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RichlandsAlum

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RichlandsAlum last won the day on January 27 2023

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About RichlandsAlum
 
 
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    A complicated man, nobody understands me but my woman. Can you dig it?
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  1. The usual suspects should still be strong in Region 2C on the boys side. I don't think Glenvar lost much from the team that won the state championship last year and the same seems to be true of region runner-up Radford. From my own rooting perspective... as a member of the Seminole District, Liberty (Bedford) will be playing a schedule comprised entirely of Division 3 and 4 teams. Based on the rating system the Minutemen probably only have to win about four games to qualify for the regional playoffs -- which would seem to be a pretty attainable goal. Fairly decent talent on this year's team. Two seniors will most likely move on to play in college (one of whom is my son, who could make a commitment to play for a Division II school as soon as next week) and our junior goal keeper is already being heavily recruited as well. Main thing I see is good working chemistry among the team during the fall travel season and a 4-2 friendly win over James River last week. It's entirely possible that they could make a run in the postseason -- they just have to clear the hurdle of getting there first. Certainly an odd situation.
  2. Honestly, I don't think we were lacking at the skill positions. For as many games as we lost during 1980s, we had a pretty steady stream of talented running backs beginning with Sandy Rogers. We just seemed to be unusually snake bitten relative to other teams around us. The Tazewell series is a great reference point and we definitely seemed to be in our own heads when it came to playing them -- particularly during that six year losing streak from 1985 through 1990. One of those games is a perfect example of my reference to the close games we lost and the level of competition overall during our years of struggle. Tazewell won the state championship in 1986 whereas we went 4-6. One might assume that they would have beaten the daylights out of us in our regular season matchup that year. But the actual score of that game was only 9-6 in favor of the Bulldogs. If you look closely at Rick's work on four seasons (and kudos again to him for that), there are countless examples of that sort of thing. For instance.... The 1975 Richlands team started the season with 8 straight wins, but ultimately lost their last two (including a 2-0 loss at Marion) which knocked them out of the playoffs. And on the flip side, Gate City won the SWD championship and was undefeated within league play in 1977. But they only beat us 14-6. (That year we finished 3-6-1. The tie came against Patrick Henry -- who had lost 27 straight games heading into that matchup dating back to 1974. We played the very worst and the very best teams in the district that year within a week of each other and we were almost equally competitive against both. That was the epitome of Richlands football during that time period.)
  3. I've always felt that the success of the 1987 team was largely a combination of Billy Haun's offense and the disciplined players that had been developed by Bruce Evans. Unfortunately for Haun, that specific team was also blessed with talent on both the offensive and defensive lines that graduated with that particular class. The point about winning consistently is well made, and that was a really frustrating aspect of Richlands football prior to Vaught's arrival. We simply didn't win the big games in which we were competitive enough to prevail. And we also dropped a lot of games in inexplicable fashion back in those days (like 41-16 to Virginia High in the regular season in 1987 and losing to Grundy in 1984 one week after we'd beaten a really tough Tazewell team). But it definitely wasn't boring.
  4. I'll offer the following thoughts for the period from 1970 until Vaught arrived 20 years later: - Competition was extremely fierce. Most years within the SWD there were at least 5-7 teams who were fully capable of capturing at least the second sport in the playoffs. - Opportunities for advancement were limited. Until 1986 only two teams from each district made the playoffs. - The well developed midget league program had no obvious connection to the varsity football program. - Expectations for success were consistently high but not always consistently based on logic. - The Blues actually lost a lot of close games during that period. And in some seasons that produced a "snowball" effect and/or momentum that was impossible to break. - There was a lot of other stuff going on in the community that distracted people from playing and/or watching football. (Not all of that was bad. Richlands experienced a kind of "boom" period from the late '60s until about 1980 that fed the relatively large enrollment.) Vaught was actually the first coach with the apparent aptitude to move the program to reach its fullest potential. I know that when he arrived he viewed Richlands as a "sleeping giant."
  5. Vaught was indeed brought in to be "coach in waiting." Although I don't know that there was a specific timeframe implied, I was told that the next Richlands head coach had been hired the day that Vaught was announced as THS assistant. Superintendent Frank Cosby had come to Tazewell County from Salem and still maintained relationships in the Roanoke Valley. Guessing/betting that was the connection. I had a lot of respect for what Billy Haun did in Richlands (still do). But it was apparently never more than a temporary stop for him (alluded elsewhere in this thread in an article linked by sixcat). My impression is that he wasn't necessarily forced out but the leadership in school administration knew that his departure was somewhat inevitable. Vaught's availability just happened to be pretty convenient -- and there was also some chatter then about him deserving a second chance after things blew up for him at PH-Roanoke. Unfortunately the personal grudge that certain Roanoke media members developed against Vaught followed him and nobody knew just how vindictive those guys could be until the sordid events of 1992.
