BlueDevil4Life2008

The hire should cool the rivalry? Anyone that we might know?

The virus has thrown a lot of things out of whack. Will be hard to have things go like before right now. What kind of format will we see take place? Will teams in football play a limited schedule and then have top 2 team in each district go on to a region semi and final and then play state semis and finals? Lots of things are going to be different this year for sure. What is everyone hearing out there for school and for sports in your county?

Congratulations to all the locals who have made the Single A All State teams. I haven’t seen AA yet. IMO Bradley Dean from Gate City deserves at least a share of the Player Of The Year. Any guy that can carry a team to another state championship appearance and go for 32 against the state champs need at least a share. If Robertson can get a share of it with Ervin and Ervin only go as far as the final four then Dean needs to share it with whoever from John Marshall IMO. Anyone agree or disagree leave it in the comments below.

I watched the last play. The ball sits in his hands at 0.0 before he got it off. I wanted to see for myself. I ran it back like 20 times to make sure and the ball was in his hands at 0.0. If you want to see it, it’s on YouTube Actually all of Radford’s games are on YouTube. Kind of crazy they would put them up there but whatever floats your boat I guess. As for the fouls that may or may not have been missed at the end of the game, how many missed shots at the basket were they? How many offensive boards did a team get and score on that shouldn’t have been got? It’s easy to say what happened at the end of the game determined the end but if the team or teams had done their job on other things during the game then what happened at the end might not have mattered.

So here is basically what that is saying. To keep from traveling to Region C, Blue Devil fans need to pull for Central to beat Radford at their desired locale on Friday so that we both can play each other for a fifth time here. When it comes to postseason play, Region C does it fairly well. No one has district tournaments. All the teams make it no matter what. The odds of meeting someone for a fifth time go down. Maybe three times at most. With the way it was this year you would probably have matchups like this: 1. Gate City vs 16. Bye 8. Lebanon vs 9. Ridgeview 4. Richlands vs 13 Bye 5. Union vs Battle 2. Graham vs 15. Bye 7. Virginia High vs 10. Marion 3. Central vs 14. Bye 6. Lee vs 11. Tazewell Might work out the same... might not May not be a viable solution would be a different avenue to try though. Wouldn’t have to play tournaments for seeding. Use the regular season as the base for points.

Came early for this one. Glad me and the kids did though did or we would not have got a seat. All I have to say is that GC had a 6th Man with them tonight that I had not heard in quite some time. My kids thought they were at a rock concert when the students went crazy during intros! They were jumping and bouncing yelling at me why it wasn’t like this all the time! Then they yelled, “We love basketball!” I think I may have yelled and bounced with them after that. For three quarters, after the initial shock of Centrals run wore off and GC began fighting their way back, the crowd fought with them! It was, at times, an out of body experience. The student body was so lit from the floor bleachers to the back row bleachers at top in the intros that it was even hard to hear the starting lineups. That rocks! With support like this from here on out, I honestly can see this GC team going quite a ways down the road because you could tell everyone in that gym was so lit the players just kept fighting harder and harder and harder. If you didn’t get goosebumps during the starting lineups, you had to be either sick, dead or in the bathroom doing business because the crowd and most definitely the GC Student Body showed up and showed out tonight as to who is by far the absolute best student body in this part of the state. God help any of you guys down the road if you have to face that student body yelling, chanting and screaming going against you in playing the Devils. Again! Huge kudos to the GC Student Body!

Great article! Have a question out of curiosity. Asking for a friend. With all the news about people taking new jobs etc., are there any rules about people coaching in one county in Virginia while teaching in another? Any info you can help me with is helpful.

