marcus_twain

Region D rotates the games...D2 should go first this time...

Powell Valley 0 J I Burton 0 @ end of 1Q

GC 28 Virginia High 21 VHS took a 21-20 in the 4th Q, but GC drove the ball down the field, scored and made the two point conversion...VHS got inside Devils territory before turning the ball over on down with a little over a minute left in the game.

And you'll be happy to know that the field is freshly mown, lined, numbered and painted!!! Hopefully, the good Lord will keep it dry tomorrow night.

GC 52 Tazewell 27 Final

Gate City 20 Lebanon 7 Final

I too think GC will be very competitive in the CMD but I don't see them matching up with the Tornadoes based upon my observations. I think they'll improve as the season progresses and the youngsters mature, but they are clearly lacking on the offensive and defensive lines and in the secondary.

I agree...GC offensive and defensive lines are undersized and undermanned...The Devil's scrimmage opponents, Volunteer and Powell Valley, were both able to take advantage of the line's youth and inexperience and I'm certain it'll be even worse against the defending state champions. GC has good skill people but that won't be enough to keep it close... Tornadoes by 30 or more.

How about some love for our brother southwest virginia representative, the J I Burton Raiders???

Care to elaborate?

It appears to me that the Haysi vs. Grundy game is virtually irrelevant as it relates to seeding. The most important game is Lebanon and Richlands. If Elliots' website is right,even if Haysi beats Grundy, Gate City would be the #1 seed, unless Lebanon pulls the biggest upset of the season, which I think virtually none of us foresee happening. If all that happens, then Gate City would host Powell Valley, who defeated the Devils at Bullitt Park in regular season and Haysi would host Honaker whom they lost to in regular season. Kinda screwy if you know what I mean.

Gate City 28 J. I. Burton 6....Devils too physical up front for the Raiders, who couldn't get outside with their jet sweep...Burton scored on a long pass to Miles after GC missed a sack and let Stewart get outside the pocket.

Honaker, Haysi, Gate City & Powell Valley have already qualified for the Region D, Division 2 playoffs, no matter what happens this week, or in the case of Haysi, the following week. The only thing that needs to be decided is home field. Currently, the Black Diamond teams have the edge, but Gate City could become #1 seed if they beat Burton this week while Honaker loses to Tazewell and Haysi loses to Grundy next week. Powell Valley will travel no matter what happens.

and as often as he can!!!

There are 7 D2 teams in Region D. I think its fairly safe to eliminate Kelly & Coeburn from consideration. Honaker, by winning the Black Diamond, is a lock. That leaves Haysi, Clintwood, Powell Valley & Gate City to fight it out for the remaining three slots. PV, at the moment, is fighting for their playoff lives, but if they beat GC & Appalachia, I think they'll qualify. Clintwood will most likely have to win the rest of their games, including beating both Burton & GC, to advance. That loss to Haysi really hurt. Haysi will qualify if they win out but that means beating Grundy the last game of the season. GC has the most difficult remaining schedule, including home games with Clintwood & Burton, as well as away game with Appalachia & PV. I guess what I'm trying to say is "Win or go home."

Way too early to discount the Vikes...If they can win out, they'll make it.