  6. The ghost of Bill Peery says, "Hold my ethereal beer."
  7. Yeah. This thread is supposed to be a celebration of the triumph of humanity -- well, the part of humanity that plays football for Liberty High School anyway...
  8. Yep. I can confirm that. Our student section also seemed to be liberally supplemented last night. Rumor was that kids from other schools (including some Liberty University students) showed up to provide support. Gold roof on a tin outhouse for sure. But still pretty cool. LHS won't be kept down.
  9. Final score was 49-6 Amherst. But from the atmosphere after the game someone who wasn't aware of that might easily form the impression that Liberty actually won. The student section (which was loud and active for the entire game) stormed the field and embraced the team and pretty much everyone was in an upbeat mood. Very odd. But still a thing of beauty. You've gotta love small town Friday night football.
  10. Makes the score 6-42 with 10 minutes left in 4th quarter. But the home crowd here at Minutemen Stadium just went nuts!
  11. Since football scheduling is typically based on two year contracts, I'm not expecting any possibility of "relief" until the current alignment cycle expires. And I'd expect Liberty to continue to play our county neighbors Staunton River and Jefferson Forest regardless of where we land in that process.
  12. The situation at Liberty is a result of several factors combining to produce kind of a "perfect storm" this season. Chris Watts left as the all-time leader in head coaching wins a few years ago. For the duration of his tenure the Minutemen were somewhat competitive in the Seminole District, which translated into some success at the regional level (including a state title in 2002 and a state semifinal loss to Richlands in 2005 that could have gone either way). But for the last five years or so of Chris' tenure he was struggling to plug some holes. Enrollment at LHS has declined for years despite some growth in the Bedford area and a steady increase in school age population. Big contributor there is local perceptions of relative school values, a very liberal zone transfer policy maintained by the County school system, and some active recruiting activity on the part of private schools in the area (including, but not limited to, LCA). Not sure if this is accurate, but I was told that 5 current starters for Jefferson Forest are kids who live in Bedford but transferred from Liberty. The recreation system that used to sustain the program got blown up ten years ago with the City of Bedford's reversion to Town status. The biggest travesty there is that nobody realized it (including Coach Watts) until it was too late. Compounding this is the shocking level of ignorance about that issue that still exists -- with the current coach griping about a Town recreation program that hasn't existed since 2013. There was a huge vacuum in leadership of the athletic department when some very crucial decisions were being made (such as hiring the replacement for Watts and representing the school's interests in the realignment discussion). Being forced to remain in the Seminole definitely doesn't help (and somebody needs to jerk a knot in several tails associated with the VHSL). But this team would still probably be struggling even if the logical move to the Dogwood would have been approved -- basing that on a 19-0 scrimmage loss to Altavista this year. Rumor I heard is that the Three Rivers District has agreed to accept us -- but I don't think it's possible for that to benefit the football team in any way prior to 2025 One silver lining should be that there is a harsh glare cast on the fact that some changes absolutely need to be made. That's noteworthy because the community is typically very slow to react to changes (or even acknowledge them ) -- see my comment above about the Rec program. Another positive is the fact that the kids are demonstrating some amazing resilience. We had to do away with JV because of numbers and there have been quite a few injuries. But LHS still shows up to play and the hometown crowd still shows up to support them. I'm not really aware of any kids who have quit the team. We also have received a lot of social media attention from opposing fans who have noted that. So in a really weird and pyrrhic sort of way we are still proud of our guys. I estimate that we have about 30 kids who are able to play right now -- unlikely that we ever had anything close to 47. Not that it matters -- and I'm honestly not looking to justify the situation in any way -- but other LHS programs are still performing well. The cross country team just won the Region 2C championship. The volleyball team easily qualified for regional play. And I'm not joking or exaggerating about the band/music program, which is really coming along. Looking ahead, pretty much all of the winter and spring teams are poised to be competitive in the Seminole, easily qualify for the regional playoffs, and a couple have a chance to wreak some serious havoc at the Division 2 state level. Long story short, this is a blip. A painful one to be sure. But Liberty won't stay down. And once the Minutemen are allowed to play against reasonably comparable district opponents, I think all programs (including football) will be just fine.
  13. Don't know what kind of paying crowd that football matchup would generate. But pretty sure the LHS band is better than Bburg's.
  14. Liberty (Bedford) is currently 0-9 and has been outscored 544-0. But I'm positive that the team will suit up to finish the season against Amherst on Friday and we'll still have the usual "Senior Night" observances. So what's Blacksburg's issue? (On a completely random aside, this edition of the Marching Minutemen band is really good. So there's that.)
  15. Membership in the Three Rivers was mentioned as an alternative for Liberty but I think it wasn't pursued because of the relative travel increase that would be involved. There is actually a vocal segment of the LHS fan base that prefers membership in the Seminole because of the really easy travel logistics. Apparently they're okay with watching their kids' team getting clobbered as long as they can be back home in bed by 10:00.
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