We have had our kids in Scott County from Hawkins for years. Let’s look at the numbers. Bloomingdale / Sullivan North to Gate City HS - 12 to 14 minute drive at 7 - 8 mile drive. Bloomingdale / Sullivan North to West Ridge HS - 18 to 20 minute drive at 12 - 14 mile drive. Where would you want your kid driving if it were to start snowing and school let out? People also tend to forget that Gate City is in a unique position unlike many schools in the area... or their own county. All schools around here except DB. The unique situation is that, like DB, Gate City is situated about 5 miles from the state line. People are saying, “Keep your kids on your side. We don’t want them over here with our kids.” Seriously how damn selfish do you have to be? You whine and you cry about how you feel teachers are underpaid, how you need better schools. Then when it looks like someone is proposing an idea of charging students to come to school here you throw parties and give congratulations to everyone because now the school will just belong to the people in the county and not any “outsiders”. Here is the problem that has long plagued the citizens of Scott County and its people for years. A sense of Elitism. A sense of entitlement. Ok. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Since you don’t want Tennessee students coming to be educated by your teachers I am going to write the President of Eastman Chemical Company and tell him to fire every single worker from Virginia because they are taking away jobs from all the people who would be great workers in East Tennessee. We don’t need that backwoods hillbilly trash working over here. Go find your own jobs. Don’t want to educate the kids from over here that love coming to be apart of you and your county? Then keep your tails out of our workforce. And don’t say, “Ohhh but there aren’t any jobs!” Well then go be like a search party and go find some. That or we can just charge you to work for us. We can take it out of your pay. Yes sir that sounds like a plan to me! So all you elitists in Scott County. Just go ahead and show us why you guys are so awesome and you don’t need us. You need us probably a little more than some of our kids need you. Just saying. Im a proud Blue Devil but Scott County will never consolidate into one school ever for two reasons. 1). The county is pretty large and it’s geography might better be suited for two high schools instead of one. 2). No one can stand the elitist butthole attitudes that a lot of the people have over there. It’s GC gets this and GC gets that. People at TS and RC if the roles were reversed I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be saying anything about it if they were the school closest to the state line. But that’s the thing. What you are ignorant about you don’t know about.

I’m a Blue Devil fan but I admit. When I read this, I felt totally sorry for the Warrior team “who was very disappointing”. Well, all the Warrior players who didn’t play to win that is “except Isaiah who played to win”. I’m sure they really all showed up and said “you know I really want to go out there and play like %#*% tonight. How about we all go do that? But let’s not tell Isaiah. We want him to look better than all of us like his dad wants him to every night.” What kind of a coach distinguishes one player over the whole team? A Central team of course. I have heard that the Hayes kid looks way more like a player than Isaiah ever does at times. Mainly because he is just mentally tougher. When times get tough for Isaiah he will look over at the bench looking for help. Hayes just fights and plays through the toughness. If that’s the case I know who to take every second. And if the Central team was that disappointing, except Isaiah, maybe they need to just all go sit down and let the prophet TJ McAmis and his son from on high who sits at his right hand see how he does on the court by himself. I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t be a pretty picture. Unless he is changing water bottles into wine and making the Central crowd drunk (which is a real possibility the way they act), that’s probably the only miracle you would see. Heard he has a daughter coming up on the JV that is a pretty good player as well. What’s next on his bucket list trying to take Robin Dotson’s position as Warriors girls coach after his son graduates so he can tell the paper how bad all the other girls are on her team and how they don’t play with heart and passion like his kid? Stay tumed!

Big games tonight! Who do you say gets some big wins and makes a push for the top of the heap?

Funny you use WWE in your response. Central has earned their “cheap” reputation by their play on the court the past few years. You can definitely bet security will be heavy when Wise visits GC this season and for good reason. GC fans will get redneck if there is even a perception that they are out to hurt our players. I would be in GC a couple hours early for this one. .

Wise is the favorite, GC is going to be GC, Union may be an annual contender and Abingdon is going to be improved as well as Union just got by them by one but Lee is officially the Cinderella of the district. Never thought I would say those words. Ridgeview May do something as well. Who knows? But for the Trojans? The battle is lost this year. I think it’s safe to say that with the exception of John Battle , teams better show up or get surprised in a big way. M7 is no joke this year.

