Val

Hey Stu...pull for family. Just kidding, go ahead and pull for Graham considering your record you mentioned.

I don't anticipate a "flop".  I feel like the game will be much closer than last time.  If we can establish the run like we did this past Saturday, I give us a fighters chance.  If not, it could be a long afternoon!!!  
I just hope we score this time lol

I think this  will be a hard fought game for both teams, however, I'm hoping my Blues come out of Bristol with the 'W'.  Hope Levi (Fle) has some "boomers" to awe the crowd and all aspects of the Richlands game is on point.  GO BLUES!!!

Congrats to Graham on the big win !  Better team right now with more speed and your coaches did a great job of having them prepared.  Games like this happens once in a while and Richlands needs to let this one go (easier said than done ) and get ready for the next one up !  We've had many games like this go in our favor and we've had some ( not many ) go against us and you just have to tip your hat to the better team and go back to work !
Good luck to Graham in the future (  unless we meet in the playoffs )  and wish you guys the best !  The Blues still have one of the best coaches in AA and I'm sure they will learn from this. They should still make the playoffs and that's why it's important for them to let this one go and get back to work.  Like I said before,  sometimes you just have games like this against a team that is better.  The Blues just need to keep working hard and moving forward.

He cut my hair for years also, but I don't think that is him, I could be wrong, and if I am apologize, (been wrong before) , but if it is him, I can assure you that he was not spying on Union.  Look at it this way, he is a great guy, but if you were having someone spy on the opposing team, wouldn't you want someone with a lot more football knowledge than a local barber who takes pictures on the side, come on it just don't make sense.  Most press people move around from side to side to get the best view of the filed, and maybe that's what he was doing, but if you think he was spying, to what avail, Union won.  I can not account for his actions at that game, but I can say in my opinion you have nothing to worry about, he may be a photographer, but he is no spy.

Ryan showing the class person he is ! 
J.Mitchell seems like a classy kid and a great athlete and I wish him all the best and the same to the Union program and fans !  Hope you guys are able to make a deep run and bring back a ring to SWVA !  Good luck to J.Mitchell and all the area athletes that go on to the next level and continue their education and football life !  Enjoy it guys,  life flies by.  It's seems like only yesterday that I played my last game, and now I am almost 60 and can't believe how fast the years have gone by.........so enjoy your youth and learn all you can !

Of course I'm a "True Blue" fan. I give an honest opinion not a fake one. Richlands can win this tonight and that's what I hope for. 

I agree with you, but I don't see Mance changing the whole offense for one game.  I think that would be a big mistake. One play here and there would be okay and could happen, but don't go to practice and get on this thread and tell everything that you have seen, although it doesn't matter, you probably don't know a wing tee set from a power I or pro set anyway.

I will admit Appomattox was one of the best high school teams that I have seen in person. I will also concede that some years we have failed to perform in big games. However, I will gladly take the good, with the bad. There have been several seasons in which I believe we overachieved due to coaching. Those seasons include both with and without transfers. We have been very blessed at RHS.

My favorite thing about this thread is that all the people bitching about kids coming to Richlands would welcome any of those kids into their program with open arms and not think twice about it. 

I have been a poster on this board since 2007 and have, for the most part, enjoyed the posts.  Seeing today what is being posted by members on this thread, that are so inflammatory and over the top, I am very disheartened by it.  I know personally, when Graham took the shellacking at Gate City two years ago, myself and other Richlands posters said you would come back and become a good team, just a matter of time.  Well they have and I for one rooted proudly for them.  I rooted for Marion when they played the Falcons and were the underdog a couple of years ago.  I have been a staunch supporter of the Dawgs in football.  Several I have known--one I lost in 2010 to cancer.   TJ was like a grandson to me.   That was so hard.    I was there on that cold snowy day at Tazewell,  in the playoffs.  I was cheering for my Blues, but when "my buddy" (that is what I called him), kicked or got the ball, I was rooting for him.  I was there in 1986 when Tazewell played for the state championship,  rooting for the Dawgs.  In 2006 when my Blues were playing for the championship, I was there.  In the fourth qtr, I got up from my seat, away from the crowd,  went and stood by myself to pray.  God wasn't a Blue Tornado, but he heard the prayers that were being lifted on their behalf. 
 
I see with my  heart Tazewell County as a whole--not the different schools or communities.  I want all to do well.  I do not want envy or jealousy toward anyone.  Some of you that have posted harsh words today, I will be honest,  anger has risen, but I will not let it make me bitter.  Bitterness does more harm to the one it controls,  then the one it is directed towards.
 
I will close with this scripture which I think is the summation of it all.
 
Proverbs 24:17---"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles."

Well...so much for the love and want of all our SWVA Sports teams to succeed when the playoffs come.
 