Bearcats' Carter took the opening KO 75 yards for a TD, then forced the Devils to punt after three plays. VHS gets the ball at the 50 and drives the ball inside the Devil's 30, where Messer lofts a perfect pass to Cook over two Devil defenders. Gate City gets the ball and starts a modest drive into Bearcat territory which ends with an interception inside the 5 yard line after our freshman quarterback forces the ball into triple coverage. Bearcats methodically consume most of the 2nd quarter picking up 4 first downs and have the ball at 4th & 1 near midfield. VHS Coach Smith, at least to appearances, prepares to go for first down, but the Bearcats are called for delay of game and accessed a five yard penalty. Bearcat punter takes a few steps to his right, pretending its a fake, then shanks a punt out of bounds. Devils get the ball at midfield with approximately 2 minutes left in the half. Senior starting quarterback Adam Price enters the game and hands off to Tyler Parks six straight times with Tyler scoring with 25 seconds remaining. Gate City received the second half KO. Starting on their own 15 yard line, the Devils, using 20 plays and 9 minutes 46 seconds, mainly fullball dives to Parks, drove the ball 85 yards to score the go-ahead TD, with Parks going in from the 2. Bearcats received the kickoff and go three and out. Once again, the Devils march down the field and get inside the 5 on a nice pass from Price to Shepard. Parks scores from the 3 with 5:35 left in the game. After a fine KO return, the Cats have the ball on their own 44 yard line. With time quickly dwindling, they continue to run the ball taking valuable time off the clock. Messer picks up several first down on two or three scrambles on third or forth down. Messer completes a pass inside the GC one,throws an incomplete pass into the endzone stopping the clock, then scores on a quarterback sneak. With less than two minutes remaining and one time out, VHS attempts an onside kick which was recovered by the Devils. Devils pick up a first down, then kneel down for the victory. GC 21 VHS 19. Keys to the Game: (1) GC scoring before the half to cut the lead to 12-7. (2) VHS missing PATs. (3) I thought the Bearcats were exhausted the entire second half. Couldn't force GC to punt, even at the end of the game. (4) Coach Smith's clock management. Trailing by two scores with less than six minutes, Smith continued running the ball. Although they scored, it took almost 4 valuable minutes off the clock. (5) VHS's shanked punt at the end of the first half.

I don't know. I saw the Coach's show Thursday night, and Colobro told Chuck Newton that there would be alot of new players in the lineup. Only thing about that is that, at least in the past, the show is taped on Monday, so I would assume the injuries happened during the Pound game the previous Friday.

I haven't seen the Cats play this year, but I'm sure they're a fine, well coached team. As for GC, there's alot of questions still to be answered. First, will all the starters who were out against Lee return this week or will they still be playing freshmen at quarterback, tackle, running back, and a couple of linebackers. Second, the defensive line has been a sieve in all four games. Our tackles are getting pushed around worse than I've seen since 1998. They're missing tackles and putting very little pressure on the quarterback. Our ends and outside linebackers, likewise, are missing tackles and not turning anyone to the inside. Both corners are giving up long passes by not turning and looking for the ball. Our kicker has missed more PATs than he's made and can't kick the ball deep. Our K/O coverage has been virtually non-existent with other teams average field position close to midfield while punt coverage has been mediocre. Offensively, Richlands shut us down completely, just like everyone else. But even against Coeburn, Pound and Lee, the offensive line has been very inconsistent at the best, anemic at the worse, allowing our backs to be tackled in the backfield and our quarterback running for his life. We don't have a true fullback who can get the tough yards. Colobro is actually using Parks, all 165 pounds of him, as fullback instead of his natural tailback position. Parks is the key to stopping the Devils tho. He's rushed for almost 150 yards a game is averaging over 10 yards a carry.

GC still have alot of questions to answer. The offensive line is still not blocking well and the interior defensive line continues to be porous. For three straight games, a mobile quarterback has hurt us. The DBs, even when they have good postion, still don't turn around and look for the football. Coverage on punt and kickoff returns have been anemic. Freshman placekicker has been terribly inconsistent and doesn't get the ball deep. Tonight, Pound was inside the 10 yard line three times and didn't score. I realize we're playing more than thirty players, mainly underclassmen, but sooner or later some of the young ones are gonna have to step up, learn the system, and play more consistently, or its gonna be a shorter season than alot of fans were counting on.

Congratulations to RHS! It was an impressive display of dominance. I was very impressed by your defense. They didn't allow a seam the whole night to run in and they didn't allow the Price time or a lane to throw in either. Offensively, I thought McCracken did a fine job running your offensive which is very deceptive. He's a fine runner and has a fine touch on his passes. I hope Jennings is well and back soon but I thought his replacements showed capable speed and quickness. Overall, it was a tremendous effort and it kinda reminds me of the 2003 Devils. Best of luck in the SWD and beyond.

