SwvaOG

Variety is the spice of life! 

The guest announcer (the female college coach) tried but couldn't help not slanting coverage for Fort Defiance.  Did anyone else catch her when she said she was over there recruiting them?  And she mentioned that she knew them well.  Meanwhile, she mentioned that Ridgeview was a good team "for where they are from".  That, coupled with the one announcer calling the Wolfpack Ridgeway and Mount View several times didn't help either.  The whole match was tilted to them talking about what Fort needed to start doing or what they weren't doing and not much was spent talking about what Ridgeview was doing and not letting Fort do.  
Although it always felt tense (full disclosure: my daughter plays on the team so it always feels tense), Ridgeview trailed for one point, 2-1 in the first set, all match.  The truth is they dominated a very good Fort Defiance team.  The Wolfpack crowd was about 2.5x the Indians crowd and they were loud.  I've never seen a far SWVA team come out so confident and emotionally charged in a state championship game in a long, long time.   It is a shame the announcers didn't recognize that.  Those girls deserved better coverage and more "flowers" than what the announcers gave them. 
I do want to specifically call out the SWVA media.  They have done a spectacular job of covering Ridgeview all year...Bristol Herald, WCYB (5) Kingsport Times, WJHL (11) ....they've been great and produced some of the best written articles I've seen in a while.  Additionally, Dickinson County really got behind this team and packed the house at home and on the road.  Those Region and State playoff home games probably drew 500-700 a game.  The Radford coach was actually quoted in the paper as saying the crowd and atmosphere created problems for her team:
And this excerpt was from a Staunton based paper and quoted the Fort Defiance team: 
 

They have nothing on auburn lol

100% agreed.  The game is for the kids to decide, not a bunch of adults in the stands or wherever they are blowing train horns to distract or intimidate the other team while they are trying to run their offense. Administrators at all schools should put a stop to this practice.

I’m not disputing the refs, they were awful. That type of PI is called at all levels. I thought it was a bad call but not the first time I’ve seen it. The missed punter call was bad, and the missed false start was kind of comical. They still would’ve scored on the false start p, but I get your point. 
I just mean every fumble Union had bounced right back to them. Especially on that last Union score. 
I’m not saying Union didn’t deserve the win, they did. The RV defense played good enough to win the game. The offense had way too many mistakes and the turnovers killed them. 

This is long overdue at RV and a step in the right direction but its been ridiculous this is just now happening.   Hell, I had mandatory weight training at 6:30 am in high school in the late '80's.  Most region fans will agree that one thing that has held RV back to some degree has been the strength of the OL/DL.  I'm pumped that they are working to address that and moving away from a seasonal work approach.

This is long overdue at RV and a step in the right direction but its been ridiculous this is just now happening.   Hell, I had mandatory weight training at 6:30 am in high school in the late '80's.  Most region fans will agree that one thing that has held RV back to some degree has been the strength of the OL/DL.  I'm pumped that they are working to address that and moving away from a seasonal work approach.

Hill is back at Ridgeview and was the Wolfpack Middle School coach this past season and will probably be on varsity soon.  Beavers is transferring to UVA-Wise and is sitting out this season. He will have four years eligibility.  Emory had a significant amount of turnover after the HC and his staff left.  I believe Connor Roberts may still be there but the other Graham kid (Wadkins) transferred out.

I’ve watched them a few times. Now that is a well coached team. They are the regions best shot at a state title in the fall sports from what I can tell. 

Quick shout-out to the Ridgeview Volleyball team. They defeated James River 3-1 to secure their trip to the state championship game.
Congratulations!

The act of holding back itself (physical maturity) and the extra year of training creates the advantage, especially if multiple players are doing so (unless equally or more talented teams do the same). The training definitely helps, but I’m surprised that it hasn’t already been done. It may have fallen off, but I thought all teams had a group of 8th graders lifting. We were weight training in 8th grade 30 years ago. The coordinating holdbacks seemed to have hit in some places around the same time or shortly after. 

