RichlandsAlum

When the SWD broke up in 1986 there was something of a scramble to fill non-district schedules again and Richlands wound up scheduling home and home series against a couple of Roanoke area schools (Northside and Lord Botetourt).  There were some raised eyebrows but I don't remember a lot of outright complaining about it.  Several families (including mine) made something of a getaway out of the trip for the Northside game -- which coincided with Labor Day weekend.
A lot of Liberty-Bedford teams schedule a geographic outlier as part of their non-district schedule.  But then again Bedford is pretty centrally located and you can hit a lot of interesting options within a 2-3 hour drive of here.
Probably not much benefit to Richlands to venture very broadly now unless they absolutely had to.  But that has been the case at various times in the school's football playing history.

I remember one year in the 80s when the Mighty Machine of Hampton High, and Mike Smiths Crabbers play in the Pulaski Gridorama. I can't recall the opponent, maybe Cave Spring who came out and got 2 first downs on Hampton, then a timeout was called by Smith and extreme as#  chewing could be heard from the bleachers. As play started to resume, the Hampton players started popping their pads, getting fired up, and I don't think Cave Spring gained another yard in that scrimmage. Even in my youth, I knew about Hampton and thought that was one of the most badas$ things to me, getting to watch Hampton High, and equally important, Hampton High coming to SWVA.  That was my first lesson ever regarding the importance of speed as it relates to football. For my youthful eyes, I had never seen anything like that yet at the High School Level. For me, something as simple and non important as a scrimmage was one of my better youthful football memories.  It was a gigantic moment at the time, for me in my youth. 
 

They played Halifax in 1968 and 1969.  The previous two years they played Harrisonburg.
The Southwest District played at the highest level of competition within Virginia from its inception in 1956 until the classification overhaul by the VHSL in 1970.  Eligibility for postseason honors had a requirement of playing a certain number of other schools at the Division 1 level (I think that was what it was called).  Since that number was beyond the membership of the SWD, a lot of SWD schools scheduled regular series against the Roanoke schools and E.C. Glass for most of the 1960s.  In the later portion of that decade there was usually a playoff between the SWD and the Western District (centered in the Roanoke area) that was also included.  That created something of a scramble to find the minimum number of opponents to meet the postseason eligibility requirement which led to some odd intersectional matchups in the final years of the old classification system.

Just don't start messing with my pension in a few years, you danged whippersnapper.  I've already got my AARP card and I know my rights.  If it makes you feel any better, those of us born in 1971 aren't happy about the change in Social Security a few years back that upped the age for full benefits.
In all seriousness I agree with you about the shift in VRS.  The parameters associated with retirement continue to present a moving target for those within the larger generational groups (mainly Boomers and Millenials, paradoxically) whereas Generation Xers like me may be able to pass between the extremes.  Some might even employ the words "arbitrary" and/or "capricious" in arguing about it.

Just don't start messing with my pension in a few years, you danged whippersnapper.  I've already got my AARP card and I know my rights.  If it makes you feel any better, those of us born in 1971 aren't happy about the change in Social Security a few years back that upped the age for full benefits.
In all seriousness I agree with you about the shift in VRS.  The parameters associated with retirement continue to present a moving target for those within the larger generational groups (mainly Boomers and Millenials, paradoxically) whereas Generation Xers like me may be able to pass between the extremes.  Some might even employ the words "arbitrary" and/or "capricious" in arguing about it.

Let's just hope the Augusta County School Board doesn't hire someone from the eastern shore, have him move his wife and children across the state, find out Casto doesn't approve and un-retires, leaving the supposed new coach without a job.
Other than that, things went pretty seamlessly three years ago.

Well that certainly ought to make for some fun interactions between the two from this point forward.  

You have no idea how much it costs to maintain a high school quality football stadium. Insurance, electricity, water, security, repairs, garbage collection, maintenance, extra pay for the people doing these things. Try doing that for under 50k. You can't. Plus you have to build the thing for a couple million and pay off those debts. The only complaint I have is the rest rooms are terrible. Need to work on that. There is a reason that every time any of the four schools renting the stadium start talking about building their own it stops pretty quick. They run the numbers and it just doesn't add up. 

Reese Bobby once found a whole rat in his Applebee's Cobb Salad. 

Teams that have a good vaccination rate should be ok.  If a player has been vaccinated, they do not have to quarantine. 

Just learned of the passing of Coach Blevins.  He was the head basketball coach at Richlands from 1982 to 1986.  During that short tenure, he pulled the Blues out of the basement of the old 11-team SWD and established a winning tradition in Richlands that lasted for over a decade.  Long before Richlands started winning trophies on the football field, the school was recognized (and very rightly so, IMO) as being "basketball crazy."  That all started with the 1982-83 SWD tournament championship team led by Reggie and his assistant Jack Lyons.
 
