FalconVoice

Official word on Matthew Fulton: He tore his AC joint in his arm and is out for tonight. Plans to play next week should the Falcons advance. He is sore, but felt like he could have gone tonight. As a precaution they'll keep him out.

BHC Prediction: Abingdon 31-14

Also, for Northside fans, I'm waiting to get confirmation, but they may be bringing a broadcast team too.

You can also listen on 103.3 FM, online at wabn.streamon.fm and via the TuneIn radio app! ;) (A little shameless self-promotion never hurt anyone)

I also posted this is last week's Cal Preps predictions, but as it was a week old, don't know if anyone saw it, so this might be the more appropriate/helpful place. I'd honestly never heard of these, but I couldn't stop playing around with them and wasted an entire day by the time I was done (thanks a lot guys)! Seriously though, I had a lot of fun, particularly with matching up games that I either played in or my teams against todays, and so on. Suffice it to say (not that it was any surprise), this Abingdon team would've killed any AHS team I played on. In fact, going back all the way to '03 (the first year available for non-Cal teams), this year's Abingdon team defeated all others according to Cal Preps (even '15 Abingdon, and I'm not so sure about that). Also, yes, if you're wondering, I projected '16 Abingdon against every team in the state this year from all classes. They lost to 68 teams (at least by last week's metrics), which is about what I would expect. That said, it's hard to project playing up from 3A to 4, 5 or 6A on paper. Abingdon beat a considerable amount of 6A teams according to Cal Preps, and despite being confident that this Abingdon team is among the best in 3A, I'm a realist too, and know that's an entirely different endeavor. So I have mixed thoughts about how that kind of game would go. If you want to know the list of 68 teams, message me and I'll send them to you (and the score). It's just too lengthy to post here.

I'd honestly never heard of these, but I couldn't stop playing around with them and wasted an entire day by the time I was done (thanks a lot guys)! Seriously though, I had a lot of fun, particularly with matching up games that I either played in or my teams against todays, and so on. Suffice it to say (not that it was any surprise), this Abingdon team would've killed any AHS team I played on. In fact, going back all the way to '03 (the first year available for non-Cal teams), this year's Abingdon team defeated all others according to Cal Preps (even '15 Abingdon, and I'm not so sure about that). Also, yes, if you're wondering, I projected '16 Abingdon against every team in the state this year from all classes. They lost to 68 teams (at least by last week's metrics), which is about what I would expect. That said, it's hard to project playing up from 3A to 4, 5 or 6A on paper. Abingdon beat a considerable amount of 6A teams according to Cal Preps, and despite being confident that this Abingdon team is among the best in 3A, I'm a realist too, and know that's an entirely different endeavor. So I have mixed thoughts about how that kind of game would go. If you want to know the list of 68 teams, message me and I'll send them to you (and the score). It's just too lengthy to post here.

Coach Reed did the same when Abingdon had to travel up to Broadway a few years back too. Past a certain distance, coaches get their choice, and usually I've found they really value their Saturdays.

Believe it or not, this happens quite often. The main reason: there are other Abingdons spelled Abington, but the one for which Abingdon gets its name (in England) is spelled Abingdon. So don't ask me where the other spellings came from, other than, throughout history, people have spelled the same words many different ways and sometimes more than one way has caught on. Still though, as you mentioned, the state governing body should know how to spell high school names within their purview...

Fair enough, but he sure played faster than that. Part of it was, once he got his momentum and up to full speed (which was very quick), there was little you could do to catch up. I remember putting on the "burners" and him just pulling away further. Didn't have many players do that to me, though if they wanted to run right over me...

All I know is that Ahmad was .3 seconds faster than I was in the 40, and I got to see what that looked like on full display against Graham my sophomore year. Summation: .3 seconds is a lot.

I might have said this last year too, but I got to meet him/spend some time with him at this year's NSMA/STAA weekend and he was super cool, super nice and super reverent (okay I'll stop with the supers). Honestly, I think the majority of guys that go there on a yearly basis groaned when they saw him as one of the two keynote speakers, but when he showed up, he wowed! Honestly I can say, his speech put me in tears, and I wasn't the only one. That said, I think he was the biggest surprise we've gotten since I've been going to that conference (other than Leslie Visser's drunken escapades two years ago) because we all expected to be so thoroughly let down by him. Usually us sportscasters have a pretty good idea about who will be good/less good at those events. It's a fraternity of sorts and we all hear the stories (some of them horror stories) about how bad/cantankerous someone is to work with and so on, so like I said, given that, we were very pleasantly surprised about Boomer.

Yeah, loved how he handled himself as a freshman when everyone was all over Glenn Dorsey like he was the best that ever was, and they asked Render how he would handle him in that match up. Render's response: "The same way I handle everyone. He puts his pants on the same way that I do; one leg at a time." That was awesome to hear from a true freshman going up against perhaps the best lineman in the country, but talk is cheap. Luckily, Render backed it up, and won his individual match up with Dorsey (maybe the only Tech player that did)...though the Hokies got their ass kicked by LSU in that one. He was maybe one of the best linemen the Hokies ever had, though he peaked a bit too early and I think more-or-less coasted his last two seasons...which is why only Hokies will know his name and why he's not playing on Sunday. He was certainly talented enough.

