BeaverHokie

All the schools in Gwinnett are huge. Instead of consolidation like we see they split them off. Peachtree Ridge was created to ease the load on Duluth HS (just a few miles to the west of PR). I can't remember where Archer is...think the opposite side of I-85. Even with all the schools, the school population at all the schools are enormous. The county is probably somewhere between 900,000 and 1,000,000 people. About half the size of the entire state of WV. The talent is crazy. My daughter's HS (Duluth) is not usually very good at FB. Noted alumni are George Rogers and Brian McCann, though. Oh yeah, one other thing. Peachtree Ridge is out there where the "real" housewives live (well, I think one did, for a while), but also a lot of the area's professional athletes. Wouldn't be surprised to see the sons of some pro ballplayers on their roster.

Two questions about the game. I didn't go to the game, listened to the legendary Jim Nelson call the game on the radio. This is 50 years for Jim Nelson calling football games, and while he has some small opportunities (I don't believe he gives the time remaining enough), he is good. So good at setting the play, you can almost see the offense and defense through the radio. Listening to his tapes ought to be Broadcasting 101 for anyone that wants to do radio. Anyway, question 1: On the Bluefield pregame radio show, Freddie said something about Graham being about to practice "year round" and the benefit it gives. Can anyone speak to the allowed practice times of each state? I honestly do not know, which is why I'm curious? Not really a question, but a comment. Jim Nelson mentioned Bluefield being in an unbalanced line several times. That phrase is overused, most that use it do not know what it really means. In local legend, unbalanced is when the interior linemen are not "balanced". A regular balanced line will be LT....LG...C.,..RG...RT. Back in the day, Bluefield would use LG...C...RG...IT...OT. Usually the short side had a TE, sometimes both did. I saw a picture on the BDT site, and it looked to be seriously unbalanced left. Did Bluefield run a lot of that? Also, what are the thoughts about Bluefield. I guess mine tend to be a little cynical, I do like to be wrong about it. They seem to focus on speed, the passing game has a lot of growth needed. Bluefield appears to have a pretty big OL, and I heard early on that they were handling the LOS, but it appeared later they were not. Scheme change by the defense, or fatigue. Thoughts?

Wait, did someone mention Portabella's? I've got nothing to add about the VAPreps issue. I do know that SWVA suffers from so many who think the state ends at Roanoke. Heck, even when I consider Tazewell County SW Virginia, you can go an awful long way west from there. I've been to Jonesville VA (Lee County) once to do some marketing for my company, and that is a long way. To draw a parallel, being born in Bluefield, it's a place that so many north of Charleston don't care for. Politically, the state seems to end at Beckley. Now, back to Portabella's. Yum. Beautiful place in downtown Bluefield. I love the food. I've heard the service can be sketchy, but I've had good service the two times I ate in. Got a pizza once to go.

I think it's easy to get spoiled. Folks are used to Bluefield just reloading in basketball, to an extent, but that appears to not be the case now. Bluefield is playing 0.500 basketball, and it's easy to say "What happened?" as that isn't the norm. Also, the WV competition is apparently pretty solid, with Bluefield beating an apparently really good Graham team twice in a season.

Well, a loss to Pikeview and two to Westside don't seem to bode well for the Beavers. I don't keep up with hoops a lot, but this team isn't as good as before. Add to it, having a player off the team for being ineligible, not sure. As you say, they sound like they do well in the transition game, but not when forced to slow down and play a half court game.

Apparently long dormant topic, but with another loss to Westside, what the heck is wrong with Bluefield basketball? Or is Westside that good all of a sudden?

Interesting in AAA, that I see three teams that finished with 9 games. Capital (9-0), Point Pleasant (9-0), and Woodrow Wilson (6-3). That was the problem that Bluefield used to have, having a hard time getting 10 games. So, #3 Bluefield will play #14 Ravenswood at home. What I am curious about is how good Bridgeport and Frankfort are...

They gave away about 100 yards on penalties. To win the game even with that is a good thing. It worries me for any possible close games...I thought field position would be critical in this game, and it was...but Bluefield did manage to overcome their own mistakes. But really...there's no excuse for all those false start penalties in game 10.

I'm going to guess Bluefield wins 19-14. :-) I wasn't there, either Bluefield played horribly sloppy (almost 20 penalty flags) or there was home cookin'. Either way, Bluefield will get to play at home through most of the playoffs.

