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Big shout out of appreciation. You've given this old high school football junkie another great season. To the hand full of you I actually know, and the hundreds of you I've got to watch this year, Thank you. Although this probably wasn't the championship season you had hoped for, these will still be remembered as some of the best times of your life. Your dedication and hard work is truly admired. Play with Pride tonight, and give it all you got, 1 more time.

They need something to scream for…..lol

Had to copy and paste from another thread. There’s no way a sane person would stick around after this year. All you torches and pitch fork fans are getting your wish. I appreciate Jeff Tarter for stepping up and standing by these kids, his only payment has been hate and he didn’t deserve it. Little note to whoever is crazy enough to pick up the reigns, remember how fair weather Richlands fans are and good luck. Go blues!

Unlike Blacksburg, at least these players know they're playing their final game.

It has been a season of watching those who we expected to win, and those who we hoped would win. I have a half full glass today, happy for the Loris Lions as they play their first playoff game tonight against the Beaufort Eagles, and a sadness seeing my big Blue Tornado probably go 0-10 tonight. I heard a Christian artist say this last night and it was regarding a song she had written years ago. She was telling the background as to why she had written this song. In its lyric she said she had been through the "burning dessert, but looking ahead saw clear blue water and had come to far to turn back now." She said if we surrender, who do we surrender to and what do we surrender? As she spoke this I naturally thought about my Christian walk; this morning, in contemplation as well, how it can relate to the Blues and their program. We should never let a season, define our legacy, or detain/cease our walk. The trees lose their leaves in the fall, so we see what appears to be a lifeless tree, but it is only a dormant stage. When spring appears, the tree begins to blossom with life again. This is my hope and prayer for the Blues football program. There are deep roots and good soil, hopefully these roots will be inundated with the water of hope, and be cultivated by those who don't deny the setback of the program, but wait for spring and new life. Amen!!!

Many would argue that they did indeed punch it in.

I don't have a dog in this fight and frankly, don't care. But I do have someone I know very, very well and see quite often in the Blacksburg School system. Blacksburg High School is currently battling a severe mono outbreak. Severe enough that the New River Health District is involved. Some things are bigger than football and all "injuries" are not created equally.

A VHS fan giving Grundy hell for the field in the playoffs. How 2004 of you. 🤣 From a VHS alum.

The situation at Liberty is a result of several factors combining to produce kind of a "perfect storm" this season. Chris Watts left as the all-time leader in head coaching wins a few years ago. For the duration of his tenure the Minutemen were somewhat competitive in the Seminole District, which translated into some success at the regional level (including a state title in 2002 and a state semifinal loss to Richlands in 2005 that could have gone either way). But for the last five years or so of Chris' tenure he was struggling to plug some holes. Enrollment at LHS has declined for years despite some growth in the Bedford area and a steady increase in school age population. Big contributor there is local perceptions of relative school values, a very liberal zone transfer policy maintained by the County school system, and some active recruiting activity on the part of private schools in the area (including, but not limited to, LCA). Not sure if this is accurate, but I was told that 5 current starters for Jefferson Forest are kids who live in Bedford but transferred from Liberty. The recreation system that used to sustain the program got blown up ten years ago with the City of Bedford's reversion to Town status. The biggest travesty there is that nobody realized it (including Coach Watts) until it was too late. Compounding this is the shocking level of ignorance about that issue that still exists -- with the current coach griping about a Town recreation program that hasn't existed since 2013. There was a huge vacuum in leadership of the athletic department when some very crucial decisions were being made (such as hiring the replacement for Watts and representing the school's interests in the realignment discussion). Being forced to remain in the Seminole definitely doesn't help (and somebody needs to jerk a knot in several tails associated with the VHSL). But this team would still probably be struggling even if the logical move to the Dogwood would have been approved -- basing that on a 19-0 scrimmage loss to Altavista this year. Rumor I heard is that the Three Rivers District has agreed to accept us -- but I don't think it's possible for that to benefit the football team in any way prior to 2025 One silver lining should be that there is a harsh glare cast on the fact that some changes absolutely need to be made. That's noteworthy because the community is typically very slow to react to changes (or even acknowledge them ) -- see my comment above about the Rec program. Another positive is the fact that the kids are demonstrating some amazing resilience. We had to do away with JV because of numbers and there have been quite a few injuries. But LHS still shows up to play and the hometown crowd still shows up to support them. I'm not really aware of any kids who have quit the team. We also have received a lot of social media attention from opposing fans who have noted that. So in a really weird and pyrrhic sort of way we are still proud of our guys. I estimate that we have about 30 kids who are able to play right now -- unlikely that we ever had anything close to 47. Not that it matters -- and I'm honestly not looking to justify the situation in any way -- but other LHS programs are still performing well. The cross country team just won the Region 2C championship. The volleyball team easily qualified for regional play. And I'm not joking or exaggerating about the band/music program, which is really coming along. Looking ahead, pretty much all of the winter and spring teams are poised to be competitive in the Seminole, easily qualify for the regional playoffs, and a couple have a chance to wreak some serious havoc at the Division 2 state level. Long story short, this is a blip. A painful one to be sure. But Liberty won't stay down. And once the Minutemen are allowed to play against reasonably comparable district opponents, I think all programs (including football) will be just fine.

