old_school_blue

This entire conversation has went awry. I felt Ryan had kind of overlooked Battle when he posted about the winner of Gate City/Glenvar going to Richlands. I didn't see anything wrong with my post and I don't think Ryan had any malice in his post. I felt that after watching the Abingdon debacle, nothing should be taken for granted. After a personal slight to me, it just steamrolled. I know some of you cringe when you see me posting......keep cringing. You can hate my posts for all I care....if the truth hurts you, get a band-aid. I have been on this message board since 2004 and I have yet to get to 1,000 posts. I am not setting any posting records. For those "kool-aid" fans out there.....don't go away mad....just go away.

I was reading your post and got to the "enticing the best athletes" part and had to re-read it. No joke or sarcasm there. I thought you were going another direction. I respect your perspective, however, I strongly disagree with you. The great majority of the kids playing have played for years in the Midget League, so...no enticing needed there. If including more kids in the offense means more tight ends, H backs and fullbacks....you are correct sir. We use too many 2 x 2 formations and that makes the offense predictable and too pass heavy. I'll tell you a secret....there are some others that have figured out where Mance's bread is buttered, like Turner from Union, Smith from Appomattox and Reed/Colobro from Abingdon. Mance has won a ton of games both regular season and playoffs, i can't argue that.....I concede on that one. But the way some of you act, he is a threat to bump Belicheck out of Foxboro.

Not necessarily. The Spread is actually designed to run the football. I would dump the "show horse" and adopt the "work horse." From my perspective, coaches should make subtle changes from year to year based on their players strengths and weaknesses. I am not afraid to say that I would like to see Coach Mance recognize this, and use what he has. In some years, more drastic changes would be needed. As a coach, I would be more concerned with player and coach development. This isn't hate speech as some these people on here are spouting about. This is basic scheme and coaching dialogue. In reality, there are a ton of people that think like I do. As Enzo Amore likes to say........"gotta' coupa' hata's"......

That is your choice. You are definitely entitled to your opinion, as am I. Disagreeing with me is fine, just do it in the right way. If you don't like my apples, don't shake my tree. Good luck to you and yours as well.

So you're saying you agree with me.........and Mance would agree with me.......well maybe more people will come over to my way of thinking. Thanks for the shout out!!!!!!

Nothing is a gimme Ryan. Gotta show up for Battle. A poor showing now could be your season. Battle is better than most we played this year, don't need to give them locker room material.

2 A football looking stronger than 3 A and 4 A.

Lancers on the board. 28-6. Here comes the mo.

Tail whippin' in Amherst. Appomattox up 28-0. Amherst looks dead headed.

Appo. driving in the 3rd quarter.

Appo. 21 to 0 at the half,

Penalties killing Amherst, the coaching staff just picked up one.

...or maybe not.

Amherst knocking on the door.

Appo. with the split back veer scores again and are up 21-0 on Amherst Co.

Amherst drives to 1 yard line and fumbles. 1st down Appo.

Appomattox goes up 14-0 on a jet sweep.

...............and sometimes you realize that it is basketball season.............

My question is this: Why is a 1-9 team, that just got beat 71-0, in the playoffs?

This is a quote from Mance after the game: “We’re just not sharp running the ball, when the other team puts four in the box, you are supposed to be able to run the ball up and down the field. Give Abingdon credit, they had a good defensive scheme and made us one-dimensional.†This is what I am hearing on this board in the last two posts. They ran the ball a lot against Lebanon, and have wanted to run the ball before now but couldn't due to injuries. The head coach has been looking at giving the # 2 quarterback some time to motivate the starter. And that Mance put too much on the quarterback and that quarterback panicked. So......we have a 9-1 team that can't run the ball......now acknowledging the need to run, however, the need was never addressed in the part of the schedule that was the weakest....and now someone claiming a quarterback controversy with the incumbent all state quarterback. Now, I am not trying to anger anyone nor am I trying to "slap" anyone in the face with my comments. This is simply paraphrasing and summarizing. And some people on here think I am silly.

You will learn. Don't ask questions or make controversial comments. Just drink the damn Kool-Aid!!!!!!!

"It is better to build strong children than to try to repair adults." - Unknown

Awesome video!! Regardless of what people think about Wells, I hope he returns to Richlands to take over the program one day. He's got balls, and his strength is in his ability to think and coach and not how many athletes he can collect, IMO. I respect that.

I heard the Collier kid (Bluefield) to Richlands. That was the buzz today.

I have a confession guys. I left Richlands, got to Claypool Hill and turned left. No disrespect to the Bearcat Nation, but, I decided I would rather watch a competetive game than a blowout. I ended up in Pearisburg and watched a great game. I guess that makes me an impartial observer, so here's my take. Singlewinger92's comments are a little off base and have a "sour grapes" feel to me. Your first sentence begins with an excuse which is pretty crappy and then start bad mouthing Graham players??? The only negative thing that I saw from Graham players was the stomping before the game. The officiating was not good. No surprise they hadn't lost a home game since 2012. Graham got screwed on the ball spot, the roughing the passer call was laughable and two phantom penalties in a row that brought back back to back touchdowns almost started a riot. The horse collar penalty that allowed Graham to continue the drive should never have happened because they had already scored twice on that drive (phantom penalties.) The 3 to 1 ratio on TOP is pretty close. I have never seen a team that run that many plays in a game and lose. They drove the field and kept running out of gas. I will give Giles credit. No negative plays and no turnovers that I remember. I like conservative, they almost pulled a victory against a very talented team. For Graham, the short flat passes to # 7 helped open the offense up, I thought Graham didn't pursue the short passing game enough. That would really be beneficial for their running game. When Giles threw the ball down inside the five and got the PI call, I felt the defensive coaches blew that. It was 4th and 16 and you go straight man with no help. They should have seen that pass coming. Bad coverage call, bailed out Giles. For most of the game, Graham's play calling was eratic. The last drive was executed well. Graham needs to tackle better and their Defensive Line kept getting too deep in the backfield. Their Ends got up field too quickly as well. I liked the Mason kid (# 64) he is a hustler and seemed to be around the ball often. Overall, a great victory for Graham. I can see them as the 3rd best team in 2A (could beat the top 2 on any given night.) The G-Men have tons of speed!!! Congratulations to Graham on a BIG win!!!!!!!! Oh by the way, my father and I sat with three gentlemen from Bluefield that had played for BurrHead Bradley. Had a great conversation with those guys.