FBDevotee

A great game. Union's depth was an important factor in their victory over Lee and I suspect it will give the Bears some advantage in future games. Coach Turner played a large number of kids in his first game as head coach & I suspect he is still deciding on his best line-up.

Union Bears win the Bucket. Union High 29 & Lee High 24. Wonderfully exciting game for the Bear fans - the Bears score a touchdown with about 30 seconds to go in the contest. It was 24 for Lee and 23 for Union with less than a minute to go in the game and Union was down to 4th & 3. Lee gave the Bears all they could handle but came up short again. Bears played a lot of different players and there appears to be a lot of experimenting going on - but at crunch time it was T-formation power football that prevailed.

I completely agree that the quality of Union's O-line is yet to be determined - I'm just excited that the raw materials for first year head coach Turner to work with appear to be available. The line appears to be a balanced mix of former Vikes & Bulldogs so it may take a while to gel. Union is likely the kind of team that will improve more than most as the season progresses - but I think the Union kids are feeling a little extra pressure for a return to the glory days of the combined programs. When fans take to their stadium seats this autumn, only two groups of fans in Virginia will bring with them the experiences of seeing their HS football teams win more than ten state titles - Hampton fans will have witnessed 11, Union fans collectively will have witnessed 14. I don't look for a title anytime soon but I was pleased to read in Bristol newspaper that in the varsity scrimmages Union defeated both Eastside (14-7) and Abingdon (7-0). Bear supporters that attended, & with whom I've talked, felt that the scores appropriately reflected the match-ups and were encouraged by the outcomes.

One of the reasons that I think Union may be stronger than I initially expected is that they can field all senior offensive linemen with some serious dimensions - based on write ups, visits to practice, and early scrimmages, it looks like the starting line may be all seniors and have heights and weights as listed: End Sr 6'4" 220 lbs Tackle Sr 6'1" 275 lbs Guard Sr 6'0" 260 lbs Center Sr 6'0" 205 lbs Guard Sr 6'1" 250 lbs Tackle Sr 6'2" 280 lbs End Sr 6'4" 240 lbs This certainly does not mean that they will be a good line; but experience and size sure help a lot and is reason for optimism. Anyone else able to post similar info for their teams - just as an interesting comparison. I am particularly curious about Clintwood because their big linemen have dominated PV and Appy the last few years. Also, how about Richlands, they had a huge line last season.

I stand corrected about Eastside. Early VHSL schedule listed them as a member of the LPD but I checked again this morning and they are not in the LPD. Revised predictions below. 1. Clintwood 2. Union 3. Burton 4. Central In reply to Counts about Union's young QB. Based on my visit to the practice field, the Bears do have a lot of talent and size in the 9th and 10th grade classes. Some of those younger kids are probably too good to keep on the bench even with so many upper classmen - for example I look for some playing time to go to Austin Falin, a 6'1" 230 lbs freshmen lineman/LB. Coach Turner does begin his coaching career with fully stocked shelves.

To follow up on a couple of questions in this thread about the 2011 Union High football team based on discussions with parents; Jake Huff is projected as the starting QB - Jake is a senior (5'10" & 175 lbs) who quarterbacked the Vikings last season. Evan Orr will be playing this season - Evan is a senior tackle (6'3" & 280 lbs) who missed last season due to injury. Both Jake and Evan are good football players and I hope they have successful and healthy seasons.

IMO Clintwood has completely controlled the line of scrimmage, on both sides of the ball, the last several seasons in their match-ups with PV and Appy. The games have not been very competitive because of that important factor. I do think PV was already expecting some improvement in that area during 2011 as they had many lineman returning plus the possiblity of Evan Orr being able to play. Then adding Appy's lineman to the mix should give Union a much better group to win some of those battles in the trenches. As a matter of fact, I see the consolidation allowing both Union and Central to catch back up with Clintwood. The games between PV and JIB have been more competitve over the past few seasons - with PV actually beating the Raiders in 2009. So I certainly expect the consolidation to benefit the Union Bears in that match-up. I'll make the following early season LPD prediction - 1. Clintwood 2. Union 3. Burton 4. Central 5. Eastside

Wise County's Union High began their inaugural season with practice today. 70 players, including 30 seniors, took the field. It appears that Coach Travis Turner will have the necessary raw materials to build a good squad. If Turner can transfer his hard work and never quit performance ethic to the team, they'll do very well. With this many kids, it's hard to pick out just one or two to watch - but I will say keep a special eye open for Barker, Chandler, & Williams on the Bear defense

Forty Jackson, Upton Jackson, Thomas Jones, and Julius Jones all were Powell Valley graduates who went on to become 1st team college football all-americans - all had impressive individual HS stats and all four led the Vikings to HS state championships. Upton, Thomas, and Julius drafted by NFL with Thomas having been selected to the Pro-bowl.

