RenegadeFan

has been appointed to the principal position at Oceana Middle School. He will have to step down as BBall coach at Westside. Coach Hopkins leaves a storied career behind: many, mnay state tourney appearances, an AA state championship and several state runner up trophies. One of the state's top high school basketball coaches is stepping away from the sidelines. Jim Hopkins, whose teams won over 300 games and a state championship in 18 seasons as the boys varsity coach at Oceana and Westside, was named principal of Oceana Middle School last Wednesday by the Wyoming County Board of Education. Hopkins turned the Oceana hoop program into a model of consistency, winning at least 15 games in every season from 1990 on. He reached his first state final in 1993 and guided the Indians to a AA Championship a year later. OHS beat Bridgeport, the team it lost to in the previous year's title game, to win it all. "The state championship is a memory you can't replace," he observed. "We had problems that year and worked them out." He also took Oceana to the Class A final in 2001 and Westside to the AA Championship game in 2005. "The last one was the most unlikely," Hopkins said. "We had lost almost all of our starters from the year before and people expected us to be down, but Robert Repass, Brooks Spolarich and Matt Lester said they weren't done." Hopkins spent 22 years coaching and being an assistant coach in a variety of sports at Oceana High before it closed in 2002. Now he'll be back in the building as principal. "You might say I'm going home," he said. i know from my personal stand point, coach Hopkins will be missed. but here is hoping whoever comes in behind him and takes over continues the success that Coach Hopkins started at Westside. whoever takes over will have some good talent to work with as they will have allstate Chris Blankenship and other lettermen: Kyle Lusk , Eric Bailey, Marcus Gunter and more. here's hoping the team can adopt to the new coaches style and do well in the upcoming season and best wishes to Coach Hopkins in this new adventure, but here's hoping we see ya on the sidelines one last time for Westside before its all truly said and done for!

not only them two but consider the retirement of gene reid from Wyo. East (originally Mullens) and John Harris retiring from Oceana as they was going into consolidation with baileysville to form Westside and a lot of good coaches and asst. coaches have left the game. and i know Westside's coach hopkins probably doesnt have many more days left in him before he retires, which will be a sad day in our end, cause i really dunno if there is anyone able to meet up to what he's able to accomplish and do. it will be interesting from that stand point to see what happens. but still lots of good coaches have been lost, rather by early retirement or death or whatever reason, in both basketball and football. which is just a shame.

i look forward to seeing bluefield and westside finally squaring off in regular season battle, should be two good games there. but while i do look forward to those games, i surprised to see bluefield is not back in the coal classic this yr. i know liberty and james monroe will be but dont know who else will be at this time. i actually expected to see wyo. east on the blfd. skd. after the rim job blfd. got from those guys in the finals of the classic last yr, i figured they'd look to abstract some revenge not once but twice!!

prayer is a powerful thing and something i stand in need of today. i've always seen myself a strong person of faith and strong in God and what not, but right now me and my family are going through a terrible time. Thursday afternoon my grandpa passed away, he was 95. to me it just dont seem fair, 95 yrs dont seem long enough, i've only been able to say that i've known him for 23 yrs. grandpa lived in the same house in which i live in, along my youngest uncle. no need to say home just dont seem the same! its a lot quiters, more lonely, and even seems colder now days than before. so i ask everyone if you pray, pray for me in this time of despair. also remember my uncle who lives in the same house with me, him and grandpa was always togehter, you never saw one without the other. and he is taking it pretty hard. so remember him! and remember the rest of my family, i have a big family of 6 uncles, 3 aunts, 15 cousins, and then alot of them have families of there own now and it all is just a hard time to deal with for all. but more so for me and my uncle. the wake is tomorrow (sunday) night and the funeral monday at 1pm. when the wake and funeral is over with, everyone will go back there lives. my mom and step dad will be going back to ohio, my uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. will all have there lives and families to go back to, but me and my uncle with have a process to go through of getting use to it just being us. and frankly i dunno if we'll ever get use to that. i asked him the other day about when my grandma died back in 1988 how long did it take for him to get use to her not being around or in the house and he said i'm yet to get use to it. and if that is any indication as to what i got to look forward to, then its not good. so as i said, everyone just really remember me (shawn) and my uncle (bobby) and the rest of my family.