The cat gets to be best man. I think it may involve the....ummm....cough, cough..."personal trainer". That's all I'm saying.

Jim Nelson says that Bluefield is missing several of their receivers due to disciplinary actions. Can anybody add any good facts or fair/reasonable speculation? Appears some kids and their dumb decisions have really cost Bluefield horribly. Bluefield has completed zero passes tonight. Well, zero to their own team, two to Richlands players.

Agreed. I feel like we get a lot of chances to beat up on a lot of really bad teams through the year, and fear that the big games (this, Wayne, playoffs) are way different. I'm not ready to give up on this game, though, but I never like being behind at the half. Not sure how this team will react to that adversity.

I'd heard quite the opposite, that they actually enjoy it, and they're looking forward to it.

Perhaps Richlands gets a 4th time out (if Jim Nelson is correct). Didn't matter, but still... Halftime score is Bluefield 14 Richlands 21. Not a great start for Bluefield.

I suspect these young men have not had many tacos in their life. Victory, pink, or otherwise. :-)

I worry about Bluefield's defense. Maybe they just let up on teams, but I've listened to each game, and as the game wears on, Bluefield's defense seems to start springing some leaks. I think the key for Bluefield is to score 30+ by halftime (if possible) and at least try to keep Richlands from scoring on a couple of possessions in the second half. I suspect that may be enough. I feel like we see the same script for Bluefield each year...ripping through most of the regular season with 50,60 points a game, only to run into a buzzsaw at the end with Wayne and some of the north central teams. This will be a good measuring stick for Bluefield. I pick Bluefield to win, but only by 7-10 points. I am going to guess 38-28 Bluefield.

The BDT is horrible. I honestly can't believe they ask people to pay for it. I remember 20+ years ago, was it the Twin State Observer (??). Free paper (for a while) they'd throw on your porch, paid for by advertising. It was better than the current BDT. Local media here, in general, just sucks. The AM radio station, WHIS 1440 had a great history, and it's awful now. They're have a minute or two of dead air at least weekly (or probably several times weekly, honestly). Several times, they'll go 30+ minutes of dead air. Try to call the studio line, nobody answers.

True. It's a training ground for people to go to bigger stations. You get two types...folks we catch on their way up, or the ones that are on the fall back down. Neither seems to stay long. It's actually scary to think that (I can't believe I am saying this) Woody freaking Morgan is a lot better than anything they have had in a long time. And Woody wasn't very good. WVVA is awful, and their bias against their own home town is pretty apparent. They love themselves some Beckley, though...

I honestly don't know anything about TV work, but would there not be a way to film something, then connect through the Internet (somewhere down that way) and upload to a WVVA server, and someone at the station could edit it? Heck of a trip, sure, but it is supposed to be a Bluefield station. I realize with regionalism, they want to treat every single team in their viewing area the exact same, but I wish they'd give a little extra consideration to Bluefield as the "home" team here.

I'll predict that Bluefield beats Gate City 51-28. :-)

Wait, y'all lost to Gate City? Dang, my sympathies for your team. Gotta feel pretty bad to be that horrible.

I suspect Daddy says a lot of things, much of it not coherent. No tacos tonight, kiddies. The Kids Meal at Taco Bell is safe for now.

I was willing to give that other poster some opportunity there, but to me, it seems like Coach Williams has been a really good thing for Graham football. Marrs really ran things in the ground, the change has been pretty amazing. A lot more strength and toughness, more like the Carlock years. I've just had to adjust over the last 30 years, that Bluefield has completely moved away from power football, and to the wide-open game. It still requires tough linemen and a good defense, which is the problem we've seen some years. All the athletes in the world can't do much if they get hit when they take the handoff. That poster is the first person I have ever read to say anything negative about the current head coach.

I'm a Bluefield grad, but tend to support Graham too...and also rooted for Tazewell to break their long drought. They really seem to have returned from the depths. I just don't know how much the problem is Graham has a poor defense, or how much it was who they were playing, or some combination of. I was impressed that even after losing the starting QB and bringing in Workman, the passing game was still there. Should be an interesting game, I don't have enough info to make a pick in this one...

Interesting thought I hadn't heard before. I know that Williams seems to have really changed the attitude around Graham football. Seems to be very different than the Marrs years, a lot of effort being put into strength training, and a lot more toughness. At least from my distant vantage point. Is the problem the head coach, or is it something that could be corrected with him letting someone run a different scheme on defense for him?