cityofRaven

The Bearded Moose - hands down the best food in the Richlands area

Richlands was once known for smash mouth football, lining up and running the ball down your throat.  There's a few of us "old guys" that miss that.  Call me old fashioned.

Theres one other QB that I would put there with Justin McCracken,  and that would be Heath Miller when he was at Honaker.  Even though he went on to become an all time great tight end at UVA and the Steelers,  he was one hell of a QB while he was at Honaker.  Talk about an arm,  and he could and would run you over when he had the chance.  His arm was strong,  but he was very accurate and had touch also and most of the time made good decisions.  I played for Richlands and a huge Blues fan,  but I went to half of the tiger games Heath's SR year and to all of their playoff games because my wife is from Honaker and teaches in the Honaker Swords Creek area and is good friends with his mother ( maybe that makes me a little biased )  and he was one of the best QB's I had seen with the exception of McCracken.
Not saying he was better than McCracken,  but he was at the very least close in high school.  Just my opinion.

I wouldn't call getting hammered by 70+ "the right direction" whether I'm on the inside or out...

Yeah, Jonesville is the Mecca of civilization. My bad.

When I seen gate city last week their offense without Collier was awful. So does Richlands defense look really good or were they just playing a 2 win team without their best player?

I understand the financial numbers and about saving money by consolidating but that is never the arguement I get from a majority of people. I'm a sports guy thru and thru but until someone comes up to me and starts telling me the benefits of consolidating for educational purposes then it's a mute point. My kids and I love sports... they play sports but they are not going to make a living playing sports. I like the advantages of smaller classroom sizes and more one on one with the teacher and students. I get tired of hearing about these mega football or basketball or wrestling teams we could have in Buchanan Co if we consolidate. I need to here something different. Just my opinion

You need to back away from the keyboard for a bit...

There is no bias towards Richlands.  I can't stand Richlands BUT when you've been as dominant as they have for the last 15 years, you have to give them the credit they deserve.  Did I rank them #1 in my poll...yep, sure did.  May not stay that way but only time will tell...

Welp,  hope you guys got that out of your system.......lol

The G-Men have been on a roller coaster for the last few seasons, with a carousel of coaches and a program who lost a lot of its shine, but not its backbone. 
 
A couple of years ago, the rout by Gate City in the playoffs, was the bottom.  The backbone of this program though bruised badly, wasn't broken; the alumni, the fans and others knew the 'Phoenix would rise again."  It's here folks and Friday night will show the resurgence of this storied program.  I truly believe that. 
 
The score I can't predict, but I believe the stars will be shining on the G-Men at the end of the night.
 

Well 15 years is sorta old I guess, I played in the first three grundy-twin valley games, sure as hell makes me feel old lol.

Buchanan County's problem is geography. There's no real simple solution to the problem.
 
If you were going to create 2 high schools, it would make the most sense to route the Council kids to Twin Valley and the Hurley kids to Grundy. However, the numbers would still be lopsided in favor of the Grundy school; the Twin Valley school would still be A.
 
What is most sensical is to consolidate everyone into one central high school in Grundy, but that's a long (and unsafe in buses) ride from Council and Hurley.
 
This would be a monumental task fot any school board, but it's certainly too great an ordeal for potentially the most mismanaged school board in SWVA.

Most of those wins came when Bluefield was AAA and Graham was A.  The series is something like 12-7 oover the past  20 years or so.   Somebody correct me if I"m wrong. Tired of hearing about the overall record.  Whoever wins the last one has bragging rights and right now it's Bluefield.  A rivalry is much more than wins and losses.
 
No shame in losing to a great team like Bluefield.  I'd say that Graham fares as well or better against them than most.  It makes it that much sweeter in the years that Graham does beat Bluefield.

If you are talking about Radford, I can think of one team they played from the Lonesome Pine that never lost to them. That team is Powell Valley.
 
92 PV 49, Radford 13
93 PV 36, Radford 21
94 PV 24, Radford 21
95 PV 28, Radford 7
96 PV 40, Radford 12
97 PV 21, Radford 3
     PV 28, Radford 10 (Division 2 State Semi Finals)
98 PV 41, Radford 13
 
While Radford has fielded some good teams, I don't know if I would use them as an example of the Roanoke area's so-called superiority over far SWVA.

