Fairlawncat

Calpreps favored Draft and Appo winning by about 32-34 points. Both margins of victory were by 31 points. Calpreps can be alarmingly accurate and it's kind of scar to think a computer can do this, but it really is much, much closer to being correct far more times than it is to being incorrect. They absolutely nailed both state semi final games and I thought for sure, they would be way off.

Union needs to dress out a couple of Jones's and Bishops and all would be well. Good luck to the Bears today. They have a tall task. Appo is an absolute machine.

Riverheads has a special program. Their future is good. Giles has bucket-loads of talent in the 6th through 9th grade levels. In 2-3 years, Giles will be making deep playoff runs again.

Giles numbers are much lower than Riverheads and have been for a while. Giles should have been 1A for a while now compared to Riverheads.

Nope, but Dennis Caught hasn't coached in a while. If you can bring back Karate Kid in the form of Cobra Kai, then why not Dennis Vaught? After all, Johnny Lawrence changed for the better.

That would be Pulaski, not Radford, lol.

If the G-Men were to win Region D, and I specifically write the G-Men because their home field is in WV, then what are the chances they could use WV attendance rules? If I'm not mistaken, the Region D winner is the host of the Region C winner, and the winner of D/C hosts the state title game, so there is a possibility and a strong one based on Graham's football prowess that the state semifinals and even the state championship could be played in the state of WV like it was in 1989. I'm not sure about Graham of 95 and Graham of 2018 traveled of course to neutral site, but I suspect the Graham admins could make that thing interesting if they wanted to. If I were playing for the state title and I were Graham, I would have to admit. I would open the gates and pack Mitchell as best as possible. It's not like the VHSL can punish you the following week, and if they tried, I would think because the stadium is in WV, Graham could possibly tie that thing up in court for a while because there would have to be little, if any precedence on this for the VHSL. Totally different if any team within Virginia did it other than Graham, who has a home field that simply is not in the state of Virginia.

Original schedule was Richlands coming to Radford in the fall of 2020, correct?

From what I was told, that is exactly what happened Bluefield. One other thing, and VHSL edited the first post in this thread earlier, but Radford is the 4 seed, not the 3, and Radford travels to Appo. Glenvar, the 3 seed, travels to Dan River. Dan River is a real wild card. First, their county said no playoff participation, and now they have decided to. I have not seen them, but from 2 guys I spoke with say they are as good as Appomattox. I don't know and doubt it, but hard to tell. Are they talking about the Dan River team that beat Gretna last Thursday by a score of 26-22, or are they talking about the Dan River team that beat Gretna again, 7 days later by a score of 53-6? Yes, that happened.

Calpreps has it as Tazewell 20, Central 19. And...Graham 35 Union 12

I think it's sad Ridgeview's fans and coaches haven't made more noise, or at least them being talked about more. It's Ridgeview, not Richlands, and not Union, but Ridgeview is the 4th best team or one of the 4 best teams in Region D, yet Richlands and Union are arguing over that 4 spot when at least by the eye test, and Calpreps, and comparing scores, when you take all 3 of those data points, they point to Ridgeview, not Richlands or Union (and I mean no disrespect to Union or the Blues) but I am pointing out that the team who is getting totally disrespected and if settled on the field, who truly is the best of the three teams, it's Ridgeview. I think that is the real sad part and kicker in the equation with the whole Region D mess.

No disrespect to Richlands, but I think we (Radford) will win this game by a touchdown.

I hear what you are saying, but having more knowledge doesn't necessarily take politics out of the decisions. For example, how many people on the board have had a MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine? Probably, near 100%. How many people have worn a mask over the years to prevent them from getting MMR? I bet...zero percent. So, why are my parents still wearing a mask for Covid when both have been vaccinated? Politics is the answer. Ever wonder why people that have been vaccinated for Covid still are told to wear masks? Why weren't they told to wear a mask against MMR the past 50 years even though they were vaccinated? Politics is the answer