I'm wondering how RV continues to escape this assessment.  You wanna talk about a run of talent...over the past 5-6 years the schools best RB, QB and WR in history passed through and not one Region Championship to show for it....just two M7 championships.  Those skill positions were the most talented in the M7 over that period.  Additionally, numerous All-State level LBs, DBs, and DL as well.  And don't get me started on speed....they have had great team speed since 2018 with the luxury of having the fastest guys in the region for the past four years.  What M7 school can surpass Sproles, Hill and Honaker for LB over that period.......how about Hess, Beavers, Hill, Counts, Baker for WR?  Phillips and O'Quinn at QB?  Adkins, Hill, Honaker, Deel at RB?  Two All-State DL in Gibbs and Lester?  The hands down best kicking game in the region for the past 6-8 years...multiple all region kickers, punters and punt returners?  
I truly don't think the RV faithful understand the talent that was squandered.  They think it will be there every year and it won't....it is already starting to thin out.  

Graham definitely has a history of improving as the season progresses. That is very apparent.
Union does not. That is also very apparent.
A lot of the people on the sidelines could be classified as roadies. They're needed and do a great job, but they should also disappear once the game starts.
As for the extra "coaches" or the people that think they're coaches...they just need to disappear altogether.
And Turner needs to stop calling the plays. He tries too hard to make the game a battle of will. Football may be that, but it's also a battle of skill and strategy. The strategy part eludes him.

I'll have to give Graham's staff credit. Each season they seem to start off a little rough around the edges and usually get better as the season progresses. The offense almost always starts of slow compared to the defense but by the end of the season they're normally clicking pretty good. I can't imagine how difficult it is to motivate kids enough today to come out and play much less keep them motivated at a high level for 10-15 games. Grundy is another example of a team progressively improving this season. Just from the outside looking in, I think Union has entirely too many coaches on staff. I know we joke about it but I just don't see all of them working together in the right direction for an entire season. If I was Turner I'd get that circle a little smaller. 

Weather will be the 12th man for Union if its nasty.

The only team that I have seen run many RPOs is Lee. It seems to me like all of their run game is based off RPOs and they have gotten success from it. They just couldn't stop the team of blind and deaf on defense😂

They threw the ball all over the place in '14 & '15. I think Tanner Hall had over 2000 yards on '14 and Bryce Spears had 1500?
They were quite successful.
This year, it's like they don't know what a pass is. It's very odd and frustrating!
On wasted talent... trust me, we know!

Even when they call pass plays, the QB just runs anyway lol. 
 
Bunch update? For sure out?

Snake makes adjustments and, honestly, most other DC's don't.  RV never adjusted to the wildcat in that game....it was painful to watch.  To be honest, the format of the game allows the OC to have an advantage over the DC.  The OC has an initial game plan...if it works the DC can adjust at halftime.  However, if the OC does a bit of extra work, they should have a rebuttal game-plan ready to go.  It should be on his call sheet.  If so, the DC really doesn't have the time or framework (half-time) to make adjustments.  

It seems high school teams don't want to do both. They want to be good at one or the other, but not both! I hope that the freshman QB at Gate City get's some developmental help, if he does he is going to be special. Most teams around here just put there best athlete at QB and give him one or two reads and then they take off running

O/U set on the end of the game at 8:15pm lol

Graham’s defensive staff is really great about making adjustments. I think that’s what helps Graham a lot of the time. Some teams fail to make adjustments,  the Regional Championship against Ridgeview comes to mind from a couple of years ago. Ridgeview had great athletes that year like the Beavers kid but I don’t think they even attempted to make any adjustments on offense or defense. 

I hope none of the players from either team get hurt. I hate to see any kid injured especially an injury that could end their season or impact the season of the next sport they play. Prayers for both teams to play their best and come away injury free. 

All in good fun.  

Ouch!!