The River Ridge and Blue Ridge were not formed until 2003-2004 school year, if memory serves.  A little over a decade doesn't scream "history".  The New River has been non-existent for well over two decades and never really produced anyone of note that I can recall.  Some very good athletes came through the New River District but not on a national and even professional level like far SWVA.  I competed in the New River District from 1989-1991.  Donny and Sidney Snell come to mind but not much more than that to be honest other than Shayne Graham.
 
If you want history, look up Calvin Talford on Youtube.  It will be well worth your investment of time.  You will even find a snippet in one of those videos of him dunking on a blonde, white kid with limited ability.  That long lost kid would be me.  Talford was the singular best athlete I ever played against.  He went on to play basketball at ETSU, win an NCAA dunk contest and help lead ETSU to what may be the biggest NCAA Tournament upset of all time.
 
While your on Youtube, check out Heath Miller, Julius Jones, Thomas Jones, Ahmad Bradshaw or Boo Sensabaugh to name a few.  If you wish to speak to some knowledgeable fans with memories going back generations on this board, ask them about Bill Dudley from Bluefield.
 
Radford and other New River schools have produced some fine athletes as well as some talented teams over the years but they pale in comparison to what far SWVA has produced.  Roanoke area schools not named Salem haven't historically had tremendous success against SWVA powers.  I was in Victory Stadium when Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for well over 300 yards and scored 5 TD's as Graham beat PH-Roanoke like a rented mule in 2001, I believe.
 
Just the opinion of someone who grew up in Fries and currently resides in Galax.

You are joking, right?  Some of the most storied programs in the state's history......  Hard nosed, hard hitting "football".  Not that sissy stuff the rest of the state plays.

And if they had state champs in the 60's you could probably add aboiaboiut 3 or 4 more to Appalachia's total

Seems like you want your time here to be short.

Not to be argumentative but what exactly do you mean "live in their own little worlds?" I'm thinking the old Southwest featured Gate City in the 70s. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
 
That said, State Champions from those districts:
1970 AA Gate City (pretty sure Southwest at the time)
1971 A    Appalachia (Lonesome Pine)
1972 A   John I. Burton (Lonesome Pine)
1974 AA Gate City (Southwest I think)
         A    Clintwood (Lonesome Pine)
1975 A    Clintwood (Lonesome Pine)
1978 A    Clintwood (Lonesome Pine)
1981 A    JJ Kelly (Lonesome Pine)
1982 A    Powell Valley (Lonesome Pine)
1985 A    Powell Valley (Lonesome Pine)
1986 D4  Tazewell (Southwest)
1988 D1 Jonesville (Cumberland, not one of the 3 mentioned districts but still very worth mentioning)
1989 D3 Graham (Southwest)
         D2 Powell Valley (Lonesome Pine)
         D1 Appalachia (Lonesome Pine)
1990 D2 Powell Valley (Lonesome Pine)
1992 D4 Richlands (Southwest)
         D1 Appalachia (Lonesome Pine)
1994 D2 Powell Valley (Lonesome Pine)
         D1 Appalachia (Lonesome Pine)
1995 D3 Graham (Southwest)
         D2 Powell Valley (Lonesome Pine)
1996 D1 Appalachia (Lonesome Pine)
1997 D3 Gate City (Highlands)
         D2 Powell Valley (Lonesome Pine)
         D1 Appalachia (Lonesome Pine)
1998 D2 Powell Valley (Lonesome Pine)
2003 D2 Gate City (Lonesome Pine)
2006 D3 Richlands (Southwest)
2010 D2 Gate City (Clinch Mountain)
2011 D1 Clintwood (Lonesome Pine)
 
Lately, the Roanoke area versus far Southwest VA would probably be more in favor of the Roanoke area. I don't know if it would have been on a regular basis but it wouldn't be farfetched to say that some of those teams mentioned from the past (that are in or were part of those districts you mentioned) could have probably taken some of those teams. Some that come to mind are 1998 Powell Valley, the Graham teams that won state, the 1970 and 1974 Gate City teams, and Richlands in 1992.  Heck that 1992 Richlands team actually beat Salem for the state semis.

Seems like you want your time here to be short.

I didn't vote in the poll and I'm a Richlands' fan

"No need to read the actual article, the headline will tell me all I need to know." - Almost everyone on the internet.
 
 
Known and played sports with Thad since little league and this doesn't surprise me. He's definitely has guts. 

Did you read the article? Lol. He said there will be situations where he will punt. But it will be rare.

"No need to read the actual article, the headline will tell me all I need to know." - Almost everyone on the internet.
 
 
Known and played sports with Thad since little league and this doesn't surprise me. He's definitely has guts.