Ridgeview fans are quick to jump the refs, won't argue that. No sure about the Union observation. Now, I personally disagree with Abingdon in the M7. A 300-student advantage is significant at the 2A level.....not as much as you move up to 3A and above. A quick search shows that the average M7 road trip (throwing out John Battle) is around 1hour 20 minutes by car. The opponents in the River Ridge conference are on average about 2 hours. So, we are talking about on average of 40 minutes (of much easier highway driving mind you).
There are some creative options available....more creative than just placing the most-resource rich school in SWVA in a lower classification. 1) Re-zone: Push the line for Holston closer to Exit 19 (Holston is sitting at 250 kids). You could also rezone and push some kids to Battle or Patrick Henry. 2) Abingdon play football in the River Ridge conference and (much less travel for football) and plays other sports in M7.
I personally think that creative boundaries would allow Abingdon to stay in 2A. Give Holston 50-75 more kids, PH gets 50-75 more kids and Battle gets a few. Get Abingdon closer to the upper 2A limit and grant them an exception.
A few years ago, Abingdon completed in Conference 32 which was basically a River Ridge type district. The Roanoke schools didn’t want/like making the trip to Abingdon, especially on weeknight sports. M7 is best option for financial reasons.
Definitely worth an ole Montcalm vs Pocahontas final score 2 to 1 approach, but guess what Marshall's specialty is? Freaking man to man defense and trapping/pressure defense. It would keep the margin of victory down a bit. They are incredible at forcing turnovers in their half court defense. As for coaching, you give your team the best possible chance to win that is within the rules. In this case, holding the ball is clearly the right approach. My opinion only. Might as well try something different that no team they have played has been able to accomplish, so do something radical. Hold the dang ball. I agree, but just my opinion.
Agree. I have watched JM several times and they have the size and quickness to effectively press. I like the idea of slowing it down but I am not sure it would work against JM.
Still nothing from Falconman which is a shame. Some of his posts were way over the top but there was a lot of humor in it. Falcons were bad during much of Falconman’s time on this board….they helped bring a little smile during those really bad years.
I haven’t seen Falconman at an Abingdon game in a few years. One thing is for sure….concession stand taco sales have plummeted as a result of his absence.
The two teams were penalized a combined 26 times for 225 yards.
Only reason that yardage wasn’t more is that Abingdon had 3 consecutive penalties inside their 1 yard line. Virtually no yardage associated with those.
This seems like as good a time as any for me to share this opinion....
Districts should be comprised entirely of schools within the same classification. With no exceptions. Or there simply shouldn't be any districts at all.
Not workable with 6 classes. I would think 4 classes or lower is the only way this works. I would like to see us go back to 4 classes and maybe it would work.
How would yall like to be Martinsville. Since Patrick Co is leaving to go to the TRD, the 2A Dogs are in a district with 3A Magna Vista, Bassett, and Tunstall, 4A GW-Danville and Halifax Co. And just added 5A Mecklenburg Co. Not looking good in the Ville, 60-0 routs every week.
It’s sad to see the population/enrollment drop to the current level. 10 year old me loved seeing Dennis Mahan, Jamie Mason, Keith Burgess, Rex Varn and the rest play. The 75 Dogs were one powerful team.
Got it from a combination of their Hudl page and the Kingsport Times. #58 Landon Hibbitts played against Battle ( their only team highlight of Fall '21) and he was listed as a senior in KTN. Doesn't show on their Hudl now.
The Battle game was the mass Covid game for AHS. I think 14 or 15 players were out, including one of the starting linemen.
i will go with abingdon, ridgeview, union, GC, lee, battle and central, abingdon has more numbers than the other schools and that is hard to beat, this will be the year for it to happen, look for Luke Honaker to have a breakout year, should get talk about POY!!!
As a seventh grader, Honaker was the best player on the field that I saw during middle school games. I know that 3 years have passed but he’s an outstanding athlete.
They lost 13 seniors. That included their QB, RB, 2 OLs, and all their WRs.
I have no clue what they had coming up to replace that.
Only lost 1 lineman. They have some a couple of players without much football experience but fast who have joined the team. Quarterback is an outstanding athlete.
GW Carver's last graduating class was 88. Magna Vista won state over Charlottesville HS in 89. Jerome Preston was a big man, played qb at Carver and MV but went on to play D-line at Va Tech in college. Good teams in Henry Co in the 80's, Martinsville played in 6 or 7 state championship games winning 5, Dewey Mason won 3, Carver won 2 and MV won 1. Alot of good bball back then.
A friend and I were talking about Coach Jim Young this week. He could really shoot the ball long after his playing days were over. Good man and definitely missed.
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Week 5 Scores/Updates
in SWVA Football
Posted
Abingdon 14
Tennessee High 14.
Halftime