GC Offense: QB 11-Adam Price 5-8 180 TB 20-Tyler Parks 5-7 165 FB 02-Jamie Hackney 6-1 180 for injured Travis Sanlin WB 04-Josh Castle 6-0 190 TE 88-Cory Shepherd 6-4 205 SE 30-Marshall McMurray 6-0 175 LT 76-Jeff Eads 5-9 230 LG 73-Jon Pope 6-3 280 C 59-Chase Lane 5-11 250 RG 51-Josh Jones 5-8 210 Possibly Jake Spivey too RT 72-Alex McClain 6-1 265 PK 10-Ked Byrd GC Defense: DE 56-Jake Jones 5-11 210 DT 73-Jon Pope 6-1 280 or 77-Andy Spears 6-0 250 DT 72-Alex McClain 6-1 265 or 62-Josh Powers 5-9 220 DE 83-Jake Carter 6-4 215 or 78-Dan Fields 6-0 225 LB 57-Jake Spivey 5-11 235 LB 88-Cory Shepherd 6-4 205 LB 20-Tyler Parks 5-7 165 LB 31-Peyton Jenkins 5-6 170 for injured Travis Sanlin CB 02-Jamie Hackney 6-1 180 CB 04-Josh Castle 6-0 190 S 12-Tyhlee Anderson 5-9 146 P 04-Josh Castle I appreciate the Richland lineups. Sorry for the delay getting GC's up. Just got home. Only tenuous part of this is GC's defensive line which the coaches have been tinkering with since the beginning. Other people you may see on the defensive line include 68-Josh Kyte 5-7 180, 70-Rusty Davenport 6-1 260, 53-Francisco Cabrerra 6-3 325 & 78-Daniel Fields 6-0 225.

Could one of yas post an offensive and defensive lineup for the Blues, including heights and weights if available, since the Bristol football issue neglected to do so? I'll be happy to respond with one for the Devils if anyone is interested.

Personally, I believe that Richlands should be the favored team on Friday night, primarily because its a home game and Richlands is a very difficult environment in which to play. In addition, given GC's luck in winning last year at Legion Field over what I felt was a superior Tornado team, you have to expect Lady Luck to favor the Blue. Finally, given the teams different performances against Christiansburg and Pulaski County in the preseason, one would have to conclude that RHS has the better squad. However, having stated that, I think it a big mistake to overlook the Devils. The Tornadoes graduated more starters, at the skilled and line positions squad than GC. Sometimes, given chemistry, the team emerges stronger than before, but it also may mean that that GC may have a bit more experience. In addition, GC's performance against C'burg may be a bit misleading. They don't play a team that runs the deceptive Wing T offense, so they never practiced against it. They played a base defense, lost a starting linebacker and corner in the prior game, by my count played 23 different personal on defense and plainly were confused by the misdirection. Having played PV twice last season, they should have a better grasp on how to defense the spread, but we'll just have to wait and see. Personally, the play I fear most is the Tornadoes spreading us out and then running draws to Jennings, like Graham did on their score in the scrimmage at Patrick Henry. I think, like in most games, it'll come down to the offensive and defensive lines. Whoever wins the battle in the trenches will win the game. Without a doubt, GC @ RHS will be the best game of the week and I can hardly wait till Friday night. Best of luck to both teams!!!

Personally, i wasn't impressed with any of the four teams.Of course no one really showed very much this early. I thought that Graham and Gate City probably showed the most potential followed by Patrick Henry and PH Roanoke. I can't say Graham moved the ball that well against Gate City. On their TD drive, their first five plays were for negative yardage. If I remember right, Gate City then substituted their defensive lineman, and the GMen's QB threw a nice slant pass for a 20 yard gain. On the 8th play of their 10 play set, Graham spread the field with 4 wide and snuck Henry through on the draw from 50 yards out. He scored but it seemed to take him a long time to get there. On defense, it was the usual Graham, aggressively blitzing the linebackers up the middle. They didn't appear to me to have any more speed than usual. On the contrary, I thought them a step slower. In conclusion, I don't see any improvement over last years' team and the G Men will have to fight like crazy and get some lucky bounces to finish 5-5 this season.