Raiders aren't what they were overall talent wise but they are playing well at the right time. Glenvar is also clicking at the right time and seems to have a great talent level.
Glenvars season has ended at the hands of the Raiders for five straight years though so there is the mental aspect that needs to be overcome as well.
Unfortunately the injury bug has bitten the Raiders this year. In years past we have remained relatively healthy throughout the playoffs. Also lost a young lineman with a knee injury but he has been out for a few weeks now.
In talking with a Radford coach last year he alluded to the fact the 8 was a big ego.
There is a certain amount of "ego" that goes along with being good. We had a kid several years back (Javon Scruggs now at LU) who was the perfect blend. SUPREMELY CONFIDENT in his abilities but prepared and worked like he was the least talented kid on the practice field. When he entered a game his mentality was that he was going to show your alpha who was the true alpha on the field. He was fun to watch !!
I wouldnt be surprised if Glenvar wins. If they can make a few longer drives and limit the time of poss for Radford... all it takes is a few lucky bounces and a game like this can swing in favor of the underdog.
This could be a match up of who will be playing the region D winner.
Playing at Radford might limit the speed of Radford some and cater towards the Highlanders.
I think Glenvar is a GOOD 3 loss team, but I'm still picking Radford (especially after their wake up call with Floyd).
Greatest game was probably in 2015 when Richlands came to Appomattox for the 3rd game in the playoffs.
Even for most of the game then Richalnds scored on a long pass and then again to go up by 14 with about 7+ minutes to go in the 4th. Appo converted a 4th down scored, scored again to tie the gameand send it to OT.
In OT Richlands got the ball first and Javon Scruggs intercepted a pass in the endzone. Raiders score a TD on a play around the left side putting the ball over the pylon on the way out of bounds. Raiders win in OT 27-21
Other great games.
2017 game at Union. This game decided who would play in Salem.
AWESOME atmosphere!!!!!! Appo went up 20-0 in the first half and then help off the charging Bears to win the game 23-20 I believe.
2017 State Championship Game vs R.E. LEE
The Raiders played from behind most of this game and had two key injuries early that took these players out of the game. The Riaders hung tough and Javon Scruggs found a away to keep us in the game and then take the lead with just a few minutes remaining to win 38-34.
2016 District game at Dan River
Dan River refused to move the game and we played in a hurricane (can't remember which one) they knew that a soaking wet field was the only way to slow down the Raiders. We won this game by 2 points.
2019 Graham comes to Appomattox
Score wasn't overly close but you knew at any moment either team could make a move. Raider's win 28-13
2020 State Championship: Raiders have to go the lower seeded Stuarts Draft teams home field.
This game was always led by the Raiders but Draft simply would not go away. It was fought until the final minute. Raider win 48-41
I feel very fortunate to have had a son in each of these games (sideline or on the field when older). It was an AWESOME experience with the Raiders from 2015-2020. I have 6 state rings in my house. My oldest won 15,16,17 and my youngest won 17,19,20. Raiders went 77-5 over those years, What a ride it was!
Martinsville blasts Halifax County who was previously undefeated and they also beat Dan River worse than Appo beat Dan River.
For what its worth, Appomattox was up 42-8 at the half and then later stuck the back ups in to where the score went to 42-26 off some quick scores and a scoop fumble. Coach put the first string back in to make sure nothing majorly stupid happened.
Bobob I think so too. They also used the words to describe the announcer as He or She. It's a matter of time before those words are also replaced.
Lord help us!!
1 hour ago, BandanaVTDavis4321 said:
I've talked many times on here about good ole Peterstown High. Kid you not, back in the day when they were on defense and it was a crucial play that could sway the game in one team's favor based on the outcome of that play, their PA announcer would come over the MIC as the opponent is at the line of scrimmage and he would say/yell, "Come on Boys, we need a Stop Here, everybody get on your feet and make some noise." When there was a controversial or 50-50 call, he would just openly say across the Mic, "I don't know about that one, might be some funny business going on out there." I would laugh my a** off at the time, but in today's time's, the average fan would have meltdown and go into full anxiety mode. Dude was basically an open commentary. If Peterstown were missing tackles, it was nothing for him to say openly on the Mic, "Boys, you got to wrap up and give a little more effort, they got some big boys out there, so hit em low and hit em hard."
Now this I can see this being what the VHSL would be wanting to stop. Calling out kids....
But to tell a home announcer to be hum drum is boring! We should be trying to amp up the atmosphere, not squelch it. Better atmosphere means more tickets sold, more fun of the kids on the field and students in the stands
Loved my trips to the Park in BSG. That's what HS football should be like.
The Heritage coach was correct. Below is from the NFHS, and VHSL has similar guidance. Having said that, virtually no high school is totally unbiased in their announcing.
Announcer’s Responsibilities:
The announcer’s role does not include “cheering the home team on” or otherwise
inciting the crowd. Doing so is common at other levels of athletic events. But high
school athletics is different because sports are educationally based.
In a very real sense, the public address announcer at a high school event is a
“Champion of Character”.
He/she can influence the atmosphere of the contest by what is said and how it is said.
The announcer who performs professionally promotes good sportsmanship by what
he/she says and how he/she acts upon saying it.
OUr world has gone soft as cotton. I can't believe they used the word "inciting".
Thanks for finding out the rule though. Appreciate it.