I have stuck my neck out many times and defended Canes, G-man and many others through the years. Took my beatings and the HAMMER like a man and learned from it. I really enjoy the " verbal jousting" and banter that we all do. I don't understand these thoughts right after we get our butts kicked though. If that's what it takes to make everybody else happy...then just keep letting us have it.
 
I will continue to back your school's players and fans because I truly want all to be successfull. I do however want us to be 1 point better when we meet...lol. I especially backed the GMen here and on another board very vigorously this year. I think it's great what is happening there. I fully expect them to continue with their success and get even better.
 
I want to wish a very MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone on the board. I think this board is the best...period!!! Good luck to you and yours.

In response to NaderFan: Being a Spartan I will admit that the Biedelman brothers were brought to Giles in 2014 in hopes of winning a championship. I worked with their dad at Volvo. Yes they are good athletes but are not program changing athletes. But look at the Giles state team in 2013 or 2005 and see how many transfers helped us win state. I cannot think of any. Graham nor Richlands can argue with each other this season about transfers because they both had athletes, especially Graham that changed the program. Graham has other talent besides Cousin, but lets face it, he gave them the spark they needed. And Richlands offense centered around Howie, just look at the stats. All schools have transfers somewhere down the line, so we cant bash Richlands, Graham, Giles, Appo, or anyone else.

The Johnsons were the first to transfer here, and that started with Cody in I believe 2009. Those 04, 05, 06, and 07 teams (that all went to the state semis and the last 3 went to the finals) were strictly Richlands players. Funny how back then, before "recruiting" was the new hot-button topic here, you guys were all complaining because Ben Addison was an 8th grade holdback. It doesn't matter what is said or done, Richlands is winning and therefore hated. Graham was hated during their run. Bluefield was hated. Powell Valley was hated. If you are successful, regardless of who is on your team, you're gonna be hated. 
 
I try my best to be respectful on here. When you give respect, I give it right back. I've only had 2 or 3 spats on here; far less than the average. Yet, for all of that, I've had people on here Facebook me, text me, PM me, whatever medium you want to insert, to openly mock my team and the boys I love. I don't do that to any other school. In fact, I pull for every single school that this board covers in the playoffs. If you don't believe me, my twitter account will prove it. I led the charge last year for Union on twitter. I was the FIRST person to congratulate Marion on their volleyball championship last month. 
 
In all honesty, I'm getting tired of personal attacks simply because I'm a fan of a high school that I attended. I grew up here. I was a part of Friday nights here. I still am. Nothing is going to change that. But sometimes it gets old defending myself from personal attacks and ridicule because of a high school team. 

5 Offensive linemen that transferred in this year is just some of the idiocy that some spew on here as fact when it is not true.  But as we have seen everywhere else in our lives nowadays,  all you have to do is make a statement on the net and it has to be true.
Everyone wants to claim "recruiting"........ok, prove it.  Prove that it is not the kids and their families that just want to come play for Richlands or in a couple of the kids case were originally from our area or have families that are from the Richlands area and have moved back here.  
I transferred here from Maryland back in the mid 70's and it was not because my parents wanted or needed a better job or to play football here,  Both my parents had great jobs up there and I played for a good program.
My Dad worked as a supervisor for a company called American Cyanamid and made a good living, my parents moved up there after they were married in 1958,  but they missed being close to our family and loved this area and decided to move back here.  Dad left that job to become a coal miner and mom managed a convenience store here.  So people move back here for all kinds of reasons.  Not all are for family reasons, granted, some kids and their parents want to play for Richlands,  whether you agree with it or not it is their decision and as long as it is done to the rules then there is little to nothing anybody can do about it,   that is their decision and their right and right now Richlands is the hot program.  There have been other programs in the past that were the hot program.
 We have had the same coach for over 20 years which means stability, and we have good to great facilities and some of the best fan support around.  There will come a time when some other program will be on top and the kids will go there and I guess everyone will then focus their attention on them.
I usually try not to get involved in these types of conversations because there is no way to win and your just not going to convince some to change their view and everyone has a right to their view and opinion,  but some of this stuff is over the top.
Some are just mad because their team is not the one who is getting some of these kids  ( they say they wouldn't want transfers........yea right )  others are jealous of the success the blues have had over a long period of time and others have issues with both of the statements I just made.  but I am just so sorry that the kids from the team have to see this stuff.   I just think it's sad that we seem to have to focus on how to find the bad and try to tear one another down ( I include myself in this statement )  then to look at the good or worry about what can uplift us or our programs.  I guess it's easy for me to say since my beloved program is at a high level at the moment.  But I am old enough to remember when Richlands was just an average program at best, so I am very thankful to Mance for where he and his staff has brought it to now
  So I have said my peace,  and I know I am going to catch hell for it,  but I'm a big boy and I can handle it.
      I am not a wordsmith so I'm am not very good at expressing myself so I know there are points I could have made better but there it is.
Now I have a lot more important things going on in my life right now, like some serious health issues I have to deal with, but I will be back next football season so until then,  I wish everyone on here a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ! 

