoff game where you need to run it to put it away (Appo 2015 I think it was), then it's a huge adjustment for an OL to all of a sudden run block when the overwhelmingly portion of the OLs practice reps is pass blocking. Pass blocking and run blocking are way different, and watch Union some when they do pass. Forget about the WR route or accuracy of the pass, just watch how the QB is often under duress. That's due to insufficient reps and practice by the OL in pass blocking.

I know some have already commented on this match up in the Week 10 updates. If Richlands somehow manages the win, it will slightly upset the Apple cart as far as playoff brackets. I figured since 2nd place in district rides on this game, it deserved its own thread. Do I think Richlands wins? Unlikely! Do I think anything is possible at this point? Absolutely!

V-High just run to the outside, Richlands is slow. When they were at their best they were fast everywhere.

Are you using reverse psychology to light a fire under Union? I’m fairly certain JB is not shocking anyone this week, lol!

If I'm Union, I'm working on blocking and tackling and staying healthy this week. Re-Group for the playoffs. The potential for Union is through the roof, they are their own worst enemy this season, it seems. Last season, they pulled it together when the playoffs started, I would expect no less from them this season.

Battle will shock the mtn 7 this week. Union has got worse thru out the year. The line couldn't block 5 blind women. And the defensive coordinator couldn't gameplan for a pnut football game.

Battle hosts Tazewell on Tuesday this week, short turn around for them to have to play union

But 2015 was on road while 2017 was at home. I think 2015 Union was a more complete team but I'd favor the 2017 team BC of the defense. Best group of LBs Union ever had, plus a filthy DL and some very good DBs. Not much scoring on that defense. They had allowed 25 total points in three playoff games before giving up.23 to Appo (and at least seven of those game on special teams). Turner didn't wanna run that single wing style offense in 2017, QB (a good QB, Turners son) got injured and he was kinda forced into that offense. A healthy younger Turner and Unions offense would have been much different IMO. They also win it all in 2017 if they beat Appo IMO. Appomattox doesn't run an insane playbook, but they also do an extremely good job of keeping a defense off balance. I'm not sure Union can say the same at this point.

I think CC is when Turner decided what he was going to do offensively. The Bears went up to CC and totally fell apart. I also disagree about their best shot, that 2015 Union team was loaded with talent everywhere - RB, multiple WRs, TE, QB just everywhere. Not to put down the 2017 team but offensively outside of Mitchell they weren't great but Turner made good use of their RBs on Jet and feeding Mitchell the ball. The 2017 team was filthy on Defense. Appomattox is diverse offensively but they don't run that many plays really, from I've seen anyway. The Triple Options they run are really 3 plays in one, add in Dive, Lead, simple but complimentary passing game, and a small shotgun package and I'd be willing to bet Union has more plays in the regular playbook. Talent level has been the difference maker other than in 2017 where mistakes cost Union.

I agree with you redtiger I think they should definitely be running the ball alot like they do now but the passing game needs alot of improvement. They refuse to throw a slant and almost everytime they do pass its 40 yards down field. And they never throw the ball from under center, how about a little play action ever now and then

I agree and disagree. No question, Turner is the guy that sees practice and knows his teams capabilities and limitations more than anyone else. But......this isn't a one year thing. It's one thing to be run oriented, but Union has been super, super run oriented for a long time, and the odds are..........with all the great athletes and football players than have came through Union, over the last 10 years, the odds have to lean in favor of having at least some kid that can throw it decent enough I think Union's so conservative that it puts Bunch in desperate passing situations. Count how many times he's throwing it on 3rd and long, largely because they are so conservative on first down that teams now just play a goal-line defense on first down and completely sell out to the run, and against good teams like Abingdon, you get 2nd and 9 or 2nd and 10. Lastly, the standard by which Turner is judged is NOT in comparison to any message board poster or parents. That standard is judged in comparison to his peers, the other fellow Class 2 coaches across Virginia. I think Turner and the Union staff are AWESOME. Great staff, but even great staffs or coaches can struggle in one area. Union in fact, is to conservative in my opinion and the critique is valid. Nobody is calling for Turner's head. He's one of the best in Virginia, but yes, they need more creativity on offense, especially on First and Second downs. Only my opinion. I still say when all is said and done, Union and Graham will be playing in the Region D Title Game, and in the 4th quarter, it will be anybody's game to win.

My only complaint is they should have put the track around the practice fields between the school and football stadium.

Ronald Curry ranks just below Osama bin Laden and Joseph Stalin on the hate meter for UVA fans. Curry committed to us pretty early in the process. With our "QB of the future", we didn't turn our attention to Aaron Brooks's cousin, who had legitimate interest in following in his cousin's footsteps. It only changed literally the next 20 years of trajectory for both football programs, which were essentially dead even in 1998. Not saying Vick would've chosen UVA, but it'd have been pretty close. And it would've turned those plodding Dan Ellis offenses in 1999-2000 into juggernauts. Then UNC came with bags of cash, and that ended that.

Just learned of the passing of Coach Blevins. He was the head basketball coach at Richlands from 1982 to 1986. During that short tenure, he pulled the Blues out of the basement of the old 11-team SWD and established a winning tradition in Richlands that lasted for over a decade. Long before Richlands started winning trophies on the football field, the school was recognized (and very rightly so, IMO) as being "basketball crazy." That all started with the 1982-83 SWD tournament championship team led by Reggie and his assistant Jack Lyons. On a personal note, I knew him as a good guy who was very generous to me in my own formative years. Bit of an understatement to say that I learned a lot from him. Obituary can be viewed here: http://bdtonline.com/obituaries/x31536960/Mr-Reginald-Reggie-Keither-Blevins-Jr