A little fun info and history for that 1986 season with Nottoway, Tazewell, Giles, Central Lunenburg-Chippie Chappell, Glynn Carlock, Stephan Holloway, and myself with my bandana friends. I was a sophomore at Giles on the 86 team that whipped up on the Dogs. Boy, did that bunch turn it around Went to Raddy as a freshman before finishing my last 3 years at Giles. We (Giles) had lost in the state semifinals at Laurel Park in a game we were favored to win ( AA, Div 3-a level down from Tazewell-Nottoway) and the following week, my dad drove me to Tazewell to watch the Nottoway game (state championship). Tazewell had big signs saying, "no way Nottoway." A little fun but useless trivia for that year. I had my game of the year at Tazewell recording 7 tackles and laying the leather on Quentin Reed a few times. He still feels me. I hit him hard and talked trash, and I thought I was the baddest guy on the planet until early 3rd qtr, we attempted a pass with me being foolish enough to run a shallow cross 5-7 yds off the line of scrimmage and Stephan Holloway nearly decapitated me. I never said another word for the rest of that game. At our level, AA, Div 3, Laurel Park who upset us down in Martinsville went on to lose the state title to James Monroe the following week. Back to the Nottoway-Tazewell thing. The Nottoway team that Tazewell beat in 86 was all of that and then some. They were undefeated and the only hiccup was a tie game with Central Luneburg (a game that used to draw 8,000 fans) and still a big rival game for those two schools. Central Luneburg, (the Powell Valley of the East) won the state title that year at the Single A, Div 2 level in a very, very tough contest over Garden High School who traveled to Victoria (Central Lunenberg). Central walked through all opponents that year with the exception of the Nottoway tie. Garden gave them fits and was only down a score late in that game before a Central score put it away. More useless but fun trivia, the former legendary coach at Central Lunenberg High School (Chippie Chappell) had close ties to Bluefield, VA. His wife was from Bluefield and Chippie (Virginia Hall of game and one of the winningest in Va History and would have won more if not for Powell Valley) was a regular at Cotton's Restaurant-Bar in the off season and would go fishing and hunting regularly there in the Bluefield area. He was a close friend of Glynn Carlock.

Being in Appos Region, I've followed them pretty closely for a long time. This Appomattox team is the weakest I have seen on the line of scrimmage in over 5-6 years, before their first state title. They are still very good up front, but by their standards, they are not as good up front as they have been. The athletes are certailny there at the skilled positions. Stuarts Draft, Graham, Tazewell, and Central I think are not just as good as Appo this year, but I think they are all slightly better. As good as Appo has been and still is, expect a very tight game with Appo and Glenvar or Radford in Region C. Appo's Doug Smith ma be the best High School Football Coach in Virginia at any level, and even though he is still somewhat involved with their program, he's not there on the sidelines and his football IQ matters. Him not being there is a gigantic loss for Appo. Only my opinion. Don't sleep on Nottoway. A 1980's and 1990's powerhouse and playing the state title game as recent as 2014, they are sitting on a bucketload of talent and have the son of a former long time coach as their offensive coordinator. They may surprise and Stuarts Drafts is not a sure thing to come out of that side of Virginia. Nottoway is definitely coming out of Region A, if Covid issues to get them shelved, and they may make it a game with Stuarts Draft in the state semi's.

Mountain Football and UVA spot on. If the Reds don't beat the Dogs by 21, neither are the G-Men. But, Graham is more explosive in the passing game compared to Riverheads who gashes with the run, but lots of time killed which shortens the game. I've been most impressed by Tazewell with the liineplay. We know the athletes are there. They have had those for 3 years. It's the lineplay that's allowed Tazewell to get over the hump and beat Richlands. It's the lineplay that actually pushed Riverheads off the ball and only penalties and turnovers killed the drives. Their lineplay is the difference this year, not the athletes at the skilled positions. They were gashing Riverheads directly off tackle and they did it to Richlands in the 4th quarter when Richlands knew Tazewell was running the ball. Graham is very, very good up front and Tazewell has no beast that is on the level of Graham's likely All American candidate, but the lineplay is 5 guys, tackle to tackle, and Tazewell is absolutely big and solid up front and at least equal to Graham and I think, slightly better. Outside of Stuarts Draft, who has 1 sure bigtime D1 lineman and another one that is flirting with small D1, non P 5 offers, Tazewell is the best line Graham will see if the GMen go that far. Central is also right there on the line with Graham and Tazewell. Appo this year is not as good up front as they have been. I think Graham is going to have a difficult time stopping Tazewell on the ground. They are going to have some success running the ball. The X factor is always a superstar, Div 1 kid, and of course, that's Bradsahw. The problem for Tazewell is, they have the ability to play pretty good coverage (kind of like Va High who actually had pretty good coverage) but the kid just simply out athletes and takes the ball away from the defender. His father did that against a dominate Gretna team years ago and almost brought Graham back to win a game over a Gretna team that was one for the ages. When you have a kid like Bradshaw, he can turn a nailbiting close game flat on it's face. This is going to be one heck of contest.

Devastating loss for the Bobcats to Glenvar 16-14. I was hoping we could be in contention or have a chance in the end. Still do I guess, but that same Glenvar team lost to Stuarts Draft 27-0. We likely aren't on the level this year of Appo, Graham, Draft, Graham, Tazewell, Central.

