RaiderNation

Thomas Walker vs Patrick Henry @ Emory & Henry Thursday at 7:00

Awesome news to have him back on the sidelines, continued prayers for Coach Smith and his family.

Anyone have a final schedule for Chilhowie?

Probably just need to go ahead and shut the program down now, it has hit rock bottom

Yes these statistics are very true, however, the situation and narratives are a lot different. H1N1 occured during the middle of a presidency and the republicans weren't fighting tooth and nail to get rid of Obama, the Demorats have tried every way possible to get rid of Trump, then this in an election year. Yes, 13,000 people died out of the millions infected with H1N1, but how many more died that were labeled as deaths related to heart disease, pneumonia, diabetic, etc. This illness has numerous deaths that in no way should have been linked to Covid, while heart disease, pneumonia, diabetic, etc have all declined this year. So we have all of a sudden found ways to help lower those death rates, it is a miracle. You can spin the narrative however you want it to, donkey or elephant, but the fact remains these numbers aren't true and this is an over publicized case of the flu to create mass media hysteria. I know people who have went to have the test performed, backed out after getting in and seeing the swab, yet still got a positive test result with no swab. I know of car accidents and heart attacks, where people had previously had covid, but didn't when they died, yet it is still labeled a covid death. Believe what you want, look at a map and blue states are the ones not playing and red states are for the most part.

Doesn't really hurt, instead of dividing by 10 games, your points are divided by 9 games.

2A MountaIn 7 Union, Abingdon, Ridgeview all are a toss up and could go either way. All three teams are well coached and have a ton of talent coming back. Pollier and Adkins are two of the best players not only in this area, but the entire state. Central will be the sleeper, always talking about being good, now it is time to be good. If they can't win with this great group of kids they all talk about, might be time to move in a different direction. Battle and Gate City should be in the mix for the 5 spot, both are rebuilding, but Gate City will be good again in a year or two, just wait and see Lee with the new coach is a ?, very young and a new staff SWD Graham is the team to beat, maybe in state again Richlands is always good Va High should have a few athletes Tazewell is always the underachiever, but might take a giant step this season Marion has a new coach so we will see what happens, been pretty competitive the last few years Lebanon might have another long year 1A Cumberland J.I. Burton - Loaded with young talent, speed, and size. Should be one of the best teams in the region, if the QB can step up. Thacker was a stud and good leader for them. Eastside- Lost the best QB in the area as stated above, but have some big time talent and a good coaching staff. Thomas Walker- Won 7 games and made the playoffs for the second straight year, but they need to move forward this year and win some more important games. Have to beat someone good in order to be considered a good team. Eastside and Burton are top dogs until anyone proves different. Rye Cove - Had a great season, honestly were about 3 plays from being 7-3, but look for them to improve record this season. Should win 5 or 6 games with the schedule they have and who they got back. the key will be replacing Houseright, he was the heart of the team and the players played hard for him. Twin Springs- Warner is doing a great job and I look for them to win 3 or 4 games this season Castlewood- This is a complete cluster and it won't get any better. Good luck to those poor kids. Hogoheegee Patrick Henry- Best team in Region 1D, should be undefeated and playing in the Region Championship again. Palmer is a great coach and has a ton of talent. Chilhowie- Still Chilhowie until someone proves any different, should win between 7-9 games in a reloading year Rural Retreat- to be determined Holston- Should be competitive again, lost a lot, but Patterson is doing a great job with this team. Northwood- Give him a few years and Johnson will have this team competing, he is one of the top offensive coaches in SWVA. Just needs to find some players to help. Black Diamond Honaker- Should have a great season, one of the better teams in Region D. Alot coming back, but they play a very tough schedule. Grundy- Lost about 18 Seniors so this could be a long year for Grundy, could finish anywhere from 2nd to 4th in the district depending on how the young kids step up. The Hurley game will be huge in determining position. Hurley- I look for Hurley to get back to the playoffs and win about 6 or 7 games. They have a great core coming back, and the coach should do a good job with what he has. Look for them to be very much improved. Twin Valley- Lost the best 2 players they had on the roster, but the Ward kid is an up and coming star. Look for about the same out of the Panthers. Region 2D Playoff Predictions Graham Union Ridgeview Richlands Va High Tazewell Central Battle Region 1D Playoff Predicitions Patrick Henry J.I. Burton Chilhowie Honaker Eastside Hurley Thomas Walker Rye Cove, Grundy, or Holston Top 5 could finish anywhere in between 1-5 1 Gridiron60 reacted to this