On a personal note, I knew him as a good guy who was very generous to me in my own formative years.  Bit of an understatement to say that I learned a lot from him.
 
Obituary can be viewed here:
 
http://bdtonline.com/obituaries/x31536960/Mr-Reginald-Reggie-Keither-Blevins-Jr

I really don't know but I can offer some observations.
In the 1950s Ernie Hicks began to outfit his teams in uniforms that closely resembled the Detroit Lions (with silver helmets and light blue jerseys).  I don't know if Coach Hicks was a particular supporter of the Lions or not, but given the success and popularity of that franchise in that decade the it is unlikely that the emulation by RHS was simply a coincidence.
Not sure whether it happened with Bill Peery or Jim Hammond, but silver was dropped altogether in the late 1960s.  The primary color was still a light blue (although it was a shade or two darker than the Columbia Blue version that Hicks had favored) paired directly with white.  Helmets were either blue with a white stripe or white with a blue stripe.  Pants had the same arrangement.  And jerseys were blue with white UCLA-type shoulder stripes at home (with the reverse being used on the road).
Shortly after 1970 the football uniforms had switched to White and Navy Blue with red accents of various types.  The light blue uniform that I posted began to be rotated in around 1973 or so-- even though Navy Blue and red were also worn more often than not.  One of the more confusing outfits was a road uniform featuring the light blue pants paired with white jerseys that had Navy Blue primary numerals, red numerals on the sleeves, and red cuffs -- all topped with a white helmet featuring Navy/White/Red/White/Navy stripes.  But other sports, cheerleading uniforms, and letterman's jackets continued to be produced in the light blue color that emerged in the late 1960s.  (That particular shade often varied widely from a very light Columbia Blue to a greenish hue almost resembling Aqua.)
Todd Heldreth standardized Navy Blue and White when he arrived in 1979 and applied it across the board.  Dennis Vaught introduced silver as a secondary color when he arrived, but I think the official colors have been Navy and White effectively since 1979.

I really don't know but I can offer some observations.
In the 1950s Ernie Hicks began to outfit his teams in uniforms that closely resembled the Detroit Lions (with silver helmets and light blue jerseys).  I don't know if Coach Hicks was a particular supporter of the Lions or not, but given the success and popularity of that franchise in that decade the it is unlikely that the emulation by RHS was simply a coincidence.
Not sure whether it happened with Bill Peery or Jim Hammond, but silver was dropped altogether in the late 1960s.  The primary color was still a light blue (although it was a shade or two darker than the Columbia Blue version that Hicks had favored) paired directly with white.  Helmets were either blue with a white stripe or white with a blue stripe.  Pants had the same arrangement.  And jerseys were blue with white UCLA-type shoulder stripes at home (with the reverse being used on the road).
Shortly after 1970 the football uniforms had switched to White and Navy Blue with red accents of various types.  The light blue uniform that I posted began to be rotated in around 1973 or so-- even though Navy Blue and red were also worn more often than not.  One of the more confusing outfits was a road uniform featuring the light blue pants paired with white jerseys that had Navy Blue primary numerals, red numerals on the sleeves, and red cuffs -- all topped with a white helmet featuring Navy/White/Red/White/Navy stripes.  But other sports, cheerleading uniforms, and letterman's jackets continued to be produced in the light blue color that emerged in the late 1960s.  (That particular shade often varied widely from a very light Columbia Blue to a greenish hue almost resembling Aqua.)
Todd Heldreth standardized Navy Blue and White when he arrived in 1979 and applied it across the board.  Dennis Vaught introduced silver as a secondary color when he arrived, but I think the official colors have been Navy and White effectively since 1979.

Back to the original question YES a single game will be played

If we're going to open up old wounds.........
I used to play competitively quite a bit before having kids but haven't in several years now. I played a VSGA match play "Ryder Cup" style event sometime around 2004. Our third match of the weekend was with two older gentlemen. On #12 at Botetourt Country Club in a four ball format, me and one of the older guys were literally side by side in the fairway (about a foot apart) with around 90 yards into a downhill green. I stopped to relieve myself in the woods to the left of the tee box and when I got to my ball, he had already hit my ball into the greenside bunker. Knowing the rule is loss of hole for playing the wrong ball, I suggested we just move on to #13. The old geezer starts yelling and screaming about it and asks for a ruling. The rules official was completely scared out of his shoes at this guys antics. He drives to the greenside bunker, grabs my ball, drops it beside me and tells me to replace it as near as possible to where it was and proceed. We would let the Tournament Director make the final decision after the match. My partner and I were incensed but ended up giving in and resuming play.
We finish #18 and walk up to the Tournament Director, who is already in a conversation with this old geezer. The TD spins around and says, go to the 1st tee for a sudden death playoff. Any rules violation is null and void once the next hole is started. While this is technically true, it still sucks and completely cheated us out of the win. I snap-hooked my drive into the pond left of the entrance road left of the 1st fairway, putting my partner in an impossible position, and we lost the match. It was 120 yards left of the fairway. I was incredibly pissed off.
About a year later, I was paired with the exact same guy in the first round of another VSGA match play event. He didn't remember me so I played dumb a bit. He introduced me to his playing partner for that day. Which happened to be his son. I remembered his son as well, who immediately remembered me and started back-peddling. His son was the rules official that had completely screwed me the year before!!!  Now, he was scared out of his shoes for a completely different reason. I didn't need a playing partner that day. We won 8 & 6.
I'd love to get @GMantake on the rules situation.