i hear twopac, i believe Blfd. will be the team to beat in football and possibly basketball too them, Tolsia, and as of right now Wyo. East would be my preseason top 3 things are up in the air @ Westside. we return a lot of talent, but talks of coach hopkins retiring is looming around again this season, they say the only way he retires is if he gets a principal job. i'm hoping that dont happen, cause i love watching Hopkins coach, but for some reason i gotta feeling the Westside end of Wyo. Co. is getting ready to lose a good coach.

i dunno i tend to disagree with the statement about football being the better sport, i mean dont get me wrong i like foozball and all, but basketball is my sport of intrest. but to each his own i reckon

i'm already missing basketball, i know we still have the NCAA and the NBA, but i still miss WV H.S. B'ball baseball, racing, tennis, and all these other spring sports just dont do it for me like basketball and football do. personally i'm counting down the days to the start of football season, cause it only means the best season of all Basketball will finally be here!

3rd qt. just starting! scoring for Bluefield Brooks 8 Moore 7 Matthews 6 Jordan 5 Ponder 2 scoring for Lincoln Cottril 9 Farris 8 Harmer 5 Parsons 4 Harley 3 Lucas 2 stats at half: Bluefield.... 13-28 3-11 1-2 19 6 6 FG:46.4% 3FG:27.3% FT:50.0% TURNOVERS:8 BLOCKS:0 STEALS:4 Lincoln.... 11-29 3-8 6-7 16 6 4 FG:37.9% 3FG:37.5% FT:85.7% TURNOVERS:4 BLOCKS:1 STEALS:5

if Mt. View plays a complete game of team ball and are able to get steals and get into there transition game and all like they did against Westside in the Regional game, i think they very well could beat Logan. But i dunno if that will happen! i believe what we all seen and heard from Thursday night was just a freak happening for Mt. View (i could be wrong) but I believe Logan will win not gonna say it will be a blowout, but it wont surprise me if it is either! my final four picks for AA are Weir/Bluefield and Logan/Ravenswood

yes that is the truth Rocks! also i gotta say some the MV fans that was in the stands down next to the court was really rude to the officals! one MV fan was trying to get out on the court howler something about "are we to fast for you ref", he even came over to the c92 guys that was doing the radio broadcast and asking the same question... no need to say i doubt MV getting the best sportsmanship or best crowd award in Charleston...lol

yes Rocks you did call it! i was hoping you would call it wrong though! i was really hoping to be in charleston with Westside being there too, just dont seem like it will be as fun being down there without them!

i said it at the start of the season, its hard to beat a good team 3x's let alone 4x's, now personally i would have liked it much more if we had lost to MV sometime in the regular season than tonight, but it was not the case! and i would much rather the best teams in the state be in charleston, and Westside just showed they wasnt the best. MV shut down Blankenship (who got in foul trouble early and then injured in the 3rd) and bother Clark all night, the 3 point shot just wasnt there for us, like it was in the 3 previous match ups a warning to anyone that faces MV, dont take them lightly, they are big, they are strong, and they are quick, and they have depth! if Westside had to lose to someone outside of at state, i would much rather lose to MV than Wyo. East....lol....and really in all this i cant help but be happy for the MV fans, several elderly ppl, who must have seen Northfork in their glory days, was crying thanking the good lord they get to see a McDowell Co. team in the state tourney ball game again! again congratz MV and best of luck!

i'm hoping Westside pulls the win out, we've beat them 3 times this season, each time by 15+ so hopefully tonight is no different for anyone thinking Westside is as good as last yr or that big of a threat i wouldnt hold your breath. if we make Charleston we might be lucky enough to make the semi finals but i dont see us back in the finals, just not as good as last yr. Bluefield should win there game, however Indy has been peaking at the right time of the season it will be an interesting night in AA basketball good luck Westside and Bluefield!

but still if it was in 98 or 99 whenever Greg Davis for Tug Valley was around, as WF pointed out he was unconscious from behind the arc and was just a great player that was hard to contain.