Exactly, you would think that even a bad administration would care more than that. I mean, seriously, these kids are going into the summer with no clue what is going on. Pitiful

I never said this was the biggest thing to happen this off season, didn't even say it has been the most interesting, I made a statement about the craziness of this job. No other place has a coach resigned and now after a month might be coming back. No other job had this little or no interest for the coaching position. This has simply been a cluster from day 1 and it still seems to be. I mean we are getting ready to hit June and they don't have a coach. I mean now they are talking about getting rid of a principal to bring back a guy who went 3-7 last year. Taylor is an awesome guy and should be left alone for what he has had to deal with over there, but I mean really.

Does anyone have any clue what is going on in Castlewood, I am hearing a lot of rumors about principal leaving, Taylor might still be the coach, some guy from our of town wanting the job, still hearing Scammell a lot? This has been the most hectic whirlwind in SWVA to this point. Can anyone shed any light on this subject?

I don’t know that they will have much of a choice, who really wants this job? The best kids off a 3-7 team are graduating. Everything I am hearing is that Scammell will be back.

I have heard two names for sure. Hearing a lot of chatter about David Scammell coming back to be the head coach again, if it is true it will be interesting. Also hearing some talk about Chris Crabtree interviewing for a job in Russell County as well, which means he will apply for it if he gets hired to teach. Will be interesting to see what happens, but either way it will take some time and work for whoever gets it.

I am pretty sure that a transfer has so many days to go back to the prior school with no punishment

Ok if the kid chose on his own not to play football then that is completely fine, but use common sense. Assistant coach was at Eastside and none of the basketball players played football, as soon as he left they all start playing football. Now he is at Union and it is becoming a problem there.

This is the problem with high school sports right now, too much specialization. If you have a good athlete, and they enjoy playing multiple sports, that need to play. Instead, you get a coach in his or her ear saying focus on this and you will be great, or don't play that you might get hurt. Any school in SWVA, I don't care where it is and what size, is only drawing from a limited number of kids anyway, if you have 700 kids, you might draw from half or less of that. So when you take a kid who is a stud out of the mix, it can really hurt a program. No sense in coaches ever discouraging a kid from playing a sport, you are only hurting your school and his team mates.

I think Twin valley plays Thomas Walker @ Home on October 11 and Rye Cove Away on either 10/25 or 11/1

Any word on who, if anyone has applied? I have heard a bunch of names being tossed around, but nothing confirmed by anyone.

The school board hasn’t seemed to be the problem this time, basically an entire new board and from what I have been told they have done a lot of good. The problem still and has always been parents who know more than the coaches (sarcasm). It is bad everywhere, but it seems to be worse there. If you want to know anything go to someone who works at the prison and talk to those guys, that seems to be information central. Hearing now there is a big push for Gerald Sensebaugh. All I can say is that guy with those parents, that should be fun.

It isn’t that easy to just leave after you have started at a school. Yes, there are a ton of loop holes, but you still have do jump through some hoops. If any kids leave Lee, I could see them going to TW since it is in county. A few less hoops to jump through, but I don’t see that happening either. Look for the same stuff to continue, just different man in charge.

No it was Palko, Coomer was fired after one season and they gave it to that guy.

It will be interesting to see who all puts in for this job. On the outside it has all the makings of a good job, but there are a lot of problems that come along with that job. Average life of a coach there is 3 years or less. Coming off a 2-8 season In the tougheat district in Southwest Virginia, with some of the teams who haven’t been good the last few years getting a lot better. Like him or dislike him Pendergraft worked his butt off, but the parents never saw that, which is part of the problem. Expectations are extremely high every year.