sixcat

Gate City George Wythe Giles Radford Virginia Central Lebanon Ridgeview Carroll Graham Marion Narrows Hurley Twin Valley Chilhowie Castlewood Patrick Henry Twin Springs Harlan Michigan Virginia Alabama LSU UCLA G(s)otW Union 42 Virginia Tech 55

1. Union 2. Richlands 3. Bluefield 4. Graham 5. George Wythe 6. Pulaski 7. James Monroe 8. Fort Chiswell 9. Giles 10. Marion

Glenvar whipped Galax at the point of contact. They are strong and physical with outstanding size across the board. I wouldn't discount them being a contender in 2A. Galax will not be the Galax of recent vintage. They are very small and lack depth. It may be a couple years before they recover. They will improve throughout the season but lack the amount of talent and depth they have been fortunate enough to have in recent years. With that said, Galax has also lost some returning starters over the past week due to severe allergic reactions to the chemicals in the new turf. The biggest returning starter, a 6'-3", 230 pounder quit as a result.

Glenvar 34 - Galax 14 Final

Carroll 25 - Patrick 7 final Glenvar 34 - Galax 7 11:00 remaining

The recent trend in county transfers is just that, very recent and hasn't proven to be sustained over time. The school had 134 kindergartners enrolled for the 2014-2015 school year, that is true. But the previous four classes had enrollment figures of 101 (1st grade), 99 (2nd grade), 90 (3rd grade) and 86 (4th grade) for the same 2014-2015 school year. Those enrollment figures are a very new thing for Galax and grade level numbers they haven't experienced since prior to Grayson County consolidation. As a matter of fact, the following school year of 2015-2016 saw a kindergarten class enrollment of 108 while the 1st grade class size had fallen to 130. The following school year just completed saw the kindergarten enrollment of 99, 1st grade enrollment down to 106 and 2nd grade (the same class of "140" you mentioned) down to 119. Check it out for yourself. http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/enrollment/fall_membership/report_data.shtml

Has anyone ever been denied? If so, not to my knowledge! Back when Baywood and Fairview students commonly attended Galax rather than Independence, prior to Grayson County consolidation, Galax High School was far more populated than its current enrollment figures. A coworker of mine graduated from Galax in 1985. His senior yearbook suggests a graduating class of nearly 160. Those figures would put Galax on par with Richlands, Marion, Union and other good sized 2A schools in SWVA. For the record, Grayson County schools consolidated in 1988, taking the vast majority of the Baywood and Fairview kids with them. Thus reducing Galax enrollment figures to what we are familiar with today. I say all of that to say, Galax High School isn't running out of space anytime soon. The elementary school is cramped but it is also in the midst of an $18 million renovation that will increase the usable space by significant margin. And Galax keeps taking in all transfers Carroll, Grayson and North Carolina choose to send.

School system should have saved up for field work While being a current athlete and coach, I am excited about the possibility of having a smooth surface to play on, however the priorities of the city has been to increase education, create jobs and grow tourism. A revamped field does not address these concerns. While discipline and physical education is a byproduct of athletics, the current field has not prevented our football team and soccer team from winning state titles. Also, while the city is already having to refinance debt in order to pay for an elementary school renovation, oftentimes one has to borrow money for a need, but it is never a good idea to borrow money for a want. Attempts have been made to get money from the NFL, and athletic boosters have not garnered much traction. The lesson we often teach our kids in the community is if you want something, you should save up for it. Ches R. Helmick Galax This was a letter to the editor of the Galax Gazette printed in yesterday's edition. Mr. Helmick is a city councilman and very successful financial adviser with Edward Jones in Galax. This letter is quite tame compared to a lot of other sentiment around town!

Good to hear. I like it when competition is strong. Makes the district as a whole bettter. Graham deserves some credit for where the MED is right now. Fort would probably be a step or two farther along had they not taken a dozen steps backward by hiring Tom Hale. But glad it was only one year and they are well on their way back. They have the right guy in place now.

No joke! It's been a little over 30 years since Galax and GW were in the same district. If everyone behaves like responsible adults, I think it will turn into one of the best rivalries in VHSL regardless of sport.

Pulaski jamboree, 2-quarter segments. Pulaski 14 George Wythe 14 Liberty Bedford 12 George Wythe 0 Galax 7 Liberty Bedford 2 Rustburg 7 Galax 0 All I know of at this point.

