GHS89

Mathews was very sharp, but he has to stop locking his radar on the intended receiver as soon as the ball is snapped. A speedy free safety will soon pick up on this and toast him. I would imagine that Yost will be handing out Ridlin to Reggie before the next game. But heck, you can't be mad a fellow who brings the intensity that he does. When he's on the field, you know who everyone is watching. The seniors surely had a great game and the rookies are awesome.

Graham won't play GC anymore because GC dropped to single A. Graham will not play any single A schools and in fact played GW Danville from the largest division in the state last year. The drop to single A did nothing to decrease the potency of any given GC team. And in fact, if Graham did continue to schedule GC, they would be running about a .500 record against them. Gate City is still one of the premier SWVA programs, at any classification. All this is said to lead to this. Grundy has shown in the past that they don't mind playing some single A schools. I wonder if they tried to schedule GC before they took off to Kentucky? You've got to make yourself battle hardened.

Here's a neutral statement. I hope you both lose. But since that can't happen I would like to see Richlands prevail, if for no other reason than the difference in the way the two premier backs handled the Bristol newspaper article. Richlands, please stop the tongue wagging coming from Buchanan County, and then the G-Men will deal with you later .

That #12 for Rockbridge County has made his early commitment to UVA, so that explains his omnipresence the other night. If I were Bluefield, I would empty the backfield in a spread set, pass alot, but spread the defense and let Coeburn run.

First off, before anything gets out of hand, both teams tried to win on the scoreboard and Graham lost. As expected, numerous sophomores and juniors were used by Graham, and it showed in some blown defensive plays. Graham will be fine if the veterans start playing with the intensity of the rookies and the rookies start gaining the experience of veterans. The most confident, in your face, players (with the exception of Henderson), seemed to be the underclassmen. We'll see what happens after another week of practice, but tonight's Graham team is not positioned to whip Bluefield. I would expect Bluefield to bring something like what Rockbridge had, a small line, a more than talented quarterback, and a multi-member good hands crew. Graham is not ready to stop anyone's passing game,.,.,yet. I would think Graham will be digging deep into the pool of available young talent to remedy this. Graham's offense is capable, but stutters. I saw several rotations going on with the line, so things can continue to develop. Henry started slow, but proved he is effective when he runs straight ahead. I think Graham is still missing a big play back, and that that also may come from the ranks of the younger players. It will be interesting to see what happens next week if Graham realizes that they can be strong between the tackles and pounds on Bluefield the whole game. At this point I give a slight advantage to Bluefield because of the potential damage that Coeburn to Perdue can do through the air.

Graham has won 2 of the last 3, Bluefield has won 1 of the last 1,.,.,. I know I started this, but we can argue when the growth/decline thing began until the cows come home. We can compare records, enrollment, property values, average income, etc., until we are blue in the face. Bottom line is that I hope every game between Graham and Bluefield is decided by less than a touchdown from now till eternity. After all, Bluefield is still my second favorite team. They both belong to a community split by a political line (what were you all thinking in the 1860's anyway ).

"...always have, always will." Always have; I guess so, you own the series edge in numbers. Always will; impossible, you can't find a city in a faster state of rot than Bluefield, WV. Still plenty of wonderful people living there, but the downward spiral of infrastructure and population is astonishing. The two Bluefields are going in opposite directions, the talent pool is shifting, and so is history. If Graham takes it this year, then the jinx of not beating Bluefield for 3 consecutive years will be over in the near future. There has never been a class more poised to do this than the sophomores at Graham now.

Henderson and the older Marcum from Grundy will be defensive notables. On the other side of the ball; Coeburn, Ringstaff, the younger Marcum, and the entire Bluefield backfield UNIT. One player who will start to emerge as a workhorse on both sides will be Bovenizer of Graham.

Will be interesting. Both return quarterbacks, so don't expect to see the confusion Graham demonstrated last year from either team. Stephen Brown, maybe not an impact yet, but is the fastest man alive. Wildcard is Henderson, he gets stronger every minute. Graham's upcoming physical giants of the future will start to emerge, but don't expect a size advantage yet. Throw in Graham's eventual Div I talent in Bovi, and I say they make a good showing. If Graham takes this one from Bluefield, we've turned the corner on a new era. Graham will beat Bluefield the following two years. The towns are going in two different directions, and the available talent base will reflect that.