I agree with you. The new coach will probably have some sort of an offensive system that they want to bring in. In my opinion the spread has to have a few players that can catch / run out of backfield and receivers that can win 1on 1 matchups. The spread had helped Richlands win over the years and Mance was masterful at second half mis matches . Talent isn’t as great anymore. I wouldn’t want to see Webb regulated to A power or single back set either. Richlands has used him correctly; he needs some skill players to help out. I’m hoping he stays. I might be wishful thinking but I think if cox , and Steele have great off seasons and Webb stays, it could be pretty good the next few years. Who will ultimately decide on the new coach ?
I think the spread stays for a couple more years. Cox has potential to be a really good qb . If someone Lands the job , that can continue developing him and just a couple of receivers , the blues can compete for 1st in the SWD the next 2 years. They have a couple of really good lineman, a tough RB and a few corners that will be really good. They need linebacker help and another receiver. All of this is possible, if Webb stays. I’m hearing though , he very well may not be.
pretty sure that those 20 seniors graham lost to graduation had a few holdbacks. ( over half ). I hope Webb stays at Richlands , no matter who the coach is. But I believe he has ties to the bluefield staff, And after torching them last year for about 300 all purpose yards , they may want him.
X-fers take place each year. The kid at Richlands has already enrolled. I don't think he is expected to be a starting qb or a savior to the football team. I think he will probably end up be a starter somewhere on the team and add some depth . Coaches say kid can fill needs at a couple positions. So no need to speculate. Don't think George Wythe cares one way or the other. Kids transfer to better themselves or for family reasons . Very seldom do kids x-fer to any school (High School) just because a coach recruits them Coaches are opportunistic , and usually no successful coach refuses another warm body for his program if one presents itself.
More importantly , who is going to be the favorites in each of the areas 2A districts next fall?
Yes. Press was difference. Richlands forced graham out of their press in the Second quarter by scoring several easy buckets. Once graham erased the 10 point deficit and they managed to not get any deeper into foul trouble. (They had a few players with 3 in the first half and managed to keep them from picking up a 4th.) That was crucial for them to be able to press the whole game. It was fun !! Several people have said that was the best Richlands has played all year. I was hearing that the b ball team was way down but I though they played pretty good. I’ll come back anyway. I enjoyed it !! Both teams.
Richlands vs Graham on Friday night was First basketball game I have been too in several years . The place was packed. The game was great. Atmosphere was great. It was a Tie game late into the 4th quarter. Richlands blew a 10 point lead just before half but the third quarter and most of 4 th was back and fourth. . Basketball may be down in the SWD but those 2 teams had athletes and it was a very , very entertaining game and competitive. I’ll be back for the rest of the district games at home. Webb needs to shoot the ball. He drove To the basket effortless at times and didn’t shoot much at all. Cade Simmons must have had 30 + points. Graves and Bradshaw were sooo athletic but one of Graham’s perimeter players moved to the foul line in the third quarter and may not have missed a shot. Both teams played hard. It was a good game.
Adkins team will be the front runner again on whatever team he plays on in the Region. I assume he probably stays at Ridgeview. Although , it’s been rumored that he would consider playing with WEBB @ Richlands. If he stays put ,the region will once again be pretty competitive. Wise central will be good. Graham, Ridgeview , Richlands , Union and Tazewell . Let’s hope Chance Harris returns 💯 , Adkins stays put , and Webb stays at Richlands. Those 3 , Crabtree , Bradshaw , Jordan , meadows and others will make the region good for a couple more years to come.
The average fan does not realize what 1 or 2 injuries do to a team without a lot of skill players. You will hear that 1 or 2 players do not make a team. It some cases that is true , but Not in 2a high school football.
As an unbiased person in this conversation. Union overachieved in a big way. The early success was not anticipated in my opinion. I know they struggled at end of year with injuries but when I watched them over the summer at 7v7 and in the preseason I really thought they were a 6-4 team. 7-3 at best. Don’t know about the qb situation but coach turner is pretty good at this football thing. Very good.
Yea ...But they still beat the piss out of the Dawgs.....one thing about it the dawgs season lasted longer than the Blues..well 1 day longer.....cant wait till August..
I usually agree with most of your comments but this one not so much. I think I’ve missed about the same amount of games since 2003. This years team went 6-4 in the regular season. The only game the blues lost that they had to play in the regular season was graham. It would be easy to fill a schedule minus bluefield , Abingdon Radford , union , gate city , as your non district games. You could finish the season at 9-1 and get a soft first round game. Then maybe win the next round. Then people outside the program don’t realize that you actually are not that good. This years team and last years team were 6-4 teams. Last years team made it at least 1 round Further than they should have. This years team probably made it 1 less round than they should have.
Simmons played well. Cox came in several times early in the season and looked awful. Just wasn’t ready. His feet were not ready. Tuned the gate city game around in a hurry. I said it earlier and will again. No skill players other than Webb. No Lbs other than Absher. Steele ran hard this season. . Some of the other wr caught a few balls but needed to be capable of scoring or winning 1 v1 matchups consistently. The Altizer injury hurt the blues tremendously. This was a 6-4 team that could have maybe won another game or 2 but could have also lost 2 more in the regular season. Simmons played good. Exceeded expectations. Doesn’t make him the best qb around. Not trying to make that argument, But was gritty in wins over Abingdon , Radford , tazewell , etc. The blues will be starring at another 6-4 season unless the get some skill players fast. I think cox will be a player next year If he works on his feet. His arm is great. Needs months of feetwork. If he does, it will add a dimension next season that the blues lacked. I would love to see Webb back 10 lbs heavier and Steele 10 lbs. They say both of them are tireless workers in the offseason. if they all buy in and develop a couple lbs they can exceed expectations. I’m disappointed with the lack of toughness from the blues this year and last but saw some flashes with some of the younger players at times this year.
