Plywood_King

Here are a few I ran across today: Holston Cavaliers: 08/28 vs Hurley 09/04 at Twin Springs 09/11 at John Battle 09/18 vs Honaker 09/25 at Marion 10/09 at Patrick Henry 10/16 vs Northwood 10/23 vs Rural Retreat 10/30 vs George Wythe 11/06 at Chilhowie Patrick Henry Rebels: 08/15 at Bland (Scrimmage) 08/20 vs Abingdon (Benefit) 08/28 at Castlewood 09/04 vs Rye Cove 09/18 at Twin Springs 09/25 vs John Battle 10/02 at Rural Retreat 10/09 vs Holston 10/16 at Marion 10/23 vs George Wythe 10/30 vs Chilhowie 11/06 at Northwood Rural Retreat Indians: 08/14 at Carroll County (Jamboree) 08/21 vs Lebanon (Benefit) 08/28 vs Fort Chiswell 09/04 at Bland 09/11 at Galax 09/18 vs Tazewell 09/25 at Marion 10/02 vs Patrick Henry 10/16 at Chilhowie 10/23 at Holston 10/30 vs Northwood 11/06 at George Wythe Tazewell Bulldogs: 08/14 vs Rye Cove (Scrimmage) 08/28 at Virginia 09/04 at Graham 09/11 vs Grayson County 09/18 at Chilhowie 09/25 vs Rural Retreat 10/02 vs Marion 10/09 vs Richlands 10/23 at Grundy 10/30 at Abingdon 11/06 vs Lebanon Lebanon Pioneers 08/28 vs Honaker 09/04 vs Lee 09/11 at Grundy 09/18 at John Battle 09/25 vs Central 10/09 vs Abingdon 10/16 at Castlewood 10/23 at Virginia 10/30 vs Richlands 11/06 at Tazewell Castlewood Blue Devils: 08/15 at Twin Valley (Scrimmage) 08/28 vs Patrick Henry 09/04 at Honaker 09/11 vs Thomas Walker 09/18 vs Hurley 09/25 at Rye Cove 10/02 at Northwood 10/09 vs Twin Springs 10/16 vs Lebanon 10/23 at JI Burton 11/06 at Eastside Rye Cove Eagles: 08/14 at Tazewell (Scrimmage) 08/21 vs Home (Jamboree) 08/28 at Tri-Cities Christian 09/04 at Patrick Henry 09/11 vs Hancock 09/18 at Thomas Walker 09/25 vs Castlewood 10/02 at Harlan 10/09 vs Eastside 10/23 vs Twin Valley 10/30 vs JI Burton 11/06 at Twin Springs

Clearly, Mike London is an inside man, trying to establish a pipeline of FBS players for Richmond.

2A Rankings: 1. Virginia High 2. VA High 3. Bearcats 4. Bristol (VA) 5. Bristol (Not Battle) 6. I-81 South Orange and Black 7. Lebanon 8. Marion 9. Union 10. Bristol (Battle) 11-26. Virginia High JV 27. Everybody else But yeah, VA High is pretty good.

I can't even...

Steve Wright, Marion & John Battle Joey Carroll, Marion Head Football and Boys Track Coach, Assistant Football Coach for Wright Marshall Doss, Emory & Henry Assistant Football Coach, Football Player for Wright Stephen James, Pulaski County Head Football Coach, Assistant Football Coach for Wright Hunter Trivette, Marion Head Wrestling and Boys Tennis Coach, Assistant Wrestling Coach for Wright Justin Hughes, Marion Girls Track Coach, Football Player for Wright Mike Briscoe, Former Marion Head Football Coach, Assistant Football Coach for Wright at Marion & Battle A good chunk of Marion's assistant football staff are former players of Wright's as well.

I'm not picking sides here, I just hope that whoever gets the job is qualified and gets the support of the athletic department and community. However, that is the most ridiculous logic I have ever heard. How many times have we seen excellent athletes fall flat on their face as a coach? Meanwhile, Doug Blevins has never kicked a football in his life, and is one of the most sought after kicking coaches to be involved in the sport. I'm not saying that Palmer wouldn't be successful, but to write off Akers because he wasn't a star athlete, when he has already proven his ability to coach, is asinine. Although, let's be honest, it's all a moot point. Odds are, Akers will still in Rural Retreat this fall, and Graham will have a new coach that half of the community will be calling for to be fired by halftime against Bluefield. I hope I'm wrong, but it's the nature of the beast. Once you've had a taste of success, second best won't do, and patience isn't a trait that sports fans are known to practice.

Not to say that Wright was a bad hire, but anytime that you hire a head football coach who is an AD that has already retired from coaching football, longevity isn't among the attributes that you're looking for in a coach.

Marion: 08/28 - at Chilhowie 09/04 - vs Northwood 09/11 - at George Wythe 09/18 - vs Rural Retreat 09/25 - vs Holston 10/02 - at Tazewell 10/09 - BYE 10/16 - vs Patrick Henry 10/23 - at Ridgeview 10/30 - at Virginia 11/06 - vs Abingdon Same as last year, with Union swapped for Ridgeview.

