RichlandsAlum

That game occurred during my senior year at Tech. As chance would have it, my roommate was a Salem alumnus. He was pretty cool about it -- even though I gave him a pretty good ration of smack from the time the game ended until the cleat issue surfaced. BTW, although my roommate attended Salem he never lived within the attendance zone. Their recruitment efforts were both a poorly kept secret around the Roanoke area and also a source of frustration when they would lose in the playoffs in the late 80s/early 90s.

You could have asked him if he actually lived within the Salem attendance zone. Because a significant number of players on that particular team did not. Arguably a bigger potential impact than 1/8" of plastic.

Playing Devil's Advocate here.... Probably more to do with the fact that Giles has an enrollment of 70 more kids than the largest (on the original list) Class 1 school. Based on pure speculation it looks like decisions about dropping down (aside from geography) may have been driven by an arbitrary percentage difference in the schools that were classified higher as compared to the top of the classification that they were seeking. And that number may be 10%. (Deriving that by comparing Lebanon -- and their successful request -- to Northampton as opposed to Giles.) I know that a few of the coaches at my local school favored a request to drop from Class 3 to Class 2. And we would meet that hypothetical 10% threshold right now. However we are also seeing some population growth locally that would bounce us back. So long story short, we didn't pursue it. I'm aware of the shenanigans associated with the ebb and flow of players among Augusta County, Waynesboro, and Staunton. But I will stick to the opinion that enrollment isn't the argument that peels that onion.

I think there are two issues at play with classification -- enrollment and attendance policies. Generally speaking, enrollment levels in Shenandoah and Central Virginia appear to be amazingly consistent over a long period of time. Thus there isn't as much bouncing between classifications in these areas compared to pretty much every other part of the Commonwealth. So on that note it's hard to cast blame on the VHSL and/or the new classification system -- or at least it's hard to do so in a manner that will actually "stick." Attendance policy is the bigger issue, IMO. And that's where outliers like Riverheads, LCA, and John Marshall come into play. Once the enrollment issue pretty much settles, I'd like to see the VHSL issue stronger guidelines about attendance zones and develop some enforcement issues to follow through. The numbers at the schools I singled out aren't the issue -- it's the qualitative nature of them (and namely the fact that rosters are being assembled with little to no attention to geographic issues that have traditionally bound most public schools). But given the apparent assault on community-based schools nationwide, I'm not optimistic at all about the likelihood that this part will be addressed.

I know it's under odd circumstances -- and moving through completely uncharted territory to boot. But I'm looking forward to watching the Nats on the ESPN broadcast tonight.

Hey man, nice shot.

There is one in Forsyth County, NC. Mascot is the Raiders. Nice alliteration there IMO.

This reminded me of a passing rumor that I heard several weeks ago. A good friend who is on the football staff of the local high school said that there is discussion of another massive realignment that would reduce the current number of classifications to 4 or 5. Whether that's true or not, this coming school year would probably be a good opportunity for the VHSL to thoroughly examine this issue and come up with something more logical than the current arrangement.

We're still going to be in Phase 3 as of the end of September. Just a matter of how honest Northam will be about the fact that he's already made up his mind.

Rather unusual in football, but very common in "non revenue" sports -- particularly soccer. Richlands already has one other example in Fred Phillips (boys basketball coach who is actually employed by the Town of Richlands).

Apparently it is county by county. Although it has assumed somewhat traditional status, the employment of faculty members as coaches is probably driven by budget considerations as much as anything else.

From the way back era, I believe that Carlock wanted a deal where he could just coach football. Superintendents wouldn't agree to it -- so his employment as a "guidance counselor" was apparently the compromise that allowed both sides to save face.

Without wandering too far into a political discussion, I also like the idea of honoring local folks who made a direct contribution to the community. Much better than generic names referencing directional quadrants and/or landscape features IMO.

Apparently the AD duties have already been reassigned on an interim basis. Without knowing exactly what subject he was hired to cover, it probably won't be hard to fill the teaching vacancy. This does seem to represent a sea change in terms of longstanding policy requiring coaches to also function as faculty members.

I commented in "Richlands staff" thread as well. Resignation as a teacher and AD doesn't necessarily mean that he won't be coaching football.

