Hokie1Pokie

Not to be nit picky, but Goochland is in 3B. Independence High took Warrenton's place as that #9 seeded team and will travel to Goochland. Interestingly, Bluestone High was scheduled to play at Goochland the final game of the regular season (3 nights ago) and they cancelled/forfeited the game due to low numbers and knowing they would get slaughtered. Same thing happened with Warrenton.

No offense to my fellow comrades in the county, but this game will be in my opinion, as bad as game 1. Graham is absolutely on fire right now. Two things have happened for Graham that makes them dangerous. The interior of the OL looks 100 percent Different than the beginning of the season and Graham can now run between the tackles. The interior OL has grown up and they are now, very good. The second thing is Graham interior Defensive Line has grown up and looks way different. Graham can be beat of course, but for a 2A team, they are now very good on every unit and has no significant weaknesses. They will be very very tough to beat for any 2A team if they remain healthy.

One final thing about Richlands that I think many people might be making a mistake in favoring them. Abingdon and Radford. It's pretty clear now that these two are not what many thought they would be. Abingdon is actually not very good and Radford, I told you guys at the beginning of the year was overrated. Yes, the 3 major injuries but even with them guys, this is a team last year that benefited from a weak Region C and not great Appo team and they made it to the semis and got clocked. They were about three plays last year from being a 7-3 team and this year, they got Hobbs back and still lost to Floyd. What I'm getting at is, Richlands signature win over Radford and pretty good win over Abingdon doesn't look nearly as good as it did. If you look at the Graham game, it was a blowout, and the Union game, it wasn't a blowout but Union beat them by a score more lobsided as I think they've have had in that series since PV combined with Appy. Richlands lost to GC in game 1 which is a 4-6 team. They played good against Bluefield but still lost. Added to this, Richlands name and history carries incredible weight (and it should), but I'm not sure. I think Central is going to win this game close.

Not one, but 4 major assumptions. Graham wins at Union. Richlands wins at Central. Richlands wins at Ridgeview. Richlands beats Graham at home. Minor assumptions are Graham and Union winning in round one. You seem to have a bit to much confidence for my liking with all those assumptions. I think a 5 seeded team winning the region would be a first not just in Region D, but in all of 2A across VA. It may have happened, but I don't think it has.

When you say closer than people think, are you referring to Central as the underdog? I'm not sure Central is the underdog by any means and I think most people overwhelmingly feel this game is going to be close. Central has beat not one, but two teams that beat Richlands in Union and GC.

The indicators and "feel" of this game is that it will be very close with GC actually having a very reasonable chance of winning. I have always liked and respected GC. But.........I'm going the other way here. It's playoff time and Union will rise to the occasion. Union will win by 21-24 points and win handily, and the young Jenkins has his biggest game by Turner getting him the ball in open space and he will carve up the GC secondary. I think Union does not take the ball and run it at will down the field for scores. I think it's a game where Union scores with mostly big plays. Jenkins (I'm assuming is healthy) will come up big on offense and special teams. Union 34, GC 13

They will be and should be considered favorites over Richlands. They have more than earned their 4th seed over Richlands, but I still think Mance is special and Richlands has some talent and with their history, they often rise to the occasion in the playoffs. They did it on the road last year at Ridgeview. This is why I'm taking Richlands in a very very close game and it would be an upset. Central has beat two teams that Richlands lost to in Union and G.City.

Central? I'm going to go ahead and predict Richlands wins at Central in round 1 of the playoffs.

Brother, if you truly had any knowledge of the damage that would come Bluefields way if Graham ever left Mitchell, you wouldn't say that. If Graham leaves Mitchell, guess who else is leaving Mitchell with about 12 months? That's right, it's Bluefield. They can't keep the stadium open without 2 schools, and 2 schools and 1 small college are barely enough to keep it floating.

Got to be a Graham High Record for one quarter and 44 points. There's just no way Graham High has scored 44 points in one Quarter in its history. Interestingly, Bluefield High set a school record for first qtr points last week against James Monroe. With the approximate 100 yrs of football for both schools with all the tradition and rivalry and success, both schools pull records for most points in one quarter within 7 days of each other,.considering they've had nearly 100 years to do it. That's amazing to me.

I think Graham should build a stadium because of the simple desire and threat to raise it to 75K. Graham's bluff to build a stadium kept it from getting that high, but the very threat of doing so would be enough for me to build a stadium. The reason being and in my opinion, 50k is not a steal. Graham keeps the stadium open and in use. Without Graham, the stadium can't survive and you would see Bluefield High talking about where they are going to play if Graham ever backed out. From a financial standpoint, Graham playing at Bluefield is a huge commodity, and Mercer County should be more grateful. Bluefield High and Mercer County needs for Graham to play there MORE than Graham and Tazewell County needs Graham to play there. I think that point has been driven home in the last 2 years and maybe, just.maybe, Mercer County and Bluefield, WV, understand this point. But in my opinion, 50k is a rip off. It should be 30-35k based on what Graham brings to the table. Many many years ago, Graham playing at Mitchell was kind of a privalege for Graham, and Graham and Tazewell County needed Graham to play there more than what Bluefield and Mercer County needed. In today's time, it's nowhere close and that paradigm has changed. Mercer Co. and Bluefield need Graham to play there and it's more of privalege for Mercer County and Bluefield to have Graham playing there. Your value should be your worth. Graham is "worth" more for Mercer County to be paying far less than 50k from a Tazewell County perspective. If Graham chooses not to play there, the lights go out and the Beaver's are left scrambling on what to do. That very construct is a a pure defition of monetary value that Graham has.