Since my short game is the bane of my golf existence, I always prefer playing from the farther tees.  I'm really strong anywhere from 150 yards or further.  And completely useless everywhere from 150 into the green.
As per high scores... Have I ever told everyone about carding a 117 in a regulation match at Fincastle back in 1986?  I missed a six-foot putt for 116.

I love the old school beauty of Appy's plain blue helmets and no-frills mesh jerseys (Photo Credit: BHC Sports) 

In case anyone else is remotely interested, here is a shot of a Richlands player from 1974.  The jersey is light blue with red numerals and white cuffs.  The pants are light blue with a red/white/red stripe.  The helmet is obviously white -- both the stripe and the 'R' logo are red.
 

I really don't know but I can offer some observations.
In the 1950s Ernie Hicks began to outfit his teams in uniforms that closely resembled the Detroit Lions (with silver helmets and light blue jerseys).  I don't know if Coach Hicks was a particular supporter of the Lions or not, but given the success and popularity of that franchise in that decade the it is unlikely that the emulation by RHS was simply a coincidence.
Not sure whether it happened with Bill Peery or Jim Hammond, but silver was dropped altogether in the late 1960s.  The primary color was still a light blue (although it was a shade or two darker than the Columbia Blue version that Hicks had favored) paired directly with white.  Helmets were either blue with a white stripe or white with a blue stripe.  Pants had the same arrangement.  And jerseys were blue with white UCLA-type shoulder stripes at home (with the reverse being used on the road).
Shortly after 1970 the football uniforms had switched to White and Navy Blue with red accents of various types.  The light blue uniform that I posted began to be rotated in around 1973 or so-- even though Navy Blue and red were also worn more often than not.  One of the more confusing outfits was a road uniform featuring the light blue pants paired with white jerseys that had Navy Blue primary numerals, red numerals on the sleeves, and red cuffs -- all topped with a white helmet featuring Navy/White/Red/White/Navy stripes.  But other sports, cheerleading uniforms, and letterman's jackets continued to be produced in the light blue color that emerged in the late 1960s.  (That particular shade often varied widely from a very light Columbia Blue to a greenish hue almost resembling Aqua.)
Todd Heldreth standardized Navy Blue and White when he arrived in 1979 and applied it across the board.  Dennis Vaught introduced silver as a secondary color when he arrived, but I think the official colors have been Navy and White effectively since 1979.

In case anyone else is remotely interested, here is a shot of a Richlands player from 1974.  The jersey is light blue with red numerals and white cuffs.  The pants are light blue with a red/white/red stripe.  The helmet is obviously white -- both the stripe and the 'R' logo are red.
 

Richlands changed their helmets. The left side had the lightning R, but now the right side has the old early 90’s BLUES on them. 
Big, big fan. 

I believe in most places it’s 5, maybe 7 in some states now but 5 seems to be the norm. The former Bluefield girls basketball coach I believe did the same, retiring from WV & going across the state line to Bland County. It’s a smart move if someone wants to put in more than 30 years. Right now, education is tough gig for everyone. 

I don’t dare speak his name or else Dad comes out and gets upset. 
 
Dude isn’t a bad coach at all, and this proves it some. He’s got a couple great athletes that really help, too. 

Liberty(Bedford) 42, Fort Defiance 0
Nice win for the Minutemen.  Got to clear the bench in the 4th quarter (my son made his first varsity tackle tonight playing linebacker).  Marching band made their debut with their full show and sounded great (my youngest boy made his debut on the field there tonight).  First time LHS has shut anyone out in a long time.
This plus Hokies win and a victory by my grad school (Charlotte) over Duke.  Pretty nice football night for me all around.

Liberty(Bedford) 42, Fort Defiance 0
Nice win for the Minutemen.  Got to clear the bench in the 4th quarter (my son made his first varsity tackle tonight playing linebacker).  Marching band made their debut with their full show and sounded great (my youngest boy made his debut on the field there tonight).  First time LHS has shut anyone out in a long time.
This plus Hokies win and a victory by my grad school (Charlotte) over Duke.  Pretty nice football night for me all around.