RebRaider85

It isn't really the government. Only the city schools really get any extra municipal money. All the county schools get is what the parents are willing to support. Some schools do a real good job with that. My kids have been blessed to go to a county school with a really involved parent base and supportive community organizations. That made a tremendous difference in sports, band, and all sorts of extracurricular activities. We did lots of the field maintenance and painting, lots of stadium maintenance, expanded the weight training building and all that. The county stopped with what they built 35 years ago.

I think at least one of the games was decided by only a touchdown but it might not be consistently competitive as you said. It definitely isn't a head to head (school to school) completion though. The TN roster only comes from Sullivan, Hawkins, Johnson, Washington, Greene, and Carter counties in TN. The VA roster covers a much wider geographic area so that is why I think a competitive squad could be assembled. I think the biggest difference is in the preparation programs that seem to be more prevalent on the TN side. Year round weight programs, speed coaches, youth football programs, and things like that are more easily supported in a more urban setting. That stuff makes a difference.

I too would prefer to see the VA-TN game return. I agree with the slaughter comment in relation to past results but you would think that would have to turn around at some point. Man up! The best TN players often did not play in the FCA game anyway because if they were picked for the TN East-West game or the TN-KY All-Star game then they generally didn't play in the FCA game. I totally disagree with an "enrollment gap" having anything to do with past results. The only really BIG schools are actually D-B and Science Hill (Elizabethton is somewhere between 700 to 800 students). I don't think that an enrollment gap means much anyway to a game of this format because aren't there usually only 4 or 5 students at the most represented from each school?

Cousins went down right in front of me and I could see the back of his helmet slam the ground really hard, knew then he would not be getting up for a while. His legs were still wobbly a few minutes later as they were helping him off the field. After Union scored their next touchdown he got up and tried to find his helmet but one of the coaches was holding it and would not give it to him. Cousins looks to be a fine player and I was glad to see he was a junior so he wouldn't close his high school career out with an injury like that.

Drove up from Tennessee to see a ball game last night. Got there a few minutes late and sat on the Graham side since that was the closest set of stands. The two couples sitting directly behind me were very nice folks but in 40+ years of going to high school football games all over TN and SWVA I have never never seen a worse group of whiners in the stands. I was embarrassed to be sitting in the midst of all that and wondered to myself why all of those adults were teaching their kids to behave like that. Not as bad as the Greeneville vs Trezevant game a few years ago on the field but at one point I was worried it could get like that.

Agree on the visitor seating. There will be space on the home side as well. Crocket has a 4th year starter at QB, a very good Junior RB, and at least one good WR. There typically isn't a deep supporting cast though.

I understood. I hope I can make it Friday as these are two of my favorite teams and both have a great fan base. May have to work :(

Sorry folks for my rant here. For the last 3 years or so DC has been the antithesis of what you would want your sons football team to be all about. I'm a South/North/Gate City fan. That said, I'll lay off DC and just say "Go Bears!".

Never in my worst nightmares did I ever think that DC could be considered a NET representative. Please look toward the Sullivan South and Sullivan North games with SWVA teams as being more representative of what decent NET football programs are about. The only decent wins DC has had in the last 2 years were both over Sullivan East the others were over much smaller schools or other perennial doormats. To put it in perspective DC beat East 26-20. South played them twice and beat them 40-0 (in a muddy rainstorm) and 56-0 in the playoffs.

South is stout against the run this year. GC is gonna have to throw it to make it a game. Backfield is least experienced area for the Rebels this year.

That is two really different things there. Having "a couple guys who are dangerous" and "a solid program" are situations that are worlds apart. They are typically very undisciplined. Refs will have to keep a close hand on things. DC is still on probation from a melee during a game last year and they have a wide reputation for cheap shots. They had a new coach come in 3 or 4 years ago and seem to have more of a thug attitude since then but he has tried to get them some more wins by scheduling smaller schools. DC is a school of about 1300 to 1400 who has been scheduling out of conference games against schools half their size to hopefully get a few W's each year. The transfers from Science Hill were mostly basketball players. DC does have a senior QB who has been a starter since he was a freshman. I'd say that Union should be fine.

South is down a bit from previous years but seems to have a solid set of contributors settling in. Lost to Tennessee High 35-21 but discovered a passing attack in the 4th quarter of that game. Wish they had started throwing it a couple quarters earlier. They have beat Seymour 37-7 (37-0 at halftime) and Daniel Boone 28-14. South is not running the spread like they have in past years, preferring to run the ball and has started doing that by committee with at least 5 or 6 players getting significant numbers of carries. I was expecting GC to be pretty good this year but that hasn't turned out that way so far. South by 14.

If the Union coach told you they were a solid program then you need to question his judgement. DC has always been a doormat program in Northeast Tennessee.

Hey Wave316, what happened to the TN side this year? I always enjoy going to all the post season games that I can make (TN-KY Border Bowl is this upcoming weekend) and really missed the TN-VA FCA game this year. I was all over the papers, FCA web site, and anywhere else I could think of but never did see any press on even the VA East-West game that actually happened so I didn't make it to that game. I know that some of the top TN players don't make the FCA game because the TN statewide East-West game is more prestigious and the KY-TN game competes for players too but I have always really liked the FCA TN-VA game and the message that it represents.

Been meaning to chime in here but time got away from me. That was a whale of a game. Congrats to both for great seasons and best wishes to Richlands next week.Looking forward to visiting Legion Field again next September with my SS Rebels.

Nice looking digs. You mentioned getting some Tennessee schools on the schedule. This is a good year to do that as TN is doing a complete realignment of their conferences next year and there will be a lot of teams looking to fill out their schedule.

SN lost to Elizabethton 55-20 and were helped to that showing quite a bit by the refs. At least 2 TD's were greatly aided by penalties. Even though they lost 21-0 I was very impressed by Gate City against Sullivan South. The Blue Devils should do well in the playoffs and I'll be there to cheer them on if my Rebels are not playing.

High level expertise! Now that is a joke right there. Just a football fan who has roots in both SWVA and Northeast Tenn.

You can't really use this to compare to the rest of VA but I found it interesting that one of the worst teams in Northeast Tenn this year (Sullivan North which is at 1 win 6 losses had competitive games with both 6-1 Union (27-13 loss) and 6-1 Lee High (62-44 loss). That tells me that while things may be "competitive" this isn't a real high level of football being played in SWVA this year.