I hope Graham builds it's own stadium. Not a dang thing has changed with me. Graham fans don't dislike the Stadium itself. It's an incredible place to play, but what many fans can't stand is the Highway Grand Theft Robbery in the form of money required for rent. That part hasn't changed regardless of the stadium being ranked first. Regarding the free admission, do you really think the folks in Mercer County are doing this out of their hearts and as a grand celebration of the Stadium new ranking by allowing free entrance for the Beckley game? Folks, it's always about the money. It actually makes sense to allow free admission for this particular game at this particular time and here is why...... It's going to be very cold and Beckley has won only 1 game. They are horrible and everyone knows Beaver's starters aren't playing but one half at most. Beckley will not have over 200 people. Because of that, the county knows attendance will be very, very low and gate money will be shotty and way low. You have gate sales and concession sales. So, by allowing free attendance, they are planning on the free attendance adding to the amount of people that would have otherwise not attended, and by doing so, they are counting on concession sales to make up for what they they already know will be a low money intake game. Considering the cold, and the weak opponent and knowing attendance would be very very low, this move at this time with the recent vote of Number 1 Vote for the stadium probably makes financial sense to allow free admission.

I think the concession stand thing is a good question. For the final years it was open, it was the Pizza source and long before Papa John's, it had Gino's Pizza (now located only in WV and still damn good), and before Gino's, Roberto's was in there (Roberto's had 2 locations in Bluefield and was my favorite.) Anyway, the last I can remember the concession stand open at the one end of the field is 2001 when Graham beat Liberty Bedford in the semis. Now, I'm getting older and it may have been open long after that, but it's the last time I recall it open. I'm interested now in knowing when it close if anyone knows?

If Ernest Wiliford catches a two point conversion, you may not have the same opinion. There are some (large elite High School teams that would easily beat many NAIA and Div 3 schools and some Div 2 schools (the worst of the worst Div 2 schools.) I am talking about the elite top 10 High schools for a given year that are turning out 8 Div 1 and Div 2 seniors that have a senior laden team. A team like Mater Dei, Katy, Tx, Lakeland, Fl, De La Salle, CA, etc. These schools would crush Bluefield college and play with and sometimes beat a team like UVA-Wise. For the top of the group in college like Clemson and Bama, they aren't within 30 points of any pro team on any year. 30 points is being nice. The 2001 Miami team would have lost to the worst NFL team that year by over 30 points. I would wager 40 points.

I blame common core liberalism.

What a tool that lady is. What reasonably minded person doesn't understand that if you are voting and your vote count is rising, but your percentage is dropping, then the other side is voting MORE than you are.

Yesterday, Mookie housed a short pass that went for 39 yds and a score for NC Central in their win over Howard. Mookie gets about 5-6 carries per game and also gets some screens, about 2 per game. He's having a solid year for a freshman. Taymon Cooke had 5 kickoff returns yesterday and he had over 100 return yds yesterday for NC A and T in their win over SC State. Cam Allen as a freshman for Purdue plays about 1/2 of every snap on defense for Purdue. He's had a huge year as a true freshman and will start every game next year for Purdue at cornerback. He had a couple of tackles yesterday vs Nebraska. Former Graham star Jarrod Richmond is VMIs best defensive player. He plays Defensive Line, is a senior, and started last year as a junior. He's had a solid college runnin his time at VMI.

I just pretended like I was from there in El Paso. I reminded them it's a Saturday night and that "we" are behind a quarter of a million votes, and voting is now a waste of time, and that Saturday nights are best for being at the "club." This an attack on their psychy a little bit. It's kind of an attempt to discourage voters.

I just voted 100 times and I'm proud of it. If I get enough energy, I will out up another 100 this evening. Once you get the thumb, enter, and backspace button down, it becomes like muscle memory😆

That's all good above. Let's just do it with 6 teams per region. The first two seeds get a bye.

I know Ridgeview didn't have their QB, but still...…..the results above are what happens when a passing team gets a lead on a running team and forces the running team into a scoring affair. It also hints to me that Ridgeview may have some trouble covering speed in open space, as Pikeville loves to spread it out and throw it, and run out of wide formations.

Try 67. 67 to 28 with just over a minute left.

Final, Union 28. Abingdon 21. Abingdon yields 1 yard in the 2nd OT on its chance to score and put it into a 3rd OT.

Pikeville 54, Ridgeview 21. Did Ridgeview have starters out on defense also? Still in 4th quarter

Abingdon 3rd down and goal from the 9. The first two plays for Abingdon yield 1 yard. Abingdon with 2 tries to score a TD from the 9 or the game is over.