The way the Generals seem to be playing now in basketball if they run this coach out of town they deserve every bit of crap they deserve and have no excuse for it. Seriously if they run this guy out of town.they aren’t for the kids. Anyone with common sense would rightfully call BS 100 times over and it would be true. We are about to see if the county is ALL IN for Lee High or if it’s just a bunch of old dumb farts who can’t get over if the grand metropolis of Pennington or the metroplex of Jonesville is better. Lee County is a beautiful county with unlimited potential for jobs. They just have way too many people holding back that potential. In sports and in jobs.

Just got in from the Arby’s. Geeez that dude from Tennessee High can get up! Watched Wise Central again today. They are legit! Guy just called me and said he watched a Lee team just go to war with Union and lay a big hammer on them in Wise tonight. Abingdon is also a lot better this year from some peoples I have conversed with tonight at the Arby’s as well. Radford barely beat them and yes Radford isn’t as good as last year but they are the defending champs and from what I heard the Falcons took it hard at the Bobcats.Im going to go ahead and say it. Mountain 7 is up for grabs this year. I don’t think Ridgeview, Union or Battle have a shot. I think they will be very competitive. GC, Central, Lee, Abingdon. Between those four it’s a complete toss up. I can see any of these teams winning the Mountain 7. This district is about to get flipped on its head if the moon is full at any time. If the crowds and the environments are just right when any of these teams get together I think it will be anyone’s ballgame. Yes sir. Complete toss up.

From what I am hearing from other people not to mention what I have seen so far from the Blue Devils. Then watching Central in the Arby’s Classic, this is my Mountain 7 District regular season prediction. Right now, I believe this is pretty on point. Prediction - Final Regular Season Standings Wise Central 12-0 Gate City. 8-4 (Central 2, at Union 1, at Lee 1) Union 8-4 (Central 2, at GC 1, at Lee 1) Lee. 8-4 (Central 2, at GC 1, at Union 1) Abingdon. Ridgeview John Battle Mountain 7 Tournament Semifinals 1) Wise Central vs. 4) Union 2) Lee vs 3) Gate City Mountain 7 District Finals 1) Wise Central vs 3) Gate City Regular Season and Tournament Champions Wise Central - 1 seed 2 seed - Gate City 3 seed - Lee 4 seed - Union Southwest District 1. Graham 2. Virginia High 3. Tazewell 4. Richlands Region D Tournamemt Quarterfinals 1 Wise Central vs 4 Richlands 2 Gate City vs 3 Tazewell 3 Lee vs 2 Virginia High 4 Union vs 1 Graham Region D Semifinals 1 Wise Central vs 1 Graham 2 Gate City vs 3 Lee Region D Finals 1 Wise Central vs 2 Gate City Champions Wise Central

As for the M7 being better than the SWD..... Virginia High didn’t tuck their tails and head north to play Richlands, Graham, Tazewell and Marion on longer road trips so their players could take in the culture of far north SW Virginia. Especially when Battle is like 5 minutes away, Gate City is 30 min away and Abingdon i is 15 min away. That is the definition of tucking tail and running right there.

1. Ridgeview is good but so is Union. Ridgeview, even though they got behind early and lost, had a strong finish to the Union game last night and if they meet again I think the tables will turn the other way. Don’t count the Wolfpack out at all. 2. The Southwest District overall has to be the weakest it has EVER been in the history of ever. This district overall used to be the class of Southwest Virginia in football. Not anymore... not a chance. If it wasn’t for Richlands and Graham, it would make a great JV league. 3. Washington County needs to rezone Abingdon so that enough of the kids go to Battle and they can drop to Class 2 with the rest of the district. The Falcons deserve to be there as well as the rest of their other sports programs. 4. Gate City is much much better this year than they have ever been the previous years and Houseright IS the reason why. People can challenge that comment on the current record but wins and losses doesn’t show how far this team has come. And no matter what people say on here, he DOES have all the personnel in their correct respective positions. Those who don’t believe that have a disease..... it’s called EYE BLINDERS. Your eyes are open but you only see what you want to see. Sometimes there is a cure.... it’s called humbleness. Some people get it.... others live in denial of it. And myself if I’m Houseright, forget about what your record is now.... I’m working everyday and encouraging these guys and getting them better everyday because at the end of the season.... more than likely (unless they relax and get complacent) they will be in the playoffs. That’s what I’m working for. To get better for a postseason run. Because what do you have to lose? And the most dangerous team in the playoffs for Union and Ridgeview or any top ranked team?? That would be a team with nothing to lose.

