FalconVoice

I don't know if it's any good, but the staff certainly is pleasant. I had to stop in for directions once.

Yes he does, and trust me guys, I am as tired of the deluge of bad pass I calls that have made their way into the game as anyone, but I think the rule is still that if you contact a receiver while the ball is in the air prior to the ball arriving, by rule that is pass interference.

Abingdon's game hot dogs are really good. I'm somewhat of a "hot dog connoisseur" you could say (if there's such a thing), meaning I'm constantly searching for the best dog at a game. I almost got my fill when I was working for the Norfolk Tides, as they had a voucher for employees to eat every game with the choices of cheeseburger (lactose intolerant and wouldn't eat their hamburgers after working there), chicken fingers (not a huge chicken finger guy) or hot dogs. Being a baseball purist, I went with a hot dog almost every day, and then when I left that job, probably didn't eat another hot dog for 2-3 years. I switched to brats, and hopefully we'll start seeing those in SWVA at games more often. Now that I'm back into going to games at least every week, hot dogs are a food of convenience (easy for my broadcast as I can just pop down to the concession stands and then back up to the press box), and I think I'm over my hot dog overload of a few years back. I definitely won't visit the concession stands at Tazewell this week, as they are downright some of the nicest people we deal with every year and put out quite the spread for opposing broadcasters. Last time they ordered so many pizzas (and so many different kinds) that I felt bad not partaking because if not they would go to waste. They still had something like 10+ boxes at the end of the game, even after my partner and I gorged on them. Lebanon also treats opposing broadcasters incredibly well. I can't tell you how many fond memories I have of Merle Allen from broadcasting. Anyway, back to hot dogs, why I like the Abingdon frankfurters at games: 1. They come with chili (a MUST), 2. They come with fresh chopped onions if you want them, 3. They have every major condiment you can want (ketchup, mustard, relish and even BBQ I believe, so if you want to get weird...). Delicious. I also think I feel this way because of the last hot dog I had at Malcolm Stadium, which fell apart upon picking it up, wasn't very flavorful, didn't have onions and was more expensive. Also, if others of you have places I should be trying hot dogs when I go on the road, PLEASE let me know that info STAT!

No, that's the angle I got. Wind it back and look to see if he makes contact beforehand. Looks like he hits the receiver before the ball arrives. That's what I was calling out. It was one hell of an athletic play to make the catch, sure, but he played through the receiver to make it. But on a different note, from watching that again, it looks like my source completely missed on the receiver across the middle. He was triple covered.

At Abingdon we ran what was called "Ace Spread" out of the Ace set back in my days (02-05) under Coach Allen, and the JV ran more like today's spreads, pretty wide open. The Varsity would mostly run 2 receiver looks to the JVs' 4 receiver ones, pulling the two slot receivers in as either an Ace Heavy look (two TEs) or just a standard Ace set with one TE and either a FB (which would move us back to I-Formation except I'm not sure I remember us being under center a lot for what it's worth) or one slot WR. It wasn't the most groundbreaking formation, but the Ace Spread variety was really fun to be a receiver in, especially with a QB in Ramseyer who threw hard enough to break my thumb in practice. Gregory really opened it up after I was done playing (wasn't going to play for him) and opened up a lot of other stuff too that I don't really want to talk about.

Sounds like some of the Trojans I talked to are down, not on themselves (defensive guys), but on the offense. Feel like they could have won against GC and several other games. Sounds like they listened to the Cardinals' pressers from last night.

Yeah it's hard to project. Certainly, it's going to be an adjustment, but I'm heartened to see that at least this year, Boothe has gotten plenty of meaningful reps. When he's come into the game in a blowout situation, Reed has let him run the offense (at least to some degree), continuing to pass with a running clock. In my opinion, that's the only kind of rep that really helps development. Just look at how unprepared (to take over as the starter the next year) each successive QB was under Frank Beamer was post-Vick, because they never did anything other than hand off when they came into a game. As a former E&H OC told me after a 50-0 victory, "Chris, I'm not paid to stop my own offense. If my team has scored 43 points and a 3rd string QB who's never attempted a pass at the collegiate level throws a TD to a fullback who I've never seen catch a pass in practice, and you're going to complain that I'm running it up? Tough shit. Get better. I'm not taking food off my family's table because of your feelings."

Apparently they tried to get TN High, but because HS in TN schedule their 2-year agreements on a different year (or at least TN High said they did), they've never been able to synchronize. Also, Carroll County might be a possibility if they don't get Pulaski, but I think they prefer the latter, and the former may only be a rumor. No one with the school has confirmed it as even a possibility. But the schedule posted above is pretty much a done deal.