nah man, i'm just like Rules, i shoot from the hip and tell it like it is, and fact is Westside isnt as great as they could be, but they continue to find ways to win. Westside is not the team they was last season nor teh 2 previous season IMO better talent on those teams, again that's my opinion, some WS would disagree with me, as a matter fact a lot of WS fans would disagree with me and stone me bout like some of the Bluefield folks are with Rules but its true, i mean i never once said Westside should or would strike fear into someone's heart, as a matter of fact i would expect us to, we've not been around near as long as Bluefield nor have we been near dominant as Bluefield has been, and that's what i'm getting at, Bluefield is or was known for there dominance i remember as a small kid seeing basketball players i looked up to at Oceana be so worried about playing Bluefield that it wasnt funny, i just dont think Bluefield has that intimidation factor when they play certain teams now days. i mean does coaches and fans respect Bluefield and what they accomplished, sure they do, i know i do, but to me looking at the team now compaired to back then, well i would much rather play this yrs team or last yrs team compaired to teams that came out of Bluefield 5-10 yrs ago! as i said the talent is still there, but not quite sold on the coaching yet, you spoke of certain coaches speaking highly on Bluefield and i agree with you they do, i'm real good friends with Mark Hatcher and he does speak highly of Bluefield as a program and the players, said Dexter Moore is one of the more pure shooters/player/everything rolled in one. but its as you said, just good luck to everyone and may the best team(s) win

PT despite what you say there are teams that do not fear Bluefield, now i'm not saying Westside does or doesnt like the idea of playing Bluefield, but i've heard friends of mine who support different programs say "Bluefield who" when I mentioned them in being a contender in AA this yr, one of those friends is fans of Logan. i mean its as i said compaired to yrs past, the past couple of seasons the name Bluefield doesnt intimidate teams as much as it use i remember watching Wyo. East play Bluefield in 2002 and said before the game to a friend of mine, East doesnt stand a chance, why he said? i told him cause its Bluefield he just laughed and said this isnt the 90s anymore and that's how a lot of ppl feel, Bluefield has good season, winning season, but teams dont fear them like they use to, teams now days say hey we can play with them yrs ago teams like Shady Springs, Pikeview, James Monroe wouldnt be hanging with Bluefield in games, it would be over before it started, but now days that's just not the case now if anyone looks at Bluefield and thinks they are just a push over team they are sadly mistaken, cause as Rules and others have said talent is still there, cause as i said before the Beavs have some of the most athletic kids ever, but it takes smart coaching too now i'm not saying Gillard isnt a smart coach, but he has made some questionable decisions in he tenure at Bluefield i think everyone still tries to figure out why all the many 3's last season? WF mentions it in his comments and askes why they didnt dish it down low well i think BluefieldRocks answered it best talking about Robert being on the team, WF did you happen to see what all he did down low against Berkley Springs or even in the regional or sectional games of region 8? probably not, even in the regular season he held his own against Logan's Lou Green, that's why Logan had the game plan of containing him and Blankenship as much as possible in the game now to get back on track i'm not gonna say Bluefield would have been that successful inside against Westside, but i'm sure they would have done a decent job and could have made the game closer now WF comes back and says Logan has able to do something against him, something you gotta consider WF, is fatigue, Robert played longer and more mintues than Lou did, Lou stayed in a lot of foul trouble in all 3 games in Charleston, so Lou was fresh compaired to robert playing almost all the minutes of each qts. for 3 days straight, i dont care who ya that's gonna ware ya down! another thing that can come into play is Logan had been depth in the end that Westside did. as for saying if Bluefield would have run and gun and made the game more fast pace they would have won, dunno about that either, Westside holds there own in the run and gun type games too. ultimately its part to blame on the players and part to blame on the coaching....cant really blame one person in particular...