Want to know about football in Scott County now? Gate City has 33 players but started with 27 players. Rye Cove 7th and 8th together for football has as many players as we do. The varsity has 23 players Twin Springs has 22 players on their varsity not counting 8th grade. Altogether that is about 80 players for the entire county playing football. Gate City used to put out a team between 60 and 70 every year. You combine Rye Cove and Twin Springs together and they OUTNUMBER the Blue Devils in numbers. If you take how many GC started with (27) and TS and RC double our numbers. Change is hard to see but not in this case. It is right in front of our faces and not sure how people in the county plan to deal with it without trying to hurt peoples feelings or stomping on high society’s toes and hurting their feelings. So what will the future hold for not only the Blue Devils but the county in general? Ridgeview, Union, Abingdon are pretty much doubling our numbers. Who would have ever thought.

I would think Abingdon would rezone itself so that it would allow more students to attend John Battle and lower Abingdon's enrollment to that of Class 2. Both JB and Abingdon would be Class 2. If you consolidate Holston and PH, you also would have another Class 2 school. That would make three good size schools for Washington County.

I couldn’t agree more. With Coach McAmis Jr on the floor you will have Sr. yelling at his players from the bench along with Jr yelling at his own teammates as well while playing! Makes it 100% complete! Should be great games! Wise has 7 seniors? GC has Dean, Compton, Sallee, George, Mack and Hensley. Providing they all stay healthy out of football season, this could be a good group of seniors as well! Not to mention role players on bench like Reed, Gose and Starnes! Not sure how far this group can go. After this group of seniors graduate, there will be very few tough players coming in behind them from what I’ve seen the last few years from our younger groups. The past few groups that have graduated and brought us success had a different type of mindset than these guys coming up now! We have some Juniors who could be our really last good class of players with a lot of physical toughness and skill but after that? Going to be some lean years I believe. We will lose tons of rebounding inside after Reed and Gose leave in 2021! Going to be very very weak inside!

There is not one player tougher returning for the Blue Devils than Luke Reed this year! Dude has power and can lay the hammer on people! Expect this young man to have a breakout year!

Me too!

Saw that he has been allowed back to support Union. Probably a great decision made by the principal. Union was about to become as well liked as Central is in Gate City. (If I may show sarcasm.)