Wet and muddy field, not necessarily dependent on rain ;)

Also with you guys on the "Graham playing down" talk. I have never thought that way. Their situation is not altogether unlike Abingdon's ever since they became the lone 3A team on an island in far SWVA. I think I read earlier in the week in this thread or another someone questioning Abingdon's SOS. But the truth of it is, there aren't any 3A schools to play the Falcons South of Christiansburg or West of Patrick County (which is some trek for a regular season game). So unless you're talking about Christiansburg, BBurg, Patrick County or the Roanoke schools, or going out of state (perhaps a foray into TN, which the Falcons have done several times in previous years), there's not much they can do to play on their "level." All this to say, in a year like last year where the Blue Tornado thoroughly waxed the Falcons, AHS was being penalized twice under the current setup: once by even playing Richlands and twice by losing (forget the margin), which is absurd considering that Richlands was obviously the better team. So I'm not really sure that the current setup provides the equity it intends to. Lastly, as for AHS' 2017 schedule makeup, I have it on good authority that they will be doing/attempting to do the following things: Dropping: CBurg Graham Lebanon Va High Tazewell Marion Adding Mountain District Foes: Wise Central Gate City (already on schedule from previous years) John Battle (already on schedule every year) Lee Ridgeview Union and with the remaining two games, they will be adding Pulaski and Hidden Valley (Roanoke), which gives them a schedule in some form or sort of: Battle GC Pulaski BBurg Wise Central Lee Ridgeview Richlands Union Hidden Valley

I was not a fan of it as a fan of the game or a broadcaster, but I'm not paid to coach. As GMan mentions below, Abingdon was tearing up Graham's secondary with Jeff Wallace, and no one, not even Cousin could outrace him (keep in mind, as I said before that Abingdon couldn't catch Cousin that Wallace doesn't play defense, though he did occasionally last week against Richlands for the first time this year). But even in the 2nd quarter, Abingdon backed away from using him. There was a lot of quirky stuff going on, what with the revealing of the varieties of the pooch kicks (remember that the Falcons were coming off of a win over Blacksburg, where they saw nothing but onside/pooch kicks), they opted not to go for a field goal deep in Graham territory on their first drive despite being 4th and long, and in total in the first half, got inside the Graham 30 four times in which they did not score. Sturgill threw two INTs, yes, one on an overthrown tipped pass and the other on a wheel route on the last play of the half where the Graham player CLEARLY interfered with Fulton, initiating contact well before the pass arrived going over his back to make the catch...but, apparently I've heard from some sources that were standing right behind the uprights that Sturgill had a wide open DeSalvo in the middle of the end zone anyway and just didn't see him, so the TD was there if he would have found him. As GMan mentioned, they went away from it in the 2nd half, and did not throw a pass in the 3rd, correct. For those of us who have seen Abingdon play under Reed, one of his best attributes and in this case biggest faults is the confidence he has in his teams to win one-possession games. In this one, the Falcons were only behind one score in the 3rd, and so he was just content to keep it close and knew from past instances that they would have a chance to get back in it and win it at some point. But in this instance, that time never came, and once Graham went up two scores it was too late to mount a comeback. It did feel a little punitive towards Sturgill (quite possibly the best player that AHS has ever produced) for his two 1H INTs that Abingdon didn't throw ONCE in the 3rd, but we've since heard from Reed that teams were dropping 7-8 guys against him and making Sturgill beat them, and it didn't help that the Abingdon receivers were not getting open. They also had an issue with one of their receivers being disciplined, but he played about 25% of the snaps by my count, and they were scattered across all four quarters (so it wasn't like he didn't start or was held out for the 1Q or 1H or anything), so I don't know what type of message that sent. At any rate, the better team that night won because they outperformed, out-executed and yes, out-coached (and I'm sure that the Abingdon coaching staff would tell you that as well, just like Mance did after losing this week) the Falcons. I hate to harp on coaching, but everyone is entitled to a bad game every once in a while, even coaches (and broadcasters...I've had my fair share), and this was theirs. Call it hubris, call it getting too cute, call it whatever, but the AHS coaches weren't on their game in this one. In addition, the best player(s) in Cousin/Meade were on the other sideline.

This is true, but compared to the yard lines they were giving it up at last night...you can't do much worse than the 45 or 50. Why even kick at that point? Just say, "oh, you can take it from here, we don't even have to kick it."

I believe so, yes. In which case, why are we even talking about this? Haha. Lost my head for a minute. Just kick the ball off and teach lane discipline/coverage. I don't think Abingdon's been AS bad in that respect this year as they were last, so why give up field position? That's the kind of thing that gets you beat real quickly in the playoffs. I hope Abingdon doesn't continue to be so cavalier about that.

