MavsRock

That doesn't sound good for Bluefield. I know James Monroe's boys team sucks, probably worse than last year. The fact that Bluefield didn't put 90+ on them tells me they're not playing that great right now.

Simply put, they're morons! The proof, 2 strait nationally televised butt kickings in the post season. There was no excuse for this, no offense, bad special teams (again), and bone-head defensive play (again). West Virginia played as bad as I've seen in a long time, and it all comes back to leadership. I haven't seen this team be that unprepared in over a year. Everyone talks about how great Our coach is, well, after seeing this 2 years in a row, I have yet to be impressed. WVU has major work to do if it wants to get to the next level, and it starts with a real quarterback, Marshall isn't that guy.

I've been extremely busy this week, or I'd have discussed this sooner. I said 3 weeks ago that I thought Bluefield would beat Poca by 15-25 points if they were both at 100%. That wasn't the case Friday. While being from Monroe County, I got some pleasure out of seeing the Beavers lose, I didn't like the way the field was, especially the Saturday mudbath. Common sense says that a grass field won't stand 3 games in those conditions. Having thought about this, Laidley Field, Marshall Stadium, or Mountaineer Field should host these prestigious games. Last weekend was a disgrace to the state. More on Bluefield, they should've won the game. They outplayed Poca, and actually had fewer turnovers. I think Kelly Mariotti said it best in a pregame interview "One little mistake can kill you in a game like this" and the 4th quarter fumble did just that. Simon's playcalling wasn't very impressive either. If Hanley hadn't got tangeled up, the bad snap wouldn't have been Simon's scapegoat, and there would be Bluefield people calling for him to be fired. Bluefield will be tough next year, but they got some major positions to fill. That game at Lindside next year could be a good measuring stick . Talk to ya'll later.

I know a lot has to happen before the real talk about this one, but the way the two teams are playing now, it's a strong possibility. Some people have asked what JM fans that saw both teams play think about them playing eachother again. Bluefield is more talented and well rounded, Poca is better coached. Outside of Santmyer, Poca doesn't have close to the speed that Bluefield has. Poca's QB forced several throws that would've been pick 6s against a fast team like Bluefield. The Mav's relatively slow receivers still got some seperation, the throws just weren't on target. Poca tended to load the box too, and that could be disasterous against Bluefield. If both teams are at full speed, Bluefield wins by 15-25 points.

Entering the season with 1 returning starter, a new coach, and an offense foreign to everyone on the team, many people expected JM to be simply horrible, others knew better of it. The problem with the Mavs this year was the defense, because of being somewhat undersized, and very inexperiened. The problems on that side of the ball were often offset by the explosiveness of Andrew Roberston and Tanre Franklin. When Robertson was injured after the Narrows game, JM lost both one of it's top top 2 threats, and possibly it's best cornerback. They missed him badly in the last three games. Good season, all things considered, we'll be back next year as one of the top powers in the state again.

I like our cances in this one. Poca is as much of a one-man-team as they've been in a while. Thoughts of a blowout Poca win are wishfull thinking from JM's enemies. Poca isn't as big as Princeton, or half as fast as Bluefield. The Mavericks are ready to play, and if Poca isn't, they'll be looking at the scoreboard in disbelief real quickly.