Saw this today. It was shared by a cousin of mine who attends Gate City and is friends with people from Union. I am pretty sure the deal with the Chris guy was made to cover up some very disturbing issues which occurred on a sports team of which a video was made as well? That is of course what is being told by my cousin who is very good friends with people close to the basketball team at Union. According to her, pretty much everyone out there knows what happened but nobody out there has the guts to admit it happened or take responsibility for it. Pretty sad sad if you ask me. If you want to know what happened don’t ask me. Ask the Union peeps. I have thrown up enough in my mouth already just hearing of it. Here is the post I read today though. Pretty sad. I have seen him at many games. To say he is a fan and supporter is an understatement. The decision made today by Union High School is honestly a disgraceful representation of the community of Big Stone Gap, Virginia; Today I stand ashamed of this decision as an Alumni of the first graduating class of Union High School and as Chris’s sister. Today we were informed by the new administration of Union High School that Chris Kelly will no longer be allowed to participate in school events at Union High School; nor will be allowed to assist with sports functions. This was only due to “changes being made within the school”. As many of you know many events have taken place over the past few years where Chris was targeted and bullied by students, of which were forgiven and put to the side because of our belief in forgiveness and that kids learn lessons from mistakes. But today, I am disheartened to know that due to administration failing to run a school properly that the victim is now punished as we never pushed any type of punishment towards those who wronged Chris. At one time, half of the football team took turns coming to our home, vandalizing our property, harassing Chris, calling him the “R” word, a word that we do not use in our home to define those with special needs. They filmed him falling down, yelled at him, and teased him. They ridiculed him; their punishment was simply running extra at practice. Chris forgave these boys; boys that he had watched grow from the time of Parks and Recs sports. Administration at the time, had the “boys will be boys” mentality because these were football stars and they were headed to state. As a family, we did not press charges although the opportunity was present as our property suffered damage, we had multiple calls to local law enforcement agents, and even went so far as to have the County Sheriff’s department mount cameras at our home to catch who was harassing and towards the end trying to enter our home. We never publicized this behavior, nor did we press the issue as the boys were at risk for losing scholarships and grants towards their education if we did. We chose not to act in a way that would jeopardize the lives and futures of young athletes and simply accepted apologies and moved forward. Many other events have occurred that led to more trips to the school to obtain apologies and attempt to have administration be more apt to correcting bullying within the school, not only for Chris’s sake, but for the sake of others with disabilities that could be placed in the same situation. I have to ask, what are we doing as a school and as a community in allowing people to treat others poorly. Instead of correcting the ills at hand within the system and enforcing discipline and teaching young people and preparing them in life on how to treat others, we take those that are defenseless and victims out of the picture to guard the reputations and guard against bullying from occurring. Instead of taking people with special needs out of the equation, why not equip students with the opportunity to learn to work with, appreciate, love, and support those with special needs; because I’m here to tell you, as a sister of someone with special needs, you won’t find more dedication or love within the hearts of those we call “special”. Instead, Union High School has set a precedent that if their students choose to treat others poorly, it will be the “others” that is taken out of the equation so that it doesn’t happen further. This is not how life works in the real world; the entire purpose of school is to teach young individuals to be adults, how to treat others, how to conduct themselves, and how to respect, love, and appreciate people from all different walks of life. It is a sad day when a community member who has dedicated their life to serving others within multiple sports programs; someone who has watched our children within the community grow from parks and rec sports programs to high school programs and served them throughout their lifetimes be told that they can partake in this no longer. It is shameful that someone who has required no pay, no glory, no honors, just simply a thank you is told that they can no longer spend their time doing what they love to do: serve others and see them succeed. You see, Chris is different, he isn’t like other people, he is special. He is special in a way that he doesn’t participate and serve in order to be praised and glorified; he serves because he loves others and he wants to see them win and love sports and he wants to see them be able to do things with their lives. He gets joy out of seeing your children win, and he’s there for them win, lose, or draw. The man who has mopped sweat off the floors, cleaned the gym, helped with fundraising, washed uniforms, carried water bottles, and did the job that most others would not humble themselves to do is punished because a school system has failed their students and community in their inability to safely and effectively run a school. Chris’s heart was broken today. He is confused, and sad; as he does not understand. You see, because Chris only understands love towards others, and helping others; he doesn’t understand why people treat others bad or choose to not respect others; he doesn’t understand that the world is cruel and that’s what makes him special; he sees through a different set of eyes, and if more people had this perspective on life, the world would be a much happier, more fulfilled place. So if you miss seeing Union’s number one fan this season; if you hear one less voice in the crowd, and see one less smile on the sideline, please understand that it was not our family’s choice; but the choice of Union High School.

Any word on how everyone is looking in summer basketball camps right now? I know Gate City is at ETSU but no word on how they are looking. Any other local teams looking good elsewhere?