I can’t wait till August . Good luck to all the area teams in the playoffs this year. and hopefully the blues will be right back in the thick of things at this time next year.
My reply was to the guy that said Simmons wasn’t even close to top 5. I agree with Lester. Pickett and the others. Not saying that Simmons is better. The comment was basically that simmons had a solid year. No true fan or coach envisioned Simmons td / int ratio to be so good or for him to throw. For as many yards or as many touchdowns as he did. Qb play didn’t doom the blues tonight or this season. Couldn’t run the ball tonight and Webb probably only had 85 to 95 yards receiving. Central used a good blueprint. They stopped the run. Then limited Webb’s touches. That’s why the kicks went out of bounds. I don’t blame them. I would much rather give a team the ball at midfield than kick it to the 20 with potential of the big run back. Good game plan and they made the big play in the fourth quarter. Richlands was not good enough all year to overcome those type mistakes. A true 6-4 type team.
Speaking objectively as a Richlands fan, Central beat both us and the refs tonight. The refs seemed like they wanted Richlands to win. Now, we had one or two calls on us that were iffy, but Central had 5 to 10 that were just mindbogglingly bad. Non pass interference calls, a both ways unsportsmanlike when only one player seemed to be throwing shots and mouthing, and several holding calls. However, Central is the better team here, do they beat Ridgeview? It would be nice to see, but Central is not as good as they looked tonight against us, I THINK. You could see from the start that going fast against Central was tearing them up, they could not play against quick play calling and getting right back to the line after the play was done. But, we immediately stopped it, slowed down, right when it was working or had a massive turnover, and I think that is because our kids were flustered when doing it.
But to call Simmons one of the top five quarterbacks in the region... Not even close to a top five. Good kid, hard working player, and smart but not close to one of the best. He has zero accuracy at times, panics, and he would rather tuck and run instead of finding someone to pass too. It would help a lot though if you had speed at your receiver position to get open. A lot of his mistakes have been continuous throughout the year. The offensive line did not help him much this season though. It felt like they were overpowered a lot this year. Central's QB was amazing and could make a play out of anything, but give the devil his due, the defense was there to play, but got winded from being out on the field way too long and way too often. The running game was not gonna work against this team, look at their offense, they practice against that every day, you can't beat that.
Just a few opinions, but all in all, this is one of the rougher "decent" seasons I have ever been through with Mance and the Blues. Glad its over, we will see what next year holds for us.
You do realize that Simmons threw for more yards tonight than the central qb. He is definitely one of the areas five best qbs on the year. He did have some errant throws and tonight wasn’t a great night for that to happen. Central played hard and physical. And made the big play late in the game, and hats off to them for winning. As far as speed at receiver ? Who have you seen this year in any game as quick , and or fast as Webb. ? He plays receiver most of the time. Not following you with these comments.
#1 Lester from graham. 2 Pickett. 3 #3 Simmons from Richlands , he has quietly threw for close to 1500 yards without a lot of proven receivers . I’m sure there are a few that I may have missed. Didn’t see them all play but those 3 are solid.
There is a scripture that says "if one can put a thousand to flight, two can put ten thousand to flight".
I think Coach did it to give dimension and strengthen the running game. They are both different runners. Webb is a finesse runner with speed, Steele is more of a "up the gut" runner. Either way, I think it bodes well for the "new season". Also, it takes pressure off of Simmons to settle down in the pocket, and be accurate in finding his open receivers.
I agree. Webb is a true slot receiver. And flips field position in the return game. If he can force wise central into bad kicks / punts by trying to avoid him and Levi doing the kicking for the blues it should definitely help with field position. Steele looked good in his few carries the other night. Hope the D shows up Friday. Simmons hasn’t had to run much the past few weeks and I look for him to do some damage with his legs.
I’m wondering if Webb at rb ( 14 carries, Friday night ) , when he usually gets 3 to 4 carries out of the rb spot , was to give Steele a much needed rest going into the playoffs or if it was to find ways to get him more touches . Either , way it makes things a little more interesting offensively for the blues, and adds a little more game planning for the opponent
I am definitely biased toward Richlands. So here you go.
The hit was close enough/ high enough to where a ref is gonna flag it. Football is a tough sport and it was a division 1 athlete coming in hard like he was supposed to. I don’t think he deserved to be ejected. At all. I do think that he now knows , that he definitely could have got low and ran through him. He made the hit like everyone did up untill a few years ago. The rules have changed now and we still see some hard hits like the one he delivered . He is a good player. Hated to see him go. It was definitely a 15 yard penalty by definition. But probably tossed him unnecessarily.
Good game g men. Great game plan. Took Webb out of the game . DoublE coverage on him every play and some times a double with a safety right over him. It forced the blues to run and they couldn’t. Great linebacker play. G men are the best team we have seen so far. Good luck.
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The Webb staying put may be a bit pre mature.