Carroll County filed a complaint with VHSL last season resulting in Galax High School receiving a $400 fine by VHSL because a Galax fan had a cow bell in the stands. It was a topic of discussion a few weeks ago leading into the beginning of the season. Galax Administration met with the Marching Band, Band Boosters (me) and the Band Director to discuss what would be allowed and where we should err on the side of caution. Fast forward a year, during the 3rd game of the season week before last at Carroll, their band played while our offense was on the field several times. The PA announcer made several references to "helping out our Cavaliers" by getting loud, their fans had numerous cow bells, and their band walked over behind the endzone and attempted to play over our band right before halftime.
My point is, I don't know what's allowed and disallowed anymore. It's all gotten ridiculous given we live in a perpetual state of butthurt in this country nowadays.
Well thats terrible. If you gonna complain about it and then turn around and do it.
I know I had an official make me and a couple other shut or bells down at a JV game once.
That last sentence!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TRUE and I guess in the scheme of real life not too funny at all.
So, I run the chains at the Appomattox games. Our last home game when we were playing 3A Heritage we scored first and were holding our own at the time ( before we started giving them the ball every chance we had).
Here's the question. Can the announcer hype the crowd?? Our announcer would try to help get the crowd into the game on third downs. "Raider Nation, its third down!!!" The head coach for heritage was not happy that it made it hard to communicate with his team and complained to the officials who I guess used the mic to talk to the press box and shut it down.
I'm sure when people are referring to "poor fans" they only are experiencing a small portion of that fan group. Hard to label a fan base as bad I guess.
I know just in the last year we experienced some poor fans.
One I personally witnessed was a Radford fan who before the national Anthem was over (while it was still quiet before any clapping) started yelling about the Bobcats and what they were going to do to the Raiders. This fan then proceeded to walk around the field to the victors side and yell at the refs and us (the chain gang) about how we better not cheat and what she would do. Same fan got into verbal altercation with one of our fans (one we don't like to claim most of the time, to be fair) at half time to the point the police had to step in and tell her to go back to the visitors stands.
I heard that some of the Graham fans (and players) were yelling at some of our fans as they left the the semi-final game last year.
I know during warmups for that game I saw a player look at one of our fans and grab his crouch and make oral sex gestures. NOW............... I can almost say for sure that this female fan was doing her share of taunting in order to bring about this kids of responses from this player.
I know Appomattox like i said has some fans who don't represent in the correct manner. In fact at one point someone from the community put a post on facebook about people not representing the team as Coach Smith wants the team viewed.
With limited knowledge of Region D I would have to still say Graham is the favorite. I know they lost some kids last year but return a fair amount off a good squad.
I know Ridgeview was loaded but just from reading here I'm not sure they can handle the physicality of Graham.
Pennix is incredible. Appo has to much talent, too much of a program now on autopilot with the obvious great coaching in my opinion to favor Radford, Glenvar, or an improved Martinsville team, etc. I know Radford is supposed to be really good with what they return, but Appomattox is the hands down favorite in 2C in my book.
Glenvar and Radford are always good and well coached. I've also heard that Martinsville may make a run this year.
The Raiders will be good. How good is up to developing some some lineman to fill some holes. I think the fact that the QB from last year leaving will help develop the team overall. He was a talent for sure but I think they will still be effective even with a little less talent at the position (running wise).
BoBob, I haven't heard much out of the Appo fans this preseason. What does Appo have this year? Projected to be better, worse, about the same, etc? I know all about the future Hokie Stud you all have down their at Linebacker. I know you replace a 4 year starter at QB who was a beast. Is the new starter as talented? Also, whatever happened to the Davis Mavin or Mavin Davis kid? ( know the name is off, but remember he kind of had a weird type name. That kid could fly and was superathletic. Is he going on to play small college anywhere? I thought he should have been recruited higher than what the recruiting services had him at.
Not 100% sure. Now that my boys are through the program I don't get the scoop as much as I use to.
I do think they will still be good as they have a few "high levels" on the field. The new QB is a junior who is gaining some college attention for his size, ability, and the fact that he is a very smart kid.
He is is good runner but no where near what we had the last few years at that position. I do see him being a much better passer though. His ability to get the ball down field (I think) will make him dangerous because he is able to hurt you to some degree with his legs.
On 8/10/2022 at 5:20 PM, CPF said:
Pennix is back correct? That alone makes them trouble.
Yes, Pennix is back and like stated, that will be a problem for a lot of teams. I know he gets a lot of attention due to his offensive skills but that kid can lock down a receiver with the best of them.
I just saw that -- but thanks for the catch, BoBob.
Not sure how you and the rest of our new mates feel about it, but this makes a lot of sense from the Liberty perspective. And I think LHS competed in the district back in the 1980s for a while.
I'm fine with them joining. I just wish for football you could NOT play some teams in your district. I know everything goes in cycles but it sure hasn't helped Appomattox the past few years winning most of their regular season games by 40-50+ points. I loved playing Lord Botetouet (sp?) this year and Heritage is always a tough game that we need to play. In 2016 we played highly ranked teams in class 3 and 4. WE still played our district teams (infact Dan River was real good that year, Union just barley got by them on a last minute big pass to Mitchell) but come playoff time we were ready for the harder competition.
Speaking of the Bedford-based school, since I don't see them included in the list of appeals I guess that means that they will continue to compete as a member of the Seminole District -- the only Division 2 school in that league. To borrow a movie quote, that's a bold move. Let's see how that works out for them.
Liberty (Bedford): Liberty requests to move from Seminole District to the Dogwood District.
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Appo vs Graham
in SWVA Football
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Thanks guys!!! Old eyes just don’t work like the use to