In particular over the past three seasons, Burton & Clintwood have broken Appalachia's & Powell Valley's three decades of dominance in the LPD. So even with the combination of programs at Union, Central, and Eastside, the Raiders and Wave have fairly earned pre-season status as district favorites. But I agree with the other posters that Union looks to become a contender in the LPD. Both Appy & PV fans were expecting considerable improvements in their football teams going into this fall - independent of the consolidation. If coach Travis Turner can blend the teams successfully, the Bears should anticipate a winning record. The Bears do have a strong entertaining schedule including Gate City, Richlands, Lebanon, Virginia High, Sullivan North, in addition to Burton and Clintwood.

This is good thread and I agree with many of the postings. I'd like to add that many of our SWVA football fields have remarkable & intangable qualities associated with thier histories - things that can't be captured fairly in discussions of bleacher size or parking difficulty. I'd like to suggest that one such is Riggs Stadium in Appalachia. If you never saw a highschool football game there, you missed something uniquely special. I don't think any place better captured the old coaldust and iron ore flavor of our area's tough brand of HS football. If you visited in early November, the field was always muddy, it was always cold, and you had to crowd onto small guest bleachers. Everything about the stadium seemed antiquated, including the Bulldog uniforms, and it produced an atmoshere of times gone by. The sons of coal miners would march down the hill dressed in their blue collar jerseys. The ghost of so many past glories never failed to overflow onto the field with them. During the game, you might sit there shivering, yet couldn't help thinking how wonderful, you couldn't help thinking I'm watching champions.

I think the past couple of regular seasons may have tested Powell Valley fans more than they've been accustomed but, in final analysis, they may have been Coach Robbins' best as head coach. He, and the young Vikings players, have kept PV's VHSL playoff streak going (19 in a row & the longest current streak in the state) with much less natural talent and size to put on the field than in the past decades. Powell Valley's teams have shown a lot of courage and faith. They've suffered through a tough schedule & some rough losses - but kept coming back the following weeks to practice and improve. I think one could fairly argue that in both seasons, PV lost maybe the key player from the team early in the campaign, (Pinkston in 2009 and Orr in 2010) but rallied to fill the void. I really think the past two Viking teams have been over-achievers; and that's usually indicative of good coaching. On paper, I think the Tigers look to be the better team, but the Vikes may still pull out one last playoff win for Coach Robbins. I'm predicting PV 20 & Honkaer 13.

As I posted & predicted earlier in the week, Richlands produced a convincing win against the Vikings - but PV boys handled the loss with good attitude, played hard, and the coaches continued to teach throughout the game. The Blue Tornados are a very strong team - big, fast, and deep. The Blues executed extremely well against PV and put the Vikes away early. Richlands showed Coach Robbins a lot of respect - presenting him with a signed football and thanking him for his contributions to swva football. Also, the blues could have produced a more lopsided score but elected to play subs and make conservative play calls after they got far enough ahead. My gut assessment is that this year's Richlands team will earn a place in the discussions about great teams from our area. But I don't think they'll really get a chance to solidify that place until the playoffs. Area teams are down overall this year and Richland's schedule is a little week - it will be hard to compare this Blues squad to other great teams of the past unless they win the state title. But I'd say they have a good chance to bring home another title.

I think Richlands has already played, and defeated, a stronger team than Powell Valley - the Vikings probably rank somewhere between Gate City and Honaker. It's very likely that Richlands will get a convincing win, but Powell Valley's players have already shown a lot of character this year and I suspect they will give it their all. I look for PV to continue solid special teams play and make good defensive adjustments as the game progresses. Powell Valley's early schedule against some good sized area schools (approx. enrollments - Lee 720, Lebanon 560, Richlands 780, Harlan County 1300) has usually helped them later in the season with LPD action & post season qualification.

It was a surprising win for the Vikings over the Pioneers at Lebanon last night. Powell Valley began the game without two players that I felt had a whole lot to do with last week's win - junior tackle Evan Orr and senior linebacker Brad Bowman. In addition, the Lebanon offense put together two nice first quarter drives and led 14-0 going into period number 2. From that point on it was all PV. PV won 42-22. The Viking offense continues to execute very well - mixing a variety of runs with timely passing. Even without Evan Orr, the O-line still has adequate size and the Vikings have a very deep group of running backs. Jacob Huff is doing a nice job at QB. The special teams play is solid for the Vikes and they have taken advantage of opposition mistakes in both games this season. My pre-season predicition for the Vikes was three wins but they are now certainly looking at the possibility of avoiding a losing record. I think Richlands and Harlan County will both be too much for Powell Valley but I've always thought that some district wins are possible. This years Vikings have been fun to cheer for so far and they've shown a lot of character.

