carolinahokie64

Radford is somewhat explosive on offense. Alot of speed and athletes. The problem with Radford is their run defense is horrible, cant stop anyone. Radford can score points, but unless Clintwwod stops themselfs by turning the ball over multiple times, there is no way Radford has any chance.

I was getting worried about the Bobcats after hearing in the first scrimmage they looked somewhat lackluster. Combine that with Pulaski having a very good scrimmage against Gate City, the outlook was looking grim for Radford. But after watching the scrimmages against William Campbell and Gretna maybe the cats are better than advertised. Radford beat William Campbell by a touchdown in a half and beat defending Group A, Division 2 state champion Gretna 14-3 in two quarters of action. I think the battle of the bridge will be another close contest, with Radford again proving that they can compete (ahead 2 -1 in the series since they started playing again) and then some with Pulaski, despite having less than one third the enrollment of Pulaski County. When this game started being played again after 30 years, most of the High School football fans in the New River Valley said it would be a blow out by Pulaski Coumty every year. Radford has proven them wrong. Alot of people are saying the same thing this year, despite Radford winning the last two contests.

Yes, I was at the game. When I said "Gave the game to Giles " it was probably the wrong choice of words. But, the fact of the matter remains, when you are up 17 to 7 with 8 minutes to go, you should close the deal 95% of the time. I'm not taking anything away from Giles, but Radford could not finish. Radford has been plagued by penaltys all year ( 8 for Radford, 0 for Giles). Radford made one critical turnover on a center / quarterback exchange on their own 20 yardline midway through the 4th quarter and Giles made them pay for it. Radford did have trouble with the single wing in the 4th quarter, but how many games this year (or any year for that matter) has Giles been held to 238 yards rushing on 48 carries. Giles had over 320 yards rushing the last 2 times they played Radford and Radford won those games. Only Christiansburg did better against the single wing this year. Radford had 310 total yards to Giles 283, but total yards don't win games. Giles executed better when it counted and was the more disciplined team the whole game, they flat out DESERVED to win the game. I apologize for my choice of words, I didn't mean to take anything away from Giles. Hope the Spartans make a deep run in the playoffs.

Radford's offense has slowly improved every game since the start of the year. The combined records of the 3 teams that Radford lost to (GW, Galax and Giles) is 32-1. I think Radford will give GW a fit. If there was a line on the game GW would surely be favored, but this is a game that Radford can win if they play well. Radford is playing better now, especially on offense, and gave the game to Giles last week with a late turnover and penaltys.

What concerns me the most about George Wythe (as a Radford fan) is George Wythe,s team speed. The kid I saw that they had listed at Quarterback, is the same kid that ran a 10.82 100 meters in the state meet. He got second, in most years that would have won the state title. Group A had a very strong field of sprinters, His time would have won Group AA and been in the top three in group AAA. I don't know if this kid played last year ( I don't remember him), But that is very, very, very fast . To put this in perspective David Wilson is on the Virginia Tech track team and is an All -American in the triple jump. He has ran the 100 meters in a few meets and the best time I saw was 10.92 , George Wythe also set a region record in the 4 x 100 meters and I think two of those guys are on the football team. Radford usually is faster or at least as fast as teams they play, but this is one of the few times that they are not.

No particular reason Radford is down to 22 players. They have some really good players, but not alot of them. I dont think it will be a big deal as long as they can limit injuries to one or two out per game and keep 2 or 3 key players healthy. The most important thing is all the players can contribute. I guess it's no different than a team that has 34 players, but 12 of them are really not good athletes, and are just on the team, they are a liability if you put them in on Friday night.

Should be a good game. George Wythe has tons of speed and is loaded this year. I think Radford might be as good as last year if not better, despite the loss of some very good players. Depth is Radfords problem, only 22 on varsity, but all of them are good players. Radfords win over Pulaski is looking more impressive now that the Pulaski played a competitive game with Northside. The Radford / Pulaski County game was only close because of Radford mistakes (5 turnovers and a blocked punt to the 1). Pulaski County only had 1 first down and about 40 yards toward the end of the 3rd quarter. Radford outgained Pulaski 290 to 120. Cant wait until Friday will be a great game.