Taz 16 yd pass 2 pt pass fails Taz 14 Leb 7 4:26 2nd

Princeton 20 park South 7 2nd

Why wouldn't the home PA guy be biased towards the home team? I don't think I've ever been to a stadium where that wasn't the case. 🤔

Giles 7 FC 0 1Q - 5:24

Dude, fact check your rumor source. There’s no way a sane person would stick around after this year. All you torches and pitch fork fans are getting your wish. I appreciate Jeff Tarter for stepping up and standing by these kids, his only payment has been hate and he didn’t deserve it. Little note to whoever is crazy enough to pick up the reigns, remember how fair weather Richlands fans are and good luck. Go blues.

2004, when King's Fork opened in Suffolk. They won their '05 opener. Even Council scored 5 TD's their 1st season. - - - Liberty scored 12 to close out last season vs. JF.

What many people don't know about Coach Tarter is that he actually started his career as head coach of the '87 SMU Mustangs.

Jeff Tarter was named captain of the Titantic after it struck the first iceberg.

Probably was Sasq, my memory is shi%

You'll remember the good times with brothers over wins and losses for the rest of your days. Then you become not only a client on here, but a member lol.

Sorry I didn't see where it had already been posted in this thread

Who knows though, because as stated, the field was a mud bog, and the "lines" were moving during warmups. One of the biggest "what if's" I still wonder about regularly.

Interesting info from fourseasonsfootball.com A loss tonight would complete the first 0-10 season in Blue Tornado history. The 1937 Blues went 0-7-1 and the 1970 Blues went 0-9-1 but Richlands has never lost each game it has played. If Graham scores 15 points, this years Richlands team would be the most scored on team in Richlands history. (2013 Richlands currently holds that but also played 13 games as opposed to 10) A loss to Graham would be the Blues 12th consecutive loss which ties the school record for most losses in a row. The Blues lost 12 in a row from 1960-1961. Graham has won the last seven in the series. 103rd meeting between the Blues and G-Men dating back to 1926. Graham holds a 57-39-5 advantage.

In an earlier post, @Union_Fan ran three different scenarios with the Va High-Marion winner finishing 6th and the loser 8th. Lee finished 7th in all three.

Yes, it was One of the many reasons that Salem threw against a wall hoping something would stick. Bottom line was, they weren't traveling to Grundy, denied Grundy home field advantage, ended up playing on a quagmire in Tazewell (one of the worst if not the worst field conditions I have ever witnessed). Grundy was clearly the superior team that year and ended up, ironically, being victims of terrible field conditions.

Please go back to more local sports ie High school football . We can watch GameDay and get all the college news other ways. Keep it more High school football.

Is Eddie Sloss on the staff?

I liked the podcast that Ryan Dye & Brady Hess used to do. They did a good job too! http://coalfieldsports.com/pod/

Keep in mind that the whole "Union who" by Crig is just a schtick. He's really not THAT dumb. Haha

A few contextual things here that may be absent. The picture above is from a Division 2 game in 1993. The seating specifications for D2 and D4, the division Grundy and Salem we're in, we're a little more, plus Grundy only had seating on one side. Also, the matchup between Grundy/Salem came a few years after the infamous game in Richlands so I'm sure Salem were going to make a fuss about anything down this way given the chance.

1996 whined and cried to VHSL to get semi playoff game at Grundy moved. Game was moved to Tazewell, worst field conditions than at Grundy. Don’t care how many trophies they have, they’re still a bunch of whiny losers.

"When life gets tough and things don't go your way, always remember, it's ok to quit." - Blacksburg High Administration