As my Blues leave on their journey tomorrow,  my prayers and best wishes go with them.  I think most of the state and sadly a lot of this area, feel the Blues are like General Lee, headed to surrender.  Ain't so folks,  these boys will give it their all. Hopefully, with no turnovers and not giving the Raiders a short field to work with, my Blues can win.  Hats off to the Raiders they are #1 and deservedly so, but my Blues aren't going up there to just be a participant in the championship game, they are going up with determination and desire to bring that trophy back to Richlands. 
 
GO BLUES!!!
LET'S FINISH!!!!

This is a shoutout to Ryan.  This young man, who has a full plate each day with his schooling, job and whatever else goes on daily in his life, has been a phenom in stirring up hometown support for the Blues.  He has made it a "one man mission" to show the team this support.  I nominate him as the  NUMBER ONE BLUE TORNADO FAN and salute him for his hard work and heart he has shown to us. 
 
THANK YOU RYAN, WELL DESERVED!!!!

The fans focus is on Howie. The boys have said they will play for him and win for him. They are focused. Doesn't mean a hill of beans what a bunch of dudes on a message board are talking about. Mance will have them ready.

Even with Richlands loosing their best player, I say this lights a fire under them. Richlands comes out hot on both sides of the ball and get the win. 
 
21-14 Richlands for the 2016 AA State Championship. 

Wtf, so let me get this right, a player can kneel during the National Anthem and that's ok????a kid responds to another's kids words, action, taunts and he gets tossed !!!!We all know that the VHSL has screwed up,I.E. Norton vs Riverheads,Lee High vs Union, so it's alright to cost a team a game by making the wrong call but when a ref makes a call that clearly was one sided the Whole fu@@@@@@ game, a outside source should make the unbiased decision . I am a Union fan and I believe that Richlands is being screwed over and I know Appomattox wants to play the best team that Richlands can field. The VHSL has always made calls that go against southwest va,from the central playoff sites( what a f-non joke) to the way monies are devided( eastern va gets more than SW va)

Yeah, sports teaches lessons. That's 100 percent correct. But the kid is MISSING A STATE FINAL IN HIS SENIOR YEAR. Is that not punishment enough?? Why does everyone want the kid to stay home and not be at the game?!? He worked his ass off for years to get to this point. Let the kid stand on the damn sideline with his brothers. Jesus Christ. 

I've now seen the video. It's such a soft call. After the kid gets up he and Howie bump into each other and the ref ACROSS THE FIELD throws the flag. Not either of the two refs standing DIRECTLY BESIDE THE PLAY. If a soft chest bump constitutes an unsportsmanlike, then it's time to quit calling this football and call it two hand touch. I've seen much more happen and not get called than this. 
 
The principal denied the appeal because he said he was standing beside the play when it happens. There is a picture that shows the moment the flag was thrown and there is no principal down there. Just a bunch of Richlands fans on the fence. 
 
That said, what's done is done. 
 
Howie will not play. He made his bed, he will lay in it. But DO NOT get on here and put down a 17 year old kid for getting caught up in the heat of the moment and doing something I know for a fact he deeply regrets. I know that every single member of this board did something stupid in their lives at one time or another. That doesn't mean the kid should sit at home. 
 
He is a brother to this team. He helped this team get to where they are, period. He will be on the sideline with his jersey on, supporting his brothers in their mission to bring a title back to SWVA. If you don't like it, I'm sorry. But he will be there with his team because this is a team. 

Who were some of stars of your areas past state champs? For me it was Brannon Breeding from 1992 Richlands. For me, he was larger than life. At 12 years old, I thought he could have been in the NFL. That was a truly great team, and provided me with some of the fondest memories of my childhood. Others I remember were Monk, Salyers, Cordle, Oliver, Crawford, Davis, Barnett, Deel, Lawson, Lowe, Perkins, Deel, and Osborne. They were tough.

I say we leave the kid alone now.  He's paying a high price for what he did/didn't do so that's it.  No need to keep talking about it.  he is a high school kid,  granted not for much longer ,  but for now he is.  Richlands will play with what they have and no excuses for whatever outcome happens.

From the movie Little Giants, "There is always that one time."Appomattox may win 99 out of 100 games between the two teams, but there is only one shot. Sports are a great metaphor for life. Football especially, teaches us to overcome adversity and beat the odds. Anything can happen, and I believe in the Blues. I have read or seen it too many times. David beats Goliath. The Giants beat the Patriots in 2007. Unfortunately, I also remember Harrisonburg over Graham (2001),and Turner Ashby (2005) and Poquoson (2010) over Richlands. Either way, the underdog won.