SXSW

I think that Union may have some growing pains early, but come playoff time will be a tough out. Richlands will be Richlands. I don't no why the Mountain and Southwest just make one big district and rotate opponents. They all play each other, or have, anyway. You could call it the Southwest District. Correct me if I am wrong but didn't the old SW District have 12 teams in it, maybe Bluefield Researcher can find out for me! Graham should be good again, Abingdon is a big unknown, and the rest of 2A, you could probably drop their names in a hat and pick their places like that!  

I think Saltville was there for a couple of years. Harry Fry left GC for a year to coach there. The combined district would have 13 teams. Ridgeview,Union, Wise Central, Lee High, Gate City, Virginia High, John S. Battle, Abingdon, Marion, Lebanon, Tazewell, Richlands and Graham. I doubt the VHSL would allow 13 in a district, but it would be a killer district and you wouldn't have to worry about scheduling. I may have missed one somewhere so if I did I'm sorry.

Just discovered Graham had a football team in 1909. They didn't have any high school to play except Bluefield but can't find any game against Bluefield. They did play a church team from Bluefield on 11-20-1909 and tied 5-5.  Touchdowns were only worth 5 points in 1909.  The church team was called the Covenanters.

I don't know. The masses are on the side of "off with his head" at this point. But I love the denial of that which he's seeking. Akin to giving Moussaoui life in prison instead of making him a martyr.

With the current situation at Tazewell:
 
1. Richlands
2. Graham
3. Va High
4. Marion
5. Lebanon
6. Bye
7. Tazewell

Yes Milo some people have to work, others like you are still in their mom's basement playing keyboard warrior, pissing everyone off for no other reason than needing attention.

Yes Milo some people have to work, others like you are still in their mom's basement playing keyboard warrior, pissing everyone off for no other reason than needing attention.

Opinions are one thing. Trolling/being incredibly ignorant as to facts are another.

I stand in my office typing this as Caesar stood in the Coliseum at Rome, as this ugly match comes to an end and I stand, and the crowd grows silent, I turn thumbs down: the crowd roars as this bad chapter in Southwest Virginia Football history is extinguished forever! Send his broke a** home!

I stand in my office typing this as Caesar stood in the Coliseum at Rome, as this ugly match comes to an end and I stand, and the crowd grows silent, I turn thumbs down: the crowd roars as this bad chapter in Southwest Virginia Football history is extinguished forever! Send his broke a** home!

Now that the cancer is gone and his buddies with him, maybe the healing process can begin.

The folks on here that follow Gate City know the truth. And our chickens have come home to roost.

There is more than enough coaching talent around the program to fill these vacancies. I believe Coach Akers can do very well at GC, but he has a mess to clean up from Houseright. I hope the administration is patient with him.

With the load of crap that these kids have had to deal with for the last five years or so and all the support that has been lost in the community, it is just going to take time to rebuild. The situation seemed  to be toxic and a complete house cleaning is needed and it's finally happening now. A few other sports need help too, but that is a different topic. I agree about the talent level, it's just not there (and little help is coming anytime soon) so .500 football seems to be home for a few years, unless they can recruit the halls and hedges and find some players. If not, the long journey is going to have to start in Little League and work it's way up.

I read a story about him on 247 that Tennessee far exceeded his expectations at their junior day. He seemed pretty blown away by his visit they said that it was his first visit to Knoxville and was looking forward to a return visit.

Know absolutely nothing about Tim Burke. But if he can teach the kids something other than press man defense and teaches kids to turn and go for the ball while it's in the air instead of face guarding then he'll be better out the gate than Jermey Houseright was.

So happy to hear this for the young man !  A great chance to get even better exposure for him !  I hope he does well and increases his choices for his future !  The kids in our area just are not able to get the same type of exposure that kids from out east are able to get.  I know from experience.  When I played in Md we had the Baltimore Sun and a couple of other local papers covering our area besides the TV networks from Baltimore.
 I know when I moved here there were some kids here ( and I don't mean just from Richlands, I'm talking about all of SWVA )  that were just as talented and in some cases maybe more as some of the kids I played with up there,  but just were not getting the looks that the kids in Aberdeen and surrounding towns up there were able to get.
We do get kids going to some D1 programs,  but they have to be exceptional.  I mean all kids that go to D1 are exceptional players don't get me wrong,  but ours just do not have the same opportunities as others that are out east or around big city type of areas.  The level of competition here is just not as respected as it is from other areas,  even though we have had our share of state champions. 
Of course it's just my opinion. 
Again Good Luck to the young man,  I wish him the best !

