Rev833

What a win by the Pioneers.
Down 5-2 in the top of the 7th when Chance Parker hits a 3 run homer to tie it up 5-5. In the bottom of the 7th Boone had bases loaded with 1 one out. Lebanon escapes the inning with a double play to leave 3 stranded and to force an 8th inning. Lebanon out scores Boone 6-1 in the 8th (with another Chance Parker HR, a double) to win the game 11-6. 

I had no regard at all for soccer. And then I went and watched a match one evening because nothing else was going on. I had a death grip on the seat by the end of the match and was astonished with the stamina of the players. It's just different. Not my favorite by any means, but still fun. 

I saw my first soccer match watching T.J. Rasnick play at Abingdon.  Knew nothing about the sport.  Watching the kids run up and down the field for 90 minutes, wow!!  Just when you thought the Dawgs were getting close to scoring, down the field the ball went with the Falcons.  To be honest, not knowing the game and its nuances, I wasn't a fan of the game.  I wasn't there for the game, I was there to see "my buddy" whose Dad made a special protective covering so T.J. could play this game without injuring his leg after surgery and chemo.   After the game, I got to talk with him and give him a huge hug.  The score didn't matter to me, T.J. efforts and wanting to play, not as  handicapped, but a talented soccer player, such an inspiration!!!
Here are some excerpts from the BDT published June 10, 2009 titled "Fighting On".  
"One year ago, T.J. Rasnick was facing an uncertain future.  He was receiving treatment for Synovial sarcoma, a form of cancer found near his right hamstring.  He missed his junior year on the soccer field with the Tazewell Bulldogs and did not know if he would play again."
On June 9th, T.J. signed a letter of intent to play soccer at Emory & Henry.
"It's just a blessing to be able to stand here and be ready to go to college in the fall."  Even though Rasnick received the diagnosis on March 11, 2008, he never relinquished hope that he would be able to continue his athletic career."
'You just keep your faith in God and you can do anything," he said.  "There's not one day that I changed what I wanted to do or my goals.  It's always been the same. You've just got a never-say-die attitude."  
In his final season, Rasnick reached the 100-goal milestone for his career--despite sitting out his junior season.  He had 24 goals in his final season with Tazewell, playing in just 12 games.  
"If you put your faith in God, you can do anything," he said.  "You just push every day.  You live every day.  You just do everything you can and as long as you keep your faith in God you just keep going."  
"It was never "I can't do this."  It was always, "Nothing's ever changed.  It's always been the same from day one."  
"Just never give up," he said.  "Just keep fighting every day, keep your faith in God and you'll be just fine.  You can do anything." 
I'm thankful my "grandson of the heart" never felt soccer was a waste of resources to him or those whose lives he impacted.  
 

Lebanon won 12-2 in 8 innings I think. Heard that Lebanons pitching rotation as a whole was suburb. They threw 7-9 guys and they only combined to give up 3 or 4 hits. Only problem was the walks they gave up but that will get better as the season goes on. Thought East was going to be a decent team but turns out they only had 2 players return from last years team. 

I know they found a loophole to be able to host the Region D tournament at Gate City instead of the Prior Center at UVA Wise.  Because of that, I believe that if Gate City doesn't win the Region D Tournament on its home floor then that is just a total wash.  
There is no way they should lose any game on their home floor.  Marion is not that good.  Marion has been absolutely rolled by Virginia High.  They just about were not good enough to beat a bunch of Class 1 Region D teams that couldn't hold a pail of water for the bottom of Class 2 Region D.  
If Marion does anything, I expect them to get toasted with butter when they come to Gate City.  Say a score of 84-32.   It will be bad.  
As for the rest of the Region D Tournament.... 
1) GC vs 4)Marion —- GC  .......  we have already spoke of this. 
2)Graham vs 3)Central —- Graham.  Central isn't that good.   They had a fluke win at Gate City last year and they will never ever win at Gate City ever again.  They won't make it to Gate City this year to win again after this game. 
1)VA High vs 4) RV —- VA High ... Virginia High is the second best team in Region D.   They can beat just about anyone... except the Blue Devils.  Like Central they had themselves a fluke win in the past region tournament at Gate City.  They won't win again. Southwest District just isn't good enough to beat the Mountain 7 for a Region D championship.  Ridgeview may put up a fight for a quarter.  Thats about it though. 
2) Union vs 3) Lebanon —- Union in a squeaker  They should probably beat Lebanon by about 1.  Lebanon will put up a fight.  Union though won't make it past Virginia High once they beat Lebanon..  Just aren't good enough. Just aren't tough enough.  Just don't have what it takes.  Even if they made it to the Region D finals and faced anyone from that bracket....they wouldn't be good enough to beat Gate City.  Not at all.   Don't have what it takes.  They woudn't have won state when they did if it wasn't for Covid and Richmond City telling their schools they could n't compete.  Sometimes you're the bird catching the worm.  They caught a big one during Covid.  
 
