UVAObserver

“A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep.” - Pete Seeger For everything in life, there is a season, and that includes message boards devoted to high school sports in an oft-forgotten part of Virginia. For the 19 or so years I was here, I’m deeply thankful. I’ve seen the brightest and best in people I once questioned, and I’ve seen the darkest and nastiest in people I once considered allies. I’ve seen cause for celebration, and I’ve seen reason for sadness. I’ve celebrated new additions to families, and I’ve mourned members who left us far too soon. The sun will continue to rise, but I’ll remember this site fondly, both good and bad. For every time I made a real-life friend through this website, and for every time someone attempts to sabotage my career and my family’s livelihood for taking a principled yet unpopular opinion. For every underdog I cheered, for every cupcake schedule I questioned. For every touchdown, basket, run, point, goal, ace, lap, and birdie over the past 20 years. I bid adieu, SWVASports.

Tomorrow at 1:00 PM

Thank goodness every school around didn’t sell out to NFHS. Wait…

I can say firsthand that both Bluefield/Tazewell and Bluefield/Ridgeview have been dissected down to the play. I said it earlier in this thread, the closest comparison for Ridgeview for Tazewell is Bluefield in terms of offensive scheme. Tazewell runs a little more wide open, but that also puts pressure on the QB should a team decide to blitz, which Ridgeview has shown on film that it will. Tazewell’s done some creative things in practice to try and simulate pressure, but we will see in about 25 hours. Naturally, if Tazewell comes out and has 6 turnovers in the first half like in the Spring of 2021, all the scheming in the world won’t matter a lick. I expect a very hotly contested game should both teams play largely error-free.

You’d think it would favor Ridgeview, but Tazewell stymied Grundy in a downpour and threw for over 300 yards doing it, so it may not be as much of one.

A No. 1 King William No. 5 Brunswick No. 3 Poquoson No. 2 Thomas Jefferson B No. 1 Strasburg No. 4 Clarke Co. No. 3 Central Woodstock No. 2 Luray C No. 1 Radford No. 4 Appomattox No. 3 Glenvar No. 2 Martinsville D No. 1 Graham No. 5 Union No. 3 Virginia No. 7 Tazewell A No. 1 King William No. 3 Poquoson B No. 1 Strasburg No. 3 Central Woodstock C No. 1 Radford No. 2 Martinsville D No. 1 Graham No. 7 Tazewell A No. 1 King William B No. 1 Strasburg C No. 2 Martinsville D No. 1 Graham A/B No. 1 Strasburg C/D No. 1 Graham Championship: No. 1 Strasburg: 45

A No. 1 Essex No. 4 West Point No. 3 Northumberland No. 2 King & Queen Central B No. 1 Riverheads No. 4 Sussex Central No. 3 Buffalo Gap No. 2 Lunenburg Central C No. 1 Galax No. 4 Grayson Co No. 3 Narrows No. 2 George Wythe D No. 1 Patrick Henry No. 4 Rye Cove No. 3 Grundy No. 7 Lebanon A No. 1 Essex No. 3 Northumberland B No. 1 Riverheads No. 3 Buffalo Gap C No. 1 Galax No. 2 George Wythe D No. 1 Patrick Henry No. 3 Grundy A No. 1 Essex B No. 1 Riverheads C No. 1 Galax D No. 3 Grundy A/B No. 1 Riverheads C/D No. 1 Galax Championship No. 1 Riverheads: 52

No, he started playing for Graham during his 7th grade year.

But one could argue that it left Tazewell in one heck of a lurch. They sure don’t go 3-7 in 2017 and 2-8 in 2018 if Cam stayed where he originally was. That’s EH31’s point. Tazewell would have been much better than it otherwise would have. Honestly, I’m not sure that Ghannam or the Jollay boys would have improved Graham’s trajectory at all this season. Graham did go 10-0 without them, and may end up with a state title without them. Hard to improve on a championship. Then again, perhaps other schools don’t have players poached if they stay. Difficult to tell.

It may be a generational thing. I don’t see my son having that same issue now, thank goodness, but perhaps that’s because all the kids are together from K on up. It was a very real thing in my parents’ generation and mine. It manifested itself in ways large and small.

Very, very few in comparison to the kids who come across from Swords Creek/Honaker to Richlands and Bluefield/Bluewell to Graham. It’s right at 25 minutes for kids from Bishop, WV to get to Tazewell, and they have to cross a couple of mountains on Route 16 to do it.

The reason about half the Springville kids jumped to Tazewell instead of Graham is that, circa 2000 and before, the kids who were from “town” treated the kids from Springville, Mud Fork, and West Graham like cavemen who just crawled out from underneath a rock. Tazewell kids didn’t show that sort of tribalism, and it was welcoming and inviting. I came within an eyelash of making the jump myself. To this day, even though I have a Graham diploma and am more “Graham” than folks who might have moved here from WV and stayed in Bluefield a few years, I still feel like a bit of a misfit amongst them. When you’re 12 years old, you don’t forget how folks treat you.

Tazewell has been the beneficiary of some of Graham’s best baseball players through the years. And yes, there was some recruiting of sorts that happened. Definitely nothing as brazen as Richlands in the late 2000s/early 2010s or the Graham of current, but it happened. If you ain’t rubbin’, you ain’t racin’. In terms of football…not so much, LOL.

Tazewell @ Ridgeview moved to Saturday @ 1:00 PM.