Observer77

Receiving a playoff birth in Region D Division 1 will be mighty tough to do with a 5-5 record given that there are 14 teams in Division 1 within that region. * All of the Cumberland District is Division 1, so the regular season district champion will get an automatic birth. * The two Regional front-runners, the LPD's Clintwood and J.I. Burton will more than likely receive playoff births. That will leave the remaining eleven teams vying for that last playoff spot. Not only would a 5-5 team have to have a better record than the other eleven, but would also have to have a higher power point rating than the other teams.

How about this - since I've never seen a school in our region not have an unsportsmanlike call against them and have seen on the field incidents very frequently between many schools, why not just "ban" all schools within SWVA from playing - except your precious little snowflakes at the school you support and crown them champs. I guess that would make you happy, wouldn't it?

I was watching the play develop, but all I seen was after the play was over a Richlands player was complaining to the ref for 5-10 seconds (that I seen) with his helmet on the ground. The referee obviously hadn't seen anything because he didn't throw the flag until the discussion with the player. Once he threw the flag, the player flopped on his back and grabbed his head. A player from Gate City was ejected and the Richlands player finished the game at his offensive line position. This took place on 3rd down pass play that Richlands didn't convert in mid/late fourth quarter with the score 27-7 in Gate City's favor. After the Blue Tornadoes scored with a little less than three minutes left in the game, the Richlands player in question stayed out on the field after the PAT talking to the head official while both teams left the field of play onto the sidelines. I'm not drawing any conclusions and not saying what or what didn't happen, but thankfully we have video in this day and time that can sort out just exactly what did transpire so there will be no doubt. Myself, I would trust the word of whoever the officials, coaches, et al that will review the film over internet messageboard gossip/accusations. Good luck to the Blue Tornadoes the rest of the season.

Also Abingdon and Battle used to be in the old SWD together. In all honesty though, there's not that much disparity in enrollment between the two schools as one would think.

http://z8.invisionfree.com/Clinch_Mtn_District/index.php?

Gretna had a great team and great run last season, congrats to them. They do however lose the majority of both sides of the ball to graduation. The very talented QB will be back, but most of his supporting cast from last year won't be.

[ QUOTE ] Can u explain the point system for me. im totally confused [/ QUOTE ] http://www.mattkgraphics.com/pics/powerpoints.jpg

[ QUOTE ] How is that possible. PV lost to Burton and Clintwood and both are in the LPD with PV. How in the hell can they jump from either #2 or #3 to #1 just like that. [/ QUOTE ] You must not understand the VHSL points system too well.

Haysi will have to win both of their remaining games to have the opportunity to make the playoffs, which they still might even need help from others - depending on how Appalachia & Clintwood fare the remainder of the season. Haysi's weak schedule could come back and haunt them. One thing is for certain, if they lose to either Kelly or Lee High, they're out of contention. On another note, Kelly has already been eliminated from playoff contention.

[ QUOTE ] Honaker vs Tazewell Hurley vs Twin Valley Haysi vs J.J. Kelly [/ QUOTE ] I know these games matter to the players, coaches and fans of those respective teams, but only one has any playoff implications - Haysi vs. Kelly. I'll say the Indians by a touchdown. I've got the feeling that Haysi will have to defeat Lee High next week to make the Div. 1 playoffs, otherwise will be sitting at home for Game 11.

Maybe it's the content (or lack thereof) in your posts. Most messageboard moderators don't put up with it like a few may happen to do. Just the first thing that comes to my mind after scanning your entries.

[ QUOTE ] honaker finished 9-1 two or three yrs ago and sit home .yea seems they could make some kinda change to correct this problem . [/ QUOTE ] Two reasons this may not happen to Honaker (or any other Division 2 Region D school) anytime soon: 1 - Beefed up their schedule (Honaker had John Battle, Castlewood, Rye Cove, Twin Springs & St. Paul on their out-of district schedule along with Lebanon & Tazewell) 2 - Regional re-aligment & only eight (8) Division 2 teams within the region.

So you've already chalked up wins against Grundy, Virginia High, Graham & Marion? Wow, let me take a hit off that crack pipe!

Excerpts from the Bristol Herald Courier article on the game: Abingdon coach John Bowles - "We’ll just have to regroup. We played hard, but we didn’t control the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball. Honaker controlled the football and ran it at will in the second half." "The drive that ended up winning the game for the Tigers began on their on 14. They drove 86 yards in 14 plays behind the running of Ball who finished with 207 yards rushing with three touchdowns." Just wondering - who's right, your view of what transpired during the course of the game or Abingdon's head coach and BHC reporter? It doesn't take much to figure out who the credible sources happens to be in this case LOL...

I agree with them going to a classification system, but they need to do it statewide, not just based on region alone. Graham (560), Grundy (483) and Tazewell (615) very well may be in the Single A classification in a few years, but as Single A Division 2. From the VHSL website: • Approved requests from Castlewood, Clintwood and Coeburn High Schools to be assigned to Division 1 in football for the 2007 and 2008 schools years based on their enrollment being at least 50% smaller than the largest school in Region D (Handbook Section 68-8-3 (4)) I do think that all three schools deserved the Division 1 classification they received though. With Lee High with an enrollment of nearly 800 (given Single A status based on travel hardship) and Virginia High with 700 - then yes, I can't understand why you would have a Castlewood with an enrollment of 308 kids 9-12 being put in that same division.