Region D Semifinals
Gate City vs. Graham  at Gate City      Gate City 67   Graham 43
Virginia High vs. Union at Gate City     Virginia High 75  Union 58
 
Region D Finals
Gate City vs. Virginia High  -    Gate City         Gate City 82   Virginia High 60
 
State Quarterfinals
Gate City vs. Martinsville  -  Gate City        Gate City 78   Martinsville  48
Virginia High vs. Floyd County  -  Floyd County      Floyd County 79   Virginia High 73
 
State Semifinals
Gate City vs. Floyd County -  Gate City    Gate City 77   Floyd County 46
 
State Finals 
Gate City vs. John Marshall   
 
 
 

Russell County Rematch is taking place in Wise tomorrow. I’m going to go with Lebanon getting revenge against Honaker tomorrow at 7:30

1. Lebanon
2. V high
3. everyone else

Probably blasphemy on my part but I think Lebanon’s gym the best in the area, especially after they redid the lights.
 
Va High is so dark and the crowd seems far away. 
 
The Hot Box is a fun atmosphere but too cramped 

Galax only has 1 single a loss to Grayson County, which was in the regular season. They beat Grayson County in the second round of the playoffs. The other 3 losses come to Region 2C champ Radford, 2C runner up Glenvar, and 2D champ Graham. They should be taken seriously. 

Galax only has 1 single a loss to Grayson County, which was in the regular season. They beat Grayson County in the second round of the playoffs. The other 3 losses come to Region 2C champ Radford, 2C runner up Glenvar, and 2D champ Graham. They should be taken seriously. 

It's down to a 3 point predicted win by Calpreps after today.  Honaker 31, Galax 28. That score tightened quick. 
Other scores predicted,
Essex 24, Galax 22.
Honaker 33, Essex 31. 
Essex 31, Altavista 24.

We may have lost two games but both of those teams are top notched and will go far in the playoffs . Did we play well , no . Will we beat Graham , according to the majority on here who have seen Tazewell play and even those who have no clue how good Tazewell is probably not . One thing I will guarantee, these young men will show up and give 150%. They will represent Tazewell well , they will shake hands after the game , and wish Graham good luck the rest of the season ……and as a father of one of the players, who I know will give 200%,  I will back them win or lose . 
Go Dawgs ……

Narrows showed up and I have to give them credit. Narrows had so many unforced turnovers early on and their transition defense was lacking and Honaker got out to a big lead. I think Honaker hit eleven 3's in this game, and Narrows also knocked down some shots. For Narrows and Honaker, both need better perimeter defense and for Narrows, guard play has to be better at protecting the ball. 

We seem to have a completely new look offensively. Nothing like the Wing T run game as it has been the past couple of years. I don’t think we took a snap under center at all last night. The QB transfer from Maryland has awesome field awareness and fairly quick on his feet.
 
Both teams seemingly moved the ball down the field on each other. I think Central could stop the run game pretty well but kind of got picked apart through the air defensively with the exception of one pick six that would have been brought back by a penalty had it been a real game scenario.
The final tally was 5-3 Central with the Warriors varsity scoring 4 tds, all of Lebanons scores came from their varsity squad.
Looking forward to next weeks jamboree at Burton.

That is 100% accurate.  I attended that last two Ridgeview games at Big Stone Gap and that absolutely was the case.  RV burned two timeouts and had a false start early in the last game.  In both contests they blew the horn while RV QB was trying to have the ball snapped all the way through the play on their first half drives.  Now, here is the kicker, they stopped doing that in the second half with Union up comfortably.  Perhaps someone complained or they didn't think they needed to anymore.  Union holds on as RV makes a second half comeback in both situations.  I'm not making an inference but I'm just stating the facts of the matter. 
I don't care about the horn but I do care about grown ass men deliberately skirting rules so a 15 year old QB can't call a play.  Call me old-fashioned but if you want to be really loud then have your fans get off their ass and yell and holler and ring the heck out of their bells or whatever...just abide by the rules and VHSL does have written rules on this.  The violation is actually a fine IIRC, which was odd.  In my opinion, just tell the operator to stay within the rules and re-install the horn. Now, I actually had someone from the Gap say that some of the locals that lived near the park were pretty tired of the horn and that it was being used too much.  I'm not sure about that but I'm sure some of them weren't big fans.    

It's going to be hard for any team to beat the Pioneers due to their depth. The Pioneers won't beat themselves. They've got 3 strong arms and a rock solid defense  behind them. If they are hitting consistently watch out. Keep it going Pioneers, bring it home. They could won 2 titles in 3 years when all is said and done. 
 
 

This hasn't aged too well. Lebanon always has to be acknowledged in baseball as a top tier team. They are a baseball powerhouse. On the list above, Lebanon has beat both Tazewell and Abingdon  twice. They would probably beat John Battle as well. They are most definitely the primer baseball team in SWVA regardless of size. 

Thats definitely a confidence booster. I can't wait to see how they do against Abingdon and Tennessee High. Beating either of those teams would be very huge early in the season. Regardless they will be one of the top teams in 1A this season. 

Heard it was 6-2. Could have been a lot worse but they called it with bases loaded and 1 out in the top of the ninth.

Grundy did not have anyone suspended. No one left bench and others just walked away. 

BDD:  Honaker wins big since Grundy has three players out due to a mishap during their semifinal win over Hurley the other night.  The real intrigue is in the third place game.  Can Twin Valley win their first game of the season against a short handed Hurley (for the same mishap) and qualify for the region tournament?
Hogo, I will take Lebanon on their home floor.  Matchup is pointless regardless as Lebanon is locked in as the Hogo 1 and Chilhowie is locked in as the Hogo 2.

As of now, it is showing that there will be a game, but it’s saying that it’s published by Chilhowie. So I’d say pretty doubtful. Probably show an empty gym at Chilhowie if it does stream.