I was surprised by the final score - I really thought that GC should have been the favorite going into the game. I'm certainly not a Devil fan but I can tell you that Dusty Clark is a special player and losing him had to make a significant difference. Richlands must have turned on the jets in the second h.alf! When they annouced the score at halftime at the game I attended - Richland 3 and Gate City 0 - a fan I was sitting near commented that the game was right in line with what most would have guessed. I hope Dusty is ok to play the rest of the season

The 17th "Battle of the Boot" was held tonight at Bullitt Park in Big Stone Gap. Powell Valley defeated Lee High in an exciting highschool football game. A fairly large crowd of fans - dressed both in Viking blue and General red - turned out to enjoy a beautiful August evening and support their teams. Lee High received the opening kick-off and put together a nice 75 yard drive for their first touchdown of the season. The Generals tacked on a two point conversion to lead 8 - 0. The Lee County fans had something to cheer about! Both teams had the ball for some time consuming drives - I think both teams converted on a fourth down attempt to extend drives - but neither team could put additional points on the scoreboard in the first half. The play of both team's offensive units was conservative but Lee High remained in control. In the second half, momentum shifted on a punt attempt by Lee High. The ball was snapped over the kickers head and the Vikes recovered near the goal line. Jacob Huff, the Viking QB ran the ball in and then passed to WR Austin Garrett for a two point converstion. The score was tied 8 - 8 with about 8 minutes left in the third. The Vikings would score on each of their possessions from that point on in the game. Rushing TDs were tallied by Dalton Tackett, David Bledsoe, and the Freshman Davis. The game really had the feel of the Vikings trying to find out how to fit players into the running game that Coach Robbins has decided on for this year. The final score was PV 28 - Lee 8.

I think most local highschool football prognosticators will give Gate City the edge in this game. The Blue Devils host at Legion Field (the biggest home field advantage in SWVA.) Also, the Devils will be a better team this season than last (when they defeated Richlands) and GC may have the most balanced team in our area. They'll have a very strong kicking game, solid line, hard hitting defense, and a deep corp of running backs. I do think Richlands will be a good team - I'd rank them as a pre-season third in our area behind Clintwood & Gate City - but GC is the objective choice in this match-up.

It looks like the Vikes will have a solid O-line with a couple of big tackles plus depth & experience. Hopefully, for us in the Gap, this will give the backfield time to develop. Initial indicatons are that the Viking's will continue to throw the ball & try to stretch opponent defenses. Except for Brad Robbins' senior year, this approach has only worked well against the smaller schools on the Powell Valley schedule. Unfortunately, this year's schedule is loaded with larger schools including Richlands and Harlan County, Ky. So I suspect most local sports fans are predicting 3 or 4 wins for Phil Robbins' last season.

Approximately 50 varsity players at yesterday's first day of practice for the Vikings - off to a good start. I think PV will be able to get some LPD wins but non-conference victories may be few and far between.

The Powell Valley Vikings participated in the Virginia High hosted jamboree last season and it was a very well organized event. It wouldn't surprise me if the Vikes do plan to return. A good friend & long time Viking fan predicts that PV's consecutive VHSL playoff appearance streak will lapse in 2010. As usual, Powell Valley has a lot of enthusiastic and talented boys out for football - but the team has struggled the past two seasons and they face a very ambitious non-conference schedule.

I think Coach Robbins highly regards Myron Pinkston and has always believed in his great potential. He's played regularly for the Vikes since his freshman season. I suspect Coach Robbins was dissappointed when Pinkston got into trouble and hopes that the young man successfully gets through his difficulties. In addition, I think it is fair for Powell Valley fans to claim that the loss of such a quality athelete like Pinkston hurt the team's chances in several games this year and that with him they may have performed better against Gate City. Injuries and/or the loss of kids from the squad is part of every highschool football season. The Vikings have actually gone 3-2 without Pinkston - and his replacement at tailback, Davis, has played hard. But Pinkston will be missed on Saturday at Legion Field.

Both Gate City and Powell Valley were involved in close/hard fought games with Richlands earlier this year. GC beat Richlands 10-7. PV lost to Richlands 19-14. (The Vikings nearly pulled an upset - had the ball down to the 3 yard line with seconds to go in the game but were stopped by a critical penalty.)

Although the 2009 Powell Valley Viking football team has had a difficult season, I think Viking fans should try to keep things in perspective - playoff bound for the 18th straight season and, @ 5-1, co-champions of the LPD. There are many teams who can not claim those type of accomplishments. In addition, this year's seniors made VHSL history as Phil Robbins exceeded 300 wins as a head coach and they also celebrated 50 years of Viking football with an exciting homecoming victory over J. I. Burton. No matter the outcome of the contest with Gate City, the 2009 Vikings can hold their heads high. Although any reasonable fan should anticipate a Blue Devil victory in the rematch with PV, an upset win for the Vikes is possible. I'm going to predict GC 21 & PV 6. The Vikings underclassmen improved as the season progressed - with several key injuries and the loss of Pinkston, the young guys got more playing time than expected and were forced to play important roles.

I don't think a completely fair system for VHSL football playoffs could ever be implemented because schools across the state play such a wide variety of schedules with such a large range of difficulty. Just plain luck is always going to be involved in each season's playoff line-up. I do think there have been and will be teams left out of the playoffs that were more deserving than teams who make it into the post season. But that's part of the excitement. It's fun to ponder what ifs! What if Powell Valley and Appalachia had been in Division 3 in 1997 or Gate City in Division 2? Gate City wouldn't have made it out of our region - but the Blue Devils were lucky that year.