I'm going to assume you mean Daniel Edwards. He graduated. Daniel is a once a generation kid. Incredibly difficult circumstances at home but he is doing everything within his power to give himself an opportunity to overcome it. Plus, he is the most likable young man I have ever met. He has any number of people in his corner helping him along the way. His younger brother Alex is playing after returning from Florida. If he can stay out of trouble, he will be good. Not as good as Daniel but still very big, very strong, very athletic and quick as hell for his size. There will be several new faces on the offensive line. As for the rest of the team, I'm hoping addition by subtraction is the rule of thumb. Several cancerous elements are gone due to graduation. Hopefully that clears up some of the off-field issues the entire school system suffered through last year.

Seriously!?!?!

Yes, Dougie is a senior and Blake Brown is a junior. Keaton, the freshman I mentioned earlier, will be next in line behind those guys and believe me, he is a special talent.

I'm not going to make a prediction on how Galax will fair this season. They have talent, an excellent coaching staff and a shiny new toy turf field. They also have lost a lot of trust within the community over the way the field, coaching hires and resignations were handled. Nobody likes to feel as if they were held hostage or had their hand forced. Support for the program will continue to dwindle in my opinion, as it has over the past few years. Galax has always struggled to fill the stands and that has gotten more difficult in recent years. Name another program with similar success that has that issue, I'll wait! However, I'm hearing rumblings that the superintendent is retiring at the end of the current school year. If true, that could go a long way to rekindling community support surrounding all school activities. He is just a very divisive figure and can't be gone soon enough! Galax does have 3 freshman everyone should make the effort to go see at some point though. Not trying to put unnecessary pressure on three kids who have yet to play a varsity game but they are beyond talented. One will be the starting QB, is 6'-2" tall and 190 pounds. Another is simply a headhunter. He is 5'-11" tall and 190 pounds. The third is only about 5'-8" tall and 155 pounds but he will be the most aggressive, quickest, fastest kid on the field, regardless of opponent. He will be another 3,000 yard back!

Union Abingdon Fort Chiswell Blacksburg Central Richlands Tennessee Ridgeview Grayson Lebanon Marion Virginia Bland Glenvar Narrows Hurley Twin Valley Patrick Henry Twin Springs West Greene Eastern Montgomery G(s)OTW Graham 56 George Wythe 52

This is patently false! I go to several Oak Hill games every year given I live 20 minutes from campus. It would be easier for me to list the schools I haven't seen represented that the ones I have through the years. Coaches come through Galax regularly. Some are on a first name basis with local business owners.

I know, my mother was one of them! He was at Grayson when my brother was there.

He is a tool! He is early 50's and claims "independent wealth". I couldn't care less as long as he leaves as soon as possible. We were hoping beyond all hope he would take the Carroll County superintendent position this summer given he is a product of the area and system. No such luck!

Disagree! And so do many others........ http://www.courant.com/community/windsor/hc-synthetic-turf-heat-20160813-story.html http://www.fieldturf.com/en/artificial-turf/artificial-turf-news/penn-state-university-testing-debunks-cooling-technologies http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93364750

I don't disagree something needed to be done. I just know what was done (and not done) to ensure a worst possible outcome for the grass field. I don't even have a tremendous issue with a turf field if everything in-house from an educational standpoint is up to par. The issues I have are..... Not everything in-house is up to par from an educational standpoint. Honesty with the general public/tax paying citizens was an afterthought throughout this process. It was more about the ego of current administration and coaching staff than necessity of the turf field. Its a legacy item for the current school superintendent. It still doesn't fix the restroom, concessions and locker room situation, which was needed far worse than a turf field. The cost is exorbitant for a poor community that is losing population like the rest of SWVA. The school system asked to borrow half-a-million-dollars from the city to help pay for construction. City council had severe reservations about the project from the beginning, voiced those concerns publicly and denied the loan. In turn, the school system took funds from the "capital fund" to pay for the field. Teachers haven't gotten pay raises in several years, insurance costs out-of-pocket have risen and VRS contributions have dropped over that same period. Let's hope nothing happens in the short term to warrant necessary funds be spent from the capital fund like say, going over budget on the current 18-million-dollar renovation of Galax Elementary School.

Your players never played on the field before the current administration took over! It hasn't always been that bad. It was made that bad with a lot of intent!

Ill informed opinion. Galax chose not to properly care for the existing grass field intentionally in an effort to sway public opinion in favor of a turf field.

Galax will scrimmage Mount Airy Saturday at 6PM on the new turf that is 30% black! What's the over/under on the number of players who suffer heat related injury? Seriously though, who's idea was it to install black turf? The money could have and should have been better spent in many other areas for educational purposes in my opinion but black? Dam, that's gonna be a heat magnet!