Abingdon 35-0 over Marion at half.

And to my knowledge, they've also already lost their #3 QB to an ACL tear (was QB of the JV team at least) earlier in the season. I don't know if this would ever come into play (and I certainly hope not), but for a team the size of Battle, I believe that leaves them down just a few options at the spot, and only one of whom whose primary position is QB. For example, if they (as has been rumored above) have to move Scarbrough to QB (who's listed as a QB/RB/DB on their official roster), they'd be taking his playmaking ability at other positions. But, I do have to say, he's a GREAT kid. I'm not denigrating anyone else in saying that, just saying how impressed I've been with Mr. Scarbrough in my limited interactions with him. It's ALWAYS yes sir, no sir, and he's an affable kid that I think most of the student body at JSB considers a leader. So best of luck to both him and the Trojans this week and beyond.

Absolutely. I have done football games from the stands, in a building on the hill behind the stadium (a little bit like the Waveland Avenue effect for Cubs games...or what used to be), outside of the press box with the bullhorns blasting the PA noise in our ears (and consequently over the air), basketball games from in, behind and caddy-cornered with bleachers, equipment rooms and of course on the floor, and baseball games from a press box which is even with the bag at 1st, a locker room window, and from outside the 3rd base dugout.

I didn't pack warm because we were going to be in the press box (just one layer of pants and two layers up top), but the way they built that press box (right on top of the metal bleachers on the home side), there was no insulation whatsoever, and the cold permeated your body from every surface you touched (including the metal bleachers underneath). We were seeing our breath in the box and chattering our teeth on air. Honestly, we had a guy from outside come in to get warm and then turn around and say, "I think it's warmer out here, the only difference is the wind." We couldn't feel our feet again in the car until Blacksburg, even with the heat pumped. That's just how cold it was. Also, I learned my lesson. Freezing or not in the press box, I pack warm and work backwards. You can always take layers off.

Yeah, I understand that there had to be some kind of punishment, but I'm with you in expecting that it could have been all boys sports for the remainder of the year. I know it might seem worse, but suspending all boys teams from postseason play this year would be a more consistent message with regards to all sports at the school and also seem less arbitrary (not just penalizing the basketball program).

Of note though, the Hokies have already taken 2 TEs in this class, and a couple of ATHs (who could end up playing TE), so if things stay the same (which is never a given in college recruiting), I don't know how many more spots they're going to use to take TEs. It's a very timing-based industry (the Meat Market that college football recruiting is), so he would be best advised perhaps to figure out where he wanted to go BEFORE NSD because his spot may no longer be there if he waits until then. That's not to put pressure on him or say Tech is the place to go for him, only doing simple math and suggesting that someone could get squeezed. But that's the case at any school, just more so if he's determined to play a position or a side of the ball (as was rumored earlier in this thread) that a school he might want to go to is overloaded on.

100% better last year. I usually don't like making these comparisons because there are so many variables, but this one is just too obvious. As everyone else has pointed out, the running game alone made the Blue Tornados were better last year, but 2. and I hate to define the whole season on one loss (because A. They had one loss against Union in previous years coming to Abingdon), but they didn't seem to have that knack that I feel would have led them to victory over Abingdon regardless of what scheme/gameplan Abingdon was running. That Richlands team from last year had that knack, and I don't think they would have lost to Abingdon under similar circumstances.

I can't tell you which way Sturgill is leaning at the moment. A down senior year has the offers slowing from what they were, but Richmond is interested yes, as is Ferrum and several other schools. He took a visit to a D-II school in WV a couple of weeks back (but the name eludes me right now). If he was having a repeat year statistically from a year ago, I'd have expected more D-I teams to show interest overtly, and the truth is, if he really wants to play at that level, he can and will. But I have heard inklings recently that he could be interested in staying close to home and re-connecting with a former receiver of his if you catch my drift, in which case, as an alumnus of this school, I'd be very happy for me/the school, but I think Jake can do a lot better if he wants.

Not you. I mean the poster. And if he was joking, my b. Also, not upset. Just don't like when people don't represent schools I'm affiliated with appropriately.

Ummmm....not that this really warrants a response but...what the hell: the playoffs don't work that way.

BHC prediction is out. They say 48-7. I don't know if Abingdon will hold Tazewell to 7, but the 48 isn't outlandish and seems to be in line with what most people are saying in here.

If any of you Hokie fans (or non-Hokie fans) are interested to know, Virginia Tech is 0-4 all-time at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field. I wrote a piece on why that is and what the Hokies can do tonight to change it for the site I used to manage, Gobbler Country. Here it is.

Even if they can manage to not fall more than one spot, this will still be the case.