Widespread_Panic

Battle's defense wasn't very good. They gave up several offensive rebounds and their help on drives was non existent. Gate City got out to a decent lead and put it in on cruise control. The lead was never in any real danger. It was hard to tell what kind of offense Gate City has in place. Seemed very free lance and a lot of one-on-one but against a team that has more athletes GC is going to have to do something different.

All that talent and a first round playoff loss. Going to be a while before Abingdon will have a better chance at winning a state championship.

Amen. Bristol Herald coverage is really bad unless you want to read about what happened 30 years ago in local sports history. The Coalfield has the best sports section around.

Abingdon wasn't ready to play Friday night. Showed no emotion the entire night.

Yes. He left the state of VA to go coach in GA out of fear of the great Gate City who started the season 0-5. It had nothing to do with the pay raise or being able to coach football without any teaching responsibilities.

Put his team on the schedule now and see if that still holds true.

VA High has been a disappointment ever since Wheeler left. He had them in the playoffs and beat TN high and now they are perennial cellar dweller.

After watching the highlights Abingdon looked extremely soft. They are still a finesse team. Graham physically took it to them.

AAU basketball does not involve much coaching. They let the kids play in hopes of getting a scholarship.

Holston's defense will make any offense look better.

Tazewell is larger and superior to Va High? Not sure about that statement. VA High has more talent than John Battle but Battle will play hard since it is a rivalry game. VA High has consistently underachieved with Crist as opposed to the success they had under Wheeler. I'll still pick the Bearcats to win a close one because Battle has 0 speed and their offense is really bad.

It's hard to judge the reactions of any parents who have to go through something like this ordeal. I'm guessing they were beyond frustrated by the situation and thought this was the only way to get their story out to the public.

http://wjhl.com/2016/08/17/vhsl-gate-city-teens-likely-would-not-have-been-eligible-if-proper-protocol-followed/

Tradition argument aside Abingdon will get competition in the Mountain District. Union, Wise Central, and Gate City are competitive in baseball almost every year. Battle finished fourth in the district this year. Abingdon will still play VA High in the regular season at least once if not twice.

Wise Central has more tradition than any baseball program in the state of Virginia. They've won 9 state titles.

The decison makers at Abingdon believe the money pertaining to crowds at football games will be better in the Mountain District. For the most part fans of the Mountain District (Union/Gate City) travel better than the Southwest District and that makes for a better gate. Travel times for their student athletes never came into consideration.

Amen. It will be interesting to see what happens to numbers in the next 3-5 years with the population decline combined with parent concerns over the safety of football due to concussions. I could foresee some schools having problems fielding a football team.

This is fun to talk about but at the end of the day numbers don't matter. Tom Turner won state championships with 30 players.

Can we all just agree that Va High vs TN High is not "intriguing" to anyone? TN High wins this game 99% of the time and taking into consideration their enrollment and facilities they should win it every year.

The problem with Abingdon is they don't play defense. They can score but they can't stop anyone because they are a finesse team. Losing Derrick Yates to graduation will hurt them. He scored a majority of their TDs and he created mismatch problems with his size and speed. The Falcons will still be good but unless the D has made strides they won't be able to beat Richlands.

That may just get them to their average 1 win season.

Is it just me or is almost every player in this game a lot bigger than the kids that play today? IMO both of these teams would beat some of best teams today by 30 plus.

When I first read the headline I thought it was the girl's basketball coach. With the talent she had and their early exit that would have made more sense.

Mainly because a majority of the teams from SWVA were historically single A. They just moved up to AA recently.

I think Martinsville wins by 10 in the rematch after getting a wake up call in their first game with Gate City. The problem for Gate City is their lack of size in matching up with Holland on the defensive end. Gate City will have an familiarity advantage in playing at VCU their last game. GC needs to a hit several outside shots to pull the upset.