I don't remember Graham really running it OVER Abingdon as much as running it BY Abingdon. Sure, their offensive line was as physical as I've seen this year, and if that's what you're referencing, my bad, but both Cousin and Meade (in particular) was so fast/shifty, they just ran right by Abingdon. Meade may have broken some tackles late on Graham's last drive, but to me it was more of a dropback, designed QB run or no one open, Meade takes off, leaves the front 7 in the dust and jukes out several others on his way to continual first downs. As for Cousin, AHS had him pretty much bottled up (under 50 yards on the night) except for those 4 long gainers that went for 6. I know it sounds ridiculous for someone who had over 200 yards and 4 TDs, but for the majority of the game, he had nothing going against the Falcons. It's just that when he got 2nd level (again, credit Graham for opening up Monster Truck sized wholes), no Falcon could catch him. Honestly, his performance last year against Abingdon was even better, because he ruled the whole second half.

Yeah, it was called DPI. And either that or the fact that they both got their feet tangled just a little before the tackle (which they usually let go) influenced the call and maybe they thought he slipped and fell as a result as opposed to a tackle, but I don't know, it's a reach for me, and the ref was right on top of it as I said. Just blew the call.

Ginger and I were talking, if they're going to do this, why don't they just kick it out of bounds every time? It'd be better for field position and then you wouldn't have to worry about the return. They haven't gotten close to creating a turnover with that play outside of tonight, and that was on the elements.

Agreed. Didn't get that playcalling. One time early on it made sense only because to run that sweep with Collins was only sure way to get out of bounds and gain yards as opposed to spike or incomplete pass/completed pass that didn't make the sideline. I support that call because it creates another stoppage. Otherwise... Also, they could have just used their timeouts on D instead of letting Abingdon milk about half the clock (don't know why they were still snapping it in the teens). Then time would have never been an issue.

Looks like he had a good point on that one. Howie had turned up field and had made what the NFL has coined "a football move." Seemed to lose it after that. Ultimately, it didn't make a hill of beans one way or the other. Just field position.

Yeah that was rather ridiculous.

Jeez. Yeah, when they played Abingdon all I could think is this guy is playing on one bum ankle and getting hit left right and center, and without McClung back there to take the pressure off (though Hamilton has improved a lot), they kind of live and die by him. Sounds like it was a great game though and Battle keeps grinding. I've gotten to know a lot of their kids this year. Great group of kids down there.

Was Asbury outside of the tackle box though? I thought he was from my angle and was confused as to why he didn't throw it away given that it was only 2nd down. Am I way off base here?

Also, talk about calls, I only saw one each way, but they both were pretty glaring. The first was an obvious Offensive Pass I on Abingdon's Chris DeSalvo who basically tackled a Richlands defender to prevent an INT. Ref was standing right on top of it and called it DPI. No clue there. One possession later (I think), Howie caught a pass in the flat, look to have made a football move or two after turning upfield, and then straight up lost the ball. Abingdon recovered and Howie gave every indication of someone who had just fumbled, kneeling on the ground for several moments after/despondent. Some of the Richlands players/coaches I imagine (as it was on their sideline) started to lobby the refs and after a period of about 20-30 seconds for discussion, they called it an incomplete pass. Both were bad calls, but on the one that should have been against Abingdon, they ended up scoring three plays later, so it certainly helped them keep the drive alive.

Neither team was really doing much in that regard in the first half. The defensive lines for both teams were basically overwhelming the OLs at the point of attack knowing what was likely coming given the weather. Abingdon only really established any foothold there late...and then immediately went away from it and threw an INT on the play because Richlands feigned a safety blitz (they may have been blitzing originally, but we'll never know) pre-snap and Abingdon changed out of their run play on 2nd and 2 near midfield. For Richlands, Howie was doing okay, but he got a little dinged up (or at least it looked like it) and they went to Collins. Collins almost brought Richlands back single-handedly. Kid was a waterbug tonight and Abingdon defenders were ripe for the juking (despite the overall performance of the Abingdon D being quite awesome, Collins made them wish they had some plays back).

Crazy good game guys. Sorry I haven't been on in a few weeks, or to update you on Sturgill's wrist. I never got any news re: what the extent of the injury was, only that he injured it while bracing himself after getting his legs taken out on a run, immediately came out of the game, and that when they were examining him (I mean 3-4 coaches/trainers encircling him), he immediately began to wince and jump up and down. I don't know if that lingered at all this week, but what with the conditions and all, neither QB played a really good game, and Jake hasn't had what I would call a really good game in weeks now (though I think we unfairly set the standard a little high when a 6 TD night like he had against Virginia High last week as not really a good game). Reed was probably right that defenses are keying in on him and taking his options away, and generally, guys have struggled to get open. But, I guess under the standard that Jake played last year or that Asbury has played the last two years, it's fair to say he hasn't been playing his best.

Yes but, Cousin was the one that burned the Falcons many a time last year and pretty much single-handedly kept Graham in the game. I'm just saying that whether his ability to take over games like that is real or imagined (and from everything I've seen/heard, it's the former), based off of their experience from last year, Abingdon will likely try to make anyone else beat them. And that may happen, but look for them to seriously try to shut him down.