It might be wishful thinking in regards to FSU, but still, the struggle is real.

I like how Marion had both a 1st Team runningback and 2nd Team offensive lineman listed, and the runningback was 5'11" and 225, while the lineman was 5'11" and 230. Man, Wagner was/is a big 'ol boy.

They haven't exactly had a murderer's row of opponents thus far, but still, I think that before the Rural Retreat game they were averaging over 100 points a game, which no matter how you look at it, is impressive. In case you haven't seen it, HogoOnline got an interview with Coach Snodgrass, where he kind of explains their strategy. http://hogoheegee.com/31-hogo-blog/hogo-blog/3542-behind-the-arc-interview-with-chilhowie-s-matt-snodgrass-after-115-points.html

That's not the first time that happened to the Maroons, and at times, it's made scheduling very difficult for them. Some of the best fans I know are from Wytheville, so I certainly don't mean that as a crack at GW, but rather the nature of local athletics. There are some schools, that because of the atmosphere of the communities and the feelings between them, aren't meant to play each other.

GW/FC has been pretty good over the past couple of years. When competitive, there's not a more intense rivalry in the state than Marion and Abingdon, and it looks like this year was just a preview of how competitive that rivalry will probably be over the next few years. Union vs. Lee and Marion vs. Chilhowie seem to be games where you can throw any preconceived notions that you may have out the window, it's going to be a good game, and of course Marion vs. Chilhowie is one of the longest uninterrupted rivalries in SWVA. A game that people don't talk about very much is Galax vs. Grayson County, but that one has had some classics recently. Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Shots fired by Food City! Seriously, safe travels to anyone coming across the mountain(s). Here's to hoping that the better team wins, and everyone stays healthy.

Eh, yeah, but as it's been said before, Marion's away bleachers, aren't really bleachers. A lot of folks, will either sit on the hill above of the home bleachers, or if they're not intimidated by doing it, in the home bleachers themselves. Marion fans can be pretty rowdy, but they're usually respectful of opposing fans, and some of them might kid around with you, but they wouldn't be hostile if you chose to sit on the home side. You can get a pretty good view of the away stands in this video:

And by "MOST of the HOGO" he means the four guys in Saltville whose jealousy outweighs their desire to see their District succeed.

Seconded on the brisket. The best I've had in a long time. Most of the sides are old Hungry Mother Grocery recipes, and for anyone who knows what the Hungry Mother Grocery was, they don't need to be told that twice. It's sauce-on-the-side style barbecue, which isn't my thing, but the high quality meats and side dishes more than make up for that. All around, it's some tasty vittles.

70 years or so ago, one of Marion's coaches decided that they needed a live mascot. A goat was easy to manage, and could fit on a bus without having to bring a trailer, so that's what they went with. It's also on the Smyth County seal for some unknown reason. There's a popular legend that Marion was too poor afford a tractor to cut the grass on the old football field, and that they would let goats graze on it to keep the grass short, but to me, that seems more anecdotal than factual.

This one is going WAY back, but it's one that I've heard ever since I was a kid: In 1953, Marion scored 9 unanswered points in the final fifteen seconds to beat Clintwood, 56-52 in the state finals, giving VHSL Hall of Famer Charlie Harkins a state championship in his first season coaching. All five of Clintwood's starters were seniors, they had won two state titles in the three years prior, and they just had a VHSL-record 66 game win streak be broken. They were playing against Marion, who had three freshmen starters, as well as a first year head coach. As you can imagine, it was quite the upset.

I still haven't figured out this whole "embedding tweets" thing: https://twitter.com/JFloyd6942/status/533452910865444866

^ All of this. As an overall scheme, it's pretty much a multiple offense, but if you had to give it a more in-depth label, from what I've seen, it's a Wing-T from the pistol, with lots of veer elements thrown in. They like their split backs and flexbone formations. Kind of off topic, but it seems like almost every team in SWVA that still runs the Wing-T is shifting things toward the pistol. I guess that's just the way that the sport is changing.

The same Marion team that blew out Union, and defeated Abingdon, lost to Northwood, who in turn lost to Patrick Henry and Rural Retreat. PH lost to Tommy Walker, and Rural Retreat got beat by Holston, who allowed 72 points from Rye Cove. Welcome to the Hogo. This is the same confusing mess of a District that went 4-2 against the SWD and 2-2 against the Mountain this year.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Rebs upset the Wave. They have improved tremendously as the season has progressed, but consistency has been an issue for PH. At the risk of using a cliche, it will be interesting to see which Rebel team shows up at Ralph Cummins this weekend.

I saw Appomattox play Marion last year. They ran a split back veer, very little passing, and speed all over the field. My understanding is that they lost a lot of their playmakers from last year, but considering that they had similar results, I'd say that they're still going to be tough. If I remember correctly, they came as close as anyone did to defeating Giles last year, losing 17-14 in Pearisburg in the second round. I'm pulling for the Generals, but I get a feeling that it will be an uphill battle.