i dunno, i think i kinda gotta side with Rules on this to a point. i mean use to be yrs ago when ppl heard the name Bluefield that it struck fear into there hearts, i means it was almost like when a team plays you guys in football, most teams had themselves beat before playing Bluefield because it was Bluefield to many teams the name Bluefield was like Northfork, Central, Gary, Woodrow Wilson, etc. etc. now days ppl hear Bluefield and not as much fear is there, most teams are like hey we can play them or even for some they are like Bluefield who? i myself am personally not like that, cause i know Blfd. has the top notchest athletes in AA if not all of WV, but i dunno if the same can be said for coaching. i mean Coach Gaither seems like a great guy and all, but doesnt seem to be as near involved as coach Gaither was, i mean coach Gaither reminded me a lot of coach Hopkins, always on the floor, going back and forth, talking with the refs, howlering at the players and just real emotions at times i've seen that from Gillard, but not as much as probably some Bluefield fans would like i mean look at all the programs that's been successful in basketball, look at Westside, Logan, Beckley, among others its normally because they got coaches that are emotional in every facet of the game but while i say all this, its not to discredit JM or coach Mathis either, i believe Jason is on his way to be one of the better known coaches in baksetball and proved it tonight by bring JM back as close as he did and even with the chance to win! and give JM credit fellas they have played a lot of AA powers tough this season, the two times Westside met them i think WS was able to get away with 5-10pt victories, and when Wyo. East came to JM well they only came away with a 10pt victory as well JM has proven that they could contend with the big boys if they wanted and i think alot of it has to do with the coaches (Jason and David Mathis)

thanxs gl to Blfd. too they could have a battle on there hands next week against Indy! where will that game be played?

well I didnt get to attend the game, but was told by many Westside fans that it was Wyo. East's to lose what i mean by that is simply Wyo. East had the game in the bag or so i was told, but then bad coaching choices and arguing within the ranks of the players/coaches and East would end up losing the ball game now that's what one or two Renegade Fans told me, other said it was about like it was earlier in the season at Westside, when Westside made the come back either way Wyo. East really made other guys that normally wouldnt beat them, step up and beat them big games from Justin Sizemore who injured his ankle early in the game and was not at 100% as usual he scored 15pts to lead the Renegades also a big game from Westside freshman Eric Bailey, wow, if anyone told me this kid would be this valuable for Westside, i would have called them a liar but good game from them and considering his eye got cut open in the game a solid game from Blankenship of Westside as well look forward to next week against Mt. View, it could be a interesting match or a blowout either way i'm hoping for another Westside win and a trip back to Charleston!

i dunno, you could be right, however from what i'm told Princeton does bring back much of there team next yr and if that's the case i'm not gonna say Bluefield will lose, but could be some close games next yr as well who all is returning for the Beavs next season?

there's no way Winfield nor Bluefield really would finish ahead of Westside in the seedings, at least i wouldnt think if Winfield would beat out Ravenswood and no other team on your list lost i would figure the seedings to go something like this 1. Weir 2. Westside ( i believe this cause of simply the pounding they put on Logan earlier in the season) 3. Logan or Bluefield ( i say Logan or Bluefield simply cause i personally think Bluefield deserves the no. 3 spot over Logan cause 1. they beat Logan by more when they met the first time around and because Bluefield played some upper class teams as well, but the voters might look at how Logan put together the impressive 4-1 streak in the 5 games they had at the end of the season as well as the fact that they was without quality players when they played Blfd. the first time among other things, as i said i would give the 3rd spot to Bluefield personally, but whoever didnt get the 3rd spot would get the 4th!) 4. goes to whoever doesn get the 3rd spot 5. Winfield 6. Lincoln 7. Keyser 8. Braxton with match ups of 1. Weir vs 8. Braxton 4. Logan/Bluefield vs 5. Winfield 2. Westside vs 7. Keyser 3. Logan/Bluefield vs 6. Lincoln JMO but something to keep in mind, Westside could as easily lose to Wyo. East tomorrow night and give ya a whole new set of seedings if East should win against Westside tomorrow night and Ravenswood should lose in either sectional or regional play i would look at the seedings to go like this 1. Weir 2. Logan/Bluefield 3. Bluefield/Logan 4. Winfield 5. Wyo. East 6. Lincoln 7. Keyser 8. Braxton it will be interesting to see how the chips actually fall when all is said and done.

