cityofRaven

It was really good to see those kids and coaches celebrating last night. You could see how happy and relieved they were and were soaking up the moment. Winning was something we had taken for granted for so long. 
Hopefully, this is the beginning of something special. I don’t mean, we’re back. It just does something for a person to have some rewards for their work to build on success. Belief is a power motivator. 
I know some of those kids will remember the hard times, and have a bright future because of what they endured and have the opportunity to overcome.
Watching Galax was a humbling experience to see how quickly you can go from top to bottom. Good luck to the Tide the remainder of the way. 
Congratulations to the coaching staff for staying the course despite setbacks. 

I just don't see Richlands beating anyone this season. I'd love to be wrong, but 28-21 Galax.

Galax wins. Richlands is a whole other level of bad.

More like POO-laski, am I right?

What in the ##!! are you talking about?

More like POO-laski, am I right?

More like POO-laski, am I right?

ATW EP. 7.6 
Weekly Recap - 
Bellacino's Player of The Week - Grundy Standout
Peak Performers - Graham, Tazewell, Lee, Honaker & George Wythe Players
Peak Performer of The Week - First time scenario for a Peak Performer selection
Talking Smack -
1. RIP Neil Johnson - Thoughts, memories, recommended article.
2. Grundy - BDD
3. Carter Creasy - Tazewell High
4. WCYB - Va. High/Lebanon
ATW REGION D RANKINGS - Some changes in 1A and in 2A
ATW SUPER 7 - A New Super 7 (who is out , who is in?)
PIGSKIN PROGNOSTICATIONS W/POINT SPREADS - Games to Watch this week, Spoiler Alert Game, big upset prediction
 

Someone in the Richlands locker room bought a Parade magazine. 

Dam straight! Glad I’m no longer in school! 😂 

That's precisely why it will never happen. Not going to split the kids in the county seat. 

Someone in the Richlands locker room bought a Parade magazine. 

In the late 2000’s & early 2010’s Bluefield made a few trips to Charlotte to play Charlotte Country Day & Charlotte Latin.
 
in one of those games against Charlotte Latin, Bluefield pulled the upset and even intercepted a future top 5 NFL draft pick three times. 
 
”The Beavers rolled up 408 yards on the ground and scored seven rushinig touchdowns to ease past previously unbeaten Charlotte Latin, N.C. Friday.
Montel Leggett rushed for 160 yards and two scores (82, 1), while D.J. Edwards (33, 85) and Johnny David (4, 5) added two touchdowns apiece.
Charlotte Latin quarterback Daniel Jones threw for 223 yards, but was picked off three times by the Beavers defense in the win.”
- The Register-Herald

You put Tazewell kids inside RHS against their will... They'll burn that building all the way down to the asbestos. 

For much of the decade of the '70s the primary colors for football were navy blue and red.  The light blues made their way into the rotation on a seemingly random basis so there probably aren't too many color photos of them in existence anywhere.  I was just a kid but I'm old enough to remember what they looked like before that color scheme went away forever.
In the interest of being helpful, following is something I posted elsewhere on this site many moons ago:
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.  
 
Pretty sure that the 'R' was only featured on the right side of the helmet.  And for at least one year -- possibly 1975 -- the red stripe was complimented by two navy blue stripes on either side of it. 
RHS had something of an identity crisis in terms of branding until about 1980.  Basketball uniforms were primarily light blue from about 1960 until about 1980 (the red trim appeared on those uniforms around 1976).  When baseball reappeared as a varsity sport, I'm pretty sure that the team wore red caps at first with uniforms that were otherwise navy blue with red trim.  But most letterman jackets from that era were a shade of light blue that was different from anything that any of the teams actually wore.
Todd Heldreth standardized Navy Blue and White across the board when he arrived as Athletic Director/Head Football Coach in 1979.  There have been some flirtations with silver and light blue as a secondary/accent color in various sports since then but I'm pretty sure that Navy and White is still the "official" standard.

Richlands traveled to South Boston (Halifax Co) in the late 60s. Even today, that's a roundtrip of 8.5 to 9 hour in a car (450-500 miles)

You put Tazewell kids inside RHS against their will... They'll burn that building all the way down to the asbestos. 

You put Tazewell kids inside RHS against their will... They'll burn that building all the way down to the asbestos. 

Pheel the Pain

Great Episode - Must watch!
SCOREBOARD- Last weeks scores and a couple games from this week.
PEAK PERFORMERS - Mike Reece (Lebanon), Gabe Jones (Castlewood), Trey Rainey (George Wythe), Brynnen. Pendergraft (Lee), Keith Chandler (Union) - Who will be this weeks PEAK PERFORMER?
BELLACINO'S PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Isaac Manes (Twin Valley)
TALKING SMACK - 1. 800+ Yards passing in a single game........and didn't win!? 2. Our Recommended nicknames for Phil Robbins Field 3. Biggest Positive Surprises this season, Biggest negative surprises this season
ATW RANKINGS - Top 5 in 1A, Top 5 in 2A (Surprise entry in 1A)
SUPER 7 RANKINGS - Who are the top 7 teams in Region D?
STUMP THE CRIG - Grandma and Janitors with speech impediments
PIGSKIN PROGNOSTICATIONS - Who will win, who will cover the spread? Who will win the Graham/Lebanon Game, will Lebanon cover? Who will win the Grundy/Hurley game will Hurley cover? Chilhowie vs Rural Retreat, who wins, will the Indians cover? 
 

This guy is snitching on underage drinking at Pocahontas 16 years later 🤦‍♂️

Phield of Dreams

Hmmm...I think Haun might have done less with more but I totally understand your sentiment.  I still think the '87 team that lost to VHS in the playoffs on the infamous out-of-bounds call was one of the most talented teams Richlands has ever fielded.  But those two accounted for a decade of Blues football that saw a lot of size and talent not win a lot of games.  Immediately after they left, Vaught wins a title in 92 and then a few years later the Mance era begins.
In their defense, Richlands hadn't totally bought in to being great in football.  The teams I played on were big, physical and talented but partied non-stop.....I mean really partied.  They were serious about Friday nights but not much else.

Well, here is my take as someone who played during that time.  Richlands ran the Wishbone for years (after it passed out of favor) and I think it did not do justice to the talent it had.  The opposing defenses stuffed the box and made Richlands execute 12-14 plays to score.  As one would imagine, a fumble or penalty would occur during that drive.  Secondly, during the Evans years they ran a fairly complicated "read and react" defense that, IMHO, blunted some aggressiveness.  Overall....on both sides of the ball.....very conservative and I think it cost them.  They lost a lot of close games to really good teams and were, generally, a .500 team.