One head needs to roll. Not heads plural, absent their own misconduct. Don't make such wild allegations unless you have concrete backing for them.

These names are so not politically correct, the real challenge would be finding names and mascots that don't piss people off. The St. Charles midgets would have to be the St, Charles Little People as an example.

A generation or so, it will look like McDowell Co....

Hey I hope you guys get your fish farm, whether is sustains 400 jobs or 2,000 like the article I read says, it is a drop in the bucket to the coal jobs lost. Our area of Southwest Virginia had all it's eggs in one basket for 150 years and through regulation and market economics things change. Our local governments are not to good at seeing into the future; George Eastman wanted to build his chemical plant on the Clinch River in Dungannon, VA. but Scott County residents and local government fought it. Wouldn't S.W. VA's economy looks different now with Eastman in Dungannon and within easy driving distance of the majority of it's (SW VA's) population. If you ask the higher ups in Sullivan County they thought they had the VW plant that went to Chattanooga, so don't pin your hopes on things not under construction. I love with everything in me Southwest Virginia and would make it the economic envy of the world if it were possible because it has the best people in the world in it. NAFTA killed the textile industry and environmentalist killed the coal industry and the people are left with their hands in the air saying what happened to our economy. It seems like I strike a nerve in people sometimes but that is okay, I am a man and can take the criticism.  

Hey I hope you guys get your fish farm, whether is sustains 400 jobs or 2,000 like the article I read says, it is a drop in the bucket to the coal jobs lost. Our area of Southwest Virginia had all it's eggs in one basket for 150 years and through regulation and market economics things change. Our local governments are not to good at seeing into the future; George Eastman wanted to build his chemical plant on the Clinch River in Dungannon, VA. but Scott County residents and local government fought it. Wouldn't S.W. VA's economy looks different now with Eastman in Dungannon and within easy driving distance of the majority of it's (SW VA's) population. If you ask the higher ups in Sullivan County they thought they had the VW plant that went to Chattanooga, so don't pin your hopes on things not under construction. I love with everything in me Southwest Virginia and would make it the economic envy of the world if it were possible because it has the best people in the world in it. NAFTA killed the textile industry and environmentalist killed the coal industry and the people are left with their hands in the air saying what happened to our economy. It seems like I strike a nerve in people sometimes but that is okay, I am a man and can take the criticism.  

This topic has been addressed here on many occasions, if coal doesn't come back everything north of a line from Gate City to Abingdon is going to die a slow painful death. The closer you are to Tennessee the better you will fair. GC is just a suburb of Kingsport and 75% of the population of Scott County lives within 10 miles of Gate City. Abingdon is close enough to Bristol to benefit from it's explosive growth. Wise, Lee, Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell, Tazewell counties and the City of Norton are all endangered species if something radical doesn't happen soon.

This topic has been addressed here on many occasions, if coal doesn't come back everything north of a line from Gate City to Abingdon is going to die a slow painful death. The closer you are to Tennessee the better you will fair. GC is just a suburb of Kingsport and 75% of the population of Scott County lives within 10 miles of Gate City. Abingdon is close enough to Bristol to benefit from it's explosive growth. Wise, Lee, Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell, Tazewell counties and the City of Norton are all endangered species if something radical doesn't happen soon.

This topic has been addressed here on many occasions, if coal doesn't come back everything north of a line from Gate City to Abingdon is going to die a slow painful death. The closer you are to Tennessee the better you will fair. GC is just a suburb of Kingsport and 75% of the population of Scott County lives within 10 miles of Gate City. Abingdon is close enough to Bristol to benefit from it's explosive growth. Wise, Lee, Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell, Tazewell counties and the City of Norton are all endangered species if something radical doesn't happen soon.