just really depends on who gets the no.3, 4 and 5 seeds i figure Ravenswood and Weir has either no.1 or 2 wrapped up providing they can win there regions if Oak Glen should get lucky enough to beat Weir and Winfield could get lucky enough to beat Ravenswood, it could easily see someone else in the top 2 spots as BR said it will become more clear after sectionals and regionals cause right now nothing is a given for certain teams like Westside (who has Wyo. East and MV in there region), Ravenswood has Winfield to deal with, Logan has Tolsia to deal with it lost of good match ups really still hard to tell who is gonna be in charleston one thing is certain it will be most interesting!

i'm not gonna say Bluefield wont be in the finals playing for a AA title this yr, cause to be honest with ya the Beavs really impressed down at Logan (more so than my Renegades did!) but i will say this AA is wide open seriously i think anyone could give the AA title a run for its money any favorites? probably is, but i dont play the favorites game i think the teams that look best for the AA title are Logan, Bluefield, Weir, Westside, and possibly Ravenswood....but aint none of these teams certain or set in stone to be in charleston cause for some of these teams to get there, they got some tough roads to hold Logan has Tolsia Tuesday night at the Williamson Fieldhouse in the sectional game, IMO whoever wins this match up has a cake walk to Charleston Westside (as everyone knows) has Bluefield's favorite team, the Wyo. East Warriors in sectionals (IF we get by them) Westside has Mt. View wainting on them in the regional game (cause you know Iaeger wont be a challenge) i say if Westside gets by East for 1 season, injuries, Westside's Chris Blankenship and Marcus Gunter are both injured, but reports are coming in that East has lost PG Justin Caldwell as well, supposedly he has either broken his ankle or twisted it really bad from the game with Logan on Friday night, right now its being said that he is questionable for the sectional game on Wed. supposedly Blankenship and 6th man Gunter's injuries for WS will not effect them as badly as both as suppose to play on Wednesday! anyways Weir despite what some of there fans might think, could have a tough battle in Oak Glen, OG has been improving as the season end comes about, last time these two teams met OG only lost by 10, this time the sectional is being play at OG which could put the game slightly in the favor, my advise to Weir - dont take'em lightly or they might bite ya Ravenswood, they have been the no.1 team in AA for pretty much most of the season but they have a big challenge in Winfield, some of the Ravenswood fans seem to think they are gonna breeze by the Generals, but all it takes is two or three good players to have a good to average team, Winfield has four, i believe this will be more of a battle than some of the Ravenswood fans are making it and wouldnt be surprised at an upset here, Winfield plays a tough skd. compaired to Ravenswood questionable skd. which many say come to bite them in the butt this time of yr and then there's Bluefield, i believe Bluefield and Indy will be the two teams meeting in the regional and Indy has really been proving themselves here lately, have the improved enough to upset Bluefield, personally i dont think so, but i didnt expect Indy to beat the beavs back a few yrs ago either, but they did. and then there's other teams to keep an eye on such as Lincoln, i think they are a shoe in for charleston, now that Phillip Barbour's PG Mark Summerfield is out with a neck injury, Lincoln has been the only AA team to have a chance at beating Ravenswood this season and has put together a nice season of there own, winning 18 or so games another team to watch for would be Keyser, they play a Petersburg team that was doing good early in the season but has struggled since about the middle-end of the season AA is truly wide open as i said i think Logan, Bluefield, Westside, Weir, or Ravenswood would have to be looked at as the best contenders this yr but if tolsia, Indy, Wyo. East (or MV), Oak Glen, or Winfield should beat one of these teams it could be a whole different ball game all i know is i cant wait for it to get under way!

just curious of the happenings in it!

i hear ya Still would be nice, from my point of view anyways...lol btw Bluefield's not alone in the lost column to Logan Westside loses by 4 in regulation to them Blufield actually did better than WS did tonight Logan came out did what they had to do and did well in it Davis and Sizemore had great nights though and WS was almost able to pull the upset player of the game for Logan had to be Chris Robertson, had 27pts and a nice "dunk", i put it in "" cause i personally didnt consider it a dunk, he layed it in and grabbed the rim from my view point, but ask a logan fan and they will say different either way i'll take this loss, i said at the start of the season i wanted to split with Logan and East and Westside has done just that i feel as chances are much better now cause of the splits, just hope WS doesnt prove me wrong in my thinking...lol