Word I got is that Wells will continue to coach the football team. He just has no interest in teaching and/or serving as athletic director. No idea how that works from a policy perspective. But it seems to have some credence given the lack of reporting about his resignation (which would be a pretty big story).

Back in the early '90s there was a place in Charlotte (The Graduate) that offered 10 cent wings and Mexican beers for a dollar on Monday nights. That was a fun weekly ritual that I enjoyed with the guys I worked with at the time -- unfortunately I didn't appreciate just how good of a deal it was. Ah youth....

Thanks! My inquiry is based solely on personal curiosity. My dad played there back in the late 1950s. Recently took my boys on a "field trip" to get in touch with our family roots in the area. They were wondering why the football field was located so far from the school. I somewhat facetiously asked them if they'd noticed 120 yards' worth of flat land anywhere else around there.

That's a nice looking facility. Are there plans to do anything with the old field at Junior Poca? Or will the kudzu and the hillside be allowed to continue their advance on that space?

Arguably THE best under that criteria. If the officiating crew hadn't blown the call on Chad King's touchdown reception in overtime against Virginia High, it's reasonable to think that we would have at least made it to the state semifinals. Of course the Bearcats really had our number that school year. They knocked us out of the regional playoffs in the first round in football, basketball, and baseball. I eventually started speaking to a lot of my Bristol-based friends again by the mid 1990s.

Adam and Mike were both in the RHS Class of '88. Since he was also getting quite a bit of attention from Division 1 recruiters at the time, I think the decision to hold Lallande out of that particular game was a "better safe than sorry" kind of decision. Richlands defense was pretty impressive that year (recording 7 shutouts overall) which probably factored into the game plan as well. Observing the recruiting process around Compton in particular was fun that year. A log of big name coaches found their way into the guidance office at RHS at various times. I've also heard some amusing anecdotes related to some of the official visits he took.

Don't know why but I've always had a soft spot for defensive struggles. Among the very best games involving Richlands that I ever witnessed was the 1987 game against Gate City. Our starting quarterback (Adam Lallande) had been injured the week before in a really goofy loss to Virginia High. Donnie Hess took over and kept our playoff drive going that year with a 7-0 victory over the Blue Devils. I was also present for the 1981 Region IV championship game between Graham and Tazewell. The G-Men won 6-3 in a classic game played in the snow at Mitchell Stadium.

Quite a few "immigrant" kids at certain schools around here (using quotation marks because a lot of them are actually natural born American citizens themselves). With no intent to sound condescending or patronizing, those guys and their families are all great. They really contribute a lot to the game and our players (both LHS and the club) have always appreciated the opportunity to get to know them and "up their game" by the increased level of competition. Kind of the intent of sports at its purest level, I think. LHS really hit the jackpot with regard to exchange students this year. But other than Felix (our German player), we got lucky. The Italian guys wound up here mainly because Bedford was their cheapest option to come to America. I knew that Matteo was pretty darned good (his host family is just around the corner from us and he is a frequent guest at our house). But I only found out about his association with Juventus just the other day.

It's a fairly common practice around here (Lynchburg/Seminole District area). Liberty has pretty much always had at least one exchange student on the roster. In fact our German kid this year is the younger brother of a kid who played at LHS a couple of years ago. Rustburg had a tough team a couple of years ago that was mainly carried by two Germans of their own. But it's hit or miss in terms of using it as a recruiting tool. For every year that it has worked out well (like our last regional playoff winner that featured two kids from Slovakia) it seems like there are two seasons in which the foreign players don't really pan out. Outside of the exchange student angle there are still plenty of opportunities for shenanigans in our area. The presence of LCA speaks for itself. And although the enrollment zones are adjacent and pretty close to one another, it seems that the better public school players in Lynchburg somehow magically wind up at E.C. Glass or Jefferson Forest -- while Heritage and Brookville always seem to be on the shorter end in terms of talent.

Epilogue Part Deux.... Since his senior season of high school has pretty much evaporated, boy is now planning to give a serious shot at walking on the varsity team at Virginia Tech. If that doesn't pan out (and I can't imagine there are any kind of odds that it will), he will then take a stab at playing for the club level team and/or finding some kind of supporting/administrative role with the varsity program. Crazy world, ain't it?