Graham is playing very well. They look very good. I think they look as good as they have all year. Virginia High is doing everything possible to shorten the game by snapping the ball with less than 5 seconds on the play clock. Credit Virginia's Coaches for shortening the game and attempting to do everything possible to give Graham's offense less possessions. As for Graham's Coaches, they surely must know teams are going to attempt to shorten the game. With about 2 minutes left in the first half, Graham has used only 1 timeout. That's a mistake. Your much better than Virginia High and VH is only playing for a moral victory, a respectable score. This means Graham must use their timeouts earlier in the half against an inferior team to give their O 1 or two more possessions per half. Credit the Bearcats for playing hard and only down 23-0 at the half in making it close, but this represents more of a failure of attention to detail on Graham's coaching staff. Graham's coaching staff is solid and one of the best in the area and state of Virginia hands down, but actually, the worst half of the season for the Graham coaches, not the players. In the end, the GMen will be tough to beat, coaches and players, because both are very, very good.

From Radford, VA, congrats to the Tazewell Bulldogs getting over that hump and putting that talent to use. The Bulldogs need to be good. It's been a long time since the Bulldogs were a regular contender and it's overdue. All the best to Tazewell fans, players, and staff. The Bulldogs are a threat in the post season to win Region D. My perception of the Bulldogs may be off, but reading on the boards how athletic they are is often the first discussion. They are athletic, but the bigs up front allow those athletes late in the season or in a stalemate type game to put the pedal down, and run the ball. You pass to score. You run to win. Tazewell in the fourth was down 12-10 or down by a point or two where a field goal for them would take the lead. They started at their own 30, and ran the ball 8 or say straight plays against a very physical Richlands front 7 and Tazewell got the go ahead field goal (should have probably scored a TD). When you have athletes with the bigs up front that are not just big, but those guys come off the ball (ask Riverheads). Credit Riverheads for that W over Tazewell, but if Tazewell doesn't do the turnovers and penalties, Riverheads would have actually lost that game on their home field. All the best for the Bulldogs. I remember the days of Dave Ryder and Nick Colobro and guys like Reed, Davis, Lamie, Viney, Stinton, Holloway, and maybe the most vicious defensive hitter come out of SWVA, Steve Mitchem (RIP). The SWD is back like old times and much fun. No question, the deepest region by far is Region D with probably what is 6 of the top 10 best AA teams in Virginia. You guys have some solid pigskin up that way. I still favor Graham, but teams like Tazewell, Central, Ridgeview are a threat, and the one I still see that doesn't seem to ever take a year off is Union. I thought the Bear were supposed to be down? They aren't anything close to down. They may win the region. Going to be fun up that way for the rest of the way.

Gate City did well also. Shows how tough the M7 was. Gate City really must have come on in the second half of the season to play Union within 10 points in the playoffs. Makes me wonder if not just Union, but maybe Radford, and maybe even Gate City would have got a W over East Rock.

Chuck Perdue graduated in 1970 from Graham and was defensive captain at VT on the 1972-73 team at Linebacker. Graham also had guys like Eddie Hall and Terry Hall.

I agree with you BW. I think Union was just flat out better. When you have 4 of 5 players on the floor that can handle the ball like a point guard at the High School Level, it spells trouble for opponents. Union's defense surprised me some. I knew Union could score and handle it well, but we have got tons of open looks with our offense all year, and what impressed me the most was how Union moved and adjusted defensively with that zone to cover our shooters. Also, Union simply has guys with good feet. Cam could and has often created his own shot for most if not all of the year, but the defenders for Union lateral quickness and ability to move their feet was by the far, the best we've seen all year. I hope we can repay you guys next year, but it will be tough with what you return. In the mean time, go out and win the state title. I will be rooting for you to win it. As a contender who loses to an opponent, if you are going to lose, you want to lose to the best team. Best wishes Union Bears and bring a state title home. P.S. I read your comments on PJ. Man oh man, is this kid quick or what? He's a gem and you have to see him on the football field in open space. Kid can cut on a dime. He's also a very good kid and carries a near 4.0 GPA. He's made all A's and only one B in High School thus far. He represents the Bobcats well. Best wishes Bears

Congrats Union Bears. The better team won.

Radford very similar with some length, but not really true size as in a true power forward or center. Union will be the best ball handling team (by a lot) that we will have played. I'm worried that with Union's ball handling skills, the turnovers may not come as easy as our kids are used to and that could cause a big surprise for our defense. What we do very well is rebound after a miss. 32 minutes ain't much time though, and if Union is on and Radford (who relies perhaps as much or more than Union) on points outside of the paint, it will be interesting. We get a bunch of points in transition off of steals and from outside the box in our half court sets, but we don't get much from inside the paint within a half court set. This game, like many teams that are really close in talent may very well come down to the simple old saying of who makes shots wins the game. A shooting percentage difference within the half court sets carrying a difference of 10 percent either way I think will decide the game. IF we are on from the outside, we will win. Same with Union. It's not going to be a game where we are getting layups off of turnovers from the other teams half court set. Union handles it to well.