It's from the "Rye Cove Rule" that was put into place a few years ago due to the disparity between enrollment within Region D's schools. The best thing that could happen, which we know won't, would be to have classification done statewide - not based on regions - to make it an even playing field (at least in terms of enrollment). If you think that Coeburn, Castlewood or Clintwood is gaining some advantage over other regions within the state by doing this, here are their enrollment figures: Castlewood - 308 Clintwood - 329 Coeburn - 396 There are 35 Division 1 schools within the rest of the state, excluding those in Region D. If any of those three were located elsewhere in the state, this is where they would fall within enrollment: Coeburn - 16th (out of 36, the 35 from Regions A,B & C including themselves) Clintwood - 20th Castlewood - 23rd Castlewood actually has mainly been a Division 1 school since the class split took place, bouncing back and forth between Div. 1 & Div. 2. I hardly think that this ruling is going to stack the deck in their favor.

Phelps is 0-3 and has only managed to put 6 points on the board so far this season. Where are you getting that they are a good team?

Tazewell is being very underrated in my honest opinion. I personally don't think they'll finish at the bottom, more like in the middle of the district if not higher.

[ QUOTE ] We should win all 4 games against single a teams this year. Honaker is struggling and I really don't think Va High can play with our skill players. We should also beat Tazewell and Grundy-that's 6 wins. Richlands may be a loss but the other 3 are winnable games. I think 8-2 season. [/ QUOTE ] Nothing wrong with being supremely optimistic I guess, but you like me probably don't know what everyone else has for sure until the season actually begins. You're talking 8-2 this year for Abingdon, when was their last winning season - 2003 @ 6-4...and have lost to Virginia Hig the last 3 seasons? Lot of big talk there in my opinion, will be interesting to see if you can back it up later on this year.

I went and looked at the past six years of Richlands-Gate City and was interesting to see how both teams fared after opening up with each other: 2001 - 28-0 Richlands - Richlands went 9-2 & lost opening round of playoffs while Gate City went 10-3 losing in the state semis. 2002 - 42-14 Gate City - Gate City went 12-1 losing in the state semis while Richlands went 8-4 losing in the second round of the playoffs. 2003 - 24-14 Gate City - Gate City went 14-0 winning state while Richlands went 6-5 losing in the first round of the playoffs. 2004 - 28-21 OT Gate City - Gate City went 10-2, losing in the second round of the playoffs while Richlands went 11-2 losing in the state semis. 2005 - 35-0 Richlands - Richlands went 13-1 losing in the state title game while Gate City went 8-3 losing in the first round of the playoffs. 2006 - 48-14 Richlands - Richlands went 14-0 winning state while Gate City went 4-6 and no playoff bid. For the most part, has been some good matchups and great seasons for both teams. Good luck to both once again after this season's game!

Here's a link to a Bristol Herald Courier editorial as well as two separate TV stations film clip of the call. http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/sports/football/jiburtongame.html

"Letting those three go"? Those three were at fault, none of the coaching staff provided them with alchohol, did they? How can you blame Smith or anyone on the coaching staff for their poor decision making of those three players. The final decision comes down to the school board and school administration, it was out of Smith's hands once the authorities found out about the situation. It's like that at any school, the punishment is handed down from the school board. Get your facts straight. Furthermore, it's not to say that it would have made a difference anyhow in the outcome of this particular game. That fact can be argued over and over again with one side making case for and one side making case against with nothing resolved whatsoever - you need to get over yourself and realize those three players are at fault and reason for their punishment, not one individual. The bottom line is that those three were removed from the team based on school and school board policy, not by the Virginia High coaching staff or Smith himself.

Virginia High has a very good team in my opinion and is well-coached. They could very well beat Gate City tonight, that's for certain. But what's this all about? "Nah, I know, but for some reason when we play GC, it always comes down to blown calls. Very frustrating. One thing I do know is that when we play you guys, the ref's won't make a difference. Richlands beats us by 30, easily." Here's the outcome of the Gate City - Virginia High matchup for the past 10 years that they faced each other in the regular season: '92 GC 16 VHS 0 '93 GC 43 VHS 12 '94 GC 14 VHS 0 '95 GC 34 VHS 14 '96 GC 38 VHS 0 '97 GC 34 VHS 3 '98 GC 41 VHS 14 '99 GC 40 VHS 18 '00 GC 41 VHS 0 '05 GC 21 VHS 19 How you can make the statement above is beyond me. Virginia High played Gate City very tough last year and the game could have went either way - outside of that your thought process is quite skewed if you believe those games were close enough to have a referee staff's judgement call cost the Bearcats a win. There's plenty of years above where the outcome differential was close to 30 points or more, but you say every year VHS gets "cheated by the refs" when they face GC? I beg to differ. Good luck to both teams tonight, win or lose, and hope everyone from both sides are kept safe from injury.

That would have been Larry Smith - dad of Virginia High's head coach Terry Smith, and yes they did have a very good program in those days.

That explains a lot - you saying you're on the team. That's all I need to know to figure you out. Have a nice season!